DanielKSpencer

Here's a few things to consider when detailing your car. Especially if you have a black car that shows micro scratches and swirls easily

Most of the damage to you paint is done by improper washing. If you are rubbing a gritty, dirty sponge all over your car when you wash it you are doing more damage than good.

I use one of the microfiber jobs from Walmart with the stringy things on them. They have a cheap blue one or the Orange turtle wax ones. I use the blue since they are the same but cheaper. These trap more dirt and have more surface area then a sponge so they trap more grit and hold more soap.

Start with a good car wash. I use Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II because it's very slick and very sudsy and smells great. It doesn't strip wax or sealant and that is super important. The good Maguires wash is good also, but doesn't suds nearly as well.

If you have access to a pressure washer, use it to first spray the car with soap then rinse with high pressure to get as much of the dirt and grit off as possible before touching the car. (this is very very helpful to keep from scratching the paint from a dirty sponge)

You need a Bucket (or 2) with grit guards in them. The grit guard sits in the bottom of the bucket and traps grit and dirt so it doesn't get back on the car and do damage. You can use a rinse bucket first then the soap bucket to make double sure to get all of the grit out of the sponge.

Agitate the sponge against the grit guard to work the grit out each time you put put it in the bucket to get more soap.

Wash the car in straight lines, not circles to prevent swirl marks.

Rinse the car then dry using one of these methods. . .

You can either use the sheeting method to pre-dry the car. To use the sheeting method you use a hose with no sprayer on the end so it's free flowing. Start at the top of the car and fill the top with water so it's running off the sides. Bring the hose down to the edge of the top and move it back and forth to "catch" the water and slowly work it down to the bottom of the car. If you do it correctly it will sheet the water off the car and be almost dry with just a few spots left.

At this point you can just use a Microfiber drying towel to blot (not rub) the little water that is left.

OR My preferred method is using a leaf blower to just dry the car off which will also get water out of the nooks and crannies that the other method will miss. I do this because in shows I can't have water spots inside my gas cap, trunk, etc. Plus, the less you touch a car's paint the less chance you have of scratching or streaking it.

I try to never touch my paint if I can help it. If I have just dust on my car I would rather pressure wash it and leaf blow it than to try to use a microfiber and quick detailer, which will scratch the hell out of a car. You notice it on a black but maybe not on another color.

When you have a car with a mirror shine like mine you can really see when you screw up with using car dusters, microfibers and quick detailer, etc.

Never ever just spray a car off and then dry it with a towel. If it's just sprayed off, even with a pressure washer there is still dirt and dust on it and the towel will rub it around and scratch the heck out of it no matter how careful you are.

If I think of more I'll post later. I hope this helps guys. I am very passionate about my car's paint and I'm constantly getting compliments and scoring very high on my finish.

Once you get a good wax job the last thing you want to do if screw it up the first time you wash the car. . .

DanielKSpencer

Here's an example of the Sheeting method and how great it works to dry a car without risking the paint by using a water blade or a towel to rub all over the nice shinny paint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myG7h...eature=related

staggolee

And you can tell you know what he's talking about because you can see more trees reflected on his car than in the actual background lol. Great write up, I'll make sure I'll share this with my friend since he has a black car and we meet up to wash our cars about once a week

bigscott

Detailing is a pain in the ***. soooo hard to keep a car looking nice.

any tips for removing swirl marks? mine clearly wasnt dried properly before. ive probably even done damage to it myself.

DanielKSpencer

DanielKSpencer

Yeah, I'm planning on doing a write up on that, too. But bottom line you have to have a professional grade buffer like the Porter Cable 7424 or you'll need about a year to do it by hand, lol The BS buffers at Walmart are useless and do not provide nearly enough power to remove anything.

I use Maguire's M205 for light swirls and M105 or Ultimate Compound for heavier stuff. The M105 is much more aggressive and should only be use in extreme circumstance on very neglected paint.

I use Lake Country pads Tangerine Hydro tech for light polishing with M205 and Cyan for Heavy stuff with the M105 or UC.

You need to press just hard enough to crush the pad but not slow the buffer and do 2 ft squares at a time. You have to have good lighting or pull it out in the sun after each section to see if it's good before moving on. I use dual halogen work light stands and just move it around as I work. The buffer plugs into the stand and it's great.

It's not as hard as you think, but it's time consuming. Hince, why it's so important to wash properly and avoid having to do it often

Stormracer

Superbender

Thanks for some awesome tips,if I could ask you a question,I bought my car second hand from down south,problem is water spots in the glass,don't laugh but I tried every thing in my limited power even chrome polish which worked pretty good but not perfect any ideas thanks,I have been going to car shows and I know my paint is not all it could be but i'm trying

DanielKSpencer

My car had water spots all over the glass, too. I used the Maguires M205 light polish and it brought them right off. I basically buffed my glass just like I do my paint. I figured if it removes them from paint it would work on glass and it did

If you're hand polishing try some ultimate compound or scratch x and that should make it easier

DanielKSpencer

It's funny, I tried to not get trees in the pix so it doesn't mess up the lines of the car, but now I wish I had taken some to show the reflections. Those are some nice pix, btw.