Need a second eye on my process

[butterbeer]

Hi all, first time detailing noob here. I haven't even bought any products or tools, but wanted to get your eyes on my process and make sure I'm not missing anything. I will be detailing my S2000 in case that speaks to the pad choice and softness of paint.

1. Wash with dish soap (Dawn)
2. Clay bar w/ soapy water (Dawn is good)
3. Iron-X (is this step necessary? Is this just double checking my work on clay bar or is there something that this catches that a clay bar doesn't?)
4. Compounding/Polishing:
a. 3D One: Prime pads each time then use 4-5 pea sized dots per ~20" x 20" section
b. Griots G9 using 6" backing plate: Go over the car completely once with orange pads, then again once with white pads: 3-4 passes total, alternating between horizontal and vertical (One pass is 1 horizontal and 1 vertical)
i. Lake County Orange CSS Light Cutting Foam Pad - Use 4 pads
ii. Lake County White CSS Polishing Foam Pad - Use 4 pads
5. Wipe down car with MF towel and spray with 50/50 mix of distilled water and 70% Isopropyl alcohol. Spray/wipe down the car twice
6. Apply Cquartz UK- apply second coat 1 hour in or wait 24 hours to apply
7. Spray/wipe down with Reload


Question I had...I was thinking of just doing a true 'one-step' as in just using orange pads and not the white pads. Is that fine if I don't see any marring from the orange pads?

[PaulMys]

Welcome to AGO. Cool screen name. :)

1. Forget the dish soap. Dawn is for dishes.

What exactly are you working on? New or old/neglected paint? What is the condition of the paint? Any process will always be dictated by the condition.

Any pics you can provide will help tremendously.

[Bill D]

Do please leave the Dawn in the kitchen.

[MisterSnoop]

3 before 2

[butterbeer]

Haha thanks! Glad to be here. Ahh yes I'm an idiot for not saying my intention.

Car has swirl marks but does not need any sort of major correction, it's in good condition and I don't have close ups of the swirls but I do have further out pictures of the paint attached below. This is my weekender car I want to look nice but it doesn't need to be perfect which is why I was asking if I could skip the white pads, I really just want to level the clear and provide some protection for extra shine

Imgur: The magic of the Internet (https://imgur.com/Xst1Zka)

Should I use any type of soap for step 1 to strip the oils and any wax on the car sitting on the car? And great! Thanks for the tip on 3 before 2.

[psnt1ol]

Hi all, first time detailing noob here. I haven't even bought any products or tools, but wanted to get your eyes on my process and make sure I'm not missing anything. I will be detailing my S2000 in case that speaks to the pad choice and softness of paint.

1. Wash with dish soap (Dawn)
You should consider using a dedicated car soap. Dish detergent can leave a film plus ...if your goal is to strip existing wax or sealant, todays wax/sealant are very stout and Dawn might not do it in most cases.

2. Clay bar w/ soapy water (Dawn is good)
Clay after Iron X and I would recommend using a clay lube.

3. Iron-X (is this step necessary? Is this just double checking my work on clay bar or is there something that this catches that a clay bar doesn't?)
An Iron remover will dissolve or loosen the iron particles embedded in the paint. The naked eye might not be able to see these particles. This would also make the claying process easier and more efficient.

4. Compounding/Polishing:
a. 3D One: Prime pads each time then use 4-5 pea sized dots per ~20" x 20" section
You only prime the pad when the pad is fresh. Once primed than add a few pea size drop and proceed to corrections but do blow out the pad or brush it down after each section to get rid of the clear coat residue and spent liquid on the pad.

b. Griots G9 using 6" backing plate: Go over the car completely once with orange pads, then again once with white pads: 3-4 passes total, alternating between horizontal and vertical (One pass is 1 horizontal and 1 vertical)
i. Lake County Orange CSS Light Cutting Foam Pad - Use 4 pads
ii. Lake County White CSS Polishing Foam Pad - Use 4 pads
Before you do any of that... do a test spot to verify your approach. Each paint system is slightly different and the goal is to do the least aggressive approach to get the job done. By doing a test spot...you will know which pad with which liquid would achieve the desire results.


