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InitialDave posted:Tree sap in the middle of summer is ridiculous. It's either the stickiest substance known to man, or some kind of diamond-hard indestructible dried snot. Pine trees come with the added bonus of those drat needles in all the nooks and crannies, jammed in the window and door seals, getting trodden into the carpets and burrowing themselves in there. You should be so lucky as to never having to strip a car down that sat under a pine tree for five years. 
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Apr 29, 2013 00:00
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Autoality (linked earlier in this thread) is only about 2 miles from me which is nice as I finally have a B&M store close by that carries high end stuff. I was almost out of Megs Ultimate Wash and Wax so i thought I would try something different and picked up a bottle of Duragloss CWC and a Lake Country Foam Wash Sponge (big blue one that's cubed.) It was like a revelation in car washing. The Duragloss was far more slippery than the ultimate wash and wax, seemed to clean better, and rinsed with less spotting. The sponge was great as well, I had far fewer "missed" areas that needed a second pass than I normally would have had with a wash mitt. It also holds so much water that I was able to do two panels at once (flipping it over between panels) which cut down on wash time.
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Apr 29, 2013 16:31
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Anyone have opinions or experiences with nu polish (http://www.amazon.com/Nu-Finish-Liquid-Car-Polish/dp/B000BPSW7C) or similar sealants? I don't always have the time/place available to wax my car regularly, especially in the winter, and the thought of getting decent protection from 2 applications of this seems attractive.
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Apr 29, 2013 16:39
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Any opinion on AMMO NYC stuff? It looks solid and the guy's youtube channel is crazy OCD good, but I wonder if the products work - I kinda want to buy this: http://www.ammonyc.com/shop/ammo-paint-regimen-kit/
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Apr 29, 2013 17:29
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bull3964 posted:Autoality (linked earlier in this thread) is only about 2 miles from me which is nice as I finally have a B&M store close by that carries high end stuff. Lucky to have Autoality local to you. Dammit, I'm jealous.
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Apr 30, 2013 07:26
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Scott808 posted:Lucky to have Autoality local to you. Dammit, I'm jealous. What's funny is I had thought it disappeared. It was in the local mall about a year and a half ago but went out. Then it popped up again a few miles away a couple of months ago. Just went into it the first time 2 weeks or so ago. You can tell most of the business is through the internet as the entire behind the counter area is fedex boxes.
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Apr 30, 2013 17:31
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Full Circle posted:Anyone have opinions or experiences with nu polish (http://www.amazon.com/Nu-Finish-Liquid-Car-Polish/dp/B000BPSW7C) or similar sealants? I don't always have the time/place available to wax my car regularly, especially in the winter, and the thought of getting decent protection from 2 applications of this seems attractive. I did some research on Nu Finish myself. I just bought a black car and it is parked outside on a gravel driveway. Yeah, I did not think this through. I am looking to make cleaning it as simple as possible, and I might consider Nu Finish. From what I've gathered, it still puts on a decent/good shine on your car and lasts for a few months if you put on the recommended second coat 30 days later. It also smells like rear end and will screw the crap out of your trim if you're not careful.
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Apr 30, 2013 19:17
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Just thought I'd drop in. I opted not to use a clay bar because all the tiny and not so tiny pits in the paint would have been a disaster. They would have ended up packed solid with clay. It took me a couple of days of washing and waxing a section at a time but the result was great considering the paint had the appearance of a very dirty chalkboard. It needs more repetitions no doubt but it went from an awful matte that came off on my hands when I touched it to a nice shiny coat. It's just such a shame there are so many chunks out of it and some of the back was resparayed with a mismatched colour. 
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May 1, 2013 01:27
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Trip report: The Nu Finish was really easy to apply and worked great. Half my car was in direct sunlight during the application, while the other half was in shade. Regardless, it wasn't the least bit finicky. I just gave the car a quick wash/clay, polished the compound on with light pressure, and it effortlessly wiped away 30 seconds later leaving a nice shine. I'll be applying the second coat in a month as directed, and time will tell how it survives Wisconsin roads come winter.
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May 1, 2013 22:40
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Voltage posted:Any opinion on AMMO NYC stuff? It looks solid and the guy's youtube channel is crazy OCD good, but I wonder if the products work - I kinda want to buy this: http://www.ammonyc.com/shop/ammo-paint-regimen-kit/  .
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May 1, 2013 22:45
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Sooo, I have a classic car that doesn’t see much use. Last year I thoroughly cleaned the car, clayed it, cleaned with IPA, polished it, cleaned it with IPA again and then put on a layer of soft carnauba wax (dodo juice). It stood in a garage since then. I did drive it 500 kilometers in perfect weather, but it really isn’t "dirty" by any means, maybe slightly dusty. Now I’m about to go on a road trip with the car next week and since I have a little free time today, I wonder if it is ok to wax it again. Does it make sense to put another layer of wax over the existing layer of wax to refresh it or do I have to strip everything and start over from zero?
