New here and got questions, long

[tach18k]

Hello all, I got a 2012 Black Prius, 5 days after I got it I washed and dryed with MF towels and applied Meguiar's NXT Tech on the entire car. I needed something and used that. It looks great. since then I have been reading may items about detailing and products. A lot of it here and there. I wash the car with mothers car wash product once a week, the NXT holds real nice and beads very well. I dry with MF towels. I only got one layer of NXT on it now and after the car washes I use some detailers spray. At times the car gets real dirty as I drive 90 miles a day on freeways and regular roads, I live in southern cal. The car is not covered at night and is exposed all day. It collects dirt and dust while sitting, but blows off while driving.
When I look at the paint in shade or non direct sunligh it look flawless, good deep color and shine. When it is dirty in direct sunlight, it looks crappy, sipder reflection from the round sun I guess, looks likes surface has been dusted with a paper towel. Round swirl marks. In direct sunlight when clean it looks okay. I got some Zaino, z-2, aio, and show car wash. These were bought before having time here to read. The paint feels smooth. I got this weekend to work on the car and get some build up on the finish. Should a clay first with a mild clay product, then work with the zaino products recommended. Any other tips would be great. Everything is done by hand.Thanks

[SON1C]

wash clay polish seal wax with quality products

[Bamaboy007]

even though the car is new, you need to clay it because I can promise you that it needs it so strip everything you have on it and clay it then you can seal it and you will be better off for it

[Jim B]

Hi "tach18k", I'm a newbie too, and use my 2012 car daily. You might want to consider putting a more permanent "coating" such as Opticoat 2 as the final protection. I can't say how it looks compared to the high-end wax look, but OC2 seems practical protection for us who drive our cars daily. Here are some prior autogeek threads that helped me decide:

auto-detailing-101/47683-can-newbie-realistically-apply-opti-coat.html
auto-detailing-101/41224-sealant-dead.html
product-reviews/34883-review-extreme-testing-opti-coat-2-0-cquartz.html

When you read about OC2, you'll see cautions that put the fear of God into you about being real careful when applying it! It's probably a good idea that they do this and stress thin -- but it is possible for us newbies to apply. I experimented with OC2 this weekend on a section, and it seemed fairly easy to apply, esp when my expectations of the difficulty was on alert! Hope this helps.
Jim B

[opie_7afe]

jim B, just a tip you can directly post links from AG into threads and they will turn into blue clickable links with no editing at all, just paste and post like so http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/

[bobble]

I assume you are doing all this by hand and not machine? If you see swirls you will need to polish at least, might need compounding, can't say without seeing it. Zaino products tend to hide or fill defects rather than correct and correction is difficult by hand.

It really depends on how close to perfect you want your paint to be and being a DD that's a never ending battle. I opti coated my daughters Scion, I assume same paint systems, and can tell you it is the best proctection for a DD but you will want to have the defects corrected first otherwise you will be looking at those for well over a year. If you don't have access to a machine polisher you might want to seek out a pro. If you want to tackle those by hand, honestly good luck it will be difficult to do, I can give you some sample polishes or compounds, a couple ounces of each if you're in OC.

Another option would be something like Collonite 845 instead of Opti coat which holds up well in SoCal weather. I can give a couple ounces of that as well.

I'm not a pro doing this for a living, I just do my cars and friends and some boats. About 30 vehicles a year so take my comments for what they are worth, I can direct you to a quality pro if you'd like.

