[General] How to detail and maintain your cars paint

Hi Toey,

Ok have taken new pics as best I could, currently very overcast here in Brisbane. These pictures were taken just after I washed car so you can see the sort of condition the bonett is in. I looked online for the pads you mentioned at most of the popular auto shops near me, but couldnt find them anywhere. I will just have to use the pads that came with the machine. (pic included). I will use the compound first & see what sort of results I get. If swirls appear wil lgo grab the Meguiars Swirl remover as suggested. I watched the video you mentioned on the Car Car Product website so atleast I know the basics of the method required. The scratches on the boot must be very fine as I couldnt feel any ridge when running fingernail over them.

Will start once the car is completely dry so in a few hours I should see some resuts, hopefully.

 

yep, you are right the bonnet does look bad. it can come back from that but will take alot of work and im not sure the polisher you have will have enough power but i could be wrong.

as for those pads i suggested, i dont think they will work with that polisher as they are a 6.5" velcro backed foam pad and i dont know how the pads attach to that polisher, is it a velcro backing plate??

if you want them pads they are not availible at any auto store, only threw specalist detailing shops, waxit have a store somewhere in brisbane but both car care products and waxit both mail out all there gear

 

Hi Toey,

Just got back from Supercheap after deciding to get a more conventional polisher seen in most How Do videos. New polisher has velcro backing plate.



Ok, time to get started. Post any results here later. Thanks for the advice.

 

Well after a couple of hours I must say I am pretty pleased wth the outcome.

Is the paint perfect now?...nope, but its appearance now is thankfully nothing like the above before photos. The scourer marks aren't obvious anymore (cant see them unless you get right up close), so I guess thats the best I can hope for. Maybe my polishing technique needs some work? The white marks in the pics are obviously chips (I do a lot of highway driving), so I guess thats the next "How Do" topic I will be looking up. Any novices like myself who may be a little dubious in giving this a try...have a go, I didnt destroy my paint..I dont think
Big thanks to the OP Jelly Calais and the advice from Toey. I am pretty happy !!

 

looks a damn side better now

just need to refine it and remove the holigrams that can be seen in pic 1,2 and 5. use the finishing polish on the rotary first then do it again on the random orbital. this should see the holigrams disapper

 

waxit no longer has a shop in brisbane. dave closed up 3wks ago. but he is still on the detail paradise forum

 

I didnt realise that Dave closed up. He still doing detailing ? I think they have a Melbourne store. Chem Guys Australia have Hex logic or Lake Country Pads for lowest online.

THat car came up excellent even with the super cheap auto machine. He needs more pads to work it some more.

 

Do you suggest more compound, just the Anti Swirl or finishing polish? I covered up the larger chips on the bonett but it still has heaps of smaller ones..not sure if it is worth spending the time or just get a respray eventually.

 

I have a Ryobi ero750 and they are excellent. The occilation is small but the machine is quite strong. 750 watts makes up alot of it. This machine is tried and tested, cheap and an award winner as per following link. The Adams Family

 

Nice How - to thread guys. This is a real education.

So for the average car that does 15-20000 k a year of mixed driving how often should it need to be polished like this ? Keep in mind i've never used one of these polishers and always seem to be able to get a decent shine with a sponge and some car wash lol, other than a few unexplained dull spots on the clear.

 

You would only need to do this once a year, as long as you wash the car properly and dont put any new scratches back on. Try and finish if off with something like Jet Seal or Collonite, something that lasts a long time and put it on every 6 months etc. If you wanted to you could use the light polishing pad with a light cutting compound like Chem Guys Pro Polish or Swirl X and run it over every months before putting the wax/sealant on. But certainly you do not do this every 3 months or so as you are taking off clear and paint on some cars.

 

just on the topic of quality products, has anyone tried the Nu-Finish stuff in the orange bottle, and does it last as long as it claims? (52 car washes before re-applying)

cheers

 

Just joined to say thanks to JellyCalais, found your thread off Google, here is some of my work this long weekend by hand, have ordered pads, but got everything else I needed and decided to have a go anyway. Will go back over it with pads to get the swirls out, but I was impressed by the improvement I got. The machine should mean I can get to the rest of it next weekend. Chem guys are good for pads also.
-rexd

 

Amazing thread mate!

May I ask how the orbital polisher goes? Is there any reason to spend the extra $90 to get the DAS 6?

 

massive thread dig ey?

but great write up. going to do this to the ute today.
luckily i washed it yesterday though, its raining badly today =P
cant wait to see the black paint come up scratch free

should also add about the extension cord. go to a hardware store get a wallmate and a hook. or anything similar (hook with a spring toggle even)
put wallmate into ceiling, and then the hook into that.
hang cord through that (maybe even knot it or cable tie it up there for added safety.) thus no cable drooping on car.