I heard the olive oil trick a long time ago. I'm sure it originated with the oil-based paint times, but people still do it these days. It does add a lot of lubricity when washing a vehicle.

Like I said. Doesn't matter to me either way. I'm not arguing with you or saying you are wrong at all. Just stating my opinions. A friend of mine who had an extremely successful detailing business a while back used Dawn and ONLY Dawn to wash all vehicles. Still to this day uses it. And he has a few very very nice vehicles.

On another note, I love Poorboys stuff. I have tried a good amount of their products and haven't been disappointed yet. If you are looking for a good bug remover, try their Bug Squash. It works awesome. Natty's waxes work awesome, and I love the Bold n' Brite tire dressing. They are doing a new thing where you can get 4oz. samples of their stuff for like $5.00.

 

I realaly like Opti-Seal by Optimum....wipe on, walk away. no removal, i goes on clear. Not as durable as other stuff, but it's ease of use is great.

This doesn't mean you haven't incorrectly washed your car and put a good many swirls in it. Clean paint can still be swirled all to hell and need correction. Most people on this site probably put tons of swirls in their cars just by washing. It's not because they are careless, just bc people aren't properly educated on the right way to maintain a swirl free finish!

 

i had a question regarding removing swirls.. i have some miquires scratch X and i was wondering if i used that with an orbital buffer, would that help remove some of the swirls on my car?

 

Scratch-x is a very good over the counter product for removing minor swirls. Not sure what kind of machine you are using...if it's one of those cheap $30 buffers you buy at Advance Auto....then no, you will have better results by using the product by hand and an applicator, seriously. If you have a porter cable random orbital, that will do a nive, safe job at removing swirls.

 

ok I know GM has a hard clear coat, yet scratches so easily But anyways my car is not a DD, hasn't seen snow ever, hasn't seen rain since 2006. My car barely sees the sun anymore So I am pretty sure that Dawn will be fine to wash my car with

So here are some more questions that I have.

-Should I clay my car again if it was clayed at the end of the season last year? This year, I've put on ~300 miles so far.
-What is a good OTC polish that I can use?
-Will the Meguiars Scratch X work at removing my light swirls that I have?
-Will the Meguiars Tech Wax 2.0 work well?

Should I follow that detail guide? my paint is in good shape.. I just have light swirls that I need to get rid of. If I follow that guide, I would wash with Dawn, skip the clay bar stage, proceed to the removal of swirls (scratch x), sealant then wax the paint?

What type of wash mits do you all recommend/use?

When I dry my car, I use a leaf blower. I think I got my swirl from the Terry Towels I used when I would use a quick detailer

I just want to get rid of all my little light swirls

 

Sounds like you have a good plan now.

-Dawn
-clay ONLY if the paint feels gritty
-move to scratch x....not gonna be very effective unless you have a good machine, but by hand will do a little.
-tech Wax is fine, just not very durable.
-ONLY use microfiber when touching the paint. Take care of the towels, always wash with warm water and never dry with drier sheets. Inspect them before each use and make sure debris is out of it.
-I like to use grout sponges for my washing. They hold soap well, lather very well, release dirt easily, and don't scratch. Also, when you wash your car, make sure you are using the two-bucket method with a grit guard. If you don't know what this is....do a google!

If you want to purchase goood stuff....go to www.detailedimage.com and pick up some Optimum No Rinse wash, Optiseal paint sealant, and Meguiars 205 finishing polish for light swirls. Also get a Porter Cable polisher. They are very safe, and once you get good at it....you can recoupe the money by detailing friend's cars.

 

Well, you'd use sealants after you're done correcting and/or cleaning your paint. Wax becomes optional. People who choose to top a sealant with wax do so because they prefer the carnauba's "warm"/deep appearance over the blingy sealant look.

Those who top a sealant with a wax use a high-quality wax like P21S or Natty's Blue. I wouldn't waste my time with most OTC waxes if I were to take that extra last step. Sealants do pretty well by themselves, with wax toppers making only the most obvious difference on darker-colored cars.

 

If you're serious about it and your car's paint is as old as your car (14 years), I'd invest in a buffer and a compound/polish combo. ScratchX will noticeably, but not appreciably, remove some scratches. The amount of work that goes into it is not proportionate with the results.

 

Feel your paint. Pay special attention to horizontal surfaces.

I think you can find Meguiar's #205 OTC; I'd look for that.

An OTC polish like the #205 mentioned above will be superior for this.

It's a great looking wax with crappy durability. You can keep it up with a maintenance detail and QD throughout the week. I recommend ordering some Collinite 476S. Looks shiny like a sealant (IIRC it's a sealant/wax hybrid) but protects longer than many sealants.

If I recommend Collinite in any post after this I'm going to look like an unpaid sponsor.

If you're intent on using ScratchX on the entire car (I don't recommend this), I'd use any other car wash soap but Dawn. ScratchX will take off any sealants/waxes you already have without the risk of drying your clear.

IMO, Dawn washes are only particularly useful if you want to start from a fresh slate AND you don't intend on compounding and polishing. In other words, there aren't many reasons to. An IPA wipe after your first compounding pass will allow you to appraise your paint. And generally, marring that you notice on one body panel is hardly any better or worse than the next body panel (exceptions being "high traffic" areas like door handles, the hatch, front portion of the hood, etc).

