Questions about LSP's

I

IAFF78

New member
Just a few questions...







I've noticed all these LSP products out there and am wondering if its feasible to buy them all? When i mean all, I mean a polish, glaze, swirl remover, waterspot remover, cleaner wax, sealant and carnuba wax and preferably all by the same company?







Now I understand the need for a compound, polish and wax. The others just seem to be overkill. If i would do a nice job compunding and polishing the car then would i truly need the glaze, swirl remover, water spot remover and cleaner wax? Maybe i'm missing something here and if so please set me straight.







When it comes to the sealant from what i've read it boils down to personal preference. Sealant and carnuba achieve the same goals with different end results.







Any advice would be greatly appreciated.







Thanks,



Kev
 
It kinda comes down to if you need correction and if you want to do it or how much correction you want done. If you want your vehicle to look it's absolute best, then you do complete correction. If you are willing to live with some correction still needing done that's fine also, it is up to you. After correction you need to polish or glaze. Then apply your LSP. You can also get away with a one-time and then apply a LSP (short and sweet) and your vehicle can still look very nice. For the most part, sealants last longer and do look different than a layer of wax. I usually put down a sealant, than maybe a month or two put down a layer of wax. Another factor is if you do it by hand or DA. Depends on how anal you want to be also. To me the minimum is wash, clay (if needed), one-time, another coat of sealant and/or wax (1 or 2 months later). QD it every 2-3 days between washes. Dress tires/wheels, interior/trim, clean headlights.
 
Each of those products has it's own purpose, there's different ways to detail a car. If you compound and polish to perfection, nothing more is needed than a coat of wax or sealant. If you have some swirls, then you may want to use a glaze to hide them before LSP. A cleaner wax can be used on a car that's not getting corrected to clean up the paint a bit. Water spot remover is just for that, removing water spots. It all comes down to what type of detailing you want to do. Alot of products are also created and marketed to get people to buy them although they are not really needed. When you want to detail your car, decide what kind of detail you want to do and get the products that will help you reach that goal.
 
I plan on using a DA polisher. So I plan on getting my suv looking the best I can get it. Now, what.l is the difference between a glaze and polish?



Is it ok to lay down a sealant then a carnuba wax in the same day to finish off the job?



Once you finish up with the compound, should you do the swirl remover then polish? Or hopefully after u compound, u will be swirl free.



It just little things like this which get me all squirrely.



Thanks,

Kevin
 
A glaze acts as a temporary filler. It hides light swirls and scratches by filling them making it level with the surrounding paint for a short period of time until these defects reappear. Polishing actually corrects the clear coat. By that I mean it levels the clear coat down creating a smooth, even line basically removing the defects. Scratches and swirls refract light causing the paint to look dull and ugly. When even, light reflects giving depth and shine to the paint.



You can lay a wax over a sealant. Most sealant's recommend you wait 20 minutes before adding another layer of sealant or wax. This is after you let the sealant haze first and remove.



In order to bring a high quality in paint gloss and to remove as much defects as possible, proper steps must be taken. Compounding is needed if paint is dull, faded, oxidized, and scratched up pretty badly but not so deep that it needs touch up or worse repainting. For paint in better condition a finishing polish may be all that's needed to prepare the paint for your wax or sealant. If you need to compound, you must follow it up with a polish. Compounding removes bigger defects but will leave behind finer scratches and haziness. This can be removed by a polish to produce that maximum shine.
 
Its all coming back to me now. Its sad how much info I've forgotten over the years. Hell, the last time I worked as a detailer was when the last pope was elected. Thats also the last time I picked up a buffer of any sorts. Back then it was easier. We used one product line (malco) and I was given a list off all their products and what each one did which made it easy. I forget how good I had it. I miss being able to put the car up on a lift and remove the tires so both side of the rims were immaculant. Having a old paint both to do all the paint correction work in was a dream come true too. Never having to work on the car outside in the heat/cold. God, I miss those days.





Kevin
 
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