[FUNX650]

Hello all, I got a 2012 Black Prius, 5 days after I got it I washed and dryed with MF towels and applied Meguiar's NXT Tech on the entire car. I needed something and used that. It looks great. since then I have been reading may items about detailing and products. A lot of it here and there. I wash the car with mothers car wash product once a week, the NXT holds real nice and beads very well. I dry with MF towels. I only got one layer of NXT on it now and after the car washes I use some detailers spray. At times the car gets real dirty as I drive 90 miles a day on freeways and regular roads, I live in southern cal. The car is not covered at night and is exposed all day. It collects dirt and dust while sitting, but blows off while driving.
When I look at the paint in shade or non direct sunligh it look flawless, good deep color and shine. When it is dirty in direct sunlight, it looks crappy, sipder reflection from the round sun I guess, looks likes surface has been dusted with a paper towel. Round swirl marks. In direct sunlight when clean it looks okay. I got some Zaino, z-2, aio, and show car wash. These were bought before having time here to read. The paint feels smooth. I got this weekend to work on the car and get some build up on the finish. Should a clay first with a mild clay product, then work with the zaino products recommended. Any other tips would be great. Everything is done by hand.Thanks

Seeing that this is your first post...:welcome:...To AGO!

I suggest that you..
-Vacuum/clean cabin's surfaces
-Thoroughly wash/dry your vehicle (including wheels, wheel-wells, etc.)
-Do the "baggie-test" to determine the necessity for paint-claying
-Use a cleaner/wax on painted surfaces (See: below listed Comment)
-Apply a 'finishing wax'/'finishing sealant'/'finishing hybrid' to painted surfaces
-Clean windows/glass surfaces
-Apply tire dressing of choice

Comment:To me...It's much easier to polish the majority of painted surfaces with a "machine"...

:)

Bob

[Mike Phillips]

Hello all, I got a 2012 Black Prius,



Ha... second time I've posted this today and here goes again...

Black isn't a color it's a full time job



When I look at the paint in shade or non direct sunlight it look flawless, good deep color and shine. When it is dirty in direct sunlight, it looks crappy, spider reflection from the round sun I guess, looks likes surface has been dusted with a paper towel. Round swirl marks.


Something like this?

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/773/medium/bmwcobwebswirls.jpg






Should a clay first with a mild clay product, then work with the Zaino products recommended.

Any other tips would be great.



Whether you're working by hand or machine, before applying any kind of compound, polish, swirl mark remover, paint cleaner or even an AIO type product, (All In One), to the entire car... first start by applying the product to a small section of paint that you can look down on like the hood or the trunk lid and then inspect this area very closely.

Make sure you're getting the results you want, hope for and dream about to this one small area before applying the product to the entire car.

If the results look GREAT! Then move onto tackling the rest of the car.

If something's not looking right... you'll be glad you only applied the product to a small area and then come back here and tell us what you're seeing and we'll do our best to either tweak your technique or suggest some other product or technique to see you through to success.





Everything is done by hand.Thanks




I explain why working by hand is going to take you a long time in the first chapter of my how-to book but I also explain it here,


The practical differences between single stage paints and a clear coat paints (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/21924-practical-differences-between-single-stage-paints-clear-coat-paints.html)



You've come to the right place for helpful information.


:)

[tach18k]

MP, no my paint isnt that bad, luckly!. With rain about every 4 days right now, I need this weekend to give it a good once over. I got real hard water to compund things, I will most likely get a blower to aid in the drying of the car.

[Mike Phillips]

MP, no my paint isnt that bad, luckly!. With rain about every 4 days right now, I need this weekend to give it a good once over. I got real hard water to compund things, I will most likely get a blower to aid in the drying of the car.


The paint in the picture I inserted above was from a completely swirled out 1991 e34 BMW M5 and it was in horrific condition before I started, came out looking pretty good when I was done, even was used on the label of a Meguiar's polish for years now...


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_before1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwsidebyside2.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/828/SwirlX1.jpg




Just remember to take your time and work clean. Whatever it is you want to do to your car I probably have an article in my article list that offers tips and techniques and you can ALWAYS come back to this forum and post a new thread with any questions you have and get help from our stellar forum members.


Good luck!


:xyxthumbs:

[Mike Phillips]

Check out this thread,

How to clay, clean and wax paint by hand with Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion and Pinnacle Signature Series II Carnauba Paste Wax (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/25218-how-clay-clean-wax-paint-hand-pinnacle-signature-series-ii.html)



:)