jmoney
08-13-2014, 07:45 PM
Hi all,
I have been lurking around here for the last month or so trying to soak up as much information before attempting my first detail on our personal vehicles, and I wanted to share a few observations and ask a few questions about some issues that came up.
Background:
First off, I took an interest in personally detailing our vehicles after a pretty terrible experience with a local car wash. I thought it would be nice to take the wife's newish car in for a wax to get those metallic flakes in her ford explorer to pop. I managed to take a look through a window that let you see what was going on, and to my horror, saw a person slamming a da polisher all over her car with one hand. It was skipping around throwing wax everywhere, and when he finished he tossed it onto a shelf full of blackened towels, where it rested for 30 seconds before someone grabbed it out and started on another persons car.
Now I didn't know much about paint care at the time, but I knew what I just witnessed could not possibly be correct. A mere 2 minutes later, without wiping anything down, I was presented the vehicle. It was covered in globs, the windows were streaked, and the interior was so greased up that dust was already sticking to the vinyl everywhere.
We own her explorer which is about 8 months old and an old yukon that is 10 years old. I have always sprayed on some cheap sealant from auto zone and run the yukon through a wash at least every 30 days. But the reality is, I drive 100 miles a day sometimes with it, and at least once a month it takes a beating out on the ranch.
Gearing Up:
After buying the interactive ebook from auto geek and spending several hours here, I loaded up on some supplies.
(1) MTM hydro foam cannon
(2) 2700psi homelite 2.4 gpm pressure washer with 40º nozzle
(3) CG Light-Medium Wax
(4) CG Light Wax
(5) CG clay luber
(6) AG microfiber towel kit
(7) WG Tire care kit
(8) CG Blacklight
(9) CG v7
(10) CG Honeydew foam detergent
(11) Porter Cable DA polisher
(12) 2x black lake country pads
(13) pad brush/cleaner
(14) wash mitt
I did not attempt to do a major paint correction this first go around for two reasons. First, like anything else, if I think it looks easy, it is probably harder than it looks. Everything demo'd in the videos looked really easy. Naturally, I did not trust it to be so. Secondly, I live in Texas, and with 100º+ temps, I had severe questions about using some of this stuff in that kind of heat.
Yukon:
I got up nice and early to spray down the Yukon XL. The foam cannon worked great, it left about 2-3" foam when I mixed the honeydew with really warm water. However, for some reason the canon stopped producing foam when the contents dropped to about 1/4 full. I had to hold down the sprayer for a few seconds to get the foam to come back, but it never really regained the full foam action. This is something that repeated every single time I have used the foam cannon.
The first blast of foam was left on there for 5 minutes then washed off with the pressure washer. I applied a second coat and after 5 minutes, very gently agitated the surface with the chenille wash mitt. Amazingly, there really wasn't much dirt left on there from the first round, but what was left did come off.
However, I really needed a bigger microfiber stash, and plan on ordering a guzzler because it only took about 30 seconds for the remaining water to dry off and I was in a real rush to prevent water spots from forming.
Clay
This paint was rough. I tried using the medium-light clay, but after 4 hours, the baggie test revealed that I had done little to nothing as far as contamination removal.
Blacklight/V7
I used a black foam pad, and as expected, way too much backlight. I also goofed and let it sit on there for 30 minutes instead of 15. I only applied with light pressure to help clean everything up a bit. Removal was a pain, but the paint actually came out pretty shiny.
When it came time for the v7, I also goofed up and sprayed it directly onto the panel instead of on the towel. The heat was getting to me after 8 hours and it was getting so hot that the v7 actually started drying within a few seconds of application.
The next morning I gave the truck another blast of honeydew and a gentle application of v7 and let it sit in the garage until Monday morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find it sitting there in the shiniest state I have ever seen it. The downside, the paint was so clean for the first time that I have discovered horrible road rash and paint chips in all of the expected places. They have been hiding there under grime for quite some time I expect.
The Wolfgang wheel cleaning pack did exactly as advertised and now I have very shiny wheels. I gave them a light coating with v7 and I have been able to just gently wipe off brake dust since applying it. I really wish I took pictures to show how fast and quickly wolfgang tire cleaner took filthy black wheels and revealed sparkly clean ones.
Explorer
After watching more videos and reading a bit more in the areas I felt troubled with I decided to give the very skeptical wife's car a try.
Once again I had the same problem with the foam canon, but by the time I reached 1/4 full, the entire car was absolutely coated with honeydew foam. After the rinse, the car appeared smooth and glossy. I pulled out another light medium clay bar, and after 1 hour, experienced the same results. The bar removed probably nothing. I could not even visually see contaminants in the clay, but I could certainly feel them with the baggie.
