What's the point............................

gav'spurplez

New member
well, we are having some unusual temps here in chi-town, went from -20 the week before xmas to 53 degrees today :cool:



so i figured it wasa good day for a bath, so once i was done, the sun came over my house and shed some crappy light on my car, revealing tons of swirls and mars that made me sick :mad:



:grrr



so my point is, what good is it if your paint is super slick ( mine is thanks to numerous coats of WG :xyxthumbs ) if after a couple washes and some light snow, ( had a cover over the car too ) the paint is just trashed. very frustrated with the whole situation.



let's just say i can not wait for spring time, i am going to literally spend 24 hours non-stop on the car. from wheel wells to IP and WG with the PC on the paint.



c'mon spring :sosad



just had to vent :o
 
by doing this maintenance over the winter, your minimzing the damage and making the job a lot easier in the spring, plus alittle excercise! it's all good
 
A daily driver, especially one kept outside, will never be perfect. You would have to spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to keep it perfect.
 
gav'spurplez said:
well, we are having some unusual temps here in chi-town, went from -20 the week before xmas to 53 degrees today :cool:



so i figured it wasa good day for a bath, so once i was done, the sun came over my house and shed some crappy light on my car, revealing tons of swirls and mars that made me sick :mad:



:grrr



so my point is, what good is it if your paint is super slick ( mine is thanks to numerous coats of WG :xyxthumbs ) if after a couple washes and some light snow, ( had a cover over the car too ) the paint is just trashed. very frustrated with the whole situation.



let's just say i can not wait for spring time, i am going to literally spend 24 hours non-stop on the car. from wheel wells to IP and WG with the PC on the paint.



c'mon spring :sosad



just had to vent :o



What color is your vehicle? If it's a dark color, get used to it. I have a Black Mustang convertible that looks amazing after detailing, but definitely shows some swirls after a few washings. Luckily the sun doesn't shine a whole lot during the winter so I don't get to aggravated. I protect it with a good wax and wait for spring to really spruce it back up. :D
 
Funny that this thread came up, cause I am going through

something similar. I've been using sealant on the paint

well since my last polish job late summer. Now I am seeing

heavy markings. I don't really see them in sunlight, but

when I did a snapshot with flash, I could see a very heavy

halo. Is it possible to swirl sealants, or am I looking at

swirled paint?
 
At least now someone knows what we NY'ers go through during the winter.



It is important to have a good wax replenishing routine during the spring and summer months, so you will be able to carry an adequate build up to float the winter months.



For now, nothing is more important than to maintain your surface with frequent washings. Hit the paint a few times with a QD when the weather permits. You could, if the temp hits 50+ degrees, put on a coat of wax to help you out. Again, it should not be necessary if you were dilligent with the wax deposits during your warm months. Take care and keep it clean.
 
usdm said:
..when I did a snapshot with flash, I could see a very heavy

halo. Is it possible to swirl sealants, or am I looking at

swirled paint?



Sorry to say it's probably the latter. I *have* had micromarring that was only in my (many layers of) SG, but that's pretty rare.



About all you can do with daily drivers is build up a lot of protection during the warm months as lbls1 said, and then a) wash frequently so dirt doesn't build up and b) try to be as gentle as you can when you do wash (foam gun inside the mitt works best for me). Be prepared to go through a *lot* of mitts with each wash so you don't have to keep using a contaminated one. I just used five on the MPV, and it wasn't very dirty (and that's not counting the wheels, doorjambs, and undercarriage).



Car covers are a double-edged sword- I've *never* been able to use them without marring the paint to some extent unless the cover was freshly washed and the car was freshly waxed. Once the car or the cover is dirty, forget it, putting the cover on will mar it every time (at least in my experience). You simply can't touch paint with anything unless it's spotlessly clean, and even then you can only touch it with something very soft. Look how hard it is to *wash* without marring, and that's with a soft mitt that's lubed with wash solution.
 
Accumulator said:
Sorry to say it's probably the latter. I *have* had micromarring that was only in my (many layers of) SG, but that's pretty rare....



Yeah, I gave up on hoping for marring only in the SG long ago. :(



Accumulator said:


Car covers are a double-edged sword- I've *never* been able to use them without marring the paint to some extent unless the cover was freshly washed and the car was freshly waxed. Once the car or the cover is dirty, forget it, putting the cover on will mar it every time (at least in my experience). You simply can't touch paint with anything unless it's spotlessly clean, and even then you can only touch it with something very soft. Look how hard it is to *wash* without marring, and that's with a soft mitt that's lubed with wash solution.



