Disapointed after poilishing and winter weatherr

[carl123]

I've spent an entire weekend last summer, invested a ton of $$ with a D/A, polishes and waxes...and did my entire Black 2012 Camry. Wow!! I removes all the swirls and had an incredible shine. I went through a Canadian winter and did a wash for the 1st time yesterday in 4 months. No one touches my paint! No hand wash by anyone, only me. Did the wash, used some ONR with a car soap, foamed it down 2 bucket etc... Then the disappointment set in. I saw light scratches perhaps caused by snow removal.

This really bothered me. Yes, its a daily driver but I really didn't expect what I had saw. I expected the finish to perhaps last a few years before another polishing. Polishing again is not the answer, I'd be through the clear in no time.

It here a product that will fill in the light scratches and provide a tougher coat than my clear? No matter how delicate I was over the winter, the clear did not hold out. tks

[irvsmith]

I think you might be looking into a sealant or coating. A lot of people like the Wolfgang products. I have been using AMMO skin.

[Mask]

Over the years, I found using strong jet of water flow like pressure washer is the way to go for swirl free finish. It may not be 100% but somewhere close.
Spent sometime to rinse the car throughout before foam gun 2buckets or rinseless/waterless wash if ever possible :)

[trekkeruss]

Scratches aside, in my opinion, most waxes just aren't good enough for a daily driver, unless you're going to do it often. I think you should strongly consider coating your car. A coating is like a second clear coat for the finish; if it does get light scratches, you'd polish out the coating, not the paint.

[MattPersman]

To me it just depends how often you want to put something on it. If you don't mind doing it often something that fills some would be the easy answer in my book like auto finnese tripple is what I use on my Toyota


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[kevincwelch]

I know how you feel. I do a few ONR washes (after coin-operated power washes) during the winter time, and always (ALWAYS) there are light scratches and swirls around the door handles and the pillars to some extent. I think this is just the price one pays for having a daily driver, kids and a harsh winter. I like to think of it as my annual excuse to polish and detail the car in the spring/summer!

[Ebg18t]

Sounds like adding a coating to help prevent wash induced marring is something you should explore. It is very tough to not get some wash induced marring with all the #### on the roads during winter. Even with great wash technique it happens.

[silverfox]

You induce scratches everytime you wipe anything across the paint. If you're careful, they are too light to really see, but don't be fooled into ever thinking that touching and constantly wiping paint...no matter how careful, has no consequences. Coatings are almost a must at this point in time. Sealants and waxes can only protect paint against UV damage and some air born contaminants... but that's where it stops. Only a coating can protect the paint from scratches as well. If the coating gets scratched...and it will...you remove the coating (and reapply) without ever having to remove anymore paint.

[wdmaccord]

Toyota is typically soft paint (I'm a Honda guy...I feel your pain). You should plan to polish at least once per year unless you put on a coating. I polish mine twice a year, though I'm leaning towards just doing it once in the spring and/or maybe looking at a coating. Don't have as much time to take care of my own car since I do friends and family cars too.

Since you say "snow removal" I am guessing you don't have garage access at home or at work. My suggestion would be to run to the coin op and blow the snow off with the HP hot water. This might be better than removing the snow however you do it now (although I don't know what your method is).

[carl123]

You induce scratches everytime you wipe anything across the paint. If you're careful, they are too light to really see, but don't be fooled into ever thinking that touching and constantly wiping paint...no matter how careful, has no consequences. Coatings are almost a must at this point in time. Sealants and waxes can only protect paint against UV damage and some air born contaminants... but that's where it stops. Only a coating can protect the paint from scratches as well. If the coating gets scratched...and it will...you remove the coating (and reapply) without ever having to remove anymore paint.

Tks all for your responses. Many who replied suggested coatings and I really know nothing about or ever considered. Can any suggest a product that perhaps I should be looking at? I really don't know where to start. tks

[Annahra]

Make sure you use a Sno Brum or something that doesn't have hard bristles. I had one this winter and had very little marring.

For info on coatings, I would recommend doing a Google search for "Autogeek forum" and "coatings." There's a TON of info to be had. A coating is a more permanent paint protection, almost like a second clear coat.

ETA: Start here: http://www.autogeek.net/how-to-apply-a-car-paint-coating.html

[wdmaccord]

Tks all for your responses. Many who replied suggested coatings and I really know nothing about or ever considered. Can any suggest a product that perhaps I should be looking at? I really don't know where to start. tks

Take a look at the new Blackfire coating. A couple people have tried it as their first coating and had really good success with it. Make sure to get the pre-coating spray. Another one that seems real user friendly from my reading is the DP coating. I think that one has a prep "polish" so would take a little more time than just the wipedown with the Blackfire.

I'm a Blackfire fan so now that they have a coating, I may do that on my personal car so it will require less hours on an annual basis, so I can spend time on the vehicles that make me $$. :xyxthumbs:

[swanicyouth]

IMHO, I have seen ZERO evidence than any coating does anything to prevent marring. The only coating manufacturer I have really seen acknowledge anything close to this is Nanolex. Can you point me to a few sources of "installed a coating - it fixed my marring issue"?

Can't recall a single thread like this....

IME, the only way you can scratch a car is if you touch it. Since it becomes necessary to touch a car's paint at some point to clean it, it comes down to: how you touch it. Something touched this paint to scratch it.

Until you figure out what that was and how to improve it, you'll be chasing your tail regardless what LSP you use.