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I recently bought some Pontiac emblems for the back of the Hawk, the car has been ceramic coated is it safe to assume it would be best to remove the coating for the emblems to attach correctly?
Is there a best practice to do this? Does it differ depending on the manufacturer of the ceramic coating?
Perl is nice but it just does not last long on trim. I coated all of the trim with DLUX and that holds up and looks even better than Perl. Perl is great for tires though regardless of longevity.
Perl is nice but it just does not last long on trim. I coated all of the trim with DLUX and that holds up and looks even better than Perl. Perl is great for tires though regardless of longevity.
I recently bought some Pontiac emblems for the back of the Hawk, the car has been ceramic coated is it safe to assume it would be best to remove the coating for the emblems to attach correctly?
Is there a best practice to do this? Does it differ depending on the manufacturer of the ceramic coating?
If you have any fine polish just put a pea size dab in a micro fiber and polish the area a couple times and wipe area with ipa where you're going to put the emblem.
Well, finally got around to polishing the GTO. I should note, there really wasn't anything to "correct" on the paint, I just wanted to enhance the shine. I really don't see a whole lot of difference out of the process I did today, but at least it is polished and waxed. I also treated the plastic, rubber and leather. I never took the polisher above 3, mostly stayed around 1 and 2 since this was my first time. Max is 6 on this one. I also found that the polisher began vibrating pretty heavily at anything above 3. In the end I think it was because I used too mush polish and the pad got out of balance because it was overloaded with products. When I spun the machine without a pad on it it was almost entirely vibration free. I'll have to be less generous with the polish next time.
I first washed the car. Then I basically washed it again using my synthetic clay bar. Honestly, the finish felt perfectly smooth once washed but I clayed it anyway. That seems to have removed all the old wax which was fine with me. I then went over the car with the machine using Griot's 3-in-1. I let that dry a bit while I polished the stainless exhaust tips and put away some of my cleaning supplies. I then went over it again with Meguair's Carnuba Plus. I let that dry while I did the windows and plastic and leather. I then buffed it by hand with a microfiber and went over it again with a clean one. Here's what I got.
That's an awesome color on those GTO's, think it looks good. I understand the fear of turning up the machine too high and possibly damaging something. With a DA polisher 5 on the settings if you working a correction type compound and risk with a DA with burn through is pretty low. Now with a Rotary buffer that guys with a lot of experience use those will burn through the paint in spots. Rotary burn through usually happens on areas with sharp corners but on flatter areas usually fairly safe.
But with paint correction type compounds/polishes you can work the product harder with a DA polisher so a higher setting like a 4/5 setting. If it was vibrating bad might have had too much pressure pushing down and not centered enough or maybe most likely not enough pressure on the DA. Also I'd check to make sure the pad was centered, some guys like to take a marker and mark the top of the polisher disk that the pad attaches to with a black line so they can help monitor if they are applying too much pressure by seeing if that mark is spinning or not.
Don't quote me on everything as I could be off lol, we definitely have guys one here with great experience in this area. I think that can help is to go to Autogeek.net and watch his videos on how to do a lot of these tasks. Usually the videos are pretty good on explaining what and why which helps in confidence.
The main thing I got from that video is that I was using WAAAAAY too much compound. Which is also supported by the unbalanced vibrations I was getting.
The main thing I got from that video is that I was using WAAAAAY too much compound. Which is also supported by the unbalanced vibrations I was getting.
Even in that video they went a little over board with the amount of polish used. Probably to help lubricate since they were running in the same spot for 1 min.
The picture below shows approximately how much polish you should use each time.
Also, to do any real correction you need to be around setting 4-5.
If you have any fine polish just put a pea size dab in a micro fiber and polish the area a couple times and wipe area with ipa where you're going to put the emblem.
