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coolskillrex remix
Jan 1, 2007

gorsh
After getting my first nice car almost 2 years ago i began reading up on detailing and spending countless hours and well over $500 on detailing poo poo:

heres my advice, dont loving do it if you dont have a garage. Just give up. It is not worth doing.

Maybe if you have access to someones garage where they have free space then go ahead. Ill explain...

Washing your car outside is fine, but anything beyond that and i find myself going insane. First of all if you wash your car its probably relatively warm out, and you need to wait until evening where the suns lower. That way you arent dealing with extremely hot body panels that evaporate hard water onto your car before you have a chance to dry, also if the suns directly above your car it will evaporate the water even faster. You certainly cant wax when the sun is directly on your car, ive tried to do it, it doesnt work.

So you start washing your car at 6pm in the summer like i do (so the body panels are cool to the touch), it takes me about 45-60 minutes to wash and dry a typical car depending on the amount of grime and how much time you take for your wheels.

Now its 7pm, its getting dark out, and youre going to clay bar. Okay well that takes about 2-3 hours your first time so i hope you have work lights (a fuckin array, otherwise you will do what i did and left all sorts of wax all over the car for me to discover the next day). Lets say you finish at 9pm. You want to apply sealant, poo poo lasts about 6 months and does wonders for keeping random poo poo off your car, it takes about 1-2 hours to apply it then buff that poo poo off. Now if youre insane like me you also want to wax it if you have a nice deep paint job, unfortunately its probably 11pm and you havent even started cleaning up yet. Youre also tired as poo poo and people say you should let the sealant cure for at least half a day.

Alright well if you come out the next evening and start waxing youre just grinding all the dust into your car, so you actually have to wait until a week or two and wash your car again so you dont put specs of dust into it.

During all of this youve probably unknowingly crushed bugs into your paint because apparently your cars cool metal is just heaven for these stupid loving mosquitoes filled with pixie dust that blow up all over your perfect wax job.

Basically you need a garage for lighting, for isolating you from the elements, and isolating your car from the elements as well.

One pass of an orbital polisher over your whole car is going to take about 5-6 hours. Its loud as gently caress so you will want to do this inside a garage and doing it outside is just a general pain in the rear end. I dont have a garage and managed to do it but man it was a pain in the rear end

coolskillrex remix fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Mar 26, 2012

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TheGoatTrick
Aug 1, 2002

Semi-aquatic personification of unstoppable douchery

Stultus posted:

Not sure if anyone else uses these products, but I use Adam's Polishes in basically every aspect of detailing my car from exterior to interior. Their stuff is a bit on the pricier side, but it's pretty much fool proof to work with and all of it seems to work amazingly on all the cars I've worked on.
Psst...a lot of Adam's stuff is made by these guys. Some of the products will sound familiar to you. I have attended some of Adam's instructional days; they are really knowledgable and helpful folks. I still buy some stuff from them just because of that.

PitViper posted:

What does everyone use for interiors? I HATE the super glossy Armor-All look, so I've been using a low-gloss Meguiar's interior spray. It cleans and leaves a very faint shine, but I'm wondering if there's something better I could try.
Meguiar's #40 and 303 Aerospace Protectant are good, low-gloss products for plastics.

Frozen-Solid posted:

1) I live in an apartment and don't have access to a hose.
2) I don't have a garage so my car is parked outside and in the elements 99% of the time.
Those of you without access to a hose should look into a product called Optimum No Rinse. You mix an ounce into 2 or so gallons of water and essentially use it as a sponge bath for your car. It acts as a surfactant so it encapsulates dirt so you don't scratch the car going over it with the sponge. The key is to use up a lot of the liquid in the process (ie don't wring out your sponge) and I try to keep the sponge clean by scraping it against the grit guard.

The process is explained here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYOAyxsEIuQ

Optimum No Rinse also makes a great clay bar lube and quick detailer. I mix the quick detailer in a one gallon pump garden sprayer.

mod sassinator
Dec 13, 2006
I came here to Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum,
and I'm All out of Ass

hedge posted:

Those of you without access to a hose should look into a product called Optimum No Rinse. You mix an ounce into 2 or so gallons of water and essentially use it as a sponge bath for your car. It acts as a surfactant so it encapsulates dirt so you don't scratch the car going over it with the sponge. The key is to use up a lot of the liquid in the process (ie don't wring out your sponge) and I try to keep the sponge clean by scraping it against the grit guard.

