Some questions about detailing

M

MikeWinLDS

New member
Hi there, I've been a long-time lurker, and I still haven't been able to get a PC or anything to try my hand at detailing, mostly because I'm broke and still in school, but I love seeing pictures of people detailing their cars and making them look super shiny (mostly the black cars, since those seem to reflect the best when done well, with white being the least popping). One day I'll be able to start detailing, but just from reading, I had some questions I'd like to ask.



I see a lot of people talk about wet sanding. What is that? You don't actually use sand paper on your car or anything right? And you do this to get rid of the swirls and spiderwebs on your car? How exactly do those swirls and spiderwebs get there? The most I've ever done with my car is wash it, clay it, and manually apply some wax, and even though the car looks a little better, there are still swirl marks and all that, so it's not really detailing at all I would say, since you need to polish out those swirl marks and whatnot, but just doing the wax for protection, at least however much I can.



Also, when you first started detailing with your PC, how long did it take you until you got good results and how long on average does it take you to fully detail the outside of your car? I know there's a learning curve and you have to practice to make perfect, but is there any way that you can screw up your car if you aren't doing it right? I know the PC is a random orbital, so it's less of a chance to mess up your car's finish than if you were using a straight rotary or whatever, but is the PC idiotproof? And even if you do a bad job with the PC, it would still look better than trying to do it manually, I'm guessing. Anyway, can't wait until the day I can start detailing and making my car look nice, still gots a long way to go.
 
you do use sandpaper on the car, but it is super fine 1500-3000 grit i prefer megs wet sand paper because it seems to be easier to polish out the marks, but if you have not heard of it don't try it until you do more research and practice.



The PC is almost fool proof if used consistantly and correctly, the correct pad, product and time spent per panel will produce much better results then by hand
 
Yea, that is something I will have to read about some more. I've never heard about using sand paper on a car before. And I'm guessing that kind of sand paper is specialized and is to be found in auto care shops and not places like Home Depot? And how would you recommend practicing in this method? Do you use an old, crappy car, or try to find an inconspicous spot on your car?
 
DO NOT PRACTICE WETSANDING WITHOUT A PC OR ROTARY!!!



You cannot get out sanding marks by hand. fyi.



You need to get skilled with the PC, understanding it's capabilities and what type of polishes/compounds work with what type of pads and what those combos' are able to remove before I would even think about wetsanding.



It's not really a specialized sand paper, just a very very fine sand paper as mentioned 1500-3000 grit, it's almost soft to the touch.
 
JoshVette said:
DO NOT PRACTICE WETSANDING WITHOUT A PC OR ROTARY!!!



You cannot get out sanding marks by hand. fyi.



You need to get skilled with the PC, understanding it's capabilities and what type of polishes/compounds work with what type of pads and what those combos' are able to remove before I would even think about wetsanding.



It's not really a specialized sand paper, just a very very fine sand paper as mentioned 1500-3000 grit, it's almost soft to the touch.
Click to expand...



Not quite completely true from what I understand, Megs uni grit sandpaper has a uniform surface to its paper where other papers do not, plus its 100% water proof and can be left in a bucket of water for longer periods of time, where other papers will delapitate, anyone correct me if I am wrong, but these are the reasons I prefer megs over others
 
I think the others sandpapers like 3M also have a uniform surface, but the Meg's does seem to be better because it won't disintegrate after being put in water for long periods of time.
 
Meg's doesn't make their own sandpaper, guys. The supposedly Meguiar's Unigrit that I bought in single sheets from ADS was Nikken paper. Whoever makes it, I can tell you that Meguiar's doesn't make sandpaper. And you can leave regular 3M Wet or Dry Tri-M-Ite in a bucket for a year and nothing will happen to it.



Regular sandpaper has a range or tolerance on the grit size. For example, a regular 1000 grit wet or dry paper might have abrasive particles from 750 to 1250 grit. The "unigrit" means that the abrasive particle range is better controlled, maybe 900-1100 grit. The significance of this is you won't get a scratch from the stray 750 grit particle at the end of the bell curve.



3M makes a line of polishing papers, cloths, and films that have a controlled grit distribution, as I'm sure other abrasive manufacturers do. This is not a case of Meguiar's making something special or having a product that no one else has or that is something special. It's a case of them repackaging an esoteric product that has a specific use in their market. Just like Brookstone or Griot's, that find esoteric products and market them. The Brookstone catalog used to be called "Brookstone's Catalog of Hard To Find Tools". You can walk all day in Lowe's, Home Depot, or large industrial supply places like MSC or Grainger, and never find the 3M polishing paper I'm talking about. But call your industrial distributor, and he will order it for you in packs of 200 sheets, and it's expensive. That is why Meg's sells someone else's paper in a small pack.
 
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