i want my car to have deeper shine.

95KBGT

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what can i do? im pretty good at detailing cars. Right now this is what i use

Rain x car wash
Dry with an Absorber
I take a cotton pad and apply rain x fast wax.
Micro fiber towel to the wax after haze over
then i apply more rain x fast wax
then micro fiber it again

It turns out ok. But not as deep as DFG should be. Do i have to use my pneumatic buffer. Any reccomendations on supplies? should i do a full polish x2 and then wax her 3x's over?
 

sixt5

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might want to use a quality wax/polish instead of rain x. im cheap myself, but i use turtle wax platinum series. the good stuff is out there too. but you will pay for it.
 

MeanGrn Gt

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The wax i use on the stang is p21s. It isnt cheap (souveran is the higher priced wax). It looks good. There is a wax called s100 which apparently is the same thing (produces same resullts) but it is cheaper than p21s. The p21s has more of a hard/reflective shine than a deep one. Next year i am going to try nattys blue or something else to see if i can get a deeper shine. A good investment is a porter cable 7424 polisher. saves a lot of time. I actually polished w/ optimum compound/polish to get rid of swirls and then i followed that with omega glaze and then p21s wax. Check out this site for good info on detailing. A good thing to get is clearkote quickshine. It is a quick detailer that really gives the car more "pop" after washing or w/e you want. When i get off work ill show some pics of how it looks.
 

MeanGrn Gt

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IMG_0198.jpg

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thats with the p21s wax. Like i said it has a little more of a "reflective" shine than an depth shine, but it still looks good. I planned on try natty's blue but i wont till next spring when the stang comes out again. I am going to use klasse to last over the winter. I would either try natty's blue paste wax ($16) or pinnacle souveran (if you dont care about the cost around $80). The porter cable 7424 is a great investment and saves your arm and a lot of time. I just bought one and only used it once (i polished,glazed and waxed everything once) and i am very glad i bought it. Polishing before waxing will make it look better than if you just waxed it. I would pretty much gaurentee that any of the above will look much better than rain x. www.autogeek.net is where i usually get my stuff from
 
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95KBGT

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ok i understand to an extent, can you break it down in easier steps, those are both great sites, however it will take a week of reading for me to get an understanding. I have a pneumatic buffer. If need be i can get that thing you were talking about, but im not looking to go over kill, Just something to take out the microscopic scratches out of the paint and give it a deep shine. Cheap is always good.
 

MeanGrn Gt

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Well what buffer do you have? Is it big slow speed buffer that is meant for waxing? If so it wont do much good for removing your scratches aka swirls, "micromarring" etc. There are 2 ways to get rid of scratches either remove them or hide them. Hiding them does not last forever but it is cheaper than removing them (need a high speed buffer such as pc 7424) unless you get meguiars scratch x and do it by hand but your arm will be ready to fall off by the time you get done with a single body panel. The cheap way to hide them is by using a wax and maybe even a glaze. You might want to try the poorboys natty blue paste wax and maybe one grand omega glaze or race glaze as these are supposed to hide the most or maybe clearkote red moose glaze. If you use a glaze before waxing it will help hide swirls and give you deeper/wetter look. I dunno how bad the micromarring/swirls on your car is and how much the wax glaze will hide but that is the cheapest thing to try really. The wax/glazes/polishes etc that you use will make a big difference on how your car looks, and i have never used or heard about the rain x fast wax but i dont think it would look that great. You need to let the glaze cure for a day or so before waxing and if you want to do more than one layer of wax you should also let the first coat of wax cure for a day. You will see the scratches come back more as time goes by and you wash it but that is going to happen when you use a glaze w/ fillers to hide scratches.

Also might want to look into a different car wash soap such as meguiars nxt generation car wash, and when you dry with the absorber you have to be careful as this is where you get some of your micromarring from. You would be better off "padding" the car dry instead of wiping or dragging the absorber across the car as it scratches easily. Maybe get a waffle weave microfiber to follow up the absorber to catch the little water spots. I hope this helps and if ya have any more questions ill see if i can help ya out any more.
 