No it does not really differ from manufacturer
Thanks for the reply, ceramic coatings were just becoming popular when I used to detail so I'm a tad uneducated about them other than knowing when applied right they're awesome
CarPro Reset
CarPro Dlux
DI Applicator pad
Nanoskin Autoscrub
Carpro Quartz applicator
CarPro Leather Coating
Tarminator
Optimum No Rinse
HydroSilex Foam Cannon to replace my Gilmour Foamaster which I dislike
Microfiber wash mitt
Still trying to decide on drying towels and microfibers to wipe car down. I also want to buy some products to correct the subpar detail this car got previously. If you see anything I should get over what I've picked Id appreciate the recommendations.
Probably gonna buy a new machine too as I had a Griots previously, while it worked decently it wasn't as good as the Rupes 21 I used. Are there machines that are about as good as Rupes without the price tag haha?
CarPro Reset
CarPro Dlux
DI Applicator pad
Nanoskin Autoscrub
Carpro Quartz applicator
CarPro Leather Coating
Tarminator
Optimum No Rinse
HydroSilex Foam Cannon to replace my Gilmour Foamaster which I dislike
Microfiber wash mitt
Still trying to decide on drying towels and microfibers to wipe car down. I also want to buy some products to correct the subpar detail this car got previously. If you see anything I should get over what I've picked Id appreciate the recommendations.
Probably gonna buy a new machine too as I had a Griots previously, while it worked decently it wasn't as good as the Rupes 21 I used. Are there machines that are about as good as Rupes without the price tag haha?
CarPro Reset
CarPro Dlux
DI Applicator pad
Nanoskin Autoscrub
Carpro Quartz applicator
CarPro Leather Coating
Tarminator
Optimum No Rinse
HydroSilex Foam Cannon to replace my Gilmour Foamaster which I dislike
Microfiber wash mitt
Still trying to decide on drying towels and microfibers to wipe car down. I also want to buy some products to correct the subpar detail this car got previously. If you see anything I should get over what I've picked Id appreciate the recommendations.
Probably gonna buy a new machine too as I had a Griots previously, while it worked decently it wasn't as good as the Rupes 21 I used. Are there machines that are about as good as Rupes without the price tag haha?
I used cquartz leather for a long time and it is a great product. I have since switched over to the colorlock system of cleaning, using leather protector and 12 hours later leather shield. This by far seems to give the leather more life than the cquartz leather coating.
I will go into more detail but leather protector is recommended for leathers 3 years or older. It will nourish the leather and then 12 hours later apply leather shield which add abrasion resistance and dye color transfer. Great stuff. It may not last as long as cquartz leather but it feels a whole lot better.
Are you planning to clay and correct? I didn't read all the way back but I see you mentioned ceramic coating was on the paint. Are you planning to re-coat?
I used cquartz leather for a long time and it is a great product. I have since switched over to the colorlock system of cleaning, using leather protector and 12 hours later leather shield. This by far seems to give the leather more life than the cquartz leather coating.
I will go into more detail but leather protector is recommended for leathers 3 years or older. It will nourish the leather and then 12 hours later apply leather shield which add abrasion resistance and dye color transfer. Great stuff. It may not last as long as cquartz leather but it feels a whole lot better.
Are you planning to clay and correct? I didn't read all the way back but I see you mentioned ceramic coating was on the paint. Are you planning to re-coat?
Yea I plan on doing a full correction, I already bought the cquartz leather treatment, is there something i can add with it that'll be similar to your process.
My Esky ESV isn't coated but I plan on doing a full correction on it and coating it as well. The conditioner is for it as the Hawk has cloth seats
Even in that video they went a little over board with the amount of polish used. Probably to help lubricate since they were running in the same spot for 1 min.
The picture below shows approximately how much polish you should use each time.
Also, to do any real correction you need to be around setting 4-5.
What about when you are waxing, final finish? How much product should be used?
Yea I plan on doing a full correction, I already bought the cquartz leather treatment, is there something i can add with it that'll be similar to your process.
My Esky ESV isn't coated but I plan on doing a full correction on it and coating it as well. The conditioner is for it as the Hawk has cloth seats
Unfortunately no there is not. Its best to simply keep the seats clean with an interior detailer once they are coated.
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