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Aw, close but no cigar. I live in Buffalo.
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Mar 7, 2014 01:33
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katkillad2 posted:I know most of this is in the first post, but I want someone to treat me like a baby and tell me if I'm missing anything. the sealant can replace the wax, but it doesn't hurt to do both. Here is a link to sealants vs wax: http://www.autogeek.net/qude101.html Screwing up your paint will be really, REALLY hard with a DA. Just make sure you are meticulous with taping and you will be fine.  As for the sealant? No pads at all, just wipe on and wipe off.
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Mar 7, 2014 02:44
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ratbert90 posted:the sealant can replace the wax, but it doesn't hurt to do both. Thanks for the advice, I think I'll probably do it Monday since it's supposed to get up to 60 degrees here and everything should be shipped by then. I'll post some before and after pictures.
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Mar 7, 2014 03:20
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katkillad2 posted:Thanks for the advice, I think I'll probably do it Monday since it's supposed to get up to 60 degrees here and everything should be shipped by then. I'll post some before and after pictures. That would be great!
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Mar 7, 2014 03:24
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FYI - Autogeek.net is having a sale right now, looks like maybe it's over at midnight. 15% off everything and free shipping over $150. Just picked up the Porter Cable polisher along with some pads and other stuff for $170 shipped.
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Mar 8, 2014 01:25
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Thanks for that. Ordered a polisher and all the other things I had been planning on getting when it warmed up. Based on how well the car shines up with just a normal wash I think it has a lot of potential.
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Mar 8, 2014 07:34
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Yeah, sale is going through today, thanks for that. I was able to get the 3" polisher kit and case of Stoners More Shine that were both on the excluded list last sale. $135 shipped is pretty decent.
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Mar 8, 2014 13:01
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Is this a good kit to go with? http://www.autogeek.net/hk7424.html I've polished a car once borrowing some stuff and probably won't be using it for awhile, but hey, it's on sale. Is there something else you'd recommend in the $200 range?
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Mar 8, 2014 13:11
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Larrymer posted:Is this a good kit to go with? Absolute perfect place to start.
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Mar 8, 2014 13:27
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I just purchased my meatpimp approved buffer. Thanks for posting about the sale LordOfThePants and giving some feedback. Already bought new tires today too, this is one expensive morning.
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Mar 8, 2014 13:58
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So I want to give major kudos to the original poster. I have a 2013 Volt that I bought last July. It had been sitting on their lot for 4 months and there were tons of swirl marks and surface scratches in the paint, which I negotiated off the price of the vehicle. It looked like they had washed the car with brushes, and like a dummy I took it through an automated car wash several times through the winter. So I made it worse. Due to work scheduling and weather, I haven't had the time or energy to correcting it but I did get several quotes on how much it would take (time/money) to fix it. The average of 4 quotes was $500/8 hours which was way more than I was willing to pay. So I found this thread and decided that I could DIY it. I procured all the recommended goods (Porter Cable buffer, pads -- though I used Freight Harbor 6" cheapies, clay kit, Meguiars Ultimate compound and polish, painters tape, and some Dawn). I watched all the recommended videos and took notes. This morning I executed. Like a dummy, I forgot to take before pictures but here are the results:     I also detailed the interior, which didn't take long as I keep it pretty clean (excepting all the road treatment I brought in on my shoes)  So here's my take. Holy poo poo. I have the utmost respect for those who detail for a living. It is hard work. I started at 9:00 am and finished the exterior at 4:00 pm. The interior (cleaning all the junk out of the mats, steaming them, treating the leather, dusting the surfaces and vents) took an hour. As far as the paint, I took my time on the swirls, marking things off, cutting, cutting again, cutting again, and again. Then polishing. Then waxing. The worst swirls/scratches were on the horizontal surfaces and the roof rails. They are 98% gone, and I have to look really, really hard to find the remaining 2%. It looks amazing, with a depth that wasn't there when I bought it. I hope I never have to do more than wash and wax it (by hand this time, no more automated washes and no more brushes), but I have the tools and confidence to do so if needed. Thanks a million, uh, $500, Ratbert! quick edit: The Harbor Freight pads worked just fine - they were on sale today for $4 each. I went through 4 cutting pads, a polishing pad, and a finishing pad. The only thing I would caution is that the cutting pads started throwing off fine foam particles after heavy use. I don't know if that's normal but I didn't risk it and swapped to a new pad when it started leaving foam dust on the surface. I had no issues with the polishing or finishing pads. Goober Peas fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Mar 9, 2014 |
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Mar 9, 2014 00:55
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Holy wow that looks great! Amazing work! As for the harbor freight pads, that's the reason for this sentence: quote:As far as the paint, I took my time on the swirls, marking things off, cutting, cutting again, cutting again, and again. If you had used a nice orange LC pad it wouldn't have taken as long.  Polishing is pretty easy on pads for sure, and as such, you can get away with cheapies. Fantastic job again dude! That looks like easily a 500$ job right there.
