Blip16
Well-Known Member
that is what my parents heated garage is foroh, and i think i wanna buff off the 'pinstripes' too... soooo early 90's
edit: quoted the wrong message
Car question
- Thread starter eglplt
- Start date
edit: quoted the wrong message
eglplt
Well-Known Member
I definately appreciated your answer the most! This is the kind of info I was looking for, thank you.
eglplt
Well-Known Member
2007 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad-cab SLT, 4x4 with the HEMI. I was thinking about getting the Cummins in the 2500, but now that I have the HEMI I am glad I didin't. I am really liking my engine choice!
ASpilot2be
Qbicle seat warmer
Nice choice
Dugie8
Well-Known Member
Now you have to hang your head and say "Dooooodge..." whenever someone asks you what you drive!
you panzy!
love poots
eglplt
Well-Known Member
Now you have to hang your head and say "Dooooodge..." whenever someone asks you what you drive!
you panzy!
love poots
So far so good, I won't mind saying Dodge. I think I am happier now than if I would have bought a Silverado. Dodge has come a long ways in the last couple of years.
JaceTheAce
Well-Known Member
eglplt, LOL I'd like to think that I drive a nice car, but it's not a Lotus Exige hehe. I consider it nice though for my budget. It's a huge step up from my old 1983 Honda Accord... anyway... yes about 9 years ago I owned a detailing business. It was one of the best jobs I've ever had honestly - I loved cleaning/detailing cars and making people happy. I had regular customers who had me wash their cars weekly and sometimes twice a weekly (this crazy ditzy Porsche lady was my best customer). So... to start things off...
Washing
Wheels
Wash the wheels first. Any grime from the pressure washer (assuming you have one - pressure washers are great for wheels) will splash onto your recently cleaned paint if you wash the wheels last. If you don't have a pressure washer, you'll need even more elbow grease. Elbow grease is the only and best way, even with a pressure washer, to properly clean wheels.
To start off, you need a good degreaser for the wheels and tires. If you have a Costco in your area, buy this generic "Oil Eater Cleaner & Degreaser" by the gallon - that's the Amazon.com link, but it's sold at Costco for a bit cheaper. You can dilute it 1 part water 1 part degreaser since this stuff is very strong. Squirt the tires and wheels really good with the degreaser. Let is sit for 5 minutes, more for dirty wheels/tires. Use a separate bucket and fill it up with Dawn (but do NOT use Dawn or dishwashing soap on your paint!). Take a course hair brush, dip it into the Dawn bucket, and scrub the wheels to get the majority of the brake dust off. Follow with an old toothbrush scrubbing for the hard to reach areas. Rinse, lather, repeat. (j/k…only for dirtier cars)
Paint
Use a very good car wash soap that suds up really well. Having a sudsy bucket of soap is crucial in keeping the paint slick to create a boundary between the dirt and paint. I used to get Meguiar’s #62 Carwash soap from a detailing supplier, but I just order it online now. I’ve found a lot of really good inexpensive soaps at Kragen (well, called Checkers in this region) which should be fine too. Just don’t use dishwashing soap – it will strip your wax coating with this stuff.
Use a lamb’s wool wash mit. This will lather up the soap even more. Start at the roof and work your way down. It’s sort of pointless to wash from the bottom up – why would you want dirt to run back down onto the lower clean portion of your car?
Dry it with a deer skin or synthetic absorbing cloth. The synthetic absorbers last longer than deer skin and can be thrown in the washing machine.
Washing the paint is not much of a science, so I’ll stop here.
Waxing
Yes, a waxed car will remain cleaner than a non-waxed car. It’s very important in maintaining your car’s paint with a wax coating. This will prevent oxidation. I use three different liquids total for waxing. Use a separate towel for each application:
Cleaning the paint (after washing):
As BuickCFI mentioned, I love my Porter-Cable dual action buffer too. Amazon has them for $120. I start off with a a minimally-abrasive chemical paint cleaner like Meguiar’s Fine-Cut Cleaner. This gets the rough environmental fallout off the paint and prepares it for the polish. When I detailed cars, I used a Makita high-speed rotary buffer – but be extremely careful with a rotary. Within seconds of leaving a high-speed rotary buffer on your paint you’ll all of a sudden see paint primer, then shiny metal Be extremely cautious around body ridges. It’ll burn your paint in seconds. If you don’t have a buffer, don’t worry – elbow grease is fine too.
Polishing:
Option 1 - After using a liquid cleaner, you can use Meguiar’s Glaze #7 for polish. This is where your paint’s shine depth will come to life. Most polish is meant to be rubbed in and does not dry. Rub the polish in really good. If you have a poorly prepped paint, you’ll have a hard time smoothing out the polish. Don’t try rubbing in polish when the temperature is below about 45 degrees. It starts to thicken up and will be difficult to buff in.
Option 2 – If you want thicker and more durable paint protection, buy Klasse sealant glaze. It’s a German made paint sealant that leaves a hard deep-shine acrylic layer on your paint. I swear by it. It covers up your crappy swirl mark removing jobs by leaving a hard acrylic glossy sealant. Not only does it leave your paint ultra glossy, it provides a very long lasting form of paint protection. Supposedly it lasts up to a year, but I wouldn’t ever neglect paint that long. I like to apply 5 or 6 applications of this stuff. The more applications you apply, the shinier your paint
Wax (Carnauba):
If you do Option 1, you’ll need to immediately follow with an application of Wax protection. I don’t use the buffer in this step. It’s unnecessary. I like to use Meguiar’s Wax #26. Leave it on to dry, then buff it off. If you do Option 2 with a paint sealant you can even add more depth, shine, and protection by putting on a layer of carnauba wax.