I like the sheepskin mitts. On the inner fender lip, rocker panels, bottom of the front and rear bumpers, I'll use anything else to include worn sheepskin mitts or any crappy mitt I can find at <insert grocery store/autopart store here>.

Not all terry towels are made equally. I discovered this when I bought a 100-pack one day. Less than a fifth of them were soft to the touch - some were as rough as sandpaper. You can CD test suspicious ones and apply little/no pressure when using them; they're pretty cost-effective and easy to source. I find that while marring is largly caused by poor material choices, it's more affected by poor methods. You ever see those "30 minute detail" shops go to town when they dry their client's cars in a rush? Ouch.

 

So the Meguiars Polish (#205) would be a good polish to get rid of some swirls then?

So then after the polish (providing that all my swirls are gone) i then use a sealant? What exactly does a sealant due to the paint? What brand sealants do you all recommend?

After you seal the paint are you supposed to wax it? Is carnuba wax perferred? What waxes do you all use?

Then to maintain your paint, can you use Meguiars Quick Detailer?

 

I would take it to a local BP's Car Wash. They have EVERYTHING. Select the most expensive option. It'll clean, wash, polish, wax, and seal all in ONE STEP!


On a serious note, be careful which products you purchase. Some Polishes or Compounds calls for specific applications. The abrasives in certain products break down differently. Scratch-X's abrasives are different from the higher end polishes because it was mostly made to be applied by hand.

 

Here's my recomendations with links....this site is the only site I purchase supplies from, they are great, and it is run 100% by people who KNOW detailing, not just people getting a quick sale

First- 205 Polish
http://www.detailedimage.com/Meguiar...P389/32-oz-S1/

Next- OptiSeal paint Sealant
http://www.detailedimage.com/Optimum...-P279/8-oz-S1/

Final step- tons of wax here, each has a description so you can find one that meets your needs. Surprisingly, the pros are reporting great results from the Optimum Spray on wax!
http://www.detailedimage.com/Wax-C16/

After you have everything looking the way you want....

car wash of choice...Optimum No Rinse (ONR for short)
http://www.detailedimage.com/Optimum...P444/128oz-S2/

You can even mix the ONR ^ with water for quick detailer to maintain and enhance the gloss in between maxes.

These are merely MY choices....search that site for your needs. They have tutorials to show you HOW to do ANY aspect of detailing you can think of, and product recommendations. You can learn, purchase, ask questions, and tackle your ENTIRE new detailing hobby without ever leaving that site!

 

Ahaahahah James... Or we can get together to finally fix my damn paint???

 

Usually I'm touching up areas here and there on my T/A. The beginning of the spring this year was the first time I have done a full detail on my car since purchasing the Porter Cable and I forgot how time intensive it was. The detail spanned out over 3 days. I'm sure you've seen the recent treads here about the 17 hour and 54 hour detail jobs.

I'm still game if you want me to work on your car. It's very rewarding for me to work on a paint job and seeing the end result. So the question is: could you drop off your car at my garage so I could work on it on my own time? I'll need it for 3 days at the most (hopefully).

I know I said that I would be willing to stop by your house to work on your car before but like I said, the last full detail I performed on my car really reminded me how instensive and time consuming the process is.

The results will be well worth it.

 

I dunno why Dawn hasn't released their own "Car SAFE" soap.... they would rake in soooo much money off that.

 

James I doubt you would need my car for 3 days. I gurantee you would need it for one 12 hr day.

Remember my car at then end of last season was clayed and buffed. Then this year bc I wasn't happy it was buffed again. Didn't need to be clayed b/c i didn't drive it over the winter and when i pulled it out of storage it went right to the detailer again.

All I guess you would have to do is wash, polish, seal and wax?

let me know what you think?

 

What he is saying is that the work is so labor intensive when you are detailing at this level...is that he doesn't want to spend 12 STRAIGHT hours on it...he would rather break it up in a 3-4 day deal. Trust me, when you work a full time job and then detail at home after hours, you don't wanna spend more than 3-4 hours a day on it. Thats what I do anyways.

On a 12 hour detail...and that's on the average side of the time scale...you would spend 6-8 of those hours with the buffer.

 

I don't understand why so many people still suggest using Dawn. There is no reason to use Dawn to wash you vehicle (unless you are in some process of removing or applying Zaino)

Use a good carwash soap (Meg's Gold Class, Poor Boys Super Suds), then get on with the prep work. Anything on the paint will be removed by the normal processes without any worry of long term damage to the paint, rubber or plastic bits on your vehicle.

Why people continue to use a Dawn to wash their cars when the manufacturer of Dawn specifically cautions against it amazes me. It is an unnecessary step.

 

You use Dawn to strip anything and everything off (LSP, wax, sealant, etc) so you have a CLEAN slate to start with. Makes claying, compounding, and polishing so much easier. Theres NO harm in doing it if you are only doing it to prep the surface for a FULL EXTENSIVE detail...whic is done, what.....3-5 times MAX in a vehicles life? It's done regularly by the top guys in the trade who have extensive portfolios that includes the nicest cars on the planet. What do you have to support your claims, other than maybe reading something on the label?

If it works for me, and is also practices by seasoned pros who works on cars that costs more than expensive homes do, well....it's fine by me!

 

Like someone stated you could also throw a tiny amont of olive oil in there to help lubricate the surface