You'll laugh, but I am new at this (LONG)

West6MT

West6MT

New member
Hey everyone,
I have some questions that I would like to ask (hope this is the right place for these). Im new at detailing my own car, so these might seem like silly questions.

So you know what I am dealing with here:
Car is a 2005 TSX (month and a half old) thats been beaten on by the weather quite a bit sitting in the driveway for the last while. I wash it when I can when I am around but have been away a lot lately,......so I can only do so much.

Waiting for my order of products to arrive,............consists of: Basically all stuff made by Four Star (auto wash, swirl mark remover, paint cleanser, UPP, ultimate detailing clay fine grade, and ultimate gloss enhancer QD'er),.....as well as a new wash mitt, cobra waffle weave drying towel, (2 microfiber towels, 2 microfiber applicator pads, 2 poly foam applicators) park of a kit, 3 pack of cobra microfiber detailing cloths, lexol leather cleaner/conditioner, leather brush, 303 aero protectant, and Stoners invisible glass.

Ok, here are my questions,..........hope ppl dont get mad at me for making this thing so darn long.

1. When my stuff finally arrives,.......I plan to wash, clay, wash, polish, paint cleaner, 2 layers of UPP. I am not sure if I really need to do the polishing step though. Since it has been sitting out in the harsh elements,.....polishing it is prob a good idea right? I think there were buff/swirl marks on parts of the car when I picked it up from the dealer,......noticed when it was out in bright sun. There has been a lot of rain lately too.

2. What do I do if I get polish, paint cleaner, or UPP sealant (or a wax) on stuff like trim (black trim around windows, silver trim etc) or my headlights?

3. What the heck is a trim dressing or whatever you guys call them in that particular section? Would I use that if I get wax or whatever on trim? Brands please,........OTC stuff preferred cause I dont wanna wait for more crap to be shipped (so Mothers or whatever).

4. How do I polish/use paint cleaner/sealant etc near stuff like trim, windows, and lights,.......basically near all the edges of stuff?

5. If I should be using the polish im getting,......do I do the whole car, or only the parts where I think its needed?

6. After I put the first layer of UPP on, how do I make sure the surface is clean and ready for the second layer? Would the QD'er be good enough,.....or maybe a wash and QD???

7. How cold is too cold to do stuff like polishing and putting on sealants. Its going to be late Oct when I am doing this stuff and I live in Toronto.

8. Am I missing anything that I might need still? I know I dont really have any wheel stuff. I just use a dedicated wash mitt for the wheels. Is it a good idea to get some kind of wheel protectant stuff? I have read about stuff in the wheel care section,....which was kind of confusing. Am I ok washing the wheels on a weekly basis?

Sorry for making this SO LONG. I bet a lot of ppl are laughing at my silly questions right now. Im new at this though, and although I have read about all this stuff,.......I dont want to damage my car and I am worried about doing something wrong. I wanna know every detail before throwing all kinds of chemicals on my paint to make it look good. Any comments/recommendations/suggestions/help is greatly appreciated. Sorry for being a pain in the butt with all my qestions (as I make this longer and longer),.........ok I'm done.

Thanks,
Steve
 
If you are doing this by hand, I'd recommend Klasse All-In-One (AIO) instead of your polish step on a new car, IMO.
Late October, eh? That's tough. You may have more problem with wind, rain, and snow than the cold. Don't apply sealants when you are below 8-10 degrees celsius, but cleaning the paint there is fine. You could always rent a locker at PS for a couple of days. :cool:
 
1. When my stuff finally arrives,.......I plan to wash, clay, wash, polish, paint cleaner, 2 layers of UPP. I am not sure if I really need to do the polishing step though. Since it has been sitting out in the harsh elements,.....polishing it is prob a good idea right? I think there were buff/swirl marks on parts of the car when I picked it up from the dealer,......noticed when it was out in bright sun. There has been a lot of rain lately too.

If you have swirls you should be able to get them looking better with the polish (if by hand). If there are buffer marks in your paint, it'll be really difficult to get them out with that polish and by hand. So I would stick with the polish you have. If you have a PC (or you may want to pick one up) I think I would still polish the paint. You really aren't going to do much harm with a fine polish.

2. What do I do if I get polish, paint cleaner, or UPP sealant (or a wax) on stuff like trim (black trim around windows, silver trim etc) or my headlights?

The easy answer for this question is don't get it on it, be really careful. I don't believe that UPP stains trim, but not sure about the polish or paint cleaner. If you are concerned about it, apply some trim dressing and that will minimize the problem.

