Weekend Project for My Car

[hsia914]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

WOW!!!

Mike, you are the man

Did you just take these pictures???

This is sooooooooo great info

I will do my best to get my car taken care of

I am planning to do the following steps on Saturday and Sunday (hopefully I don't need it, therefore I can get some rest)

Wash (2 buckets without grit guard) one hour

Clay whole car one hour

Swirl X or Ultimate Compound (2 applications) whole car two hours

Crystal Polisher whole car one hour

NXT Wax of course whole car one hour

Total: six hours, Enough???

I am going to PEPBOYS now...get the flashlight
See Ya!! Be right back

[Eddie6th]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Be sure to read this before you start,

How to do a Test Spot

Dial in your system before going over the entire car.

And if you don't have good sun to inspect your results then perhaps consider getting one of these, besides showing swirls they make a great household or camping flashlight.


Last time I was in Pep Boys the had the exact Brinkman Flashlight you want to get for around $30.00

Here's what you're looking for...




Be wary... the Xenon Flashlight aka The Swirl Finder... is a Cruel Master

Hi Mike,I havn't seen these here.(possibly havn't noticed).Are they quite expensive?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Be sure to read this before you start,

How to do a Test Spot

Dial in your system before going over the entire car.

And if you don't have good sun to inspect your results then perhaps consider getting one of these, besides showing swirls they make a great household or camping flashlight.


Last time I was in Pep Boys the had the exact Brinkman Flashlight you want to get for around $30.00

Here's what you're looking for...




Be wary... the Xenon Flashlight aka The Swirl Finder... is a Cruel Master

[Eddie6th]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Hi hsis.If you can't use any electrical outlet,there are DA's which are rechargeable.As for their performance,I can't help you there,as I don't own one.

I posted a thread about 2 weeks ago asking if anyone had used a particular model,which was available to me(had difficulty obtaining a G220).

I'll have to go and find the thread....

This is one option,if you can't get an electrical supply,again,I can't tell you much else about it?

Sealey model CP2518(rechargable).

Maybe Mike knows about this model......

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Here's how you want to hold your applicator pad when applying compounds, paint cleaners, cleaner/polishes, pure polishes, cleaner/waxes and finishing waxes.


First, this is the up side, the totally smooth side of the foam goes against the paint, imprint side goes toward your smile.

You will sandwich the pad between your 4 fingers and your thumb.




Your 4 fingers will span across the outer area on the imprint side, keep them snug together all the time like you see in the photo.



Your thumb will be on the smooth or even texture side of the pad so the pad is secure in your hand.






Most of the time you want to hold the pad as flat as you can against the surface with your focus on applying pressure to as much of the face of your fingers as you can, not just the finger tips.


Would look like this from overhead.



This of course is the extreme opposite of the above as an example of the wrong way to hold the pad when working it with a product.



There is a minor exception and that would be if your focusing on removing a random, isolated deeper defects, (RIDS), for your initial passes by hand you would be applying more pressure purposefully to your fingertips as the goal at that time is to remove more paint than normal in an effort to level the surface. After these initial more concentrated applications are over then you would revert back to the more flat-hand approach to continue working the area and polish out any marring from the heavier pressure. (Removing RIDS by hand usually requires multiple steps).


As for pressure, it's hard to post a number as you have to balance pressure with common sense or you could instill fingermarks in your process.

Keep in mind that Ultimate Compound is a fairly aggressive product so instead of pushing too hard you can work safe by just using medium pressure and let the abrasives do the work over time, in some cases the words over time can mean multiple applications.

Inspect your results after you do your first test spot and you should get a feel for how much pressure, how big of an area, how many applications.
Is that what you were looking for?

For the first application for your test spot work the UC for about a minute to an area about a foot squared then wipe the excess off and check your results.

Placing a piece of painters tape onto the paint first and then only working on one side of it will give you a much more clear vision as to what kind of results you're producing.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Have fun getting the Forester cleaned up.

[hsia914]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Thank you for the reply.

Forester is excellent car...

I bought back Feburary. I have been using NXT Wax since I bought the car

[SVT Lightning]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

I'm sure Mike is coming up with some good info. How do you like your Forester? We just bought a 09 and love it! Traded in our 98 Forester for it. What a difference...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Weekend Project for My Car

Hang on...

[hsia914]

Here is my weekend project. I will take as long as I can to make sure my car is taken care of.
Any comments and suggestations are welcome...

Weekend Project

Car: 2009 Subaru Forester

Color: Black

Tools: Only My Two Hands ( I don't have DA polisher)

Meguiar's Products:

Clay Kit

Deep Crystal system Polish

Deep Crystal System Paint cleaner

Swirl X

Scratch X 2.0

Ultimate Compound

NXT Tech Wax 2.0 Liquid

Ultimate Detailer

Natural Shine Protectant

Microfiber towels (16)

6 Form pads (4 yellow and 2 NXT purple)

Microfiber washing mitt

Place: DIY coin car wash

Goal: Remove swirl marks and minor scratchs and make shine

It is getting hot here in Texas. I am planning to go to the car wash in the early morning to aviod the heat. BTW, can any one show or tell me how to correctly to use (hold) foam pad??? I live in an apartment complext, have no access to use DA polisher (I don't have one). I only can use my two hands

What is the pressure to put on form pad??? 10 pounds or 15 pounds???

Thank you