Ran out of Time - wash prior to sealing

[JimAlbert]

Hey Everyone.

Long story short I took the day off earlier this week due to excellent NEPA weather to detail my wife's 22 Outlander. I washed, rinsed, clayed, rinsed, Iron-X, rinse, dry and then polished with the forced rotation, 3D one and white LC Force Pads. The finish was amazing but it was already 4PM and I didn't want to run the risk of applying Wolfgang DGPS with only an hour of light left and much colder temps that night and the next day. I've never put myself in this position before (only a detail guy for my own stuff) so I am wondering if you guys can give me some advice. My wife will have driven the Outlander for 2 days prior to me getting an opportunity to seal it. Can i get away with a wash (something that does not contain wax) and dry and then seal or do you think I need to use a paint cleaner on this prior to sealing?

For what its worth and anyone that hasn't tried it - The 3D ONE was excellent in my opinion and finished out really well on this relatively soft paint.

Here are some pics after the polish.





Thanks for the help in advance.

Jim

[Setec Astronomy]

A paint cleaner like a prep wipe, or a paint cleaner like...sheesh, no one uses paint cleaners like...I can't even remember the names...the ones that are like polishes?

You just need a wash, it was only 2 days ago.

And thanks for posting that second picture with the tires dressed, I was having a panic attack after that first picture with the brown tires.

[JimAlbert]

Setec - Thanks for the response. I assumed I could just wash/dry and then seal but I wanted someone else's opinion. Yea, that first picture was prior to dressing the tires and they did look like SH**. Any wash you would recommend? I was thinking about Adams car shampoo. That polisher you see laying upside down in the driveway is actually the Hercules forced rotation. I was about to pick up a G9 but did a little research and the Hercules Forced Rotation made sense for the weekend warrior that I am. It performed really, really well by the way. For the every day guys it would be a great backup.

Thanks Again,

Jim

[Setec Astronomy]

Any car wash should be fine, you're overthinking this. As you noted, a "wash & wax" should probably be avoided. If you're really worried about the bonding you could do a diluted IPA or prep wipe.

[JimAlbert]

With an engineering background - It would be bad if I didn't overthink. LOL.

Thanks for the help.

[Setec Astronomy]

I hear you, it's just that this whole "naked surface" thing kind of got debunked, and when people thought they were putting their sealant down on bare paint, they weren't.

Sealant Test: PowerLock (+/-) BlackHole, Wolfgang DGPS, & BlackFire WD

LSP stripping

PS I do mostly rinseless these days, so if it was me I would do an ONR wash, or if you have N-914 (I don't), that's probably going to get you your cleanest surface for the sealant (as opposed to a conventional wash).

[WorldMattyBlue]

Jim,

Car looks excellent! I'm currently in the same boat, and need to wait until Friday for the LSP.

I've had this happen before, and didn't run into any problems. I used a soap without any gloss enhancers/wax/ceramic etc. and did a quick panel wipe with Gyeon prep. I spot checked a couple sections with my hands to see if anything needed to be hit with clay, but everything still felt smooth.

[JimAlbert]

I ended up using a soap without any additives, blew off with my blower and hand dried. Locked it up by machine applying Wolfgang DGPS 3.0 (ordered the DGPS Si02 but it didn't arrive yet) and removed by hand. In the past I topped with Pinnacle Liquid Souveran but I think I might top it with Collinite 476s this time. Might be overkill but I hate the crap they put on the roads here in PA and the added peace of mind will outweigh the little bit of time applying it. I've never done it before so I hope the DGPS and 476s play well together.