3. What the heck is a trim dressing or whatever you guys call them in that particular section? Would I use that if I get wax or whatever on trim? Brands please,........OTC stuff preferred cause I dont wanna wait for more crap to be shipped (so Mothers or whatever).

Most trim dressings won't remove dried on wax on trim, it'll cover it up. As for OTC brands, find some Stoners Trim Shine. I like it and you can buy it at any auot parts store. just apply it before you start polishing/sealing just incase you do get it on, and then re-apply when you are finished.

4. How do I polish/use paint cleaner/sealant etc near stuff like trim, windows, and lights,.......basically near all the edges of stuff?

Be really careful. If your using a PC I would get as close as you can, and then come back by hand and do what you missed.

5. If I should be using the polish im getting,......do I do the whole car, or only the parts where I think its needed?

If there are buffer marks in the car, you'll probably have to do the whole car. I rarely see a car with swirls only on the hood. It is more noticible on the hood, but the sides still have swirls, in most cases.

6. After I put the first layer of UPP on, how do I make sure the surface is clean and ready for the second layer? Would the QD'er be good enough,.....or maybe a wash and QD???

It depends when you do the second layer. It sounds like you don't have a garage, but if you do 1 layer and don't drive the car when you go to do the second layer the next day, you should be able to get by with the QD. However, if you do drive it, then I'd wash it.

7. How cold is too cold to do stuff like polishing and putting on sealants. Its going to be late Oct when I am doing this stuff and I live in Toronto.

Anything about 40 degrees....not sure what that is in C's though.

8. Am I missing anything that I might need still? I know I dont really have any wheel stuff. I just use a dedicated wash mitt for the wheels. Is it a good idea to get some kind of wheel protectant stuff? I have read about stuff in the wheel care section,....which was kind of confusing. Am I ok washing the wheels on a weekly basis?

Wheels don't need to be protected but should definitly be kept clean. You can pick up any type of wheel cleaner and just keep up with keeping them clean (i personally use Armor All Wheel Cleaner). Tire dressing you should pick up too (I use Megs Hot Shine Tire Dressing not the areosol one). What else... carpet cleaner would be good, interior protectant (megs #40 is really good) and I think that should pretty much do it... Good luck!
 
Thanks for the tips guys,
Budman you went all out answering my stuff,.....awesome.

I do have a garage (working on making room for the car) but I was concerned about dust flying around and getting on the paint while Im applying things to the paint, or overnight before the next coat of UPP. Maybe I can use a hose/broom to get lots of the crap out. I guess that wont be a big problem probably. No PC,........yet,...all hand now. I get to guinnepig my dads car first too,......hehe. Ill try to get some pics of before and after,.....cause it needs A LOT of work.

Thanks again PEI and Budman for the tips/advice,
Steve
 
Try blowing the dust out of your garage with a leaf blower.

I'm not going to get into a debate about wheel protection, but if you do put a coat of sealant on them, you can ususally just wash them with car shampoo and not need any special wheel cleaners.
The wheels on my 2000 GTP and the 1998 TranSport never had a wheel cleaner used on their wheels. In recent years, they have had Klasse AIO/UPP on them. I use the same shampoo mix I use for the rest of the vehicle. Separate wash mitt and bucket.

Charles
 
CharlesW said:
Try blowing the dust out of your garage with a leaf blower.

I'm not going to get into a debate about wheel protection, but if you do put a coat of sealant on them, you can ususally just wash them with car shampoo and not need any special wheel cleaners.
The wheels on my 2000 GTP and the 1998 TranSport never had a wheel cleaner used on their wheels. In recent years, they have had Klasse AIO/UPP on them. I use the same shampoo mix I use for the rest of the vehicle. Separate wash mitt and bucket.

Charles
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Thanks for the ideas charles,..........too bad I dont have a leaf blower. Do have two shop vacs though,......I could get rid of lots of dust with those I guess. I am thinking about getting a sealant for them,.....dunno what or where yet. Gotta be from somewhere near me,....no more online ordering for a while for me.
 
