First Real Detail...need advice

D

dubber

New member
I have been a long time lurker of this amazing forum. Finally decided to register and ask a few questions before i start my first real detail.



For my first time,i will try my skill on my own 06 Platinum Gray Jetta. the car has 115,000km and was purchased from a VW dealership 15 months ago, where it went through a full detail...according to them. The condition of the paint is fairly nice, no deep RIDS, but light to moderate swirls. This however could be an illusion due to fillers. I will not know until i clay the car this weekend.



so this is the process i know:

-dawn wash to strip previous wax and such

-clay (Meguiar's Smooth Surface® Clay Kit)

-wash again?

-Compound (Meguiar's Ultimate Compund)

-Polish (Meguiar's Ultimate Polish)

-Wax (Mother's Pure Carnuba Wax Paste)



I dont think the paint will be bad enough to use the compound. on a scale of 1-10 i would say the swirls are about a 4

I have a PC7424xp, with LC Orange Mild Cut, LC White Polishing, and a LC Green Polishing/Finishing Pads..all 5.5"



What should be my first combo? UP and white pad?

what speed on the PC should i make each step ?

do i need to dry the car after inital wash, or can i clay over a wet car, with the lube that is supplied with the kit

they also provided me with wax cleaner..when or should i use that as well?

is a 2nd or 3rd wash nessesary?

can i use the PC to remove the mothers wax after letting it haze?



thats all the questions i have for now

any help would be appreciated
 
dubber said:
I have been a long time lurker of this amazing forum. Finally decided to register and ask a few questions before i start my first real detail...
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Welcome to Autopia! I'd expect the Jetta's clear to be pretty hard.





so this is the process i know:

-dawn wash to strip previous wax and such

-clay (Meguiar's Smooth Surface® Clay Kit)

-wash again?

-Compound (Meguiar's Ultimate Compund)

-Polish (Meguiar's Ultimate Polish)

-Wax (Mother's Pure Carnuba Wax Paste)
Click to expand...



Wait and see if it needs the second wash. If you expect/plan for it it you won't blow your schedule; if it's not needed so much the better.



I dont think the paint will be bad enough to use the compound. on a scale of 1-10 i would say the swirls are about a 4

I have a PC7424xp, with LC Orange Mild Cut, LC White Polishing, and a LC Green Polishing/Finishing Pads..all 5.5"
Click to expand...



I've needed M105/aggressive pad to remove even mild marring when the clear was hard. Another case of "you'll just have to see".



What should be my first combo? UP and white pad?
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Yeah, try that and see how it goes.



what speed on the PC should i make each step ?
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I'd use speed six for all correction and 3-4 for the waxing if you do that by machine.



do i need to dry the car after inital wash, or can i clay over a wet car, with the lube that is supplied with the kit
Click to expand...



Claying a wet car is OK and you might try claying while you wash. But don't let it slow you down so much that you get nasty wasterspots.

they also provided me with wax cleaner..when or should i use that as well?
Click to expand...



Eh, I dunno...I'd probably say "not" and just go straight from the Ultimate Polish to the (regular) wax.

is a 2nd or 3rd wash nessesary?
Click to expand...



I'd think probably not, but you'll just have to see. If you think it's necessary then do it.



can i use the PC to remove the mothers wax after letting it haze?
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Only if you have MF wax-removal bonnets. Otherwise do it by hand. I always have to follow up by hand anyhow when I use the bonnets.
 
thanks for the info



i will apply mothers wax via MF pads and remove via MF buffing towels



another question...will ultimate polish and wax be safe for windows/headlights/taillights?
 
dubber said:
another question...will ultimate polish and wax be safe for windows/headlights/taillights?
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I believe so. For maintenance cleaning on the lights, I happen to use paint cleaner. I would opt for a polymer sealant over a wax for the lights though, if only for durability. Also, if I had to guess*, I imagine (without any evidence for you) that the sealant might have better light transmission.



Better yet would be one of the newfangled permanent coatings like Opti-Coat.
 
dubber said:
another question...will ultimate polish and wax be safe for windows/headlights/taillights?
Click to expand...



I haven't used those particular products on such surfaces, but I use similar stuff on them with no problems.
 
Accumulator gave you great advice, as always. Go with it. I just wanted to ad that when I do a full car claying I wash the car once, then while still wet, I just lather it up again with car wash soap and use that as the lubricant for the claybar. Works well, is cheaper, and allows you to save your quick detailer.
 
Always start with a 2x2 or smaller test area. Figure out your gameplan and go from there.
 
thanks for the input everyone, you have been more than informative

hopefully i attempt this on the weekend (weather permitting)

i will take pics and report back
 
Welcome dubber!



dubber said:
I have been a long time lurker of this amazing forum. Finally decided to register and ask a few questions before i start my first real detail.



For my first time,i will try my skill on my own 06 Platinum Gray Jetta. the car has 115,000km and was purchased from a VW dealership 15 months ago, where it went through a full detail...according to them. The condition of the paint is fairly nice, no deep RIDS, but light to moderate swirls. This however could be an illusion due to fillers. I will not know until i clay the car this weekend.



so this is the process i know:

-dawn wash to strip previous wax and such --> OK

-clay (Meguiar's Smooth Surface® Clay Kit) --> OK

-wash again? --> assuming you are using the lub that comes with the kit above, then it is a good idea to rewash. I usually at least pour some water at least even when I am using ONR as lub. It makes me feel better :).

-Compound (Meguiar's Ultimate Compund) --> OK I guess. No experience here as I use Menz.

-Polish (Meguiar's Ultimate Polish) --> OK I guess. No experience here as I use Menz.

