Thought I would share some pictures and some lessons learned while using a DA for the first time. I have owned this car for over a year and have only hand polished and waxed prior to this 'detail'.
A lot of people don't like white paint because it doesn't really show depth, but I like it because its easy to keep clean, and IMO difficult to see paint defects. I knew going into it that I probably did not have the correct tools to really 'correct' all of the defects... although I did remove majority of the minor swirls. The ones that are left will just have to wait until I have more aggressive pads and something more powerful (like a flex ;-).
I wash my car every weekend, so it is in pretty decent shape (ONR, clean towels, etc, etc). There are some minor swirls, but nothing major (at least not that I can tell). I did make the mistake of forgetting to tell the dealership NOT to wash my car... It came back to me looking worse than when I dropped it off (swirls, streaks on the windows, etc).
The products used on Paint were:
ONR
Mothers Clay
M Ultimate Compound
M205
Meguiar's G110v2
Meguiar's Soft Buff Finishing Pad (w9207) x 3
Meguiar's Soft Buff Polishing Pad (w8207) x 3
PP White Diamond
PP Ex-P
PP Natty's Blue
PP Trim Restorer
PP Professional Polish
Lots of microfiber towels
IPA
Products used on wheels and tires:
Pinnacle Gel Wheel Cleaner
Daytona Brush
Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gell
Products used on the Interior
Optimum Protectant Plus
Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer wipes
Scotch Guard
Other
0000 Steel Wool
A few terry cloths
A few pure cotton cloths
The cleaning and detailing process was:
1. Wheels cleaned
2. ONR wash and dry
3. Clayed the car. There wasn't much contamination, but considering the polishing I was planning on I clayed anyway.
4. A few test spot tests with various combinations. I decided to use Ultimate Compound instead of 105 because I couldn't tell the difference with the pads I have, and I have read that UC is less aggressive that 105.
5. UC Compound with polishing pads.
6. M205 with polishing pads.
7. M205 with finishing pads
8. IPA wipe down x 2
9. PP White Diamond via finishing pad
10. PP Ex - P x 2 layers with 24 hours curing time for each layer.
11. PP Natty's blue x 2 layers with 12 hours curing time for each layer.
12. Dressed all trim, grill, etc with PP trim restorer
13. Dressed tires twice with Megs Tire Gell, with 24 hours between layers
13. Engine was wiped down with ONR, and then dressed with PP trim restorer.
14. Vacuumed Interior and wiped down dust.
15. Applied Optimum Protectant Plus to leather. Brushed suede/alcantara..
16. Polished exhaust tips with PP Professional Polish using 0000 steel wool
A few things that I learned (first time DA user):
1. Priming my pads appropriately made a big difference. At first, I wasn't priming my pads very well, and I a) used A LOT of product b) had a lot of dusting c) wasn't really getting the results I wanted.
2. Once the pads are primed, only 3 pea sized drops of product was needed.
3. Cleaning pads on the fly helps. I cleaned the pads every panel and then re-primed when needed.
4. SwirlX's working time is much less than M205. I much prefer 205. Perhaps I was using swirlx incorrectly?? Either way I didn't use it because I preferred M205.
5. Smaller working areas with more pressure made a difference.
6. I need more pads... especially something more aggressive.
7. Taping the car was pretty tedious. I'm sure it added some value, but I'm not sure whether just cleaning any 'mishaps' would of been faster...
It was pretty difficult capturing good before/after pictures that showed the defects (camera/user/white paint issue ?). Also, the lighting is a little different on some of the pictures...
Before - Hood
After - Hood
Before - Back left panel
After - Back left panel
Before - Door Panel
After - Door Panel
Wheel - Before
Wheel After:
Taping the car...
Engine Before -
Engine After - (ONR wipe down and dressed with PP Trim Restorer)
Under Hood Before:
Under Hood After:
Grill Before:
Grill After (PP Trim Restorer)
Exhaust Tips Before:
Exhaust Tips After (0000 Wool with PP Pro Polish, sealed with Ex-P)
Interior - Sorry, no before pictures although it looked about the same...
Back end before:
Back end after:
Front before:
Front After:
Side Before:
Side After:
And some other random after shots:
This first 'detail' of mine would not of been possible without the massive information here at Autopia. My next project is to actually remove all the defects... need to get my hands on a flex with some aggressive pads..
