newbie search for perfection and frustration!

J

jojo69

New member
Howdy, just a quick vent on how important prep is!



Decided to detail my '12 subaru impreza car since I am off for this week. Car has been washed, collinited and maintained with ONR since Feb. Never clayed or anything.



Since I've been off for the pats week, I decided to do a little every morning starting with shampoo, clay, Meg's 3 step process and using nxt topped with Meg's Carnauba (to try it out).

Had some samples of TarX that I had bought to take care of some nasty tar. Stuff worked great! I love it!



Anyhow, all by hand of course... Well, it "looks" great. paint feel butter smooth... some swirls that I know are there from the 'not-to-great-polish job I did (wished I had a DA!). But i'm ok with that... But i would notice random 'spots' on the paint that didn't seem to want to come off... I finally decided to do the plastic bag test this morning... and realized to my horror that there are still some contaminants on my paint! :(



it's not crazy bad, and the 1hrs + i spent claying paid off, but it's soooo disappointing to have spent sooo much time on the car to know that it's not "perfect" to ebgin with! Grrrr...



just needed to vent a bit..

The more I detail my cars, the more I come to appreciate pro detailers and their work!



Thanks for reading!
 
Thomas Dekany said:
Any pictures of the car? What color is it?



I just prepped a new STI - very nice car.
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Thanks for the link. I'm currently thinking of waiting for the release of the announced HD DA as a first DA to try out. The notion of a all-in-one package is appealing for an amateur like me ;)

I'll add pics of car this weekend. It's the Rally Blue color. I haven't had a chance to take it out in the sun yet (still in garage).

Every detail is a lesson on techniques and products, c'est la vie as they say! :P
 
Its normal. Stand back and enjoy your hard work. Part of the hobby is being a little OCD, and no matter how much work you do, there will always be something else you can do.
 
Dan said:
Stand back and enjoy your hard work.
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I do, but there's always this longing for more perfection. ;)

Dan said:
Part of the hobby is being a little OCD, and no matter how much work you do, there will always be something else you can do.
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And I believe that's what makes a detailer a good detailer. Without being a little ocd, it's less likely you will achieve great results. But I speak from life experience, not detailing experience. I was ocd with my computer business, and it paid off. (for a while)
 
^+1 agreed!



Here are some pics. sorry, still using cell phone pics.



IMG_20120615_082854.jpg




Paint blemish that appeared a few days after getting the car. TarX, IronX, Clay, polish... Nothing seems to get it out. I'm thinking it's in the paint or paint defect... living with it for now:

IMG_20120615_082940.jpg




Outside am shot:

IMG_20120615_083009.jpg




Inside shot:

IMG_20120615_120331.jpg


IMG_20120615_120342.jpg


roof shot:

IMG_20120615_120400.jpg


IMG_20120615_121259.jpg


hood:

IMG_20120615_121627.jpg
 
Sort of off topic but how do you like the Impreza? Thinking of replacing my wife's car and have been considering the Impreza--impressed with the gas milage for an AWD and the interior space for a smaller car. If we do get it though I plan to give it a layer or two of OptiCoat 2.0 as soon as we bring it home to help combat the Subaru's notoriosly soft paint.
 
pwaug said:
Sort of off topic but how do you like the Impreza?
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Good so far. 1st turbo I own/drive. Like the pick-up it has and gas mileage has been ard 24mpg for conservative city driving (you can easily go below 20mpg if you drive like an 18 y.o. :) (not trying to offend anyone)

Other than the 'soft' paint and other misc subaru-specific little quirks, I like it quite a bit! Trying to both enjoy it dirty and not keep too shiny... which is hard to do! :) Quite roomy indeed! Chose the wrx over the Sti for the better ride quality. I'd be happy to answer any questions by msg if you want.





detail-related:

When applying any kind of wax, I always try for the "less is better", but find that I sometimes "don't see" the wax applied on the car (exept after I just put on some dots of liquid wax on my pad for example). Let me try and explain:

I say this because in many videos etc... I often see the "swirls" from the DA's... BY hand I use circular motions (habit) and only really see the wax layer/swirls only after I applied some wax. I will often see 'streaks' of wax on the paint that will 'fade' after a few seconds or after i pass over it with my pad. I wonder if at times I put "too little" wax... I keep telling myself that if i don't see it, doesn't mean it's not going on top since I KNOW the pad I'm using is 'wet' from the wax (ie, if I tap the pad on top of the paint i will see the wax residue on the paint or feel the wax on my finger if I touch it). I hope this makes sense to some...



