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Car wax and buff methods



OK all, no laughing lol. Found out I waxed both cars incorrectly. I actually used the buff pad with the turtle wax and didn't let it set. I helped my dad wax his ram 2500. He used the wax pad, let it set for about 15 minutes. Then buffed. I was like "oh crap". You live and learn lol. He gave me some meguiars spray on wax, so I'm going to try that out too.
 
damn. How do you wax a car with only 10 or 20cc of wax?

Very easily with just 10cc's. It goes on thin and it goes a long way. 10cc's can get you 2 coats on the paint and about 2-3 cc's left to do the face of the wheels. If you choose to do the barrels of the wheels then I would recommend picking up the 20cc syringe.

It doesn't get any easier than this when it comes to applying a coating.


I will say coatings require more prep work. It does take some practice to get the paint defect free. Don't go for 100% defect removal unless you are trying to achieve a concours finish which requires more work than just polishing. 85-95% defect removal is just fine an acceptable. There will be some deeper defects that will require more work. These are referred to as RIDS (Random Isolated Deeper Scratches).

Coatings are great but they still require maintenance just like a wax or sealant. Just a little less maintenance. The difference being that coatings will be more durable and last longer. They can also protect better against wash marring. So it's not a set it and forget it philosophy with coatings. Gloss Coat is one of the easiest coatings to apply.

Sealants would be my next recommendation. There are quite a few on the market that perform rather well. Meguiar's Ultimate Wax works great and is available locally. Optimum Opti-Seal is super easy to use. You could apply this after every other wash or use it as drying aid. Either way it will keep the paint protected. Blackfire is another good one. Sonax Polymer Net Shield. I mean the list goes on. Autogeek, Autopia and Detailed Image are just a couple places that offer some very good products. All of these sites offer many sales.

The reason for the coating was for salt prevention mainly.
This past weekend I dumped a black can of Rustoleum Industrial spray under it wherever I saw the brown.
I use Salt Away dilution in a 1 gallon sprayer in winter to pre-treat it before a rinse-less wash .

So anyway....before coating you need virgin paint. The easiest way is to polish the car.
This works to rid the swirls and remove the sealant at the same time.

So be happy with the way it looks before coating. I didn't get too carried away.
I used M205 with white Lake country pads followed by Menzerna SF4500(new # is 3800) on a black LC pads.
You can rip the pads of the DA and use by hand for the tight areas or use a yellow wax applicator.

Then I wiped it down with Griots paint prep followed by a Car Pro Eraser wipe down. I didn't have any Optimum Paint prep at the time but that is what I would prefer.
2X's worked for me but next time I will do 3. After 16 hours I was anxious.

You need to use a lot of Microfibers in the wipe down stage to make sure the paint is CLEAN, so make sure you have some good ones.
In a pinch the Costco yellows will do but some from the Rag Company would be ideal.
Wearing latex gloves is a must to prevent oils from the skin transferring.

I haven't used the blue applicator that comes with Gloss Coat yet and have done 3 cars. The Guz reassured me it wasn't wasting any product compared to using a micro suede wrapped around a Car Pro block(the more traditional way)

You just put a few lines on the end of the blue pad to prime and start. After that it is a few drops or drizzle.
You can tell when the sponge needs a squirt because of the coverage.

Here is Mikes (The Guz) newest write up. He does it up good.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ck-c5-corvette-coated-optimum-gloss-coat.html

There is a write up on the Detailed Image by Zach McGovern that shows how easy it is but the site isn't working right now.

Application is the easiest part, just like anything else it's in the prep.

Amazon has the 20cc from Detail King for around 86(if you are doing 2 cars). I bought from them and they are quick.
They didn't have the Optimum paint prep last time I looked for it but they have Car Pro Eraser which works great.

Depending on what you have for micro fibers there is some deals there from the Rag Co.
Don't buy any microfibers from Chemical Guys they are junk.

A bottle of Opti-seal would be nice for after it's coated. I ordered the 3 pack last time.
The stuff is stupidly simple to use with phenomenal results. You can spray it on everything.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Hopefully the Guz pipes in.

