NEW car prep

booyah

New member
I just bought me a 08 RX350 Silver....off the showroom floor and they did nothing as far as their wax crap package and all--Im going to do that.



Anyway I know I need to Clay but do I need to do a polish step or just go right to the sealant?
 
That's up to you to decide. Do you see any swirls in the sun? Being that your car is brand new, even if there were some slight swirls, I personally would just live with the swirls for now and be more concerned about claying and protecting the finish.



I can't imagine the swirls being unbearable to live with at this point, especially since they did not detail your car yet. Since you live in a cold climate, I'd wait until next spring to give the car it's first polishing.



But it's your car, not mine.
 
If there are no swirls I personally would still use something like Werkstatt Prime or KAIO to prepare the paint surface prior to applying a sealant.
 
smprince1 said:
If there are no swirls I personally would still use something like Werkstatt Prime or KAIO to prepare the paint surface prior to applying a sealant.



I would suggest that too, just to insure the cleanest possible surface for the sealant to bond to, although it's not really needed, I would think in your climate you'd want the protection to last as long as possible.
 
I recently bought an '07 corvette, and the dealer stated they spend less than an hour dealer prepping a car, which is contracted out anyway. It appears all they do is wash, windows, interior and tires.

I spent 5 hours the first weekend prepping the car; wash, clay, Klasse AIO, Klasse Glaze (2 coats) and P21s Carnuba.

People thought I was crazy speninding so much time on a new car, but what a difference. The car now looks amazing, with little to no surface defects.

So, take the time, especially in your climate and protect the car, since the dealer did not.
 
I always tell the dealer not to prep my car when buying a new vehicle. Dealers usually do more harm than good when prepping a new vehicle.



04MysticCobra.
 
Cool thanks for the replies---along the lines I was thinking! I have some Klasse AIO Ill use to go over the surface after the clay then deal away:) I bought some of the New Opti-seal sealant, so a few coats of that and I should be good to go...
 
Noting that I usually have silver vehicles and I don't let the dealers prep them....



Whenever I buy new I do a full decontamination with AutoInt's "ABC". It's pretty much eliminated the recurring rust-blooms that plagued me for years on our silver vehicles. If you're not gonna decontaminate it, I'd at least do a good claying. Rust blooms really show on silver and you never know if it has ferrous contamination until it starts to corrode and you see the rust spots...and sometimes it's then too late to completely solve the problem (voice of experience, hope people learn from my misfortune).



Regarding marring on a new vehicle, the last time I let the dealer (only) take the transit-wrap off.. they still managed to mar it. Yeah, it was very light and could only be seen in just the right lighting, but it still needed a full (if mild) correction to suit me and there was one RIDS that was too deep to remove (still there all these years later, still bugs me). Note that *one* wash can mar paint. But OTOH my Porsche/Audi dealer once had a new-car prep guy who did a great job; I'd let him do my vehicles any time...so sometimes you get lucky.
 
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