The process is explained here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYOAyxsEIuQ

Optimum No Rinse also makes a great clay bar lube and quick detailer. I mix the quick detailer in a one gallon pump garden sprayer.

drat! That looks really nice. I don't have access to a hose, but what I usually do is hit a local touchless car wash and then wax in the shade of a parking garage. Will have to give that no rinse a shot though as I'm never that happy with how things turn out with just the auto car wash (sometimes I have to run by a manual car wash to really clean some spots down).

What are good ways to really clean interior headliners and fabric? One of my cars was driven by a smoker, and even after 3 years of me owning it and never smoking I can still catch traces of smoke smell from time to time. I'd love to steam clean the headliner or something similar to try and get it all out.

mod sassinator fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Mar 26, 2012

Frozen Peach
Aug 25, 2004

garbage man from a garbage can

hedge posted:

Those of you without access to a hose should look into a product called Optimum No Rinse. You mix an ounce into 2 or so gallons of water and essentially use it as a sponge bath for your car. It acts as a surfactant so it encapsulates dirt so you don't scratch the car going over it with the sponge. The key is to use up a lot of the liquid in the process (ie don't wring out your sponge) and I try to keep the sponge clean by scraping it against the grit guard.

That is seriously awesome and just what I was hoping to find out about. If doing that is all it'll take every few weeks to keep my car looking awesome I'll be using it in a second. I'm assuming you can get that kinda thing at Autozone or O'reilly?

TheGoatTrick
Aug 1, 2002

Semi-aquatic personification of unstoppable douchery

Frozen-Solid posted:

That is seriously awesome and just what I was hoping to find out about. If doing that is all it'll take every few weeks to keep my car looking awesome I'll be using it in a second. I'm assuming you can get that kinda thing at Autozone or O'reilly?
I get it from detailing.com; they are local so I can just pop down to their shop and get it without waiting or paying for shipping. Yes, the sign out in front of the building does actually say detailing.com on it. I don't think I've ever seen Optimum stuff in another physical store.

I haven't used any of the competing stuff, but the general term for the product is "rinseless wash*". If you have a Camping World near you, they should have something called Quick & Easy Wash which is a similar product. Again, I've never used it and Optimum No Rinse seems like the most popular product in the category if you look around Autogeek.

* not to be confused with "waterless wash", which is a spray on/wipe off kind of a deal. Not as effective and more likely to scratch.

TheGoatTrick fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Mar 26, 2012

coolskillrex remix
Jan 1, 2007

gorsh

hedge posted:

Psst...a lot of Adam's stuff is made by these guys. Some of the products will sound familiar to you. I have attended some of Adam's instructional days; they are really knowledgable and helpful folks. I still buy some stuff from them just because of that.

Meguiar's #40 and 303 Aerospace Protectant are good, low-gloss products for plastics.

Those of you without access to a hose should look into a product called Optimum No Rinse. You mix an ounce into 2 or so gallons of water and essentially use it as a sponge bath for your car. It acts as a surfactant so it encapsulates dirt so you don't scratch the car going over it with the sponge. The key is to use up a lot of the liquid in the process (ie don't wring out your sponge) and I try to keep the sponge clean by scraping it against the grit guard.

The process is explained here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYOAyxsEIuQ

Optimum No Rinse also makes a great clay bar lube and quick detailer. I mix the quick detailer in a one gallon pump garden sprayer.

Seems like a nice option for those of us in states where they actually have made it against the law to wash your car in your drive way. I can still probably get away with it but i will probably just do this.

Stultus
Jul 22, 2007

hedge posted:

Psst...a lot of Adam's stuff is made by these guys. Some of the products will sound familiar to you. I have attended some of Adam's instructional days; they are really knowledgable and helpful folks. I still buy some stuff from them just because of that.

I've used a lot of Chemical Guys stuff as well before, but I turned to Adams for the same reason that you use them to buy some stuff. They're really helpful over there, and if you post a question someone usually has an answer within minutes.