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Mar 9, 2014 02:18
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ratbert90 posted:Holy wow that looks great! Amazing work! Thanks for the compliments! I can't express how swirly/scratchy the paint was before. I was surprised to even see the scratches on the black and chrome trim under the windows disappear. I'll definitely splurge on the better cutting pads if I have to do it again. Is it normal for a quality cutting pad to disintegrate? My hesitancy was around the price.
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Mar 9, 2014 02:32
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Goober Peas posted:Thanks for the compliments! I can't express how swirly/scratchy the paint was before. I was surprised to even see the scratches on the black and chrome trim under the windows disappear. I'll definitely splurge on the better cutting pads if I have to do it again. I good quality cutting pad should last 10 or more cars if properly taken care of.
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Mar 9, 2014 02:33
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Thalamus posted:So here's an interior I did recently that I am pretty proud of: What do you use on carpets? And also for plastics (like on the door area). I always have trouble getting rid of the white crap embedded into plastics. Looks great man!
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Mar 9, 2014 17:19
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A couple questions: - Are there any types or brands of tire protectant that are worth looking into? I have no desire at all for a glazed or shiny look, but I would like to preserve the rubber if there's a way to do it. - I get a lot of brake dust on my alloy wheels. Is there anything that works to hold it off or minimize it? - Any "go to" recommendation for exterior plastic trim? The car in question is a DD (about two years old) and we have plenty of ice, snow and salt around here.
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Mar 10, 2014 08:02
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Last October I bought my own house, with my own driveway! Then 2 weeks later Winter hit us like a sack of bricks and I never got a chance to actually use the driveway. Today it was the first 60+ degree day since then, and I decided to finally give my Sonic a good cleaning.   Bonus: I HAVE A GARAGE!!! I've never had a garage to keep my car in until now. Always been in the street or an apartment parking lot.  I didn't get to wax it. It's a bit too cloudy out to get it to dry in any decent amount of time. At least I got all the terrible salt and grime from the winter off it though.
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Mar 10, 2014 23:36
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Anyway of removing those little rust spots/dots on the bottom half of a car without using a claybar? edit: added image BoyBlunder fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Mar 12, 2014 |
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Mar 11, 2014 12:01
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BoyBlunder posted:Anyway of removing those little rust spots/dots on the bottom half of a car without using a claybar? I had a bunch of those on the White Ranger truck I just cleaned up. Came right off with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and a medium-density pad with a DA buffer. My previous experience with these is that clay bar isn't always effective with those.
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Mar 12, 2014 01:06
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meatpimp posted:I had a bunch of those on the White Ranger truck I just cleaned up. Came right off with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and a medium-density pad with a DA buffer. My previous experience with these is that clay bar isn't always effective with those. Sweet! My wife got me a detailing package as a gift certificate, and it seems like they do everything BUT claybar! Here's what they do:  The blurb up top seems like marketing speak, but what do I know! BoyBlunder fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Mar 12, 2014 |
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Mar 12, 2014 01:30
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BoyBlunder posted:Sweet! My wife got me a detailing package as a gift certificate, and it seems like they do everything BUT claybar! If they don't use a claybar for real, then you need to run far far away. If they don't use a claybar they are literally grinding dirt into your paint when they buff.
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Mar 13, 2014 01:07
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ratbert90 posted:If they don't use a claybar for real, then you need to run far far away. If they don't use a claybar they are literally grinding dirt into your paint when they buff. Word, thanks for the tip. They have a claybar treatment for their next tier, so I'll opt for that one.
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Mar 13, 2014 02:28
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BoyBlunder posted:They have a claybar treatment for their next tier Hahah what the gently caress.
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Mar 13, 2014 05:10
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BoyBlunder posted:Word, thanks for the tip. They have a claybar treatment for their next tier, so I'll opt for that one. wtf? That's rear end backwards. First tier should pretty much always be wash clay wax.
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Mar 13, 2014 05:51
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Some knobend has keyed my car across the boot lid and one of the rear doors. It's definitely through the clear coat and paint but not quite down to the metal from what I can see. A bit hard to see (much more obvious in reality):  Closer:  Is there anything I can do about this (for instance one of those waxy scratch stick products) or am I going to have to get it repainted? (or just live with it) :/ e: one more of the bootlid 
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Mar 13, 2014 06:18
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I would just call my insurance for something like that. That needs painting.
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Mar 13, 2014 06:24
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Bootlid I'd agree with Chinatown; it looks like it probably needs paint. The doors look like you might be able to polish some or all them. At a minimum, I'd wager you could make the doors a hell of a lot less obvious.
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Mar 13, 2014 07:35
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Thanks guys - that's pretty much what I thought but I was hoping for some type of cheap miracle cure. I did already try buffing the door before taking that picture but it only got rid of the very shallow bits at the ends of the lines - the rest is just too deep. I guess I'll wait a couple of weeks to see if it was a one off and look at claiming on insurance.
