New to detailing

bigdawgfoxx said:
I always just throw my Absorber brand chamois in the washing machine lol. So waffle weave microfiber towels are best? Can you post a link?
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Ah, the Absorber- I use one of those in the shower (on myself) before I reach for my regular cotton towel. I thought you meant a *real* chamois as in leather animal skin.



The same criticisms apply to the Absorber as to the genuine article with the exception of the hassle of cleaning; the problem is stuff getting caught between it and the paint. Yeah, that might be a big "if" but IMO it's more like a "when".



I use the softest WWMFs I can find, got my last batch from Aloha & Welcome to Our Oasis for All Your Auto Detailing, Auto Detailing Supplies, Auto Detailing Equipment, Auto Detailing Products, & Auto Detailing Accessories for all your Automobile Detailing

Also, since I have everything except the wax now, can I wash and claybar now and then just wash and polish/wax on Monday? I shouldnt have to clay bar immediately before polishing as the car shouldnt pick up containants in like 2 days, correct?
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Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Heh heh..polish it all in one day and still have time to wax huh? OK, hope it goes well.
 
Well then I will polish one day and wax another then.



Could I claybar/polish today, then let it sit in the garage until Monday and then gently blow/wipe the car off of any dust and then wax??



Which one of those WWMF do you use? It seems like it would take a lot of regular towels to actually dry the car..and it seems like a towel could scratch it just as easy as an absorber...



Thanks for all your help btw
 
bigdawgfoxx said:
Well then I will polish one day and wax another then...
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Eh...see how it goes and then decide. Watch that (potentially abrasive) dust doesn't settle on it overnight if you *do* break it up.



Could I claybar/polish today, then let it sit in the garage until Monday and then gently blow/wipe the car off of any dust and then wax??
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People do that (and it depends on how clean your garage is), but I'd wash it..just a quickie. This is one case where I'll consider the use of ONR-type washes.

Which one of those WWMF do you use? It seems like it would take a lot of regular towels to actually dry the car..and it seems like a towel could scratch it just as easy as an absorber...
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I use his "ultra soft" or somesuch name. I blow most of the water off and then use one/two WWMS, that's enough to do even my Denali XL. But without blowing the water off you might need more...been so long since I've not done it that I can't recall.



Google "air wand", that's what I use before doing the toweling.



Towels have nap (or in the case of WWs, small pockets in the WW texture) and there's a (possibly slight) change that abrasive stuff will get caught up in that away from the paint. And, probably more important, it's generally possible to use them with less pressure than a chamois/abosrber exerts when dragged across the panels. Really meticulous people blot as opposed to wiping, which will pretty much eliminate the chance of any drying-induced marring.
 
So if i already have a backpack blower i can just buy the air wand attachment for $50 huh. Thanks for the help. My garage stays pretty clean and my roomate will park outside for the weekend so there wont be much dust at all moving around. I will lightly wipe it off with microfiber then apply the wax.



I'm about to wash, claybar, and polish. I'll let yall know how it goes!
 
Cleaned out the garage like its never been cleaned before, washed the car and pulled it in and shut the garage door.



I have done almost all of the hood and boy was it contaminated! It felt like I was running over sandpaper on the first pass, but after the 6th or 7th pass over one area, it felt smooth as glass.



I cut the 100g bar into 3rds and am using 1/3 just for the hood and front bumper I think, it is so contaminated. Whats the best way to tell after kneeding and kneeding that I need to use another clean 3rd?



