Car question

eglplt

eglplt

Well-Known Member
Question for all of you guys on this forum with nice cars. I know most of you take really good care of your vehicles and might be able to give me some guidance. I recently purchased a new pickup and was wondering what the best method is as far as waxing, polishing, or whatever needs to be done. I have always heard that you should only wax a vehicle once a year and use polish any other time you want to "shine" it up. Is there any type of road grime remover one should use before waxing or polishing? Thanks in advance fellas.
 
eglplt said:
Question for all of you guys on this forum with nice cars. I know most of you take really good care of your vehicles and might be able to give me some guidance. I recently purchased a new pickup and was wondering what the best method is as far as waxing, polishing, or whatever needs to be done. I have always heard that you should only wax a vehicle once a year and use polish any other time you want to "shine" it up. Is there any type of road grime remover one should use before waxing or polishing? Thanks in advance fellas.
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Must be nice to be a rich corp. pilot and can afford all these new toys! :insane:
 
eglplt said:
Is there any type of road grime remover one should use before waxing or polishing? Thanks in advance fellas.
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yep, its called soap and elbow grease :-)

and a nice soft cloth.

really thats all there is to it, get all the dirt and particles off before you swirl in that wax.

i wax mine once at beginning of summer and once before winter, but then again im trying to maintain a 17 year old car in 'new-car' condition so it gets a lot of TLC.
 
eglplt, I'll respond to this thread after my stage check today... it may be a long response and I don't have time to put thought into right now. stay tuned...
 
eglplt said:
Question for all of you guys on this forum with nice cars. I know most of you take really good care of your vehicles and might be able to give me some guidance. I recently purchased a new pickup and was wondering what the best method is as far as waxing, polishing, or whatever needs to be done. I have always heard that you should only wax a vehicle once a year and use polish any other time you want to "shine" it up. Is there any type of road grime remover one should use before waxing or polishing? Thanks in advance fellas.
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Wash it would good soap first, not dish soap or anything like that. I like turtle wax's wash'n'wax soap. Make sure you get the rocks and other big chunks of crap sprayed off your rocker panels. That is where nice sharp stuff likes to congregate and get stuck in your sponge which than scraches the crap out of everything. That takes forever to wax and buff out. Avoid it if posible. If it's just a little dull, you can start right away with wax. Might take two coats. If it's pretty chalky looking, you might have to start with rubbing compound or polish. Basically the difference between the three is how much paint it takes off. Rubbing compound takes off the most, then polishing compound, then wax. Make sure your final coat is wax. Rubbing and polishing compound do nothing to protect your paint and if you use either to re-do a certain area, you'll remove the wax too. If you have some fairly significant scraches that aren't too wide, you can usually get those out with a high speed buffer. Careful with these though because you can burn right through the paint.

That's about what I know. Jason knows more than I do I know. Maybe he'l chime in. What I listed above worked out well in keeping a red 87 blazer looking in show room quality condition. Red is easy though. So is white, the color of the car I have now.
 
UAL747400 said:
So is white, the color of the car I have now.
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ive tried LOTS of different things on my white celica but im still not getting that mirror gloss finish im looking for... ive put multiple coats of wax, stripped it with rubbing compound, polishing, then wax.... all kinds of snake oils....

maybe theres some magic tip im missing. i can get it "damn clean and very shiny"

but still running my hand over it i can feel imperfections here and there...

i just remember a buddy in HS had a red mustang and that thing was so slippery smooth i doubt even elmer's glue would stick to it!
 
TXaviator said:
ive tried LOTS of different things on my white celica but im still not getting that mirror gloss finish im looking for... ive put multiple coats of wax, stripped it with rubbing compound, polishing, then wax.... all kinds of snake oils....

maybe theres some magic tip im missing. i can get it "damn clean and very shiny"

but still running my hand over it i can feel imperfections here and there...

i just remember a buddy in HS had a red mustang and that thing was so slippery smooth i doubt even elmer's glue would stick to it!
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you mean like this? i did this yesterday ;)

6.JPG

3.JPG
 
first off get a Porter Cable 7424, i would recommend www.autogeek.net as they have lots of pre chrismas sales, then read on their forums for tips, etc. i scratched the hell out of my car last weekend, and you can't tell now. i just bought the PC this week :D

then get some swirl remover, Pinnacle XMT 2 then 1 or #3 then 1 depending on amount of scratches, next i follow it up with Klasse All in One and then Klasse Sealant glaze. finally i add 2 coats of pure caranuba wax. it is more involved than this, i spend 10-11 hours this weekend detailing my car, different cuts of pads, etc
 
BuickCFI said:
first off get a Porter Cable 7424, i would recommend www.autogeek.net as they have lots of pre chrismas sales, then read on their forums for tips, etc. i scratched the hell out of my car last weekend, and you can't tell now. i just bought the PC this week :D

then get some swirl remover, Pinnacle XMT 2 then 1 or #3 then 1 depending on amount of scratches, next i follow it up with Klasse All in One and then Klasse Sealant glaze. finally i add 2 coats of pure caranuba wax. it is more involved than this, i spend 10-11 hours this weekend detailing my car, different cuts of pads, etc
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you forgot a heat gun to get all this frozen ######### off :-p
 
TXaviator said:
ive tried LOTS of different things on my white celica but im still not getting that mirror gloss finish im looking for... ive put multiple coats of wax, stripped it with rubbing compound, polishing, then wax.... all kinds of snake oils....

maybe theres some magic tip im missing. i can get it "damn clean and very shiny"

but still running my hand over it i can feel imperfections here and there...

i just remember a buddy in HS had a red mustang and that thing was so slippery smooth i doubt even elmer's glue would stick to it!
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's still like this with new paint, but in the 80s and early 90s, red paint had some unique qualities to it compared to the others. Red is VERY easy to get the mirror smooth look you're talking about. When I bought my blazer it looked like a chalk board. Just using wax, I got it to brand new condition, and I mean BRAND NEW! The only reason I say white is so easy is that it doesn't show the imperfections quite as easily. My car does if I don't wax it quite right, but not near as bad as darker colors.
 
Thanks for all the pointers guys! My vehicle is brand new, I basically want to preserve/protect the paint before my wife gets many more miles on it. It isn't a bright color, metallic khaki, so it shouldn't dull too much like the red or black will. I am looking forward to Jace's answer, I believe I read once that he owned a detailing company.
 
eglplt said:
Thanks for all the pointers guys! My vehicle is brand new, I basically want to preserve/protect the paint before my wife gets many more miles on it. It isn't a bright color, metallic khaki, so it shouldn't dull too much like the red or black will. I am looking forward to Jace's answer, I believe I read once that he owned a detailing company.
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my answer isn't good enough i guess.

to protect new paint, just use a swirl remover (i bet you have some already) then use a sealant, and then wax, it should keep you protected for a few months, then redo the wax. redo the sealant 2x/year
 
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