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95KBGT said:
ok i understand to an extent, can you break it down in easier steps, those are both great sites, however it will take a week of reading for me to get an understanding. I have a pneumatic buffer. If need be i can get that thing you were talking about, but im not looking to go over kill, Just something to take out the microscopic scratches out of the paint and give it a deep shine. Cheap is always good.

everyone else is giving some good advice but if youre tight on cash, here's broken down and on a poor mans budget.

1) go to www.rightlook.com and order THIS $19.95
2) get a 6", $29-$39 orbital buffer, 2 - 6-8" cotton bonnets, 3 - 6-8" microfiber bonnets and a hand full of microfiber towels at Walmart.

im guessing your pneumatic buffer is a high speed air tool... you probably dont need to mess with that!! high speed buffers are for people with experience ;) FYI, the PC 7424 is not a high speed buffer, its a variable speed random orbit polisher.

anyway, wash your car thoroughly with Dawn dishwash liquid or a good car wash soap.

use one cotton bonnet per side of the vehicle w/clearcoat compound. do one side of the hood (take off), a fender (take off), a door (take off), etc. take it off with 2 microfiber towels (one for heavy removal/one for buffing clean).

repeat the process with 1 microfiber bonnet per step; Premium Polish, Very Cherry Premium Wax, Polymer Sealant (optional).

you'll need 8-10 microfibers and dont let them touch the ground!!!

if this doesnt make sense, its because its late... good luck and i know you'll be satisfied with the results :thumb:
 

Red96GT

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I've been into this detailing stuff since July. The best thing that's helped me is Autopia. Check out the click and brag section. There are a lot of professional detailers and people who only do their own car that are VERY good. There is a lot to learn there. I detailed my stang for the first time with a Meguires Crystal Wash, Meguires Clay Bar, Klasse All in One, and Klasse Sealant Glaze. I was very happy with the results even though very slight swirling is visible at certain angles in artificial light. Hopefully the PC I get for X-mas will fix that. :dancing6:

The amount of information at autopia is overwhelming but one thing I've learned is that a lot of it is personal preference. The people on the forum also use a lot of abreviations. In one of the sections there is a sticky explaining many of them.

Dawn is pretty controversial wash because people believe that since dawn was meant to strip grease of pans, it would strip wax off the car. Many people do use dawn before they put a wax on their car to get rid of the old wax.

Good luck and the products are very addictive..... You can never have enough. :D
 

MeanGrn Gt

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the klasse sealant glaze does not hide swirls as much as waxes do that is why you notice them more. Klasse aio/sg is a good combo more for long lasting durabilty than hiding ability. I used it first on the stang and it looks good but i switch to waxes to hide imperfections etc. but i will be using klasse sg to protect her over the winter.

I forgot about claying the car. I would try blue magic clay as i have heard great things about it. Another product i will try next spring.
 
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95KBGT

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thanks guys, My buffer i got while i was in school, its a high speed buffer. I used it after wet sanding my custom painted panels, and after wet sanding the cars i painted. I would go from an aggresive polish with a wool pad, then a lighter polish with a foam pad.
 
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95KBGT

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im also looking for like step by step like wash, dry, use this clay bar, re wash, dry, use this polish (and how) and then use this wax this many times, with this sealant. is selant really needed? If you can give brands that would be great. Yall all have answered these question to an extent, but i want to be able to shake things up a bit, and not have to clay bar every time, or wax, or polish. i have a badass buffer id like to not buy another, but if need be i can save up after wheels.

i saw pics of dalmars work, the one where he detailed that black BMW took my breath away. Id like to know how and what to do to get those results.
 