OCD as I am, curious if anyone has some input on this: Should you 'see' the wax layer you put on all the time? Or if you don't see it (or if the wax streaks 'dissapear' after a few passes', it means I ain't putting enough down?

Obviously, the legendary "finger test" to see if the car is waxed only works on those panels where I applied wax on my pad...

That's my experience. Curious if I am being too conservative on the waxing process...
 
Thanks for the input! Since this is the wife's car (which are like a toaster to her) will probably just go for the 5 door base with a few protective options-- I think it gets 27/36 with the CVT. Funny we lived in NH for 38 years and front wheel drive was fine and now in SW PA find more of a need for AWD. Not as much snow but allot of short steep hills and the snow removal capabilities are not as good. OptiCoat 2.0 should help with the soft paint issue.
 
Not familiar with Subaru, can you explain what those are? We are thinking of am Outback



jojo69 said:
Good so far. 1st turbo I own/drive. Like the pick-up it has and gas mileage has been ard 24mpg for conservative city driving (you can easily go below 20mpg if you drive like an 18 y.o. :) (not trying to offend anyone)

Other than the 'soft' paint and other misc subaru-specific little quirks, I like it quite a bit! Trying to both enjoy it dirty and not keep too shiny... which is hard to do! :) Quite roomy indeed! Chose the wrx over the Sti for the better ride quality. I'd be happy to answer any questions by msg if you want.
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Thomas Dekany said:
Not familiar with Subaru, can you explain what those are? We are thinking of am Outback
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Nothing to worry about. Seems that Subaru has a reputation for being 'noisy' cars and owners often talking about squeaks and other rattling noises from the car. Again this is just what I have gathered. I myself have noticed some rattling from the dash and am unable to figure out where it's coming from. Not a deal breaker by any means mind you, all cars have their quirks, but for a brand new car, well, i guess I had greater expectations. Stuff like that. Great resource for any future subaru buyers (impreza or outback or wrx etc...) is NASIOC. You will find a lot of great information.

lov'in the car so far!



And yes pwaug, all non-turbo subaru have pretty good mpg's!



Any input on the too-little/too much wax observation I posted?
 
Generally you should be able to see the dried wax once it has dried. Thin layers are good but attempting to get an ultra thin layer is more likely to lead to patchy application of the wax.



Just on a slighter broader note. Perfection is fine and if you have a garage queen which is preped for a concours then you could get very close to perfection with enough time and money. If the car is a daily driver then sometimes life becomes a lot less stressful if you simply aim for a great looking car.



This is not to say that prep work should be rushed or you should just use any cheap polish but sometimes the skill is to get rid of 90% of the swirls and not remove more paint then is necessary.



The car does look great
 
Lowejackson said:
Generally you should be able to see the dried wax once it has dried. Thin layers are good but attempting to get an ultra thin layer is more likely to lead to patchy application of the wax.



The car does look great
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Thanks. After looking over this thread again: Pictures from Thursday Night Open Garage - September 30th, 2010 - Page 2 and the pictures of the applied wax (even if it's with a DA), it's clear that there is a dried wax layer that I often don't have when I do mine. If i do, it may not be even spread onto the whole car it seems...



... I wonder If I should do a quick wash and apply another layer of Carnauba, just to make sure that i have an even coat. I already did 2 coats of NXT which i let cure properly over 48h prior to the Nuba layer...



It seems that I am a bit too worried of how much wax I put on my foam pad and should try to be more lenient. Well I guess i'll be more indulgent next time I wax the car! :P I'll try this new adage: more wax on the foam pad, less pressure on the car when spreading and make sure I can see the wax layer! :) :happy:
 
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