Questions after first detail

[darkangelism]

I did my first detail of my car, took 12 hours, though I spent way to long on the wash and taping off trim steps. I have some questions after. How do I know when to add my more polish/wax to the pad, I was kind of just guessing and doing it every few sections. The paint was not in bad shape so it was hard to tell what was actually getting polished or wax on it after the first few section passes. Also Is there a trick to controlling the DA at weird angles? the lower parts of my door panels it was almost driving me some of the time.

[vet]

The short answer is practice. How much/when to put more on the pad will vary, depending on the size of the vehicle, condition of the finish, etc. I'm no pro, so follow the advice from the others who chime in, they are more experienced than me.

[darkangelism]

Thanks, yeah I thought that would be the answer, I have 3 or 4 more vehicles that I can do for practice, which don't have as difficult body lines(older boxier cars.) Then I will only be able to practice waxing every few months, i shouldnt need polish for awhile.

[DaveT435]

I'm not a pro either...but with the wax your just trying to get an even coat on the car. I don't think you should have more than 1 pass over and area except where you are overlapping...

[07gtcs]

I saw on here one gents suggestion was to use the KISS method. He would "KISS" the glass with the pad, and if it left a mark on the glass, the pad had enough product. If it didn't leave much of a mark, he added more product. Again......practice....practice....practice. Sorry I can't remember who posted that theory to give them credit.

[darkangelism]

I'm not a pro either...but with the wax your just trying to get an even coat on the car. I don't think you should have more than 1 pass over and area except where you are overlapping...

That is what I thought about wax, I just couldnt always tell if it was actually going on or not.


@07GTS

There were times when I would push it and it would not leave a mark, so I probably wasnt using enough polish in those sections.

[BobbyG]

Non-Pro Here

If someone told you detailing was easy they've never done anything but wash their car! :laughing:

Detailing is not unlike most things we do meaning the more we practice at something the better we become. We develop a certain skill or knack that saves us both time and occasionally expense.

If you look at your car, try to break it up into a series of 2 X 2. Work each section individually keeping a watchful eye on your progress.

Polishing

Once the pad is correctly primed, you'll be adding just enough product to keep the correcting process progressing. When I need to add additional product I'll add 3 nickel sized dots on the pad approximately 3/4 in from the outer edge.

Arm speed is also very important. More often then not we feel the need to move the polisher much too fast not allowing time for the pad and product to work properly and unfortunately this leads to frustration and disappointment.

With the pad against the surface and machine running, move the pad slowly back and forth, let to right, at "about" 1/2" to 1" per second. Be sure the pad and backing plate are rotating, this is important.

I'm not sure what pad and product combinations you're using but try to select them based on their aggressiveness to suit the task at hand. The bottom line is you should see minor defects begin to disappear and an overall improvement in shine and appearance.

Controlling the polisher can be at times challenging. Stick to 5 1/2" pads and smaller on Porter Cable 7424 style machines.

Waxing

Waxing with a dual action polisher is easy and straight forward.

Using a non cutting pad, blue or red, apply 3 or 4 dots of wax product to the pad, set the speed setting to 3, place the pad on the finish, then switch the machine on.

Move the machine back and forth as you did polishing but this time bump up your arm speed to about 2" per second. With the wax into the paint and be sure to apply it thin. You'd be surprised how little product it "required" in order to properly cover the surface.

[darkangelism]

I was using lake country flat foam white pads, which were good enough for all but a few RIDS and then black pads for the wax.

I probably was moving too fast in spots, and the shape of my car('12 focus) had sections that seemed better suited for a smaller vertical and longer horizontal section 8 inch by 3 feet.

I am using a griot's with 5 1/2 inch pads.