Beginner New to Detailing

[dhaas66]

First off. I am only interested in detailing for my own cars.

Honda accord 2 door. Several years old and will use a test car.
Mazda 3 Hatchback. 2012 and my daily. Got 2 scratches. One from highway and other from careless teenager.

This is what I have...
Mequiers Paste wax
Maguiers Cleaner liquid wax.
Some cheap microfiber towels from Costco.
I have some mitts and brushes.

I just placed an order and recieved from Autogeekonline.
Claybar kit. One pinnicle clay and a DP quick detail. This included better that I have towels.
5inch backer disk for a PC DA
I also recieved a Lake Country 5.5 pad kit.

I am getting soon a HF DA polisher to start. I plan on repacking the grease and using the disk and pads stated above.

Where do I start?
I have filled in the scratches with touch up paint. Have to get some wet sand paper to start smoothing the blobs left in the cracks. Once sanded, then what? Polishes?

Thanks. Feed back please

[zmcgovern45]

First of all... be very careful and patient when wet sanding.

Finish down with 3000 grit so that it is easier to remove with buffing.

Depending on how the entire car looks, you may need to start with a cutting pad and a heavier compound, or you may be OK doing a 1 step with a polishing pad and a medium to fine polish. Honda paint is typically on the soft side, so the idea of "always use the least aggressive approach" is very important.

After washing, decontamination (clay, iron x, etc), you will need to tape off any trim pieces, emblems, etc that you want to protect from damage, then proceed to performing your test spot to determine the least aggressive method that will allow you to achieve the results you are after, next carry out this method on the entire car... once you are finished with correcting the paint, you can glaze (optional), then apply a sealant, followed by a carnauba (optional). Then stand back and admire your work.

Remember to take your time and be patient. Proper technique makes all the difference!

Most importantly... remember to take pics for the Show N' Shine thread!

[cplchris]

knock down the blobs with either a razor of 1500 grit and work your way to 3000 grit, then polish the sanding marks out, be extremely careful wetsanding, if you havent done it before or are unsure of yourself, find a pro to help you out.

[dhaas66]

Thanks for the advise...

Also recieved DP sealant and Colinite. Will be using this as well.

D Haas

[dhaas66]

In my Foam Pad Kit I got this?
Any idea what it is?



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[hernandez.art13]

knock down the blobs with either a razor of 1500 grit and work your way to 3000 grit, then polish the sanding marks out, be extremely careful wetsanding, if you havent done it before or are unsure of yourself, find a pro to help you out.

1500 is for newly repainted paint jobs or paint drip. This shouldn't be advised to a new guy asking for help.

Listen to Zmcgovern45

[dhaas66]

Well... Things went fairly well. lol

Just wanted to use my new products from Autogeek. I washed the car with Meg soap then dryed with microfiber.

I then started using the DP sealant. Things were going ok. I worked one panel at a time. Then would wipe off with AG MF towel. These gold ones supplied with my order.

I did not use the Collinite 476.

Things I did wrong...
I dropped the foam applicator. lol Just got a new one and continued.
I layed the microfiber on the car to store while applying more sealant. Wind blew it right on the driveway. I laughed looked at the MF and said there is no way I am throwing this away. I just got a new one and continued.
I also totally forgot the top of the car. Had to go back once done.

This was actually very tiring. For you guys that do this for a living this is really tiring work.

I think I may use a spray detailer and then use Collinite on the next day to break it up.

[dhaas66]

Oh and a question.

Can I seal the whole care then go over with a microfiber to remove or should I be working in sections?

Is it normal for newbies to take so long to detail even a basic detail such as mine?

I also noticed that the paint had alot of small chips and scratches. This is my daily driver and I drive to work on the highway. Its seems that the paint on this Mazda is very soft. Is this a known fact?

David Haas

[mwoolfso]

Oh and a question.

Can I seal the whole care then go over with a microfiber to remove or should I be working in sections? Yes

Is it normal for newbies to take so long to detail even a basic detail such as mine? Yes; and that is a good thing. You will get faster.

I also noticed that the paint had alot of small chips and scratches. This is my daily driver and I drive to work on the highway. Its seems that the paint on this Mazda is very soft. Is this a known fact? If it seems soft then it probably is soft. I don't know of any Mazda models that have hard paint; so I would always be going in expecting somewhere between soft and normal.

David Haas

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