Thread: HOW TO: Detail your car!

Charcoal or some type of raw carbon is also good for odor elimination.

Bump.

You're a dick Cliff.

Maybe once finals are over and I'm not working or traveling. October.

I would love to see this thread finished. I have just become enlightened on how to properly maintain my paint. Awesome read.

Great thread, I knew all this already but its great to see another forum member that knows his stuff. I'm about to detail my new Fiat, its new and it has orange peel bleh, cant wait to detail this puppy.

I think the work that I did on my old miata is probably more relavent to the B13 crowd than new BMWs and stuff (not that that isin't cool, i love seeing what the pros can do!). Just because your car has really sad old / oxidized paint or whatever doesn't mean it can't be saved. The paint on my car was pretty much flat with no shine after i claybared it to get the old wax off!

Before:


During:


After:


Using a porter-cable random orbital, I used a single step; a "medium-fine" (lake country orange) pad with a "medium" polish (Menzerna Intensive) and it completely transformed the car from sad beater to convention-ready.

How would you go about removing water stains? I tried some cleaner wax but that didn't work, although it did work on my friends 09 versa. Will the clay bar remove that kind of stuff?

This thread will never be complete, in fact most of it is dated and frankly not up to my current standards. Fear not though, something better will come around, and hopefully soon!

Without actually seeing the stains, its hard to say. True water staining typically will only occur on aged single stage paint, as it is more porous and will absorb whatever chemicals or contaminants are in the water, as well as being more sensitive to the pH. Clear coat vehicles typically won't suffer from actual staining, but from etching or mineral deposits.

To further differentiate each kind of defect, a stain will be a discoloration without actually effecting the surface texture, whereas an etch mark is a negative depression in the paint surface caused by acid rain, bird poop, and even bug splatter. Mineral deposits are created by hard water that dries on the surface (whether from rain or a sprinkler, etc.), these are bonded contaminants above the paint surface.

Actual staining can be rather variable in its severity and required treatment, but you should start off with a light polish and work your way up to a heavy cut compound, possibly even wetsanding if the paint thickness is adequate. It will be the same sort of treatment for etching, although it should be noted that severe etching and staining may not be possible to remove without thinning the paint too significantly.

Minerals deposits can be removed with a claybar, but repeated applications may be necessary to fully remove them. Polishes and compounds can also be used, but the removed contaminants may create fine marks while polishing. Cleaning the surface and repolishing should fix any created issues.

Sorry for the delayed response, I don't check this often!

Here is part of the reason why I stopped updating this thread (the other part is that I'm lazy as hell!). So check it out, give it a read, and go tell your ugly friends and their dirty cars how much better you are as a result.

Detailing 111 with CHD - Car Wash Basics

Finally got the second article up. Hopefully it won't be several months until #3...

Detailing 111: Wax Tech