First real try

[rajon]

Hi All,

The forum encouraged me to post. I wasn't sure where to put this so here it is.

First off, thank you to everyone. I have always enjoyed washing my car and with your help I feel like I have moved up to a new level. I am by no means a pro but I have gotten unsolicited compliments on my paint which is very cool.

I have a Black Granite 2014 Chevrolet Diesel Cruze which sat on the lot for 6 months before I took delivery so the paint was a little rough but not terrible.

I used:

1. Two bucket method with Meguiars gold car wash.
2. Meg's clay kit
3. Griot's DA
4. Meguiar's 205 on a Lake Country pad (i bought a kit from here and just followed the instructions)
5. Applied Wolfgang Paint Sealant 3.0 with a white pad and then buffed off with a microfiber bonnet on a lambswool leveler.

The pictures are from a week, 250 miles, a nasty construction site 2 days a week and a couple of rainstorms later. The first rainstorm was at work and all the water was off by the time I got home. The one I got a picture of was the car sitting in the driveway why I was cleaning the garage.

I then bucket washed the car, dried it with a leaf blower and then went over it with a meg's waffle weave. I used DP wheel cleaner.

I think it came out pretty well, better than anything I have ever paid anyone else for anyway. It is hard to keep a 50 mile a day daily driver looking nice but the Wolfgang stuff is RIDICULOUS. It feels like cheating.

Anyway, thanks for helping me to be a more responsible car owner.

[Mask]

Thanks for sharing your joy with us
I learn a lot here too!!!

[Setec Astronomy]

Hey, looks good. Great beading shots!

[rajon]

Thanks! The beading was awesome and it was the best I could do with my phone camera. I was like screaming excited and my wife was wholly unimpressed.

A guy I work with that is into detailing complimented my work and said "You definitely have the nicest looking Cruze here, maybe anywhere." We work for GM so there are a lot of Cruzes around.

The other thing is kids. Kids notice and mention. My 4 and 2 year old stood in the garage and were making faces at the car because their reflections were so clear.

I seriously do not get why people go to automated washes, a two bucket wash is ridiculously trivial and if you have a good sealant drying is a joke.

[rajon]

Another funny thing to note about the pictures, I got a little splattering on the wiper arms so I rubbed it in and buffed it off so they beaded too. Haha.

[Setec Astronomy]

Another funny thing to note about the pictures, I got a little splattering on the wiper arms so I rubbed it in and buffed it off so they beaded too. Haha.

Wiper arms tend to get neglected and look terrible after a while. Part of the problem is all the sharp edges and openings make them difficult to polish when they become oxidized since they are single stage paint, and difficult to apply a traditional sealant without getting residue in the various openings.

A good strategy is to use a WOWA sealant (Blackfire Crystal Seal, Wolfgang Deep Gloss Liquid Seal, Optimum Opti-Seal, or Ultima Paint Guard Plus) or one of the trim sealants (Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant, Ultima Tire and Trim Guard, or Blackfire Total Trim and Tire Sealant).

[rajon]

Thanks so much. I used to just use tire black on all the trim on my old cars but my real goal now is to preserve the clean look of my car for as long as possible hence my bias towards sealants.