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Mar 13, 2014 08:35
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dissss posted:Thanks guys - that's pretty much what I thought but I was hoping for some type of cheap miracle cure. Call the cops, get a case number/reference number (you'll need it for any eventual insurance claim most likely anyway, and the sooner you can report it the better). Then depending on your insurance company it might be worth calling them and explaining that you want to wait a while before getting the damage repaired to make sure it's not going to happen again. gently caress all will come out of the police report anyway but it's better to report it sooner than later.
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Mar 13, 2014 11:13
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Richy has a good how to with pictures on repairing key scratches if you want to try a DIY approach - http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/43535-key-repair-step-step-procedure.html You might want to ask your insurance company how this would affect you if you decide to pursue a claim; who knows how they'll handle it if you try a DIY approach and it turns out that you're not happy with the results. You're also probably off better talking to an adjuster and not your agent if your insurance company is anything like mine.
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Mar 13, 2014 12:01
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Scott808 posted:Richy has a good how to with pictures on repairing key scratches if you want to try a DIY approach - http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/43535-key-repair-step-step-procedure.html Half-assed key jobs still suck as much as full-on key jobs.  I agree, have your insurance look at it before you touch it. Then hit it with a buffer and some aggressive compound to see how deep it actually went. Then you can plan from there. It always looks the worst when it's fresh.
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Mar 13, 2014 12:31
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How long does it actually take to clay a car? In this case, a WRX. I'm guessing the clay isn't part of the detailing package due to time? Who knows
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Mar 13, 2014 16:11
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BoyBlunder posted:How long does it actually take to clay a car? In this case, a WRX. claying a car is based off how dirty the paint is. If your car has never been clayed and it's a few years old, I would put it between 1 - 3 hours depending on a lot of factors. That being, if they are putting wax on your car, claying is almost 100% necessary, as clay doesn't stick to dirt very well.
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Mar 13, 2014 16:14
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Scott808 posted:Richy has a good how to with pictures on repairing key scratches if you want to try a DIY approach - http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/43535-key-repair-step-step-procedure.html Wow, that's basically indistinguishable from magic to someone like me who doesn't do a lot of detailing work.
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Mar 13, 2014 16:30
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ratbert90 posted:claying a car is based off how dirty the paint is. If your car has never been clayed and it's a few years old, I would put it between 1 - 3 hours depending on a lot of factors. It's a '13 WRX, but in New England so the salt/dirt have taken an absolute fuckin toll on it this season. I wonder why clay isn't specifically mentioned if it's such a prominent piece of the process. I'll give em a call and see what they have to say. edit: called them, claybar is included, just not listed on the site. Awesome! BoyBlunder fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Mar 13, 2014 |
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Mar 13, 2014 17:03
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BoyBlunder posted:It's a '13 WRX, but in New England so the salt/dirt have taken an absolute fuckin toll on it this season. I would be interested to know as well.
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Mar 13, 2014 17:37
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So due to rain, snow and lovely weather in general I've had to postpone my detailing like 3 times, hopefully I'm going to do it tomorrow...but it's going to be windy and I don't have a garage so I'm kind of worried about debris flying around since I'm right next to a forest. I did have a question before I get started, there is a spot on my hood where it got hit by a rock while on the freeway. It's been there for like 2 years and hurts everytime I look at it, I'm guessing it's not down to the metal or it probably would have started rusting by now. It's definitely rough to the touch, almost like maybe a piece of the rock is imbedded. Pic!  What exactly do I do with something like that? I guess my goal is to not make it worse, should I put a tiny piece of tape over it before I start buffing?
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Mar 14, 2014 02:08
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katkillad2 posted:What exactly do I do with something like that? I guess my goal is to not make it worse, should I put a tiny piece of tape over it before I start buffing? What kind of car? It's down through the paint, but if it hasn't rusted, it stopped at the rustproofing layer, whatever that may be. I know I was amazed when I first saw it -- my '86 Audi 4000S had a couple chips exactly like that, but they NEVER rusted. It wasn't until a bit later that I learned that Audi zinc-coated the body panels before painting. That, or something similar, is what is preventing that chip from rusting. With that, clean it with a scratch stick and touch it up. Something that deep will require several layers of touch up to bring the level back to the rest of the paint surface. Give it a couple days to dry between layers. If you really want to buff/clean/polish, go ahead, then touch up the chip afterwards. As long as you use a scratch stick first, you're not going to do any harm in getting product in the chip.
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Mar 14, 2014 11:20
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So we repainted a room last week and this morning I just found out someone had been shaking his paint roller a wee bit too close to my car. Basically I've got those little spots of paints on the left quarter panel and rear bumper. Is there anything I can do to get rid of those without mangling my car?
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Mar 14, 2014 18:09
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If it's interior latex it's likely to come off with nothing more than soap and a sponge.
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Mar 14, 2014 18:53
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