I can tell you I've avoided marring at least from a cover by doing not only this but by meticulously QDing the car followed by a light dusting, sometimes a rather involved routine, EVERY time before putting it on. I've done it enough times now that I'm pretty efficient at it.
 
Bill D- My hat's off to anyone who can QD/dust without marring! I've finally just given up on it :o



On the MPV, some of what I was sure was marring was just in the SG, lucky me :D Turns out that way every year, but that's awfully unusual. And I *am* talking about the sort of really light stuff that most people believe to be invisible on silver anyhow...
 
If your covers are marring, replace them. I've used the Noah from calcarcover, and it is excellent. No marring or scratching whatsover (well, the car is clean underneath I must admit-even for a former outsider), and calcarcover guarantees that their Noah won't marr or scratch.



A little common sense does go a long way. Even with the best cover, if you have particles, dirt, LEAVES, Cookie Crumbs etc. on your paint before putting on a cover, don't expect to have a mirror finish when the cover comes off. lol!



My old and running edict: marring or scratching from modern covers is unacceptable!
 
Accumulator said:
Sorry to say it's probably the latter. I *have* had micromarring that was only in my (many layers of) SG, but that's pretty rare.






Yeah, that's what I figured too. No harm in asking though.



The other reason I asked is because of of something

similar I encountered with KSG. I'm pretty sure someting

was going on with it becuase after I did a total strip

down of sealants, the marring spots were not nearly

as intense, but they were still there. I figured maybe

with some sealants that harden over time, that they can

also get swirl marks in them as well.



Well, I'm not going to get too crazy over it. I'll just keep

the paint protected as best as i can for now. Hopefully

next spring, I can get off to a fresh start.
 
ZaneO said:
A daily driver, especially one kept outside, will never be perfect. You would have to spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to keep it perfect.



tell me about it:( seems i gotta wash my car every other day. driving it one day out here in Long Island, NY puts dirt/salt/crap on my car which is beyone S&W
 
I can totally relate. I am going through the same thing in Boston with the crappy weather. Prior to this winter I had built up several layers of EX-P 7 to be exact in preparation for old man winter. What do you think I saw after our six inch snow and ice strom last week? The beginning of little swirls on my trunk and serious marring on my hood. I seriously wanted to cry and break out the pc. I sometimes feel all my work was in vain. So I sit here and begin to plot out an attack for spring time. I am seriously thinking about getting a beater car for 05.
 
solarafiedV6 said:
.. I am seriously thinking about getting a beater car for 05.



I was gonna post that this is the only way to go, but then I considered that my current beater (the minivan I use to haul the dogs) didn't have much marring after more than a year of all-weather use. Now that I have my wash regimen all figured out and I have a nice garage, it's just a matter of spending the time.



Besides doing marring-free washes and trying to buy vehicles with hard clear, IMO the best thing is to have a garage where you can do your normal detailing year-round. That's not always possible *right now*, but maybe it's worth compromising now so you can have it for the long term later.



And the sort of long-range planning that results in a house with a nice garage will pay off in other ways too...
 
You will be so glad once you get a beater. At one time I only had car #1 when I first picked it up, and it was murder. It was too nice to drive in the rain or snow, and unfortunately there were times that I had to take it out in the rain. More so, I could not drive the main car to work (not a good area for certain cars).



Getting a beater made my transportation situation a heck of a lot easier and tolerable. Now car #1 can stay tucked up and pretty all it wants, while the real car beater does the dirty work!



Don't leave your beater out of the detailing fun either. My beater now benefits from all of the fussiness I put on car #1! It just makes your car experience that much better.
 
lbls1 said:
You will be so glad once you get a beater... Now car #1 can stay tucked up and pretty all it wants, while the real car beater does the dirty work... My beater now benefits from all of the fussiness I put on car #1! It just makes your car experience that much better.



Heh heh, *my* problem is that I tend to want to keep the beater so nice that I end up spending (at least) the same amount of time on it as on the good cars!



Just the other day my wife was asking me what I really think I *mean* when I talk about a "beater"; since I got rid of the Volvo she's noticed that there aren't really any differences in how I treat our vehicles.
 
Accumulator said:
Heh heh, *my* problem is that I tend to want to keep the beater so nice that I end up spending (at least) the same amount of time on it as on the good cars!



Oh please don't get me started on that one lol!!!!.......I'm still trying to put it out of my mind. The problem is...that you just can't have one nice car without being able to drive something that is at least approaching nice.
 
Back
Top