Different products for different 'Zones' of the car..

G

gkerr4

New member
Does anyone else use different products for different area's of the car?



I don't mean Paint, interior etc. - what I mean is different areas of the paint!



Let me explain... Sometimes (often) i will wash a car and want to give it a quick coat of wax (say P21S), but don't want to do a full detail. When this happens, I will usualy give it what I would term as a "cosmetic" waxing (as opposed to a "protective" waxing - which covers the whole car!)



A cosmetic waxing (in my mind) is basicaly all the side panels of the car from the coachline upwards, the bonnet and bootlid (Hood & trunklid for our U.S. cousins) and the roof edges above the doors including 'A' & 'C' pillars (but not the centre of the roof).



My theory is, and the reason for the term "cosmetic" is that this is where people see light reflecting off the car most and therefore gives the best result / effort ratio possible. It means that the lower body panels (under the coachline), bumpers and roof centre (which can be a lot more intricate and require better drying practise) do not get waxed as often.



Now - in order to protect them it means I have started using different products in these areas which focus on durability.So at the moment my 3-series BMW has GEPC & P21S wax on the "cosmetic" area's and AG SRP & 3xEGP on the other parts.

here is a picture with this 'mixture' of products on it...

bmw3.jpg


bmw1.jpg




I also think that because light is reflected differently on the different areas you can get away with having different products on different zones without anyone noticing.



What I want to know is - is this method of application flawed in anyway? am I just being Lazy? or are there others out there that do this too? Interested to know. Please discuss
 
looking good. tried it once when i first got collinite. did the bottom of the doors, sills, front bumper. havent done it since, i must admit.
 
I know what you mean, used to do this when pushed for time.



Sometimes I wash and QD and want to wax but had no time. In these situations I tend to wax all the bits you mention, plus do the roof, these leaves the front and rear bumpers and the lower half side panels un waxed.



Now my car is garaged I find im not pushed for time so much. So I will wash and QD one day, and if I have not got time to wax at that time, put the car away and I will do it later, or the next day
 
When I detail my Mom's LX470 (BLACK) I'll usually use EX on everything, except the roof. I'll usually layer EX-P or Zaino up top for a little more durability. It's such a PITA getting around those racks. I'll also use EX-P on the bottom of the car since it's a gray metallic, and I like the look of EX-P better on that color. Depending on what products I used and how they are holding up, I may work on just the black or just the gray, but I never cut it short (ie. Only do sections of the black or gray).
 
I did something similar today.



I washed the car down yesterday with GC and it looked really good, simply by washing and careful WW drying. I had applied some EX-P to the whole car the week before, so there was at least some protection on the paint.



Had a spare half hour today, so I QD'd the car down (bonnet, roof and boot lid) and applied a layer of #16 (as I have never used this before) to these areas only, leaving the vertical panels as they were.



3 hours later and heavy rain set in this afternoon and the areas that have the #16 are beading like I have never seen :up



On the motorway, these are the areas of my car that will get most of the grime and this week in the UK looks very poor in terms of weather.
 
over winter i did Collinite on the side and Tropicare on the Top-depending on shape of car you could use a deeper LSP on the sides and a more reflective LSP on the hood, roof and trunk.
 
I don't do that, but what a good idea! Putting something more durable on the lower panels is an excellent idea :xyxthumbs



Nice car btw :)
 
I used to give the hood,front bumper cover and side panels an extra coat here and there..........just because thats what was viewed the most. Plus the added protection on the front end and protection on the side panels from tire spray etc.
 
I can't do it, if I start waxing, I have to do the whole car or the voices in my head give me no peace. Besides, a well waxed car causes the radio signals from the aliens to reflect away and not affect me...much ;)
 
I do this sort of thing sometimes, especially in the Winter months. Klasse twins on the lower half of the car and AIO+UPP on the top half. It's certainly not unusual for me to have different product combos from one side of the car to the other, just so I can test out durability, beading, looks, etc etc.
 
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