5. Wipe down car with MF towel and spray with 50/50 mix of distilled water and 70% Isopropyl alcohol. Spray/wipe down the car twice
I recommend using CarPro Eraser as a panel wipe since you are using CarPro CQUK.

6. Apply Cquartz UK- apply second coat 1 hour in or wait 24 hours to apply
You can generally could apply second coat in a few hours (2-4 depending on temp).


7. Spray/wipe down with Reload


Question I had...I was thinking of just doing a true 'one-step' as in just using orange pads and not the white pads. Is that fine if I don't see any marring from the orange pads?
This is why you want to do a test spot. Without seeing the condition of the vehicle, its hard to determine if a one step would achieve the desired results. BTW...What is your desired results??

I hope this helps...

[butterbeer]

Thanks for the detailed answers and explanations! Desired results are really just less to no swirls, and a protective coat to keep my paint nice as long as possible. Unfortunately I'm going to have to have a car cover on this car and they're known to add swirls back into the paint, but it'd be better to know there's some ceramic coat over the clear.

[2black1s]

Thanks for the detailed answers and explanations! Desired results are really just less to no swirls, and a protective coat to keep my paint nice as long as possible. Unfortunately I'm going to have to have a car cover on this car and they're known to add swirls back into the paint, but it'd be better to know there's some ceramic coat over the clear.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I am not a "coating" guy and have never used one.

If swirls are expected form your usage, cleaning and/or storage protocols, then I would not think a coating is the best choice for a LSP. Won't any subsequent corrections be tougher as you will not only have to deal with removing a previously applied coating as well as removing the swirls? I would think a sealant would be a better LSP choice in this situation.

Another point... Using a cover is not necessarily a recipe for swirls. If the car and cover are clean, and it is used indoors (garaged), and you're using a soft quality cover, i.e., cotton flannel, there is no reason to expect any swirls. The swirls come from using covers outdoors where it's impossible to keep the cover/car clean enough and then the cover blowing around in the wind.

[dgage]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I am not a "coating" guy and have never used one.

If swirls are expected form your usage, cleaning and/or storage protocols, then I would not think a coating is the best choice for a LSP. Won't any subsequent corrections be tougher as you will not only have to deal with removing a previously applied coating as well as removing the swirls? I would think a sealant would be a better LSP choice in this situation.

One thought on the coating is it being a sacrificial layer. Yes a coating might swirl but that's better than a softer LSP allowing the swirling easier access to the underlying paint. But that is a theory and I don't remember seeing a review or test to try to determine if a coating reduces swirls on a car. Would be interesting to take a really hard coating such as Blackfire Pro Ceramic Black Edition and do half the car and see how the car swirls. Then again, how do you get such a hard coating off enough to determine if the underlying paint was or wasn't swirled? I guess if one side needed less correction than the other, that would potentially answer the question. But I'm not going to volunteer for that test. :)

[Coatingsarecrack]

Iron X yes before clay. Will dissolve iron particles before claying and i would think the less things in your clay to possibly drag over paint the better.

Yes if you don’t see any marring and happen to be ok with finish you don’t need to polish although if you only have light marring I’d recommend green (may have been replaced by pink) if sticking with CCS pads.

Their not as heavy of cut and finish down better than orange or atleast that was my experience with LC CCS orange and green.

I would think about how often you would worry about swirls and how often to polish.

If swirls bother you and your worried about cover you may be polishing every year you might want to think about less stout and easier to apply protection.

If that’s the case i would recommend a coating lite product.

Wolfgang spray coating, Gyeon CanCoat, Cquartz lite or Adam’s graphene spray are all nice products.

Each should give 8-12 months of protection.

If your good with coating and letting it ride for a couple years I would go the CQUK3.


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[Mike Phillips]

Cool car, here's the picture the member linked to,

https://i.imgur.com/Xst1Zka.jpg


Image tags - do wonders to make pictures appear.


:)

[Bruno Soares]

Ouch, black S2000. I hear that has super soft paint and is a PITA to finish without micro scratching.

There’s a video on Obsessed Garage’s channel on YT of when they did his former car and they had some tips after trying many different ways to get it perfect and even after coating they said it would marr or scratch very easily.

