Butt we still cant tell if ours are clean or dirty.....ASM/SSM ftmfw

 

I polish and wax my RBP , not even a week later it looks like shit FML

I want a silver car!

 

No you don't!!!

 

yes I do! Mercedes has a few silvers that I LOVE! Also moon rock S2K

 

LOL...good luck finding that color.
Silverstone is pretty close though...

 

moon rock was canada exclusive I'm certain? . Theyre around I'm sure, prob extremely hard to attain though!

 

you know silver cars have front bumpers too right...

 

How the hell can anyone stay in business doing two steps in 8 hours and only charging $100? That's just idiotic pricing on his part. And those $80 details you mentioned are probably doing way more damage than good. Anyone who advertises a "high speed buff" is a total hack and will swirl the hell out of your paint. Good detailing costs money for a reason. High quality products, insurance, knowledge on how to deal with problems that invariably come up, etc.

And an 8 hour job, the paint should look like this in the direct sun:

 

I'm too scawed to remove that much clear

 

I agree with Scott 100%

 

oh yeah? prove it...
remove that front bumper!

 

Unless you are wet sanding, you are removing minuscule amounts of clear.

Using a DA polisher like a Porter Cable, Griots or Meguiars MT300 (8 mm throw) or a Zen Tool or Rupes (21 mm throw-better!) will allow you to polish the paint more deeply and evenly than possible by hand. And unless you lean on the same spot for several minutes or drop it on the car, its very hard to damage the paint with a DA polisher. Stay away from a rotary if you are a first timer, the learning curve is really steep.

 

I'm not...
I've been down the zaino road,
then da (7424XP)
then makita rotary...(I'm not willing to sacrifice the product it takes to keep the pad wet enough to not feel "dry"...)
so I dialed it back to DA again...

I guess my NBP TL probably had it coming...I just always felt like it must be that I over compounded and polished her...now, on the CTSV, I've resolved to just polish and protect and enjoy what I have on there in the way of clearcoat.

 

I wish I had more knowledge about this stuff. Anytime I do a polish and wax by hand I'm never really satisfied with the results when I see it in the sun afterwards, and Im also too scared to go at it with a buffer! I leave that to the guys who know what they are doing

 

Shocker...


DA is perfectly safe though...I agree with Scott on that...
you can just let it sit and go with one hand and read your penthouse forum letters in the other hand and you won't burn.
With a rotary though...you cough or sneeze or scratch your balls while you're going anything over 1500 rpm and not enough product and you'll be like, what are those pretty white lines I just put in my paint.
BURN MARKS!

 

hmmm maybe ill look into a DA for next summer. I like detailing my car.

And stop!
I always try things on my own first! If I'm not comfortable with it then I pass lol

 

Good man!

 

Detail job on a busted car?

I'm about that life.

My first car was a busted up second hand doodoo brown whip with pre-existing crash damage, including holes in the body from impact and rust.

But I'll be damned if I didn't wash and wax that beast like it was a brand new Farari. You know how they say you can't shine shit? Well I disagree... My little turdball looked mightly fly after my ghetto job in the dorm parking lot.

Sure OP might have some battle damage. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't take care of what *is* good. Keep on OP. Maybe save up to fix that one fender, and maybe try to DIY pop that bumper bump. But overall - rock on and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

Hope you're off the Zaino, aka repackaged Duragloss bandwagon. So much stuff out there that is a lot better.

Honda's NBP paint sucks, soft sticky clear and not enough of it. A CTSV on the other hand, has rock hard clear, you can hit it pretty hard and not do much. Once polished you can use something like Optimum Gloss Coat which is an actual coating that protects the clear a lot better than regular waxes or sealants.

 

Good vehicle to learn on, if you mess something up it isn't as big a deal. When I first got a rotary, I picked up a few fenders from a buddy's body shop to practice on.

 

Heck yes!
I left them behind after the first year...
the most tempting part was that I was afraid to go machine at first and they basically promote it as amazing results with your hand. Yeah, well, my hand didn't like that...it was a lot of work.

Right now my sealant of choice is Wolfgang's Deep Paint Gloss sealant 3.0...goes on and off easily and I've had people tell me they thought my car got a fresh paintjob!
I will give the Optimum gloss coat a shot though...
previous owner went pretty hard on shitty washing techniques and most of the scratches are deeply embedded but also mainly only visible on vertical panels you don't see reflecting the sun unless you're 6 inches tall.

Thanks Scott!

 

I gotta try this wolfgang stuff

 

I used it when it first came out and its decent enough stuff. Haven't used the current version. But I stopped trying every new product that comes along a while back. Just don't have the time. Besides, it is claying and polishing that makes by far the biggest improvement. Last couple of years all I've used for a sealant is Optimum Opti-Seal. All you do it wipe it on, levels and clears out by itself. Very wet look, lasts several months. Haven't even used a carnauba wax in a couple years now. Opti-Seal has better depth and protects longer so why work harder? Otherwise if I am coating a car it's Gloss Coat (lasts 2-3 years) or Opti-Coat Pro, which has a 5 year warranty but is a permanent coating. Gloss Coat is available to consumers since it is much more goof proof than Opti-Coat.

Applied Gloss Coat on this Range Rover after a light paint correction in April, was out yesterday because he wanted his leather coated too, plus have it washed. Just used Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax. Paint is still swirl free, owner washes it the same way which definitely helps.

 

yes I'm curious about that opti coat stuff too. Would that protect my paint against chips and stuff on the highway and what not? Im too cheap for the 3m clear bra stuff plus I dont like the lines it shows on far paint

 

Technically yes, but I don't think it's rated to add enough to take a rock hit (over a clear vinyl, say).
Good info, Scott...thanks for sharing.
I am familiar with the opti and quartz...was considering it but was pretty afraid of locking in any swirls (although if I'm too afraid to remove them, what's the difference, huh?) haha...
Looking like the opti-seal might be just the ticket, only semi permanent...I dig that.

 

i couldn't agree more.. wtf guys. give the kid a break. he did a great job. kudos for putting the effort in...!!

 

My Accord has less chips than most I've seen even with half the miles so I'd say it helps...not so much as a barrier but that it reduces friction so rocks and gravel can't bite into the paint as much.

And the only way to really do a clear bra is a complete front end wrap with all the edges tucked. And you would be paying $1500-3000 depending on the vehicle and what needs to be removed to tuck the edges.