Detailing A Black 3000GT

I

icecold3000GT

New member
Ok I am VERY new to all this and I need some help. I have a black 1996 3000GT with very good paint ofr how old it is. But as all cars are I now have some scratches on it. Since I am only in high school and I drive my car everyday (and have to park it in the middle of the high school parking lot :( ) I am looking for a good pattern to go in when detailing my car. I am looking at this:



1. Wash of course (I have the cheap soap, do I need to get better)

2. Clay with Meguiar's (Never have done this before, but it doesn't sound too hard)

3. Polish with whatever yall tell me to get. (Still don't really understand what polishing will do after all the reading I have done on it)

4. Meguiar's Scratch X for the scratchs (Do I need to put it on the whole car or just where the scratches are, I thought just the straches but I have just read that someone said the whole car to remove swirl marks.)

5. Wax (I have Zymol, but I have used it twice and I left some streaking stuff on my car. I don't know if I did something wrong but I just didn't give me the shine I wanted.)





Thanks for helping me out and hopefully I will learn and my car will look even better. Don't worry I will hopefully post picture of before and after for yall to drool at.

:D
 
Welcome to Autopia.



Start out by clicking on the "learn!" icon at the top of the page. It should answer many of your questions.



I like and use regularly:



Meguiar's NXT car wash and Eagle One Wet car wash

Poorboy's and Menzerna polishes

Wolfgang, ClearKote, Zaino, and S100 waxes/sealants
 
icecold3000GT welcome to Autopia and beautiful car by the way!!



Here is my opinion for you...please take it just as that...an opinion. It's worth as much as it costs you for me to give it!!:D



1) Pick the wash of your choice just make sure you have some good quality wash mits and drying towels.



2) I love Meg's products but DO NOT LIKE their clay bar. It's hard and not very pliable. A great over the counter clay kit is the Mother's kit. Their clay bar is very soft and easy to use and the kit comes with some quick detailer and a small bottle of cleaner wax for about $20.



3) For polishing (since I gather you will be doing it by hand) try and get some Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover. This is a very easy product to use by hand. What you are doing when polishing and using this product is taking a very fine layer of clearcoat off of your car to reduce and remove light scratches in the top clearcoat layer. It's also called leveling the surface.



4) Scratch X is a great product for spot scratch removal of deeper scratches. You really have to work the product in to get full benefit of it. I would skip this product and try using #9 for the whole car.



5) Zymol is a great carnuba wax but can be very hard to work with especially on dark colors as it has a tendancy to streak (as you have seen) on a paint surface. It has a very high content of oils and carnuba in it.



6) I would top it with whatever product you feel comfortable with. I think that for a beginner (and for $14) Meguiar's NXT is a great choice. It is easy to work with and provides excellent results.



Good luck and take some pictures when you are done!! :xyxthumbs



Mike
 
i agree with 1 Clean WS6... i wouldnt use the zymol.. ive been using it before, and that stuff streaks crazy on black/dark colors.
 
icecold3000GT said:
O ya another quick question. Do I need to wash again after I polish with #9? or after claying? Thanks again!
Click to expand...



You won't need to wash again after the #9 application. Washing after a clay session is matter of personal choice...some do...some don't. In my own case, I do not re-wash after a clay step. I'll wash the car...clay...then go over the entire vehicle will some QD then begin my polish step.
 
Ok I guess here are the new steps. Please feel free to correct me or just give your imput:



1.Wash and Dry outside

2.Clay it inside (Not with Meg's clay)

3.Put some Quick Detailing Spray on it.

4.Polish with #9 with whatever says it applys polish by hand.

5.Finish off with Meg's NXT with Terry Cloth.



Please again correct me if I am worng on anything. But thanks for you guys help so far. Hopefully down the road I can help another beginner out. :xyxthumbs
 
Ya so my dad and I went to Wal-Mart. He believes that all types of stuff are the same :rolleyes: . So I have bought the cheap soap, meg's quick detailing spray, meg's applying pad, and Turtle Wax. I still have a few things to get. But I was wondering if any steps have changed because of my dad's willingness to try and save money?
 
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