How the **** do you see what you're doing on white paint?

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imported_YouGottaBeLeaf

New member
I was helping my friend with his white car today. It was pretty neglected so there were lots of swirls to be removed. It was the first white car I've detailed. I couldn't see what the heck I was doing. The DACP and Menzerna FP II both looked white once I was polishing them in with my PC.



I'm so used to dark colored cars that I was lost as to how to see what sections I had done already, and in the DACP's case, whether or not the product had broken down yet.



Any tips on seeing what you're doing when working on white paint?
 
I find it easier than silver actually. My garage has flourescents and they seem to do a good job pointing out the defects to me. I may also use a simple 100 watt trouble light here and there but the flourescents seem best. My 1000 watt halogens just make the white paint too bright to see any defects but they are a godsend ( and a curse) when working on my black car.
 
i use lighting on one part of the car to get an combo of polishing that works....then i follow suit on the rest of the car without the lights....i do spot check sometimes....but most of the time this method works fine
 
Sunny day, garage door and shades open, lights off.



The sunlight is sufficient to give adequate light to see where you're going, and the shaded reflection produces a dark background on which to see some contrast. Does that make sense? :xyxthumbs



Not perfect but the best one can do - I know, my Alfa is white. Sometimes you have to work leaning at unusual angles to catch the right contrasting reflection.:p

Just don't let the neighbours see you - they may call the men in white coats!:bounce
 
I have 18 florescent tubes on the ceiling and a pair of halogen dual head work lights on tripods. I use this same setup for all my details.



After washing and cleaning the paint I usually back the car out into the sun and mark the visible swirls and scratches with polish and drive it back into the garage. Then it is easier to re-find the blemishes in the florescent lighting.
 
I do more or less the same just that I find the halogens don't really help in pointing out the defects. Yeah, I'd say sunlight and flourescents are one's best bet
 
Where possible I use bright and dark colored products on white cars and only use the white and cream colored ones on occasions.

Today I did a trial on my dad's MGB's hood. Since it's a british car, I decided to go all the way and use Farecla and Autoglym products on it

I'm doing a paint restore, polish and two step wax on it very shortly and wanted to see how it would go before doing the entire vehicle



The White Farecla G6 was a little difficult but my little flouro helped out (lighting bad in garage and dark cloudy day.

After that, the SMR, Farecla Black Top Hand Glaze (on one side only) and Autoglym Bodyshop Finishing Polish and Omikron Synthetic Wax was no problems and I'm very happy with the results.



Still don't like white cars. I am hooked on deep, wet looking metallic red and blue vehicles and black. A well maintained black vehicle, I really love
 
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