I then approached her car with a new strategy for the backlight. Applying only a 3 tiny dots I quickly spread it out over 1/2 of a panel and then gave 2 section passes under light pressure, 4 under controlled machine weight pressure. This time I let it cure for the proper time and removal for the most part was a breeze. Some places I had to use a little pressure behind the purple MF towel, but I think that had to do more with the heat than anything else. I also applied v7 gently and left it in the garage overnight. The next morning revealed an incredibly good looking car. Better than it has ever looked. Even people at her work asked about where she took her car to get it that shiny.
Questions for the next attempt:
I am going to keep up with weekly washes using honeydew and the v7. It only takes about 12 minutes so there is no reason not to. I am also going to tackle the interiors next, but I need to start resolving some issues before trying a full detail.
(1) Contaminant Removal
I'm pretty stumped on this one. Clearly, I did not use a strong enough wax to get the contaminates off of the paint. I thought about using Iron-x, but there is no way I could use that stuff and get it rinsed off in time without it drying. If anyone has a recommendation, I would greatly appreciate it. There is no way that I am trying to remove the swirls in the paint or even applying a nice wax unless I can get some of this junk off of the car.
(2)Prepping the paint for swirl removal
I cannot decide on a shampoo that will safely strip the wax/sealant off the car before I attempt a swirl removal. I could really use a recommendation, preferably one that works well with the foam cannon.
(3) Removing the swirls-Post Detail care
Even the new car has some pretty decent swirls. (I checked before and after and I think the backlight hid a lot of them). The yukon on the other hand is an absolute mess. It actually appears that cats may have had a fight on the hood of the car it is scratched up so bad.
Here was my initial plan, and I wanted to put it out there for your input/redirection if needed:
Step 1: CG v32-38 polishes Starting with Hex Logic Orange pads. Moving from 36 on my test area down to 32 or until the swirls are gone.
Step 2: CG 38 with blue pad for 6 passes per section, two firm ,4 light pressure.
Step 3: CG BL with black hex logic pad under light to machine pressure
Step 4: CG BL hand application
Step 5: Blackfire Black Ice machine application with red hex logic pad
Step 6: Hand application of BI
Step 7: 12 hour cure
Step 8: gently mist with v7
Step 9: Weekly washes with Honeydew v7
Step 10: Re-application of BI via machine every 2 months until next full detail
I figured this would be a good plan for both black vehicles. Additionally, I plan on testing out the process first on the Yukon since it is old, and nearing the point where it is time to trade it in for a new truck, which will also be black. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
I have been lurking around here for the last month or so trying to soak up as much information before attempting my first detail on our personal vehicles, and I wanted to share a few observations and ask a few questions about some issues that came up.
Background:
First off, I took an interest in personally detailing our vehicles after a pretty terrible experience with a local car wash. I thought it would be nice to take the wife's newish car in for a wax to get those metallic flakes in her ford explorer to pop. I managed to take a look through a window that let you see what was going on, and to my horror, saw a person slamming a da polisher all over her car with one hand. It was skipping around throwing wax everywhere, and when he finished he tossed it onto a shelf full of blackened towels, where it rested for 30 seconds before someone grabbed it out and started on another persons car.
Now I didn't know much about paint care at the time, but I knew what I just witnessed could not possibly be correct. A mere 2 minutes later, without wiping anything down, I was presented the vehicle. It was covered in globs, the windows were streaked, and the interior was so greased up that dust was already sticking to the vinyl everywhere.
We own her explorer which is about 8 months old and an old yukon that is 10 years old. I have always sprayed on some cheap sealant from auto zone and run the yukon through a wash at least every 30 days. But the reality is, I drive 100 miles a day sometimes with it, and at least once a month it takes a beating out on the ranch.
Gearing Up:
After buying the interactive ebook from auto geek and spending several hours here, I loaded up on some supplies.
(1) MTM hydro foam cannon
(2) 2700psi homelite 2.4 gpm pressure washer with 40º nozzle
(3) CG Light-Medium Wax
(4) CG Light Wax
(5) CG clay luber
(6) AG microfiber towel kit
(7) WG Tire care kit
(8) CG Blacklight
(9) CG v7
(10) CG Honeydew foam detergent
(11) Porter Cable DA polisher
(12) 2x black lake country pads
(13) pad brush/cleaner
(14) wash mitt
I did not attempt to do a major paint correction this first go around for two reasons. First, like anything else, if I think it looks easy, it is probably harder than it looks. Everything demo'd in the videos looked really easy. Naturally, I did not trust it to be so. Secondly, I live in Texas, and with 100º+ temps, I had severe questions about using some of this stuff in that kind of heat.
Yukon:
I got up nice and early to spray down the Yukon XL. The foam cannon worked great, it left about 2-3" foam when I mixed the honeydew with really warm water. However, for some reason the canon stopped producing foam when the contents dropped to about 1/4 full. I had to hold down the sprayer for a few seconds to get the foam to come back, but it never really regained the full foam action. This is something that repeated every single time I have used the foam cannon.
