Story of the day

[LiquidBlack]

So it got nice and cool here in west TN, and I had nothing to do, so I began walking around taking some pictures around my college campus. From there, I decided to go check up on my car. I don't do much driving now that I'm in college, and haven't waxed the car in three weeks.

I was appalled by what I saw. Swirls everywhere, water spottage, and dust. Thankfully, no bird poo!

So I dropped by autozone and picked up some gold class shampoo, another brand's clay bar (autozone doesnt carry the quik clay), and a meguiars plush wash mitt. Everything else I needed was in the back of my trunk.

So I dropped by one of those wash-it-yourselver's to do my work. Clearly ignoring the "Bucket washing is prohibited" sign, I began scrubbing.
A grizzly man in his 50's walked in and goes:
"What the hell do you think you're doin?".
I'm like:
"sir, I dont want to use the turtle wax foams and waxes. I'm a meguiars user"

"whats wrong with the turtle stuff?"

"its no good to me"

"uh, well you cant bucket wash here"

"gotcha"

So I go over to the machine and put a dollar in, and he walks away. Then I just turned on the water sprayer and sprayed off my soap, instead of getting the soap foam.

Next I pull out the clay bar. This was my first time using one, but this forum has given me so much information that I was confident. I was amazed by my results. The clay just glides over the finish (my finish still is in good shape), and the parts that I had clayed were much smoother than those that werent.
People began to crowd around me, wondering what I was doing. I explained the claying process and how they may benefit from it. The grizzly man dropped in, and told me to "move my butt", I was holding up some people from washing their cars. I moved the car out and finished the areas I wanted to clay.
The claying was more of an experiment; in a few months or so I will clay the entire vehicle.

So again I move my car under the shelter and pulled out the scratch-x for an experiment (and if successful, even more). I moved to the trunk, where I could clearly see the swirls in the sunlight, and set to work. I used a clean microfiber applicator pad.
I put a line of product on the pad, and worked it in HARD on a 6-8 inch area of my trunk. I kept at it, working it in for 45 seconds, then putting more product on the pad. After about 4 applications, there was a noticable difference, but I was already tired. I work out 1-2 times a day, and my arm was hurting.

Perhaps my technique was wrong. I think it would be a great idea for the meguiar's staff to release an instructional video on proper usage of Scratch-X. I do have a video from meguiar's (car care appearance clinic) that has a small demonstration, but the guy who applies it barely works it in, and that may be somewhat misleading.

To me, I dont think I will ever use scratch-x on my entire car, just because of the effort required. This winter I am aiming to buy a g100. That'll fix my problems.

So, I begin working on putting some gold class wax on my car. The guy comes back and is like: "OK if you dont stop this I'm gonna call the cops." I wanted to be a nice as I could, because I'd hate to be banned from washing my car, so I moved across the street to a shaded alley, where I finished my work.

To those who say gold class wax does not cover swirls, I'd like to debunk that statement. While it did not hide all of them, my finish was much improved and much less swirl(y).

I love the way my car "POPS" out in the parking lot after a good waxing, like a gold nugget in the mud.

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing!

[Xtreme99_s-Dime]

Great story,

I would tend to agree with you about the gold class wax. It's known for its darkening qualities, so on a black car like ours, it will hide more than people would imagine. I used Gold Class wax untill I finally had an extra $20 in my wallet, and bought some NXT. (which was only like 5 months ago).

Its great that people were noticing what you were doing. They were like "hey what the heck is that guy doing?"

I love getting that response. Especially when I wash my car at sunset.

Peace,

Stevo

[gb387]

Thanks for posting... Before I bought my townhouse I use to hand wash my car in the coin-op bays as well using only for a rinse... I have never been kicked out of a car wash! I just kept an eye open for a waiting car and moved on to a rinse if someone was waiting, never had any problems with the owners either. I frequented them at 11-12 at night when there is no traffic.

On to Meguiars stuff... I have never tried the Gold Class Wax, seems everyone has something good to say about it. When you get a PC you will really like the ease of use and the results you can get from it are well worth the investment.

[Mosca]

I used a lot of ScratchX in several different situations last weekend, and I did a little experiment with ScratchX yesterday. It's a pretty versatile product, but its versatility also means that there are more variables to its use.

When I used it to attack true scratches, like might be caused by accidentally dragging an electrical cord against a fender (we've never done that, have we), I got best results by attacking vigorously, with repeat applications, and using a terry applicator.

Using it to attack swirls, a little bit more than medium pressure and a foam pad worked MUCH better.

It didn't matter how delicate my applicator was, if I pushed really, really hard it swirled the paint... the upside is that I could take ScratchX and a foam pad and, using a little bit more than medium pressure, remove those swirls!

When I used it to attack oxidation, I used a very soft terry applicator and medium pressure and repeat, repeat, repeat applications. Time seemed to be more important here than pressure or type of applicator. As the oxidized paint came off, more SX went on.

All paints are different, and there is a wide variation in microfiber and terry applicators. We often describe how to use products under ideal conditions. Having more than one "tool" (type of applicator) and using it at different "speeds" (pressure) can often reduce the variables substantially.


Tom

[stealth]

Great results w/a difficult color & circumstances! Keep it poppin'.