Also to add to drying the car, does anyone use the California Water blade? I found it really helpful since it knocks off a bulk of the water from the flat surfaces so you don't have to worry about over saturating your drying towel.

Phone
Jul 30, 2005

親子丼をほしい。
Can people compile a list of the stuff that they use? I think that people would like to know what people use in an easy list.

Ex:
Car wash/foam:
Car wax/sealant:
Rubbing compound:
etc, etc

PainterofCrap
Oct 17, 2002

hey bebe


Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but I have an unrestored 1966 Pontiac which has very beat-up & faded factory enamel paint on the hood & trunk surfaces. I have no real experience in detailing. I have tried polishing compound, polish, isopropyl alcohol, dish detergent, hand waxing, machine buffing with wax, and it still looks like crap. The only thing that seems to have any improvement is that 'color back' wax stuff but even that doesn't look right.

I'm guessing that at this point I either have to find a reliable pron in my area (I know no one) or have the panels sanded & repainted.

(edit) thanks for the link, I'll give it a try before trying to find a pro

PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Mar 27, 2012

einTier
Sep 25, 2003

Charming, friendly, and possessed by demons.
Approach with caution.
This used to be a hobby of mine, but I kind of quit doing it due to lack of a good space to do it in. However, it's about time I really polished up the Porsche.

My big dirty secret is that I bought a PorterCable 7424XP a few years ago and then never learned to use it. Does anyone have a kind of idiot's step-by-step guide for what I should be doing with it? Assume that I'm starting with paint that has minor swirls throughout but is perfect otherwise and I'm going to have to buy all new pads.

PainterofCrap posted:

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but I have an unrestored 1966 Pontiac which has very beat-up & faded factory enamel paint on the hood & trunk surfaces. I have no real experience in detailing. I have tried polishing compound, polish, isopropyl alcohol, dish detergent, hand waxing, machine buffing with wax, and it still looks like crap. The only thing that seems to have any improvement is that 'color back' wax stuff but even that doesn't look right.

I'm guessing that at this point I either have to find a reliable pron in my area (I know no one) or have the panels sanded & repainted.
I can help here. First off, a good test to see if the paint is damaged but fixable is to simply get the car wet. If the paint looks fantastic when wet but gets dull as it dries, it's very likely that it can all be buffed and polished out. If the paint still looks crappy when the car is wet, there probably isn't much you can do short of a repaint.

All the things you've used are good at polishing up already good paint, but they won't do much on truly damaged paint. They're just not abrasive enough. Wax, hand waxing, buffing with wax, all of that doesn't do a drat thing to make the paint look better. All it does is protect paint that already looks good -- paint looks as good as it's ever going to look right before you put wax on it.

So what you need is to attack the problem with something that can actually treat the damage by "sanding off" the damaged paint. I prefer 3M's Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound. It's not cheap, but it's worth every penny and it can be used by hand or by machine. Be sure to read the directions, the application and removal are different than wax. Don't be surprised if you need more than one application if the paint is seriously damaged. After that, you're going to be left with some microfine scratches in the paint, so you'll also need Swirl Mark Remover. Again, this is not wax, don't apply it like wax.

Also, these products can be used to remove discoloration and cloudiness from modern headlights.
If those can't bring your car up to a good shine

einTier fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Mar 26, 2012

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

So what's the best way to get a light scuff off a clear coat?

einTier
Sep 25, 2003

Charming, friendly, and possessed by demons.
Approach with caution.

slidebite posted:

So what's the best way to get a light scuff off a clear coat?
Rubbing compound. If you use it by hand, there's practically no danger to your paint.

Applebees Appetizer
Jan 23, 2006

Pr0kjayhawk posted:

Be careful with leaf blowers. The intakes are not filtered so unless you're in a relatively clean environment you could end up "sandblasting" portions of the paint.

If I had your cars I would be worried about it, but for a Crown Vic and a NA Miata it's fine. The paint on them is far from perfect.

Also, I have a HF high speed buffer, what are the best kind of pads to use? The ones that came with it were poo poo.

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

einTier posted:

Rubbing compound. If you use it by hand, there's practically no danger to your paint.