A lot of people don't like white paint because it doesn't really show depth, but I like it because its easy to keep clean, and IMO difficult to see paint defects. I knew going into it that I probably did not have the correct tools to really 'correct' all of the defects... although I did remove majority of the minor swirls. The ones that are left will just have to wait until I have more aggressive pads and something more powerful (like a flex ;-).
I wash my car every weekend, so it is in pretty decent shape (ONR, clean towels, etc, etc). There are some minor swirls, but nothing major (at least not that I can tell). I did make the mistake of forgetting to tell the dealership NOT to wash my car... It came back to me looking worse than when I dropped it off (swirls, streaks on the windows, etc).
The products used on Paint were:
ONR
Mothers Clay
M Ultimate Compound
M205
Meguiar's G110v2
Meguiar's Soft Buff Finishing Pad (w9207) x 3
Meguiar's Soft Buff Polishing Pad (w8207) x 3
PP White Diamond
PP Ex-P
PP Natty's Blue
PP Trim Restorer
PP Professional Polish
Lots of microfiber towels
IPA
Products used on wheels and tires:
Pinnacle Gel Wheel Cleaner
Daytona Brush
Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gell
Products used on the Interior
Optimum Protectant Plus
Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer wipes
Scotch Guard
Other
0000 Steel Wool
A few terry cloths
A few pure cotton cloths
The cleaning and detailing process was:
1. Wheels cleaned
2. ONR wash and dry
3. Clayed the car. There wasn't much contamination, but considering the polishing I was planning on I clayed anyway.
4. A few test spot tests with various combinations. I decided to use Ultimate Compound instead of 105 because I couldn't tell the difference with the pads I have, and I have read that UC is less aggressive that 105.
5. UC Compound with polishing pads.
6. M205 with polishing pads.
7. M205 with finishing pads
8. IPA wipe down x 2
9. PP White Diamond via finishing pad
10. PP Ex - P x 2 layers with 24 hours curing time for each layer.
11. PP Natty's blue x 2 layers with 12 hours curing time for each layer.
12. Dressed all trim, grill, etc with PP trim restorer
13. Dressed tires twice with Megs Tire Gell, with 24 hours between layers
13. Engine was wiped down with ONR, and then dressed with PP trim restorer.
14. Vacuumed Interior and wiped down dust.
15. Applied Optimum Protectant Plus to leather. Brushed suede/alcantara..
16. Polished exhaust tips with PP Professional Polish using 0000 steel wool
A few things that I learned (first time DA user):
1. Priming my pads appropriately made a big difference. At first, I wasn't priming my pads very well, and I a) used A LOT of product b) had a lot of dusting c) wasn't really getting the results I wanted.
2. Once the pads are primed, only 3 pea sized drops of product was needed.
3. Cleaning pads on the fly helps. I cleaned the pads every panel and then re-primed when needed.
4. SwirlX's working time is much less than M205. I much prefer 205. Perhaps I was using swirlx incorrectly?? Either way I didn't use it because I preferred M205.
5. Smaller working areas with more pressure made a difference.
6. I need more pads... especially something more aggressive.
7. Taping the car was pretty tedious. I'm sure it added some value, but I'm not sure whether just cleaning any 'mishaps' would of been faster...
It was pretty difficult capturing good before/after pictures that showed the defects (camera/user/white paint issue ?). Also, the lighting is a little different on some of the pictures...
Before - Hood
After - Hood
Before - Back left panel
After - Back left panel
Before - Door Panel
After - Door Panel
Wheel - Before
Wheel After:
Taping the car...
Engine Before -
Engine After - (ONR wipe down and dressed with PP Trim Restorer)
Under Hood Before:
Under Hood After:
Grill Before:
Grill After (PP Trim Restorer)
Exhaust Tips Before:
Exhaust Tips After (0000 Wool with PP Pro Polish, sealed with Ex-P)
Interior - Sorry, no before pictures although it looked about the same...
Back end before:
Back end after:
Front before:
Front After:
Side Before:
Side After:
And some other random after shots:
This first 'detail' of mine would not of been possible without the massive information here at Autopia. My next project is to actually remove all the defects... need to get my hands on a flex with some aggressive pads..
. For the exhaust tips, I first wiped them down with an microfiber rag to get most of the dirt off. I then added polish to the steel wool and gently polished the tips. In this case, I used Poorboy pro polish, but I have used OTC chrome/metal polish before with the same result. After the polish step, I just wiped it clean and sealed it.