Thanks for posting up the link to my thread.


Wow. Just wow ... Thanks man. Bookmarked for later !


ya know maybe I should just pop over and see The Guz with my cars....

That will be a very long drive but worth it once you leave with a nice gloss coated car :D

That Corvette I worked on was trashed. I explained why in that thread. So your paint may not be in this bad of shape. You are going to hear this a lot. Use the least aggressive method. The test spot is your friend. Mike Phillips of Autogeek has a great write up on that forum on how to do a test spot.

Here are a couple other threads on two other cars that I Gloss Coated

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...cted-rupes-uhs-coated-optimum-gloss-coat.html

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...10-camaro-optimum-gloss-coat-new-formula.html

I will be recoating my brothers 03 Grand Prix shortly. The Ameriarmour coating on his paint has been rather unimpressive. Some coatings just don't perform as good as some others.
 
02? That's pretty early... Mine was May of 03, and it's still got some leftovers from the previous gen GPs

I have a pre production Comp G. One of the first ones made of the newest gen.

There is some great information here. Thanks Spazz and Guz. This should be moved to the detail section!!
 
Hmm... Now I'm wanting to a coating again just haven't pulled the trigger and time is not in my sound nowadays to full polish and coat a car and no usable garage for the car to sit until it cures


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Hmm... Now I'm wanting to a coating again just haven't pulled the trigger and time is not in my sound nowadays to full polish and coat a car and no usable garage for the car to sit until it cures


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Gloss Coat actually cures over 24 hours. If opti-seal is applied over gloss coat, then opti-seal will protect it (from marring, chemical etching among other things) until it fully cures in 7 days. The 7 day cure time is typical for most coatings as they harden over that time. It's recommended to not wash the car within this time frame as it can impact the coating a bit. Although Optimum No rinse is ok during this 7 day window. Gloss Coat will shed opti-seal within a 2 week time frame.

If you choose to go with Gloss Coat I would recommend applying 2 coats at 1 hour apart followed by a coat of opti-seal 1 hour after the last coat.

GTechniw Crystal Serum Light and Exo is another combo that looks impressive. Affordable to.
 


Good info I'll have to look into both of those. I took another job and I'm working out of state most of the time so finding time to wax doesn't happen so often anymore and I want some more protection then what wax typical provides. Been out of the detail loop for awhile now what's the go to compound/polish of AIO, use to be M105/205 but the dusting was just to much for me to really want to use that again. Machines a PC 7424XP last I checked I think I still have some LC orange pads for correctIon.


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You were getting dusting with M205? I don't own or use M105 because of the dusting and short working time. M100 and M101 are much better than M105.

I haven't had dusting occur with M205. I have read of people complain about it dusting but then they place their location and humidity and temperature play a factor in dusting.

There are a lot of guys going over to 3D but I was not impressed with HD Polish. Now that dusted for me like no tomorrow. Sure it was easy to wipe off but the dusting was terrible.

McKee's 37 compound and polish are getting good reviews. Griots Garage has quite a following with their new Boss creams.
 
I'm thinking you are thinking it was just M105 with the dusting.

M205 is still my go to for polish at that stage.
M101 kicks some serious butt. M101 and HCC400 are my heavy hitter compounds and don't dust.
 


Sorry yea 105 for the dusting.


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The good thing about the paint on w bodies is that it is on the medium side of things. So even ultimate compound gets good results if compound is needed. M205 is pretty versatile so adjusting the pad could be all that is needed.

Thanks guy I'll take a look... Guessing McKee = old DP


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You are correct. The Pinnacle XMT and DP line merged together. The compound and polish are completely new formulas for the McKee's 37 line.
 
This would be for the charger.. The GP has seen its better days and I lost interest and time to work on the damn thing. I have a bottle of dlux to coat the plastic trim and I was thinking the matte spoiler as well. Fortunately a good portion of the car is covered up by decals so it makes a full correction much more possible with my limited time


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