It's interesting you say that. An acquaintance told me to stay away from rubbing compound... and instead try polishing compound? I am not even sure what the difference is but I assume polishing isn't as "coarse" as rubbing.. or do I have it backwards?

ziasquinn
Jan 1, 2006

Fallen Rib

ratbert90 posted:

Huh, I'm in Boise and I have never had any issues with an electric leaf blower. I guess ymmv?

Do you work at J's Ultimate Hand Wash?

Dagen H
Mar 19, 2009

Hogertrafikomlaggningen

leica posted:

I have a HF high speed buffer, what are the best kind of pads to use? The ones that came with it were poo poo.

Same here. I learned on wool pads, but I know there are different foam pads for different compounds, yes?

FlapYoJacks
Feb 12, 2009

slidebite posted:

So what's the best way to get a light scuff off a clear coat?
What kind of scuff? Is it paint transfer? Is the scuff on top of the paint or a light scratch that doesn't catch with your fingernail?

FlapYoJacks
Feb 12, 2009

Your Dead Gay Son posted:

Do you work at J's Ultimate Hand Wash?


Nope, and I have seen their :scared:

PainterofCrap posted:

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but I have an unrestored 1966 Pontiac which has very beat-up & faded factory enamel paint on the hood & trunk surfaces. I have no real experience in detailing. I have tried polishing compound, polish, isopropyl alcohol, dish detergent, hand waxing, machine buffing with wax, and it still looks like crap. The only thing that seems to have any improvement is that 'color back' wax stuff but even that doesn't look right.

I'm guessing that at this point I either have to find a reliable pron in my area (I know no one) or have the panels sanded & repainted.

You are most likely dealing with a single stage paint, and as such modern rubbing and polishing compounds aren't a good option for them.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/25304-secret-removing-oxidation-restoring-show-car-finish-antique-single-stage-paints.html

That is your go to article to help fix your paint, and trust me, it won't be easy. :)

slidebite
Nov 6, 2005

Good egg
:colbert:

ratbert90 posted:

What kind of scuff? Is it paint transfer? Is the scuff on top of the paint or a light scratch that doesn't catch with your fingernail?

No paint transfer, no. Nothing you can feel with your fingernail. It's the clearcoat on the bags of my bike and sometimes boots touch them getting on/off.

FlapYoJacks
Feb 12, 2009

slidebite posted:

No paint transfer, no. Nothing you can feel with your fingernail. It's the clearcoat on the bags of my bike and sometimes boots touch them getting on/off.


Ah gotcha. I would need a picture, but if you have a buffer, you could wetsand the scratch out and buff over it.

You could get away with just buffing it with a wool pad + a polishing pad.
You could even try just a white Lake Country pad + M205/Ultimate polish.


As always, go with the least abrasive solution first, then move up.



einTier posted:

This used to be a hobby of mine, but I kind of quit doing it due to lack of a good space to do it in. However, it's about time I really polished up the Porsche.

My big dirty secret is that I bought a PorterCable 7424XP a few years ago and then never learned to use it. Does anyone have a kind of idiot's step-by-step guide for what I should be doing with it? Assume that I'm starting with paint that has minor swirls throughout but is perfect otherwise and I'm going to have to buy all new pads.



Sure, check out the youtube channel in the OP, or follow this video that I will now put in the OP: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...e-polisher.html

FlapYoJacks fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Mar 26, 2012

einTier
Sep 25, 2003

Charming, friendly, and possessed by demons.
Approach with caution.

slidebite posted:

It's interesting you say that. An acquaintance told me to stay away from rubbing compound... and instead try polishing compound? I am not even sure what the difference is but I assume polishing isn't as "coarse" as rubbing.. or do I have it backwards?

Everyone's afraid of rubbing compound. If you're using it with a rotary buffer, sure, there's reason to be worried. If the paint is severely damaged, meaning it's oxidized/worn/damaged to the point that it's wearing off the car, then rubbing compound is going to cause more harm than good.

But otherwise, you can use it pretty freely without worrying about much. To burn through a coat of paint with RC by hand would require literally hours of polishing on one spot and so many applications that you might use the whole bottle.

