My 2009 chevy cobalt.

[DgenerationX]

My washing arsenal! I love my foam cannon.


Foam cannon in action!


The tools of the trade!



Clay time!


All tapped up ready to start!


Yeah I know, it's pretty bg section at one time, but the car was already deffect free, I just wanted to be sure nothing would hide under the wax :P


Swirl finder in action, looks good to me!


Crappy reflection pic with my cell phone,

At that point, the wax was on and it was 3h15 in the morning so I went to bed, now im about to go get the wax off! I'll post more pics later!

[Bill Davidson]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Looking good Marc. I look forward to seeing more pics. Is that the car with the Lambo door hinge kit?

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Looks great. Hope to see some reflection shots.

[aris]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Nice work

[DgenerationX]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Removed the wax this afternoon, decided to reapply a second coat! I'm going to work tonight so i'll remove this coat tomorow morning! After i'll take to car out in the sun for a photo shoot! stay tune!

Looking good Marc. I look forward to seeing more pics. Is that the car with the Lambo door hinge kit?

yes it is ahaha i'll take a pic doors open just for you :P

[audiophile64]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Cool wheels I have black 2008 cobalt ss turbo.What are the mods on your car other than the doors?Thats not ss right? looks like an lt cobalt

[DgenerationX]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Cool wheels I have black 2008 cobalt ss turbo.What are the mods on your car other than the doors?Thats not ss right? looks like an lt cobalt

thanks for the comment. There's not much on the car, yes it's a LT. Other then the wheels, I have some eibach lowering spring, a aftermarket pionner sound system with two PPI subwoofers 300 watts rms each. Wheels are 18 inch enkei mags wrap in wanli 225/40/18.

I can't think of anything else right now ahaha, feel free to post some pics of yours! also you can check this forum out, www.chevycobaltforum.com

[DgenerationX]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

I'm sorry for the delay since I first posted. Working on a night shift makes things difficult when it comes to take pics in the sun. When I woke up this afternoon, I washed my car because there was light dust on it from work. I then dried the car with some microfiber towels. What looked like a good day, suddently turn into a nightmare. I already had problem with NXT 2.0 wax when I last used it on my car. I tought I would give it a second chance when I last detail, so I went with two THIN coat. It looks like I end up getting the typical NXT problem. These kind of ''streaking''. I had high expection about that wax, but it end up it just don't ''fit'' me. I'm not gonna bash the product or anything, because I know some people had great result with it, but this was definatly the last time I was using this wax. BTW I am not a newbie in detailing, I had been detailing for a long time already.

I took some pics, the reflections are great and I couldn't capture the streaking. From the pics, I could have said the job was exeptional and just do like nothing, but that's not me lol.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to post them.






(bill the last pic is for you lol)
thanks for reading
Marc

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Removed the wax this afternoon

Looking at the time stamps of your posts and your comments in the posts, we have to ask - how long after you applied the wax did you wipe it off? Seems like many hours passed, correct?

[DgenerationX]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

overnight, around 10 hours I would say?

[davey g-force]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

overnight, around 10 hours I would say?

I often do this too. Works great and very convenient if you have the luxury of a garage overnight.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

overnight, around 10 hours I would say?

Just be careful when dealing with situations of high humidity since the hazed/hazing layer of applied product can start to draw moisture out of the air making wipe off difficult and/or causing streaking. In low humidity this isn't a problem - usually.

For anyone else reading this who might start to think it's a good idea to leave your wax on for 10 hours before wipe off, just keep in mind that the heavier you apply it (and many people apply wax far too heavily) the more moisture it can gather and the larger the potential problem might be. Also, if you do this in an environment that is at all dusty you set up the possibility for a whole new set of issues. Just use common sense if you find you need to do this for whatever reason.

[Brad7]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Car looks perfect! nice job!

[davey g-force]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Just be careful when dealing with situations of high humidity since the hazed/hazing layer of applied product can start to draw moisture out of the air making wipe off difficult and/or causing streaking. In low humidity this isn't a problem - usually.

For anyone else reading this who might start to think it's a good idea to leave your wax on for 10 hours before wipe off, just keep in mind that the heavier you apply it (and many people apply wax far too heavily) the more moisture it can gather and the larger the potential problem might be. Also, if you do this in an environment that is at all dusty you set up the possibility for a whole new set of issues. Just use common sense if you find you need to do this for whatever reason.

Thanks for the heads up Michael.

I do it mostly as a matter of convenience (wax on the night before, go to bed, wax off the next morning), however in the back of my mind I'm also thinking that it benefits the durability of the wax protection.

Would you agree that there is some benefit to durability by letting the wax cure overnight?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 2009 chevy cobalt.

Would you agree that there is some benefit to durability by letting the wax cure overnight?

Not really, no. After the wax/sealant is applied it takes several minutes for the "carrier ingredient", if you will, to flash off or otherwise dry. This is the haze you see on the surface that is ultimately wiped off and thrown away (or, more technically, washed out of your towel and flushed down the drain). What's left is an incredibly thin layer of either wax or polymers that has bonded to the paint. If a wax then things are basically done at that point. If a polymer synthetic then there is still some crosslinking taking place as the chemistry of the formulation is doing its thing. This is why we recommend waiting 12 to 24 hours between coats of wax for maximum protection - you want that crosslinking/bonding to finish before disturbing the polymers on the surface when you apply the second coat. Leaving the haze on longer, or for a very long period of time, doesn't allow more polymers to bond to the surface or let them bond any more strongly. They're going to do what they're going to do whether that haze is there or not.

But taking the haze off too soon means to remove too much product while still in more of a liquid state. Or, in reality, it means to struggle to remove the product since you're just pushing everything around, which leads to streaking. Taking the haze off much later can make the removal process much easier, unless humidity is high and the haze is starting to absorb humidity from the air. Then you're sort of right back where you started with the early removal (although, technically, the actual issue is a bit different).

Give this a try sometime with almost any 100% polymer product: try to wipe it off a little too soon and look at the surface with a swirl finder light. Wipe your towel in one direction and look at the streaking left behind. Now wipe your towel at 90 degrees to your first wipe (from top to bottom versus from left to right) and watch how the streak changes direction 90 degrees. Now give it 12 to 24 hours to fully crosslink and bond and wipe the surface again. You won't see the streaking any more. What's really bizarre is if you do this next day follow up at the right time you'll see a much shorter streak than you did the day before, but if you watch it for a few seconds it will fade away before your eyes. The polymers at that point have almost completed their crosslinking process but they are still fairly dynamic on the surface and can be, quite literally, pushed around. This is easier to see with the second coat of product, or when applying it over another polymer heavy product. On truly bare paint, or on older paint, the polymers have more chance to "bite" or bond to the paint and you won't see this effect as much. Of course not all polymer products will exhibit this to the same degree, but under the right conditions it's sort of interesting to watch. It's also part of the reason we suggest removing the haze with a simple wipe or two and that's it. Stop touching the paint at that point as you gain nothing by repeatedly buffing it after removal.

A longer answer than you were looking for, huh?