-Wax (Mother's Pure Carnuba Wax Paste) --> 99% is in the prep so as long as it spreads thinly and evenly you 'll be fine.



I dont think the paint will be bad enough to use the compound. on a scale of 1-10 i would say the swirls are about a 4

I have a PC7424xp, with LC Orange Mild Cut, LC White Polishing, and a LC Green Polishing/Finishing Pads..all 5.5" --> I have a VW car as well. I think these pads will not cut it in my experience unless a lot of time goes in. I would use a yellow (if not foam wool) and probably for the curves in the roof a spot yellow pad.



What should be my first combo? UP and white pad? --> Theory says go less to more agressive so yes this will do for the first approach.

what speed on the PC should i make each step ? --> Varies. Some go full speed some perhaps 1 notch slower to up the cut.

do i need to dry the car after inital wash, or can i clay over a wet car, with the lube that is supplied with the kit ---> I dry to avoid waterspots. others don't.

they also provided me with wax cleaner..when or should i use that as well? --> I would skip it and use a glaze after the final polish

is a 2nd or 3rd wash nessesary? --> After final polish and pre glaze it will not hurt. Again makes me feel better :)

can i use the PC to remove the mothers wax after letting it haze? --> A good buffing towel and 'breaking the wax' (look this up by M. Phillips) is my prefered method



thats all the questions i have for now

any help would be appreciated
Click to expand...
 
Dan said:
Always start with a 2x2 or smaller test area. Figure out your gameplan and go from there.
Click to expand...



Yeah, very important :xyxthumbs



People do something to the whole vehicle only to pull it out into the sun or something and suddenly realize that they caused an "all over problem" that could've been easily avoided had they caught it after doing some small test spot.



Make sure what you're doing is OK before doing a large area.
 
ok so i started today and after a wash, clay, and wash again i decided that the swirls were not as bad as i thought.

i started with ultimate polish on a white LC pad and nothing happened. then i went to a orange pad with ultimate compound and then over with the UP and white..nothing...the swirls havent budged. i tried UP with a black pad and same thing.

also when i apply UP with white pad, the product seems to dry on and hard to buff off with a towel

is this weather related (34*C) or am i working the product too much or not enought?

any help would be great
 
Just read your last update... You may need something more powerful than UC (105, UNO, etc.), VW paint is notoriously hard just like Audi. Megs MF pads or surbuf pads may be required as well, however swirls on hard paint usually require several slow passes with compound.
 
SpoolinNoMore said:
Just read your last update... You may need something more powerful than UC (105, UNO, etc.), VW paint is notoriously hard just like Audi. Megs MF pads or surbuf pads may be required as well, however swirls on hard paint usually require several slow passes with compound.
Click to expand...

i have been reading alot on the VW clear coat and how its notoriusly very hard.

i gave up after my test panel so i dont do more damage than there was present.

i figured i might need to go more aggressive than UC and pad.

since i stripped everything that was on the paint surface, i made sure i protected the surface with a paste wax.

i will look into purchasing m105 and different pads, and will re-attempt it in a few weeks when i get time.

it was a little discouraging but i have not given up yet.



if i purchase m105, do i have to follow it up with, lets say m205, or can i still attempt UP?

other than the megs MF pad, what else could i use with m105? i can get the LC pads easily(locally), so i prefer those if they will suffice.

also, what LSP product would be my best bet for ease of use. i suffered a fractured elbow a year ago and it is still not 100%, and mothers carnuba paste was a bit of a PITA to work with lol



thanks everyone so far, you've been a great help



PS, using UC, i went up to 5-6 slow passes with orange pad and it didnt do a thing
 
Unless you plan on having multiple polishes to stock up on, I'd suggest just getting HD UNO, it cuts almost as much as M105 (very slightly less cut in my experiences so far) but it doesn't dust like M105 and it has a much longer working time. Also you can finish a surface you compounded with an orange/yellow pad + UNO and then swap to a green pad or whatever normal polishing pad you have and still use UNO to finish your compounding. I'm not sure if they still have the UNO + Poxy deal going on, but it is definitely worth it if it's still going on. Poxy is a great sealant, but you really need to be mindful of how thin you apply it, too thick and it may streak, but it's super easy to get a thin coat via machine.
 
SpoolinNoMore said:
Unless you plan on having multiple polishes to stock up on, I'd suggest just getting HD UNO, it cuts almost as much as M105 (very slightly less cut in my experiences so far) but it doesn't dust like M105 and it has a much longer working time. Also you can finish a surface you compounded with an orange/yellow pad + UNO and then swap to a green pad or whatever normal polishing pad you have and still use UNO to finish your compounding. I'm not sure if they still have the UNO + Poxy deal going on, but it is definitely worth it if it's still going on. Poxy is a great sealant, but you really need to be mindful of how thin you apply it, too thick and it may streak, but it's super easy to get a thin coat via machine.
Click to expand...

are you saying that i can use Uno with a orange pad to act as a compund, and the same product with a white or black pad as a polish?



BTW, 3dproducts charges $120 for shipping to canada for 9oz of uno and 9ox poxy lol

nm..$25 via usps
 
dubber said:
are you saying that i can use Uno with a orange pad to act as a compund, and the same product with a white or black pad as a polish?
Click to expand...



yep. all you need is one (uno) product and different pads for cutting and polishing.
 
can someone recommend me a product to use in place of Meg UC

since i live in canada, i know of only one place where i can get my supplies from, and they dont carry HD UNO and are sold out of M105 and M205.

im looking to get rid of swirls and holograms in my hard vw clearcoat





is Optimum Compound II any good
 
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