Think of it like 800 grit sandpaper. If you're sanding a piece of wood with that by hand, you're never going to go through a whole piece of it. If you're using a power sander, you might be able to if you really worked at it. And of course, you're going to have to go back with something like 1200 if you really want a smooth finish. Same thing with Rubbing Compound and Swirl Mark Remover.

Trying to use any consumer-grade polishing compound is like trying to sand that same block with your fingertips. Over a long period of time, you might see some change, but it's going to be a mostly pointless exercise.

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

Is there a trade association, or something where I can find a good local detailer?

I want to get my car done properly about once a year, but I don't have the time nor inclination to do it. What I do have is money to pay someone to do it. The local chain here in San Antonio (Wash Tub) is garbage and don't do good work. I don't want to take my car to a fly by night detailer who is really an 18 year old kid that doesn't know what they're doing.

I would pay up to 300 dollars for a complete showroom detail with quality products from someone with real skill.

FlapYoJacks
Feb 12, 2009

skipdogg posted:

Is there a trade association, or something where I can find a good local detailer?

I want to get my car done properly about once a year, but I don't have the time nor inclination to do it. What I do have is money to pay someone to do it. The local chain here in San Antonio (Wash Tub) is garbage and don't do good work. I don't want to take my car to a fly by night detailer who is really an 18 year old kid that doesn't know what they're doing.

I would pay up to 300 dollars for a complete showroom detail with quality products from someone with real skill.

Craigslist, but check AutoGeekOnline.com/forum first. Where are you located? I could poke around for you.

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

ratbert90 posted:

Craigslist, but check AutoGeekOnline.com/forum first. Where are you located? I could poke around for you.

San Antonio, TX

TheGoatTrick
Aug 1, 2002

Semi-aquatic personification of unstoppable douchery

Stultus posted:

Also to add to drying the car, does anyone use the California Water blade? I found it really helpful since it knocks off a bulk of the water from the flat surfaces so you don't have to worry about over saturating your drying towel.
If your car has some sort of wax/sealant on it, try this. After washing, take the nozzle off your hose. If you just run water straight out of the hose from the roof down, it comes off in sheets and leaves you with very little that you will need to towel dry.

Phone posted:

Can people compile a list of the stuff that they use? I think that people would like to know what people use in an easy list.

Wash: DP Xtreme Foam Car Wash and Gilmour Foamaster foam gun, bucket with grit guard
Clay: Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay with Optimum No Rinse 6% solution
Wax: Meguiars #16 (paint) and Finish Kare 1000P (wheels). The FK 1000P works great on paint too if you're looking for something durable. Zaino (Z5, Z2, and ZCS) is a good product too if you want something that is low maintenance and will last a long time.
Polish: Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (with orange pad) and Super Finish (with white pad)
Rinseless wash: Optimum No Rinse, 1 oz/gallon (2 gallons required)
Quick detailers: Optimum No Rinse 6% solution (to remove stuff), Finish Kare 425 (for gloss)
Exterior plastic and tires: Adam's (or Chemical Guys, it's the same thing) VRT
Interior plastic: 303 Aerospace Protectant
Leather: Leather Master Soft Cleaner and Protection Cream (also, vacuum and wipe down leather with warm water and a sponge regularly)
Towels: Eurow Shag Weave Towel (buy the 10 pack!) and those yellow Vroom towels you can get at Target
Wheels: Mothers wheel and tire brushes (work great inside the exhaust tips too)

TheGoatTrick fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Mar 26, 2012

FlapYoJacks
Feb 12, 2009

skipdogg posted:

San Antonio, TX

Looks like Anthony Orosco at 2450 Babcock Rd #156 may be your best bet.

Astroman
Apr 8, 2001


Frozen-Solid posted:

I'm getting my first brand new car in a few weeks (build date is April 9th :dance:). It's nothing super fancy, just a Chevy Sonic Hatchback LTZ Turbo, but I'd like to try and treat it as right as possible.

A few problems in my case:

1) I live in an apartment and don't have access to a hose.
2) I don't have a garage so my car is parked outside and in the elements 99% of the time.

Once or twice a year I'll drive to my parents' house and wash/wax by hand, but that's not something I can do very often. Instead, I just put $5 in the Shell gas station's automatic drive through car wash and get it done. Someone in another thread said doing that is bad. What's the best way to do a good wash every now and then given my circumstances? I'd love to be able to wash once or twice a month, but not having access to a hose kinda kills it.