ALITL8

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95KBGT said:
thanks guys, My buffer i got while i was in school, its a high speed buffer. I used it after wet sanding my custom painted panels, and after wet sanding the cars i painted. I would go from an aggresive polish with a wool pad, then a lighter polish with a foam pad.

im not trying to be a dick but if youve got experience running a high speed polisher and wet sanding, you should already know the answer to your questions... just get to it!! the products i recommended work very well for me and i detail for a living. the products the other guys recommended are also high quality... pick something and get'er done!!

post pics!! :thumb:
 
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95KBGT

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o none taken, your by far more educated in this area. No offense taken at all, im here to learn and grow as a person as much as i can whether its detailing, car tuning, combos, or just a better person :thumb:
 

MeanGrn Gt

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if you want to learn about detailing check this out autopia guide . now i never actually did check it out but it is supposed to be full of great info. If you go to car shows and want to do better learning how to properly detail you car will help out a lot. Doing that little extra makes a big difference imo.
 

Dalamar

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95KBGT said:
im also looking for like step by step like wash, dry, use this clay bar, re wash, dry, use this polish (and how) and then use this wax this many times, with this sealant. is selant really needed? If you can give brands that would be great. Yall all have answered these question to an extent, but i want to be able to shake things up a bit, and not have to clay bar every time, or wax, or polish. i have a badass buffer id like to not buy another, but if need be i can save up after wheels.

i saw pics of dalmars work, the one where he detailed that black BMW took my breath away. Id like to know how and what to do to get those results.

Hey man, get that thing all sparkley clean!!

On that black beamer, I clayed it because there was all that overspray. You don't really need to do that unless you have a lot of surface contaminates on your car.
I did a 4 stage polish, poorboys, using a PC orbital and cotton terry's. finaled with a sealer/wax.

you could probably do a fine, extra fine, then wax.
I'm really impressed with the poorboys wax and fine polishes, they're easy to use and give great results.

Alitl8 gave some good advice too, same concept.
I did my truck here in the forum a few weeks ago.
there's some pix in there.

Wax reflect's the surface benieth it, so the smoother it is polished, the more shine you get.
good luck!
 

ALITL8

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that Autopia Guide meangrn gt mentioned is a great resource. like Dalamar said "you could probably do a fine, extra fine, then wax". the good thing about the combo in the sample pack i recommended is it has everything you'll need. if you like it you can buy larger quantities, if you dont you havent spent a fortune... you'll like it though. btw, i dont recommend anything i dont believe in 100%!

i actually use 3M compounds but the "clearcoat compound" in the kit is great stuff too.
 

wytstang

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It has nothing to do with products is more process then anything. It's all about geting the surface ready for wax/sealant. Wash, clay, polish, protect.......
 

ALITL8

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wytstang said:
It has less to do with products and more to do with process then anything. It's all about geting the surface ready for wax/sealant. Wash, clay, polish, protect.......

fixt

preparation, application and removal are key to a quality polish/detail. that being said, a $2 wax wont perform or shine as well as a $6 wax (prices arent realistic but you get my meaning).

if the man wants his car to be perfect and has the knowledge and experience, i'd say start with a color/wet sand and go from there. he said he went to school and knows how to polish out fresh paint... same process :thumb:
 
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95KBGT

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the only thing im iffy about is all the things i have color/wet sanded i knew how much clear was on the application. I have no clue how thick the clear coat is on my car.
 

ALITL8

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95KBGT said:
the only thing im iffy about is all the things i have color/wet sanded i knew how much clear was on the application. I have no clue how thick the clear coat is on my car.

well thats something for you to decide, i dont know the condition of your paint. remember your paint is also cured so it wont cut as easy as fresh paint. they make a tool (like a microscope) for looking at the paint but its super expensive. i wouldnt color sand my car in its present condition but i have a good idea as to how much clear/paint is on my car and its issues.

i say start mild (Clearcoat Compound), if that doesnt work step up to a medium cut followed by the mild. i use the 3M Perfect It II Rubbing Compound for the fact that it starts as a medium compound and as you work it, it breaks down to a fine finishing cut. follow that with Rightlook's Premium Polish and then a coat of Very Cherry Premium Wax and/or Premium Glaze. all you should need is an orbital for this... if you want to go a step more, high speed it with the 3M, then follow that with the orbital steps (compound, polish, wax). take everything off using microfibers (one for heavy removal followed by a clean up/polish towel).

i have tons of pics of cars ive used the 3 step orbital process on and have never had any complaints... plenty of repeat business though :thumb:
 

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