I have a 2005 Black CTS and I notice in direct light from my light thing in the garage, that there are white spots all in it..like little grains, but it doesn't seem to be coming out with the claybar, everything else does though. Maybe those white dots are just normal...you cant really tell unless you look really close and hold a light on it.
 
bigdawgfoxx said:
..I cut the 100g bar into 3rds and am using 1/3 just for the hood and front bumper I think, it is so contaminated. Whats the best way to tell after kneeding and kneeding that I need to use another clean 3rd?
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I use smaller pieces than that and get a new one rather than kneading very much. But yeah, I go through a *LOT* of clay :o



IMO if you're even *remotely* concerned that the clay might be past the point of kneading then you oughta get out a new piece, but it's easy for me to spend your money ;)



.I have a 2005 Black CTS and I notice in direct light from my light thing in the garage, that there are white spots all in it..like little grains, but it doesn't seem to be coming out with the claybar, everything else does though. Maybe those white dots are just normal...you cant really tell unless you look really close and hold a light on it.
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Hmmm....doesn't sound normal to me, but I'm not sure what to do about 'em either.
 
Is it safe to use claybar on headlights etc to remove bug and tar stuff?



I have clayed to entire hood and now doing the front bumper which as you can imagine is FULL of stuff. I'm using one third of the bar just for hood and front/rear bumper.



I guess I'll cut the remaining 2/3rds of the 100g bar into halfs...
 
Wow, so its 2:38 A.M. and I just got done claybaring. My trunk had what felt like 100grit sand paper on it..terrible. Everything seemed to go pretty smooth, except I had to add some water to the lube to make it last. My car had a ton of contaminants in it, but I expected this because the paints always felt kinda rough. Feels good now though.



Will tape off and polish tomm. morning.
 
Almost done polishing and I have to go to work, will finish polishing tonight.



I took the pad off and put it in a bag and in the fridge to keep it wet kinda..I dont really know what to do with the pad since I wont be using it for about 8 hours. Polishing is going good, doesn't seem to be taking out minor scratches, but definitely makes it look a lot better.
 
bigdawgfoxx- Glad it's going well. Not surprised the tougher marring is harder to remove than expected ;)



As you've probably figured out by now, yeah, it's OK to clay the headlights/glass.



You could just wash the pad out with diswashing detergent and squeeze it dry in a towel. You don't have to get it perfectly clean or dry.
 
Thanks man, is it okay to polish the headlights as well?



If the pad is still moist when I get home in a few hours, I will just start using it again.



Thanks again for everything. You, and others, have helped me learn a new valuable skill.
 
bigdawgfoxx said:
Thanks man, is it okay to polish the headlights as well?



If the pad is still moist when I get home in a few hours, I will just start using it again.



Thanks again for everything. You, and others, have helped me learn a new valuable skill.
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Heh heh, don't thank me yet....let's see how things turn out :D



Yeah, I just polish headlights, plastic tail lights, you name it. Be careful if you're using really aggressive stuff but other than that don't sweat it.



As for the damp pad, I'll stop, wash out my pads, squeeze 'em dry with a towel and resume polishing with the pad still pretty damp. The water usually makes the polishes behave *more* aggressively (*NOT* less) but it's seldom really significant.



Before you apply the wax, try everything possible to make sure you really have attained a ready-to-wax finish. People get rolling and put wax over (previously undiscovered) issues and then it's even harder to sort things out with the wax on there. I don't *expect* you to have issues, but before you wax is the time to find out for certain. IMO the biggie here is lighting and a thorough inspection. I'd try to pull it out into the sun if at all possible, even if it means you'll have to rewash.



With the wax/red combo, *DON'T* use too much wax. Most people use a zillion times more than they need to and it can cause problems. A can/bottle of *any* wax oughta last for many years no matter how often you apply it.



I apply LSPs at speed 4-4.5 with hardly any pressure.
 
Thanks man. First sentence freaks me out..I think it'll be alright. I've gotta polish a little more then I'll pull it out in the sun and look at it, pull it back in and blow the dust off.



So I'll apply the collinite 845 with the red pad and use light pressure.
 