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May 5, 2013 10:48
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eames posted:Does it make sense to put another layer of wax over the existing layer of wax to refresh it or do I have to strip everything and start over from zero?
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May 5, 2013 17:17
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Jared592 posted:So remember how I mentioned not bothering with little defects on my daily driver? Well, I was off on a bike ride and left my car in front of my friend's house in his development. His neighbor across the street started backing out his Camry, and apparently either a brain fart or some other sort of fart occurred, and his car rolled all the way down his somewhat-steep driveway and smacked into the rear left of my car, thankfully entirely within the bounds of the rear bumper. I've got a little bit of paint loss, which I'll just touch up as best I can with some touch-up paint, but as for the scuffs, should I just use rubbing compound and leave it at that, or is there something I should apply after I remove the scuffs with rubbing compound? Alright, bought a clay kit per ratbert's advice and went at it: Before anything:   After washing and claying:   After glopping on some touch-up paint:   Passes the 10 foot test, works for me:  If anyone has any tips for hand-buffing touch-up paint I'm all ears (but I'm not spending any more money on this).
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May 6, 2013 01:44
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Looks much better, nice job.  I'm interested in your question as well as there are some spots the PO touched up on my car that I wouldn't mind trying to make look a little better. I don't really want to wet sand it down or anything like that, though.
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May 6, 2013 02:30
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That looks p-good. Hand polishing and buffing is just like machine b&p. It just takes more elbow grease and time.
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May 6, 2013 06:18
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Got a fairly trivial issue I'm wondering if I could get some advice on. im using a set of hole plugs from the hardware store (these things): to fill in the holes from where my front license plate bracket used to be. You can sort of see them in my picture further up the page. I painted them with some lovely touchup paint that came with the car, then thinking on the spot I put a couple coats of clear nail polish topcoat over that. It lasted a few months but by now almost half the paint has chipped away, so I'm looking for something more durable. Would my best bet be to just buy a bottle/pen of touch up clearcoat? I'm having trouble finding any with good reviews on the internet. Not looking for anything perfect (it's being put on $.50 plastic hardware after all), mainly just need something durable and clear.
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May 6, 2013 20:09
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Try getting some plastic primer and prime them first. The paint may stick better.
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May 6, 2013 21:49
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bull3964 posted:Try getting some plastic primer and prime them first. The paint may stick better. I was going to suggest something like that, but what he linked looked like nylon... does anything stick to nylon?
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May 6, 2013 22:04
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^^ I'm fairly sure the ones I bought were just plastic, but it was awhile ago so I can't be sure, any easy way to tell?bull3964 posted:Try getting some plastic primer and prime them first. The paint may stick better. I never would have thought of that, I'll give it a try. Thanks!
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May 6, 2013 22:09
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I would just hit it with rattle can clear coat instead, too.
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May 6, 2013 22:34
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Sounds good, Thinking about this has made me think I may as well use this as an excuse to fix a few paint chips I noticed while detailing the car. Any opinions on the easiest route for a total beginner? The touch up paint/clear coat pens seem like the most user-friendly approach. edit: may as well add I'm not looking for anything showroom ready or anything. I've got no orbital polisher or other equipment so if I can fix things to the point that they aren't noticeable from 5 feet away I'm happy.
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May 6, 2013 22:46
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Full Circle posted:Sounds good, Thinking about this has made me think I may as well use this as an excuse to fix a few paint chips I noticed while detailing the car. Any opinions on the easiest route for a total beginner? The touch up paint/clear coat pens seem like the most user-friendly approach. Just don't. You'll make it worse. I'm not sure I can be helpful here other than to tell you to go get a junk panel out of a scrap yard and try it. You'll be horrified at how much worse touch up paint makes....well....everything.
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May 7, 2013 00:04
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Yup. I looked at an e46 that someone had gone wild on with touch up paint for rock chips. It just made it more noticeable. I had a black car with a TON of rockchips in the hood and it still looked better just left alone. I've seen people have decent luck with colour matched rattle cans on older cars, but it will be obvious if you look for it.
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May 7, 2013 00:07
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drat, point taken. Thanks guys.
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May 7, 2013 00:42
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http://www.drcolorchip.com/ It's not 100%, but it works fairly well and will pass the 10 foot test.
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May 7, 2013 01:43
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Anyone use "clayblocks" or anything thats basically a synthetic clay bar? I know theres the claybar towels but reaaaally dont want to spend $60 on it..