West6MT said:
Thanks for the ideas charles,..........too bad I dont have a leaf blower. Do have two shop vacs though,......I could get rid of lots of dust with those I guess. I am thinking about getting a sealant for them,.....dunno what or where yet. Gotta be from somewhere near me,....no more online ordering for a while for me.
Click to expand...
Your Shop-Vacs will work to vacuum the area and might even be able to be used as a blower. I have an old 5 gallon Shop-Vac that the hose will plug into the exhaust outlet and can then be used as a blower.
As far as a sealant for your wheels, use the 4 Star UPC followed by the 4 Star UPP.
You can really get caught up in buying products that you can do without and still do a good job of taking care of your vehicle. All I actually need for my paint is a swirl remover, (Poorboy's SSR2), a polish, (Klasse AIO), and the LSP, (4 Star UPP). All the other products are handy, but not really required.

Charles
 
CharlesW said:
Your Shop-Vacs will work to vacuum the area and might even be able to be used as a blower. I have an old 5 gallon Shop-Vac that the hose will plug into the exhaust outlet and can then be used as a blower.
As far as a sealant for your wheels, use the 4 Star UPC followed by the 4 Star UPP.
You can really get caught up in buying products that you can do without and still do a good job of taking care of your vehicle. All I actually need for my paint is a swirl remover, (Poorboy's SSR2), a polish, (Klasse AIO), and the LSP, (4 Star UPP). All the other products are handy, but not really required.

Charles
Click to expand...


Charles is right. I got caught up buying too many products at first just to find out either I didn't need them or that there were better products for the job.

Start with a couple and when they're gone try somethign different..
 
Thanks Charles and Hawaii,
I think Im fine using the shop vac for sure,....pretty sure I can blow air with the newer one. Thanks for the tip of using the 4star stuff on the wheels Charles,.....that works out great cause I was gonna go buy something for them.

I think I do need something for my plastic trim though,.......incase I get wax on it and so it wont fade. Do you guys know something good over the counter? When ever I go into a store they never have the full line of someones products (ex mothers or megs). I could try Walmart maybe for a trim dressing.

Do you guys know what kind of tape is ok to protect things like the edges of headlights etc,...........someone told me 3M blue painters tape is fine?
 
The blue painters tape is my favorite, except it doesn't like to stick to a waxed car. As for the trim dressing, if you don't want to order it and there aren't any you recognize at stores, use whatever you can find. The quality isn't much different between the brands but they all offer protection, and thats what you want.
 
budman3 said:
The blue painters tape is my favorite, except it doesn't like to stick to a waxed car. As for the trim dressing, if you don't want to order it and there aren't any you recognize at stores, use whatever you can find. The quality isn't much different between the brands but they all offer protection, and thats what you want.
Click to expand...

Thanks Budman,
When would I be using tape on a waxed car? I thought I would only need it to put on trim, the window edges maybe, and on the headlights/taillights.
 
Yeah don't worry about it... just for future reference thats all. I was painting parts of my buddies car (window trim) that has chipped off and when I was masking the area the tape wouldn't stick to the car. Maybe it was just showing me how good Natty's really is..hmm...
 
Haha thanks Budman, maybe I will try Natty's next year in the summer. Could you recommend a good trim dressing btw?
 
West6MT said:
Haha thanks Budman, maybe I will try Natty's next year in the summer. Could you recommend a good trim dressing btw?
Click to expand...

You can use just about anything for your trim . The question is whether or not you want to go with silicone or water based product. The silicone stuff is common with tire and trim dressings because of the shine and long lasting. But it'll streak if you get it on your paint or windows. And you can't mix your towels or applicators with the silicone ones , even in the same wash, they'll get " contaiminated " with silicone.

Silicone and Petroleum based stuff is OK but comes with drawbacks . So I recommend waterbased products for your personal car . Go with Pb's Natural Look , my favorite . And Pb's Bold n Bright is great too..


That 's my rec's for you . If you want OTC stuff , any will do . If you want the good stuff then pony up a couple more dollars and wait for ther UPS man.
 
Hawaiianelement said:
You can use just about anything for your trim . The question is whether or not you want to go with silicone or water based product. The silicone stuff is common with tire and trim dressings because of the shine and long lasting. But it'll streak if you get it on your paint or windows. And you can't mix your towels or applicators with the silicone ones , even in the same wash, they'll get " contaiminated " with silicone.

Silicone and Petroleum based stuff is OK but comes with drawbacks . So I recommend waterbased products for your personal car . Go with Pb's Natural Look , my favorite . And Pb's Bold n Bright is great too..


That 's my rec's for you . If you want OTC stuff , any will do . If you want the good stuff then pony up a couple more dollars and wait for ther UPS man.
Click to expand...

Thanks Hawaiinelement,
What is the difference between the PB's Natural look, bold n bright, and trim restore??? Do they all do the exact same thing?
 
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