Paintwork Cleaner BEFORE Polishing?

S

superstring

New member
My wife just bought a "new" (98) silver Civic and I'm getting ready to give it a thorough detailing. My plan is to clay and then give it a mild polishing with the PC before applying a LSP. I'm wondering if it's necessary or even just a good idea to use a "paintwork cleaner" (like Pinnacle's) before polishing or is that just overkill?



The polishes I have to choose from are Meguiar's #80, #83 or 3M Perfect-It III MG.



Thanks. :)
 
It wouldn't be overkill at all since none of the steps you suggest will do what a paint cleaner would. I would use a chemical cleaner on the paint. It will only improve your preperation giving you a better end result especially when you are dealing with a car of its age.



Good luck and have fun with it :up
 
Sherman8r44 said:
Or even better, you could clay instead. :xyxthumbs
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Agreed, but he said he was claying it. I am sure if the paint hasn't had much attention in its time it could use every step we Autopians are familiar with :D
 
paint cleanser by PC would be a great idea. If that isn't strong enough to get it sparkling then you can step up to clearkote or sfx 3 etc.

Saves clearcoat.
 
I'll be the dissenter this time. I wouldn't bother and I don't plan to do it on any of the "new to us" used cars I'm cleaning up this spring. While I won't discount the value of a chemical-based cleaner, between claying and abrasive polishing (and a '97 is gonna need polishing, you can count on that) I just seldom see the need for/value of such products.



If you have a true reason to use one, then by all means do so. I just never seem to have a need for it.
 
Accumulator, I guess my thoughts are that the clay will remove the "bumps and grit" on the paint surface and then the cleanser will get the accumulated ;) road grime rather than polishing it off and unnecessarily "gumming up" the polishing pad. No?
 
From my reading here, it seems that cleaners are generally favored for hand removal of severe oxidation by hand to save pads from getting all nasty. I say clay it and see how it feels. It's really a question of your time. I don't really think you are going to hurt your paint with it unless you hurl the bottle at your car. Good luck and be sure to give us pics in C&B when you're done.
 
superstring said:
Accumulator, I guess my thoughts are that the clay will remove the "bumps and grit" on the paint surface and then the cleanser will get the accumulated ;) road grime rather than polishing it off and unnecessarily "gumming up" the polishing pad. No?
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Sure. No argument from me if somebody believes the job will benefit from the chemical cleaning. Maybe I sounded too adamant about not using it....what I meant to convey is that I hardly ever find it necessary so maybe you'd be OK without it.



Am I cutting a corner? Maybe/probably :o My usual go-to polish is 3M PI-III RC (often with a pretty "open" cutting pad) and that hardly ever gets gummed up with [whatever's on the paint]. If I *did* encounter anything that indicate a need for a good pre-polish cleaning, I'd do it.



Guess I was thinking it's not necessary because I recently did a pair of *really* neglected loaner cars (perhaps my mechanic lent me cars he knew I'd feel sorry for :D ). Both of them came out fine (for the level of job I was doing) without a cleaner. Clay and aggressive polishing left everything nice and clean. Might've made me a little prone to generalizing ;)
 
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