I'm considering paying extra for a carport or a garage, but that's another $30/50 a month, which solves #2, but there's nothing I can do about the first issue.

Also: what's so bad about a drive through car wash? I can see sperging out if you have a nicer car, but for a Chevy Sonic it seems kind of overkill.

Touchless car washes aren't as good as doing it yourself, but it's better than nothing. I pretty much use them on my DD all winter long, because here in the NE you gotta wash your car a lot to keep the salt off. Would never use a regular automatic car wash though.


My washing rig:
2 buckets
2 mitts (one for the lower parts of the car)
Wash: Meguiar's NXT Wash
Clay: Mother's Clay Bar
Wax: Meguiar's NXT Wax-I really like the way this looks
Drying: leafblower and synthetic drying chamois
Detailer: Meguiar's Detail Spray
Glass: Invisible Glass Foam-so much better than liquid cleaner
Tires: Black Magic Tire Wet Foam
Tire Whitewall Trim: Mr Clean Magic Erasers-a million times easier than scrubbing with Bleche-White and they don't seem to dry out the tire
Hubcaps-Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish
Black Trim: Mother's Back to Black
Chrome: Turtle Wax Chrome Polish

Interior:
Seats-Mequiar's Gold Class Leather Cleaner and Conditioner
Armor All-most of my interiors are leather, but this shines up some plastic stuff like the foot thing on my door and the plastic in my trunk
Carpets and Mats-Woolite/Resolve/Rug Doctor Spot Remover. They all work pretty well
Simple Green-Other plastic and trim pieces, seatbelts, etc
Weatherstripping and seals-Liquid Wrench Silicone Spray

Stultus
Jul 22, 2007

hedge posted:

If your car has some sort of wax/sealant on it, try this. After washing, take the nozzle off your hose. If you just run water straight out of the hose from the roof down, it comes off in sheets and leaves you with very little that you will need to towel dry.

I already use sheet rinsing as well, I was just wondering if anyone else used the water blade. It's another step I added after sheet rinsing though, I rarely spend a lot of time with microfiber towels drying my car.

To contribute to stuff I use right now, always open to new suggestions though:
Wash: Adam's Car Shampoo, Gilmour Foamaster II foam gun, Two 5 Gallon buckets with grit guards, 11x11" wash pad and 9x9" wash pad.
Clay: I've been using the Meguiar's Clay kit listed in the OP but have also used the Turtle Wax ICE Clay Kit and Adam's Clay Bar w/ Detail spray as a lubricant
Wax: Recently I've been using Adam's Buttery Wax, since I like working with liquid waxes over paste.
Polishes: Adam's Swirl and Haze Remover w/ Orange pad, followed by their Fine Machine Polish with white pad.
Exterior plastic and tires: Adam's (or Chemical Guys, it's the same thing) VRT
Interior plastic: Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner, or Adam's Leather and Interior Cleaner: My new car (less than a month old) has cloth seats so all I've had to do to them so far is vacuum them along with the carpets. But for the stained up carpets I use Adam's Carpet & Upholstery cleaner
Towels: Cobra Waffle Weave towel or Adam's Great White Drying towel
Wheels: Boulder blonde boar's hair wheel brush and a 20" fender brush



Since I mentioned it above though, what would you guys use on cloth seats if there's a stain or just a large amount of dirt in them? TIA

Hollis Brown
Oct 17, 2004

It's like people only do things because they get paid, and that's just really sad
Is there a preferred brand of touch up paint? I've been neglecting to touch up a couple spots for quite a while now.

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

ratbert90 posted:

Looks like Anthony Orosco at 2450 Babcock Rd #156 may be your best bet.

Thanks. His shop is on the other side of town, but looks like he's the man here in SA to see.

Here's the link to his site. http://www.concoursautosalon.com/

FlapYoJacks
Feb 12, 2009

skipdogg posted:

Thanks. His shop is on the other side of town, but looks like he's the man here in SA to see.

Here's the link to his site. http://www.concoursautosalon.com/

Glad I could help. His youtube video is awful though under the auto detailing selection. It was terribad.