[Jayfro]

I have a ‘15 black Acura TLX, super soft paint.

For correcting, I would use 3D One with a LC white pad to start with...if it doesn’t meet your expectations then I would go to a LC Orange pad with 4 to 6 passes.

I’ve always used BF One Step and never used 3D One but a lot of people say they’re very comparable. I don’t think there is no need for a compound at all unless the paint is trashed.

Hope this helps.

Jay


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[The Guz]

I would consider having another polish just in case 3D one doesn’t finish out that well.

I would even consider CarPro Essence and letting that sit overnight so the silica in it cures. Essence is a lifesaver on soft paint.

Come back the next morning and lightly wipe down with Eraser instead of IPA. Apply two coats of CQUK 3.0.

Keep in mind that a coating will do a better job protecting compared to a wax or sealant on soft paints but the coating still somewhat takes on the characteristics of the paint.

I may even consider topping it with either Gliss or SiC.

I did CQUK 2.0 topped with TiO2 on my uncles black 2002 Corvette that has soft paint after it was repainted. Still looks good a few years later.

Soft black paint is painful.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210318/255e1483751e28998dda1714f8c5125a.jpg

[NoMoreBlackCars]

I have a black NC Miata with very soft paint like your S2K. Here's my 4 years of experience and how I approach caring for the paint now.

I have done a 2-3 stage compound and polish about 4 times using Menzerna and Sonax products, and applied CQuartz UK once and Gtechniq CSL once, along with trying several different sealants and waxes. I've had it garage kept for a year, then under a canopy, now unfortunately under the weather 24/7, and I've experimented with various wash methods and products.

There is a learning curve to polishing soft black paint, as with any paint, but it is not that hard to make defects look better and to finish it down to perfection if you use fitting products, have good lighting, and check your work as you go and refine your technique. It can look amazing.

BUT, when you park the car outside, drive the car, wash the car, dry the car, and touch the car in any way, no matter how careful you are about all of that, it will very quickly develop micro-swirls, at the very least, and probably some random deeper swirls, legit scratches, and rock chips. And, if it's ever wet in the sun, especially if you have hard water and install a ceramic coating, water spots. I'll tell you what I would tell myself 4 years ago: learn to accept that it will never stay perfect for any length of time. But it can still look great for a long time, from 3 feet away and in most lighting situations. And you can polish it again whenever you have the motivation and time.

Given that, there is a wide spectrum of how quickly and severely the finish can degrade. Things that will preserve it as best as possible: 1. Keep it indoors or at least covered. 2. Drive it less (but it's a sin not to drive an S2K the way it was meant to be as often as possible). 3. Wash it often, and don't let bird bombs, bug guts, sap, tar spots, or really bad road grime sit long enough to get embedded. 4. Wash it very carefully, never in the sun or when the paint is hot. Lots of good methods and products to choose from, you just need to:
-Remove the larger particles before the contact wash (pressure washer ideal).
-Ensure good lubrication between the paint and wash media.
-Wash in small sections from top to bottom.
-Make sure the wash media is perfectly clean for each new section (use several clean wash media or clean it thoroughly with a bucket rinse and/or hose rinse between sections).
-Pat dry to with a good microfiber towel from top to bottom.
-Finish drying with microfiber buffing cloths and a drying aid or detailer.

Also, don't let anyone else near your car and educate any passengers on not touching or brushing up against the paint.

BUT, again, the paint finish will degrade over time, at least in terms of swirls. No product or process will prevent that, including a ceramic coating, a pressure washer, snow foam, etc. And the products you use will make less of a difference less than you process and how careful you are.

My only other recommendation is to not become convinced that any protection product will make much of a perceptible difference in paint gloss or depth once you've polished it. It's really about protection and ease of cleaning. If you are going to polish at least annually, I wouldn't bother with a ceramic coating. You might consider a lite ceramic coating if you don't want to reapply 2-3x a year and you are not worried about water spots, but there are plenty of other great products, including the newer spray coatings, that are cheap and will last 3-6 months.

Also, keep reminding yourself that cars, and especially S2000s, are for driving!