1994 Dodge Stealth

[Simon777]

This is only my second time detailing a car, so any advise would be appreciated.

Steps Used(in order):
-Washed with Dawn soap to eat all old products and wax on car
-Clayed Car with Meguiar's Clay Kit
-Ultimate Compound twice on the entire car
-Spot treated with Scratch X 2.0
-4 layers of Meguiar's Step 2 Polish
-3 layers of Gold Class Wax


One issue I had that hopefully someone can help me with: After waxing, there was this brownish residue all over the car. I just took a microfiber towel and had to rub really hard to get it off, but I'm just wondering if the wax will still protect the car since i had to rub. Also, does anyone think it will last as long?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Hi Simon!

Just so you know I had to go in and edit the IMG coding because I believe you use the "Image link location" as opposed to the "Image location" when you tried to embed them.
It's working great now!

Mark

[fe91]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

nice

i dont think 4 coats of polish is necessary though
one will do just fine.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Looks great. Nice work.

[Simon777]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Hi Simon!

Just so you know I had to go in and edit the IMG coding because I believe you use the "Image link location" as opposed to the "Image location" when you tried to embed them.
It's working great now!

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Oh and just for the sake of more pictures, here's my first detail job:

Steps:
-meguiar's clay kit
-meguiar's step 1 paint cleaner
-5 layers of meguiar's step 2 polish
-4 layers of meguiar's gold class wax

Last time, the wax didn't leave a brown residue. The polish is getting old, so I'm wondering if that might be the problem. My latest job was done with a brand new bottle of Meguiar's Gold Class wax so i have no idea why it left that residue. Does anyone think that something in the new 2009 products is reacting with the gold class wax and causing it to not set properly?

[Simon777]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

nice

i dont think 4 coats of polish is necessary though
one will do just fine.

Would putting more coats increase the shine?

[Eddie6th]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Nice work..Looking good.

One going over with polish is all that's needed.

More coats of wax? I don't think it makes it more glossier. Two thin coats would be all that's required,if you want to apply more than one.

[Simon777]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Nice work..Looking good.

One going over with polish is all that's needed.

More coats of wax? I don't think it makes it more glossier. Two thin coats would be all that's required,if you want to apply more than one.

So I guess i just wasted my time then huh? Thanks for telling me though so i know for next time.

[CieraSL]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Nice work..Looking good.

One going over with polish is all that's needed.

More coats of wax? I don't think it makes it more glossier. Two thin coats would be all that's required,if you want to apply more than one.

Looks great though!

[Caress Detailing]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

I would suggest just doing 1 pass with the (I assume) DC2 polish, and 2 layers of GC.

Notice how I said 1 pass, because you shouldn't really be trying to layer polish. A pure polish enriches the paint and doesn't build layers on itself.

As for the brown residue, are you putting it on too thick?

Also, I don't suggest washing with Dawn soap (as a personal opinion) since the passes with Ultimate Compound will remove any old wax anyway.

And if you're going to try a detail again, I'd also suggest to go over with some Swirl-X before the DC2 polish. UC is great and leaves the finish looking almost LSP ready, but it still needs some more refinement.

Otherwise, good job and keep practicing!

[Simon777]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

I would suggest just doing 1 pass with the (I assume) DC2 polish, and 2 layers of GC.

Notice how I said 1 pass, because you shouldn't really be trying to layer polish. A pure polish enriches the paint and doesn't build layers on itself.

As for the brown residue, are you putting it on too thick?

Also, I don't suggest washing with Dawn soap (as a personal opinion) since the passes with Ultimate Compound will remove any old wax anyway.

And if you're going to try a detail again, I'd also suggest to go over with some Swirl-X before the DC2 polish. UC is great and leaves the finish looking almost LSP ready, but it still needs some more refinement.

Otherwise, good job and keep practicing!

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I use the DC2 Polish. Now that I think about it, I did put the wax on thicker than usual so I assume that caused the residue issue.

I get what you mean with the Swirl-X though because after doing 2 passes of Ultimate Compound, there was a slight haze on certain areas which I had to use DC1 Paint Cleaner to get rid of. Is this a good substitute for Swirl-X or would you recommend using Swirl-X?

As for the Dawn soap, I figured that since the car needs to be washed before detailing anyway, I might as well use something that gets rid of the old wax beforehand as this might mean less passes with a stripping compound. Just my thinking

One last question, I realize that more layers of polish give no extra benefits, but would extra layers of wax (more than 2) give extra protection?

[the_invisible]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

One pass of SwirlX is probably more gentle and more effective than three passes of DC Polish. The consensus here is that SwirlX is a good product to restore gloss to a surface previously treated by Ultimate Compound. If you want that extra pop after using Ultimate Compound, you can use Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #205 will do the job in leiu of SwirlX.

Layering wax will enhance protection, and maybe gloss for certain waxes. The protection starts to diminish as start applying above the second of wax. Two is ideal, from my experience.

[Simon777]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

One pass of SwirlX is probably more gentle and more effective than three passes of DC Polish. The consensus here is that SwirlX is a good product to restore gloss to a surface previously treated by Ultimate Compound. If you want that extra pop after using Ultimate Compound, you can use Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #205 will do the job in leiu of SwirlX.

Layering wax will enhance protection, and maybe gloss for certain waxes. The protection starts to diminish as start applying above the second of wax. Two is ideal, from my experience.

Between Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #205 and Swirl-X, which do you think is better and more efficient?

[the_invisible]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

Because SwirlX is more aggressive than M205, it may work more efficiently at removing the defects (such as marring, holograms, spiderwebbing) created by Ultimate Compound. That is especially true if you are working by hand.

However, M205 gives a noticeably deeper gloss than SwirlX. M205 is also twice the cost of SwirlX per ounce.

[beb0816]

Re: 1994 Dodge Stealth

nice job man.. keep it clean!