Hollis Brown posted:

Is there a preferred brand of touch up paint? I've been neglecting to touch up a couple spots for quite a while now.


http://www.drcolorchip.com/

toplitzin
Jun 13, 2003


What do you guys recommend for Pine Sap removal? here in FL it's horrid, and I never seem to get if off quickly enough.

I've used Acetone, rubbing alcohol, and surprisingly Rain-X works really well for removing it as well.

shy boy from chess club
Jun 11, 2008

It wasnt that bad, after you left I got to help put out the fire!

toplitzin posted:

What do you guys recommend for Pine Sap removal? here in FL it's horrid, and I never seem to get if off quickly enough.

I've used Acetone, rubbing alcohol, and surprisingly Rain-X works really well for removing it as well.

This, so much this and nothing else works as well http://www.tarminator.com/ At my house in Florida my cars were parked under about 5 pine trees and the sap was relentless. If the drops are dried at all expect a LOT of rubbing but it will come off eventually. In the past I've spent 3-4 hours getting sap off my car and tarminator was the fastest one with no apparent paint damage. It helps to soak the drops for a few minutes before hand, seems to soften them up if they have gotten dry.

Stultus
Jul 22, 2007

toplitzin posted:

What do you guys recommend for Pine Sap removal? here in FL it's horrid, and I never seem to get if off quickly enough.

I've used Acetone, rubbing alcohol, and surprisingly Rain-X works really well for removing it as well.


I've used Turtle Wax ICE Liquid Clay for sap removal in the past. Just make sure the car is wet when you use it, or it will leave a haze behind. Otherwise it doesn't do any damage to the paint at all.

Realjones
May 16, 2004
What are you using for a pressure washer with the foam gun? Being able to wash the car without scrubbing it down is appealing. Seems like it would be good for winter when I want to get most of the salt off, but don't want to be freezing my hand off in 10 degree weather doing it.

Stultus
Jul 22, 2007

Realjones posted:

What are you using for a pressure washer with the foam gun? Being able to wash the car without scrubbing it down is appealing. Seems like it would be good for winter when I want to get most of the salt off, but don't want to be freezing my hand off in 10 degree weather doing it.

My foam gun is used with a normal garden hose, which I like better. However I don't use it to solely wash the car, since I still use wash pads w/ soap and buckets after foaming the car down. I only use it as a lubricant for dirt that's on the car, so when I start going over with the wash pad I don't create swirls.

keykey
Mar 28, 2003

     
I'm not familiar with the consumer side of products, but on the retail side, we've been using pro products: http://www.prowax.com/ and P&S products: http://www.pssales.com for almost 30 years now. If anybody has any questions about that stuff, I can easily field them. I worked detailing for 3 years during highschool and I still occasionally detail friends and families vehicles. If I can find the original detail sheet I had 20 years ago at the shop, I'll post it. I think we actually have a .txt file somewhere with "Master Don's" instructions. Dude was really into kung fu.. And chainsaw art.

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.
I use Meguiar's stuff most of the time, save for Armor All tyre foam, which I find gives a nice finish, and Wonder Wheels for cleaning alloys.

For when you're masking off trim to stop polish stains, I'd recommend 3M's 3434 masking tape, it's fantastic stuff.

Also, UK guys: Looks like Halfords is 3-for-2 on cleaning stuff at the moment, and they carry a much better selection than they used to.

coolskillrex remix
Jan 1, 2007

gorsh

Realjones posted:

What are you using for a pressure washer with the foam gun? Being able to wash the car without scrubbing it down is appealing. Seems like it would be good for winter when I want to get most of the salt off, but don't want to be freezing my hand off in 10 degree weather doing it.

Buy whatever pressure washer fits your needs

$10, worth a try
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvOxU6daLU

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PuTTY riot
Nov 16, 2002
Do any of the big-box guys sell these foam guns everyone is talking about? I've checked Home Depot, Autozone, Advance and Walmart and that's the one thing on my list that's eluding me. I have a 2012 Accord that I got back around Christmas, I've run it through the automatic a couple of times, the touchless every week or so, but I'd like to start doing it myself.

I took off the dealer emblem and there's a little mark where the adhesive was. Will compound get rid of that? It's hardly noticable but it drives me nuts.

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