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May 7, 2013 07:42
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Looking for some advice from more experienced folks. I have two spots on our cars that I can't get out. The first is on my girlfriends' car. It looks like the PO let bird crap sit on it for too long. I've tried claybaring it with no improvement. If I run my hand over it, I don't feel any imperfections either.  The second is my truck. When I was moving a while ago, I was pretty careless and let a table leg rub the outside.  The extent of my experience with detailing ends and the clay bar, so it looks like I'm going to get into new territory with these. What do you all recommend to get these out?
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May 7, 2013 14:03
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Try hand polishing it since I'm guessing you don't have a buffer. I'd pick up a couple different compounds of varying levels of abrasiveness and keep going heavier and heavier until it starts coming off, if it comes off. I can't tell on the truck but it looks deeper than the paint. Could be wrong, though. The bird poo poo will probably come off after you take a little bit of clear coat off.
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May 7, 2013 22:31
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I'd hit the bird dropping with the strongest paint cleaner I could find and an agressive clay.
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May 7, 2013 23:29
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Or megs Ultimate Compound/Ultimate polish on a hand polishing pad from LC. Or use this as an excuse to buy a nice polisher and some megs105/205. 
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May 7, 2013 23:32
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ratbert90 posted:Or megs Ultimate Compound/Ultimate polish on a hand polishing pad from LC. You doing anything next weekend (18th)? I've never worked with compounds before.
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May 8, 2013 03:09
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Not yet at least. I would be good to give you a few pointers and show you a few things. Hit me up via pm.
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May 8, 2013 04:58
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Megs micofiber system contains dark magic and voodoo. It's incredibly easy to use and the results on defects are mind blowing. I seriously feel like I should just toss 80% of my junk and use it exclusively.
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May 8, 2013 05:46
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I also have no idea how to work with compounds. For hand application, do you just use a microfiber towel and buff like crazy or what?
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May 8, 2013 14:07
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Jared592 posted:I also have no idea how to work with compounds. For hand application, do you just use a microfiber towel and buff like crazy or what? No, they have pads you can buy to buff by hand. The concept is the same as a orbital polisher though, it will just take longer to do.
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May 8, 2013 23:26
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Somewhat car-detailing related; any tips for cleaning and polishing an diamond aluminum truck box? I'm having problems just getting it cleaned. Some sections look great while others look hazy. Also there's a bit of (what I think is called) pitting. I've tried: Simple green max 2 other heavy duty degreasers CLR metal polish Paint thinner (thought the hazy bits might have been overspray when the box was stored around my work area) Laqueur thinner Acetone Oven cleaner (left on over night) Heavy duty paint stripper (took the clear coat off my wheels instantly, and does nothing in the box so I doubt its clearcoated) I'll try to get some pictures when I get home.
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May 10, 2013 22:18
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Reggie Died posted:Somewhat car-detailing related; any tips for cleaning and polishing an diamond aluminum truck box? You know those pool noodle things...the long brightly colored semi-rigid foam floating things? Cut 2" rounds off of them and use that to buff metal polish on the diamond plate. This is how we clean the fire trucks before parades. It works amazingly well. I forget what kind of metal polish we use, but really anything for aluminum should work. The real trick is being able to scrub around the profile of the metal easily and effectively.
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May 10, 2013 23:21
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Anything in particular work for polishing a Ti exhaust? The heat and dirt has dulled it up a bit. Also, got some pretty solid old black brake dust chunks on my wheel. Scotchbrite for that? I don't want to damage the finish. I track my car monthly. Would waxing my wheels do anything or would the heat from the brakes just make the wax more a post-washing problem than help? nollij fucked around with this message at 04:38 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 04:34
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nollij posted:Anything in particular work for polishing a Ti exhaust? The heat and dirt has dulled it up a bit. http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-detailing/139589-cleaning-titanium-exhaust-tips-akrapovic.html For the brake dust you can try something like Sonax Full Effect or any of the other similar products that "bleed" purple. Other options are Malco's Brake Off or Meguiar's Wheel Brightener. If it's really, really baked on some of it might not come off, even with stronger products. A note of caution - Meg's Wheel Brightener contains ammonium bifluoride, which can be pretty nasty, I think, so take the proper precautions - here is the MSDS. Brake Off contains Sodium Hydroxide - MSDS. I would use something like Opti Coat on the wheels to make them easier to clean. http://www.live2detail.com/showthread.php?4350-Tell-me-again-why-you-haven-t-Opti-Coated-your-wheels From a Q&A answered by Dr. G. of OPT. quote:9.-What temperatures will cured Opti-Coat 2.0 withstand before failing?
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May 11, 2013 08:55
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The engine compartment of my '08 Prius is filthy. Do I need to do anything special before I spray it with purple power and hose it off?
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May 12, 2013 00:58
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