preping paint for full detail

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norcal450

New member
hey everyone, first post :spot i have been lurking for awhile and finally signed up



i have a PC and have done quite a few details before. my question is concerning paint prep for a new vehicle



i will be taking delivery of a new 07 fiji blue pearl civic si coupe in april. i already cant wait to give it the full treatment the first weekend of ownership



i plan to wash, clay, light polish, klasse, & throw some p21s carnuba on :getdown



question is i have used dawn dish soap in prior details to remove and strip the surface of any prior wax/sealent. is this a good idea or should i just use a nice car shampoo?



also i have had success using a 70% alcohol solution to clean the surface before laying down any product. this has been done on high mileage paint, is this a good/bad idea?



basically i thought



dawn, car shampoo, clay, car shampoo, wipe down with alcohol, polish, klasse, wax. does this sound good for a new car finish? sorry for the long post...i look forward to a long relationship here on autopia.
 
Hi,



There is no need for dawn



Your clay, light polish and i think your going to K-AIO?? Will all remove the previous wax.



Geoff
 
wow, you are doing way too much.......



There shouldn't be any wax on a new vehicle, but they do put those coverings on them so yes I would use dawn to help cut through any solutions they use when putting on those coverings.



What need would you have to polish if it's coming straight from the factory??

I would just dawn wash it, claybar it and go over it with 3 coats of Zaino Z2.
 
As the others have said, no need to use dawn. You can wax a new vehicle because the paint should have had more than enough time to cure.
 
Yeah, wash it with a quality car soap. Clay it with a mild clay and then top it with your favorite wax or sealant. You should be good to go.
 
David703 said:
wash with carwash soap, clay and wax. No need to polish unless u see something you need to correct..
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That's good :xyxthumbs But note the part I put in bold type...I've seen brand-new vehicles that are hideously marred up. If you have marring, polish it out; if you don't, no need to polish. If the dealer washes it badly, then it could very well need polishing (I never let them wash my new cars for this reason).



norcal450- Welcome to Autopia! There are a number of good threads with lots of info/opinions regarding taking delivery of new cars. IMO they'd be well worth the dreaded search ;) For that first wash, you can use Dawn or carwash shampoo, but the shampoo will have greater lubricity and IMO that's important for avoiding marring. And avoiding marring is what it's all about ;)
 
thanks for all the replies! i will become one with the search function to avoid to many overkill type threads haha...



as accumulator said i have seen way to many new cars look terrible and need or could use a polish. i have requested the car not be washed so hopefully they follow that easy request. depending on how the paint looks i may or may not polish.



and yes i will be using K-AIO and p21 on top



does anybody have any insight on the alcohol part? dont know if its good or bad...i find alcohol easily removes smudges, road grime and other stuff. but again this is mainly on older paint
 
I am a noobie, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about. But, I thought clay was to remove contaminants stuck in paint and clearcoat from driving, fallout, etc. A brand new car shouldn't have anything that couldn't be washed out, should it? I have been considering claying my vehicle, but a little worried about marring it. Never used clay before. I am a little confused why it would need a polish also? But, you are the pro's............do tell.
 
2005tundra- Welcome to Autopia!



New cars usually have all sorts of [stuff] on/in the paint. When it's *ferrous* stuff you might not notice it until it starts to corrode (rust) and then you have a very unsightly problem...a problem that can be hard to permanently correct (voice of experience). This is something that the dealers are really *supposed* to take care of; the decontamination system that I use ("ABC" by Automotive International - Valugard Product Line ) was made for dealerships to use on new cars..but hardly any ever do it :( Clay is a so-so alternative and a lot better than nothing. Don't under-estimate how much abuse cars take before delivery, or over-estimate the effectiveness of transit-wraps and/or dealer prep.



Some clays do mar pretty readily but the marring is usually light and polishes out easily. But I prefer clays that don't mar in the first place (my favorite has been discontinued but a lot of people like ClayMagic).



Think of it this way- the clay gets the big chunks of stuff off/out of the paint and then the polish has uncontaminated paint to do its thing on. Polishing alone can end up "polishing the contamination", not taking the contamination off the paint. Those of us who did this stuff for ages before detailing clay came out are almost always the biggest proponents of clay, it really is a great addition to the detailer's arsenal.



Yep, clay then polish (or at least use an all-in-one type product or even just a cleaner-wax). Then apply the Last Step Product ("LSP", i.e, wax).



Alcohol shouldn't hurt a new car. But I prefer New Car Prep (also from Automotive International - Valugard Product Line) as it's a solvent made *specifically* for cleaning up new cars and removing stuff like the adhesive residue from the transit wrap. A gallon is pretty cheap and it's a great solvent to have around.



This brings up another caveat about dealer prep- The last two times I let a dealer remove the transit-wrap, they managed to scratch the vehicle so badly that I couldn't correct it. If you saw the way the typical dealer's new car prep guys treat 'em you'd be stunned; we're not talking pride of workmanship in most cases, but rather "who cares, when's lunch".
 
New cars definitely require some attention.



I just picked up a new car this past weekend and let the dealership 'detail' the car.



The car has been sitting outside for a bit, and have to admit they did a good job cleaning it. All the dust and grime was washed away allowing a clear view of the worst case of swirls and marring I have seen in a LONG time.



I'm guessing they used a scouring pad and Ajax. Or maybe a push broom and some rocks.



I can't really blame the guys doing the work though. They are hired to push out work as fast as possible. Just trying to do their job.



I hear Subaru paint is relatively easy to correct. I'll be finding out soon enough.
 
BigHonu said:
I can't really blame the guys doing the work though. They are hired to push out work as fast as possible. Just trying to do their job..
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I'm a bit less tolerant than you are ;) I worked as a new-car-prep guy at a busy dealership when I was a college kid and I did the job *right*, or at least as best I could with the stuff at my disposal which was still pretty good. Heh heh, for me it was a dream job- cleaning up new cars and getting *paid* for it! But doing the job right didn't exactly make me popular with my co-workers, who didn't want the standard raised past what they were willing/able to do. Just like anything else, it's not the right job for everybody and if you're gonna do it you oughta try to do it right.



Hope you get your Subaru all polished up without too much work.
 
there should be wax on the car when the dealership preps it for delievery. i ran detail shop at 2 different dealerships and all vehicles sold new or used got wax before they left.
 
keep_it_clean said:
there should be wax on the car when the dealership preps it for delievery. i ran detail shop at 2 different dealerships and all vehicles sold new or used got wax before they left.
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Each of the 3 new cars I've bought in the last 2 years have had an extremely thick, greasy glaze applied by the dealer. Regular car washing didn't work for me...ended up doing what amounted to 2 washes and an AIO to get rid of the stuff.



If you can, request they do not wash the car or apply any wax or glaze. That way it'll make it a lot easier for you to do your initial prep, plus you can readily see any paint damage that the car may have.
 
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