Total N00b looking for help...

J

Jek Hawkins

New member
OK, as the title suggests, I AM a complete n00b at detailing. Why? because this is my first car, 1996 Acura Integra LS in Cypress Green Pearlescent, Sandstone interior cloth. When I got the car, it was covered in a blue...shtuff...that, after reading around, I determined was probably acid rain etching. Well, as a typical college student with little to no extra cash, I snapped up a bottle of *ahem* Nu-Finish and spent a few days burning off that stuff from the paint...



Let's cut to the chase, shall we?



1.

The Nu-Finish stripped that junk off just fine, now my car is actually GREEN again, but I noticed that my windows also had this stuff on it. On the hatch window, the Nu-Finish was able to take that blue stuff off, great. But the side windows were stubbornly refusing to clear up. Help please, anything reasonable is welcome.



2.

I finally managed to clay-bar and wax my Integra recently, and does it shine! :cooleek:

Problem? Swirls. I checked out some of the stuff on here about that, and well, I'm a bit discouraged. I don't have the cash to pick up a PC or rotary, and I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to take a SANDER to my beloved car anyway (kudos to all you guys who do this professionally, wish I had your guts). Anything?



KK, maybe my best alternative would be to find one of you Orlando guys to entrust my car to?



Currently:



Nu-Finish in late June;

Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit last week;

Mother's California Gold Cleaner Wax last week right after/during ClayBar;

Maintenance with Meguiar's Quik Exterior Detailer and MF cloth;



http://flickr.com/photos/jek_hawkins/sets/72157600958710147/



No pics of the ClayBar and Wax, I really need to go somewhere, polish her up, then photograph. I will not deny that she looks just amazing now, but there's still a lot of improvement to go! :cry:



Thx in advance for any advice given, also, was recommended here by Team-Integra, FTW.
 
Welcome to the forum.



To be honest, I'm not quite sure what your question is?



Are you looking for an Orlando detailer? Contact Todd TH0001



or just wanting further advise on how to care for your car? Without a PC it's tough to take it any further by hand.



You mentioned money was tight, so a reputable detailer is out of the question and so are any good buffers....:nixweiss



Josh
 
Your options are.



Pick up a PC and some pads and polish



Send it to a detailer



Do it by hand.





For the price of sending it to a detailer, you could buy or buy most of the PC/pads/polish and do it yourself if you're willing to put in the time. I figure about $200 for a basic PC kit, and who knows for a detailer..but maybe negotiate a cheaper rate for just a polish job without wax or any interior work..



Doing it by hand would be the cheapest option, but your arm will fall off after a couple days of work and the result won't be as good



If I was short on cash, I'd go and get some hand use scratch remover such as scratchx (for any small areas that are really bad) and a nice filling wax such as NXT..then save your spare change for a 'detailing fund' where you could buy some hardware
 
thx for responding guys,



for Josh, well, what i'm looking for was kinda what sspeer said, um that aside, windows, what do you suppose the stuff is, and how do i get it off...?



thx for the referral too, i might just do what sspeer said, do the major stuff now and keep saving, then contact Todd of just DIY it... and actually any advice on what further to do on the car is welcome too, so plz post!



thx to sspeer, yes, i figured out the disadvantage of do-it-by-hand, i've done everything by hand since i got the car... <flex> , lol



um, NXT sounds good, i've been hearing lots of good things about it, and the UDM sold on this site is good?



Just looking for options, what to do next, hints, tips, anything u guys have to offer...



thx tons guys, 1st replies!
 
Jek Hawkins- Welcome to Autopia!



I often tackle newbie Qs like this but I've been offline a lot recently.



Yeah, a polisher like the PC or the UDM (or my favorite, the Cyclo) will make the marring removal a lot easier and will almost certainly give better results than you'll get by hand. You'll do fine with it, don't worry about it doing any damage (just use some common sense). If you can afford the polisher, just get it, simple as that. If the cost gives you pause, the products I recommend below work as well by hand as anything out there and *far* better than most products. But they do work better by machine ;)



I always recommend polishes from 1Z as I believe them to be both highly effective and *extremely* newbie-friendly. Sources: Welcome to Exceldetail! or Aloha & Welcome to Our Oasis for All Your Auto Detailing Supplies & Accessories . From beginners to top level experts, 1Z stuff *delivers the results*, even though it's not as widely known as a lot of other brands.



I'd get the 1Z Paint Polish (green can), although having all three of their "consumer level polishes"- Ultra/Extra Polish (strong stuff, yellow can), Paint Polish (medium stuff, green can), Metallic Polish with Wax (*very* mild stuff, red can) is a nice way to cover all the bases. Most people get by just fine with only the Paint Polish, at least for starting out.



I'd top the 1Z with a wax from Collinite, probably their 845 Insulator Wax. (same sources if you can't find it locally.) Infinitely more durable than NXT and I'm confident you'll like how it looks. And the beading will downright astound you :)



While there are countless good polishes and waxes you could go with (and I regularly use ones from at least six different companies so it's not like I'm forming my recommendations in a vacuum), the 1Z/Collinite approach is my hands-down recommendation for you. If you try it, please post back on how it works; so far I've never had any negative feedback on this recommendation but if somebody *doesn't* like it, I want to know about it (and "gee, this is great" feedback is nice to hear too).
 
Depending on what's on your window, I found that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser dipped in distilled white vinegar (cheap stuff) works great. Follow up with a glass cleaner, and your windows will be good.



If it's a daily driver and depending on how bad the swirls are, you may just want to live with it. I drive I-75 everyday to go from Ocala to Gainesville (UF student), so I've all but given up on swirls. Not that I have a good paint job anyway. Hacks with single stage paints FTL.
 
thx lots to accumulator, my car being a DD as it is, durability and shine together are not easy to find, so that sounds like a good match?



um, where could i find 1Z? the products sound like a match for me! :)



as for PC, i would probably have the means to buy in a few weeks, so i will keep that open as well



seriously, accumulator, thx much



as for timmah, i am sitting in Olin Engineering as I type, so pretty nice to see annother FITer online!



:-o ! :)



UF, thx for the suggestion



now i gotta try these suggestions! haha



i'll try to be back with some more pictures before i actually pick up the products and give them a go...



thx again!
 
'
UFgatorEE said:
I found that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser dipped in distilled white vinegar (cheap stuff) works great.
Click to expand...
\r\n\r\n\r\nThanks for the great tip. For those unfamiliar, Magic Eraser is actually melamine foam, an extremely hard micro-fine abrasive that works wonders -- just be careful around your skin and read the package.\r\n\r\nMore info here.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGMG'
 
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