Ok, I pulled it out towards dusk, so it wasnt direct light...everything seemed to be pretty good. I never used much pressure with the PC really, just light to medium with Meguiars 80 so it shouldnt have cut nething up. There is a little dust in some areas but i've just used a micro fiber towel to dust it off lightly. I gotta wax tonight I start school on Tuesday and I need to at least have Monday to relax lol
 
bigdawgfoxx- If you haven't already done the waxing:



Shake that 845 for a long, long time. There'll probably be a plug of wax in the neck of the bottle- shove that down into the rest of the wax and shake it some more. It should get thin as milk.



DON'T USE MUCH WAX. The bottle oughta be enough to do your cars for years and I don't mean just one or two ;)
 
Yeah man I didn't use much wax. I's say maybe 1/8th of the bottle is what I used, which may be a little much, but oh well. Thanks for all your help man.



I dont know if I will ever claybar, polish, and wax again. It took me like 3 whole days but I now know that I can at least use the PC to wax which makes it easier and I can wax more often.



Oh, and I also had to use 2 white pads instead of one, because the velcro would stop sticking...is that normal?
 
bigdawgfoxx said:
I dont know if I will ever claybar, polish, and wax again. It took me like 3 whole days but I now know that I can at least use the PC to wax which makes it easier and I can wax more often...
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Heh heh, three days sounds kinda *fast* to me :D But don't worry, now that you've done the big initial job it shouldn't be *that* hard to keep things nice. You'll notice that some panels need redone sooner than others- just do what needs doing when it needs doing.



If you do a panel or two after each of a series of regular washes, you can end up doing the whole vehicle without ever doing more than a *little* bit of added work.



And anyhow..just *gentle* claying (get some Sonus green clay) and redoing the 845 will work for a pretty long time as long as you wash gently enough to avoid marring the paint up.



Oh, and I also had to use 2 white pads instead of one, because the velcro would stop sticking...is that normal?
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Glad you had the additional pad on hand! Good lesson there about making allowances for ol' Mr. Murphy, huh?



I'd call the vendor and tell 'em you got a defective pad. The velcro should last a long, long time but sometimes you get a bad specimen.
 
So to just do a panel if it needs it, I would just claybar and wax with 845, no polishing correct?



I always wash with small microfiber towels from Auto Zone, and I know I need like $100 more in washing materials but its hard to justify spending the money right now. But I should NOT use an absorber anymore? Just blow it off then use a towel? And I only use the same microfiber towel for upper panels twice and I have another towel for bottom and rims bumper etc. I rotate them every two washes, that should help me out, right
 
bigdawgfoxx said:
So to just do a panel if it needs it, I would just claybar and wax with 845, no polishing correct?
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Yeah. You might not even need to clay. I just refreshed the wax on my wife's car and I didn't do anything except wash and wax.



I always wash with small microfiber towels from Auto Zone, and I know I need like $100 more in washing materials but its hard to justify spending the money right now...
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Just try to *NOT* rub dirt against the paint when you wash. I've posted ad nauseum regarding how I employ a "dislodge and flush" approach. At least use short, interrupted "jiggling" motions with your wash media so if you *do* get marring it won't be some foot-long scratch that'll be obvious.



But I should NOT use an absorber anymore? Just blow it off then use a towel? And I only use the same microfiber towel for upper panels twice and I have another towel for bottom and rims bumper etc. I rotate them every two washes, that should help me out, right
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Just be careful with that Absorber if the blow/towel doesn't work well enough on its own.



OK...let me say that I'm one utterly fanatical guy when it comes to washing :o That said:



I use a *lot* of different wash media at every wash. No way I'd *ever* do most of a vehicle with just one towel, too great a chance of something getting stuck in it and not rinsing out.



I do wheels with boar's hair brushes (BHBs) because they're free-rinsing and wheels tend to accumulate gritty dirt.



Hope you're washing out your wash/dry media after *every* wash ;) Dunno about the rotating, I treat the lower panels same as I do on the rest.



If you get marring after a few washes, then something's wrong with how you're washing. Wasing without marring is, IME, quite difficult!
 
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