The first blast of foam was left on there for 5 minutes then washed off with the pressure washer. I applied a second coat and after 5 minutes, very gently agitated the surface with the chenille wash mitt. Amazingly, there really wasn't much dirt left on there from the first round, but what was left did come off.
However, I really needed a bigger microfiber stash, and plan on ordering a guzzler because it only took about 30 seconds for the remaining water to dry off and I was in a real rush to prevent water spots from forming.
Clay
This paint was rough. I tried using the medium-light clay, but after 4 hours, the baggie test revealed that I had done little to nothing as far as contamination removal.
Blacklight/V7
I used a black foam pad, and as expected, way too much backlight. I also goofed and let it sit on there for 30 minutes instead of 15. I only applied with light pressure to help clean everything up a bit. Removal was a pain, but the paint actually came out pretty shiny.
When it came time for the v7, I also goofed up and sprayed it directly onto the panel instead of on the towel. The heat was getting to me after 8 hours and it was getting so hot that the v7 actually started drying within a few seconds of application.
The next morning I gave the truck another blast of honeydew and a gentle application of v7 and let it sit in the garage until Monday morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find it sitting there in the shiniest state I have ever seen it. The downside, the paint was so clean for the first time that I have discovered horrible road rash and paint chips in all of the expected places. They have been hiding there under grime for quite some time I expect.
The Wolfgang wheel cleaning pack did exactly as advertised and now I have very shiny wheels. I gave them a light coating with v7 and I have been able to just gently wipe off brake dust since applying it. I really wish I took pictures to show how fast and quickly wolfgang tire cleaner took filthy black wheels and revealed sparkly clean ones.
Explorer
After watching more videos and reading a bit more in the areas I felt troubled with I decided to give the very skeptical wife's car a try.
Once again I had the same problem with the foam canon, but by the time I reached 1/4 full, the entire car was absolutely coated with honeydew foam. After the rinse, the car appeared smooth and glossy. I pulled out another light medium clay bar, and after 1 hour, experienced the same results. The bar removed probably nothing. I could not even visually see contaminants in the clay, but I could certainly feel them with the baggie.
I then approached her car with a new strategy for the backlight. Applying only a 3 tiny dots I quickly spread it out over 1/2 of a panel and then gave 2 section passes under light pressure, 4 under controlled machine weight pressure. This time I let it cure for the proper time and removal for the most part was a breeze. Some places I had to use a little pressure behind the purple MF towel, but I think that had to do more with the heat than anything else. I also applied v7 gently and left it in the garage overnight. The next morning revealed an incredibly good looking car. Better than it has ever looked. Even people at her work asked about where she took her car to get it that shiny.
Questions for the next attempt:
I am going to keep up with weekly washes using honeydew and the v7. It only takes about 12 minutes so there is no reason not to. I am also going to tackle the interiors next, but I need to start resolving some issues before trying a full detail.
(1) Contaminant Removal
I'm pretty stumped on this one. Clearly, I did not use a strong enough wax to get the contaminates off of the paint. I thought about using Iron-x, but there is no way I could use that stuff and get it rinsed off in time without it drying. If anyone has a recommendation, I would greatly appreciate it. There is no way that I am trying to remove the swirls in the paint or even applying a nice wax unless I can get some of this junk off of the car.
(2)Prepping the paint for swirl removal
I cannot decide on a shampoo that will safely strip the wax/sealant off the car before I attempt a swirl removal. I could really use a recommendation, preferably one that works well with the foam cannon.
(3) Removing the swirls-Post Detail care
Even the new car has some pretty decent swirls. (I checked before and after and I think the backlight hid a lot of them). The yukon on the other hand is an absolute mess. It actually appears that cats may have had a fight on the hood of the car it is scratched up so bad.
Here was my initial plan, and I wanted to put it out there for your input/redirection if needed:
Step 1: CG v32-38 polishes Starting with Hex Logic Orange pads. Moving from 36 on my test area down to 32 or until the swirls are gone.
Step 2: CG 38 with blue pad for 6 passes per section, two firm ,4 light pressure.
Step 3: CG BL with black hex logic pad under light to machine pressure
Step 4: CG BL hand application
Step 5: Blackfire Black Ice machine application with red hex logic pad
Step 6: Hand application of BI
Step 7: 12 hour cure
Step 8: gently mist with v7
Step 9: Weekly washes with Honeydew v7
Step 10: Re-application of BI via machine every 2 months until next full detail
I figured this would be a good plan for both black vehicles. Additionally, I plan on testing out the process first on the Yukon since it is old, and nearing the point where it is time to trade it in for a new truck, which will also be black. Any input would be greatly appreciated.