Detailing a Patrol Car

**titan1985** · 01-23-2017, 02:50 PM

New member here and newish to detailing. My patrol car needs a detail as is in a wash, clay, polish for light swirls and wax. My hesitation has to do with all the decal designs. My car is 15 charger so I really don't need to screw up the striping. My plan is to use hd speed followed with HD express spray wax. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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**Just02896** · 01-23-2017, 03:06 PM

Vinyl graphics shouldn't be any problem at all. Polish and wax right over them as if they were paint. Just be careful not to leave wax residue along the outer edges of the graphics! Lol!

**gsbell** · 01-23-2017, 03:06 PM

Mask off the decals, that's what I do for my factory applied graphics

**titan1985** · 01-23-2017, 03:15 PM

Masking off all the stripes would be a huge pain

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**titan1985** · 01-23-2017, 03:16 PM

Detailing a Patrol Car-1485202560398-jpg

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**Just02896** · 01-23-2017, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by titan1985

Masking off all the stripes would be a huge pain

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There really is no need to mask off the decals so long as you tread lightly across them during the polishing process. I used to mask off vinyl graphics when I first started out and ran into the problem of tape adhesive transfer from the heat generated while polishing. Was a pain in the ass to remove the residue and caused marring on the vinyl so I ended up having to polish the vinyl after all. If your vinyl graphics are in good shape you will not have any problems with polishing right over them. In fact they will look much better from a light polishing!

**LEDetailing** · 01-23-2017, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by titan1985

New member here and newish to detailing. My patrol car needs a detail as is in a wash, clay, polish for light swirls and wax. My hesitation has to do with all the decal designs. My car is 15 charger so I really don't need to screw up the striping. My plan is to use hd speed followed with HD express spray wax. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Take home squad or used in a fleet?

As long as you keep applying the spray wax every few washes you should be good to go. Get a good wheel brush and cleaner for those wheels. Or are they fancy wheel covers?

Sending you a PM.

**LSNAutoDetailing** · 01-23-2017, 03:44 PM

Graphics, PPF (Paint protection film) etc are fine. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe McKee's actually makes a product specifically for flat colored graphics.
Nice cruiser! Could you please take some nice before, 50/50 and after shots for the Show-N-Shine section with a write-up? Would love to see that.

Good luck!

Mike Phillips · 01-23-2017, 03:50 PM

If the graphics are glossy, then buff around them as best as you can and I even will buff on them with an ultra fine cut polish and ultra soft foam pad.

COPO Camaro - Flex vs Rupes - Carbon Fiber Hood Extreme Makeover

Just use a soft touch...

Somewhere around here I have before and after pictures for buffing out an ORIGINAL Screaming Phoenix graphic on an all original 1978 Trans Am, the one that's on the cover of my RUPES how-to book.

**titan1985** · 01-23-2017, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by LEDetailing

Take home squad or used in a fleet?

As long as you keep applying the spray wax every few washes you should be good to go. Get a good wheel brush and cleaner for those wheels. Or are they fancy wheel covers?

Sending you a PM.

Take home car and the wheels are just hubcaps. I really wish we could run them with the black rim under the hubcap.

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