Tire Dressing
I already wrote a long write-up about proper tire dressing application on a car forum, so I will copy and paste it!
Here it is:
Clean tires with a heavy degreaser (use Wesley's Bleach White to clean heavily soiled tires). This is the most important step in ensuring that your tire dressing "adheres" well to the rubber. With the slightest dirty tire, the dressing will stay on the rubber for only a few hours, at best.
Take a clean DAMP sponge and spray a good amount of silicone dressing onto it. For a more natural shine you can use a water-based dressing such as one that Meguiar's makes - it is clearly labeled as "silicone free". Apply the sponge/dressing directly to the tire with hard pressure. The sponge retains the dressing really well so you don't need to add more dressing very often. For more shine, use less water and more dressing. For a more natural shine (which is what I prefer) make the sponge more damp and use less dressing. Make sure that all areas of the rubber are covered with the dressing.
The purpose of using a damp sponge is to:
1) Control the amount of shine (ie, if you want bling or if you want the natural look)
2) It gives you much more control over the dressing application to ensure that all tread grooves are filled.
3) Prevents overspray of silicone onto your paint or wheels
4) A fully absorbed sponge won't remove the silicone from the tires, whereas a damp towel will actually remove the silicone from the tires. This is why your many attempts to apply silicone with a terry towel won't work
If your tires will not hold the dressing and you know they are clean, your rubber is old and brittle due to age and sun. The only solution is to get new tires. Occasionally I would apply sandpaper to the tires - this would temporarily smooth the rubber and allow the tires dressing to set in.
You don't need any special tire dressing that's pushed by some company's marketing department - get the cheapest silicone dressing (the clear kind) that you can find. Silicone is silicone!
There you go....hope this helps.... sorry for the long post! Jeeze, I started writing 45 minutes ago.
Washing
Wheels
Wash the wheels first. Any grime from the pressure washer (assuming you have one - pressure washers are great for wheels) will splash onto your recently cleaned paint if you wash the wheels last. If you don't have a pressure washer, you'll need even more elbow grease. Elbow grease is the only and best way, even with a pressure washer, to properly clean wheels.
To start off, you need a good degreaser for the wheels and tires. If you have a Costco in your area, buy this generic "Oil Eater Cleaner & Degreaser" by the gallon - that's the Amazon.com link, but it's sold at Costco for a bit cheaper. You can dilute it 1 part water 1 part degreaser since this stuff is very strong. Squirt the tires and wheels really good with the degreaser. Let is sit for 5 minutes, more for dirty wheels/tires. Use a separate bucket and fill it up with Dawn (but do NOT use Dawn or dishwashing soap on your paint!). Take a course hair brush, dip it into the Dawn bucket, and scrub the wheels to get the majority of the brake dust off. Follow with an old toothbrush scrubbing for the hard to reach areas. Rinse, lather, repeat. (j/k…only for dirtier cars)
Paint
Use a very good car wash soap that suds up really well. Having a sudsy bucket of soap is crucial in keeping the paint slick to create a boundary between the dirt and paint. I used to get Meguiar’s #62 Carwash soap from a detailing supplier, but I just order it online now. I’ve found a lot of really good inexpensive soaps at Kragen (well, called Checkers in this region) which should be fine too. Just don’t use dishwashing soap – it will strip your wax coating with this stuff.
Use a lamb’s wool wash mit. This will lather up the soap even more. Start at the roof and work your way down. It’s sort of pointless to wash from the bottom up – why would you want dirt to run back down onto the lower clean portion of your car?
Dry it with a deer skin or synthetic absorbing cloth. The synthetic absorbers last longer than deer skin and can be thrown in the washing machine.
Washing the paint is not much of a science, so I’ll stop here.
Waxing
Yes, a waxed car will remain cleaner than a non-waxed car. It’s very important in maintaining your car’s paint with a wax coating. This will prevent oxidation. I use three different liquids total for waxing. Use a separate towel for each application:
Cleaning the paint (after washing):
As BuickCFI mentioned, I love my Porter-Cable dual action buffer too. Amazon has them for $120. I start off with a a minimally-abrasive chemical paint cleaner like Meguiar’s Fine-Cut Cleaner. This gets the rough environmental fallout off the paint and prepares it for the polish. When I detailed cars, I used a Makita high-speed rotary buffer – but be extremely careful with a rotary. Within seconds of leaving a high-speed rotary buffer on your paint you’ll all of a sudden see paint primer, then shiny metal
Be extremely cautious around body ridges. It’ll burn your paint in seconds. If you don’t have a buffer, don’t worry – elbow grease is fine too.Polishing:
Option 1 - After using a liquid cleaner, you can use Meguiar’s Glaze #7 for polish. This is where your paint’s shine depth will come to life. Most polish is meant to be rubbed in and does not dry. Rub the polish in really good. If you have a poorly prepped paint, you’ll have a hard time smoothing out the polish. Don’t try rubbing in polish when the temperature is below about 45 degrees. It starts to thicken up and will be difficult to buff in.
Option 2 – If you want thicker and more durable paint protection, buy Klasse sealant glaze. It’s a German made paint sealant that leaves a hard deep-shine acrylic layer on your paint. I swear by it. It covers up your crappy swirl mark removing jobs by leaving a hard acrylic glossy sealant. Not only does it leave your paint ultra glossy, it provides a very long lasting form of paint protection. Supposedly it lasts up to a year, but I wouldn’t ever neglect paint that long. I like to apply 5 or 6 applications of this stuff. The more applications you apply, the shinier your paint
Wax (Carnauba):
If you do Option 1, you’ll need to immediately follow with an application of Wax protection. I don’t use the buffer in this step. It’s unnecessary. I like to use Meguiar’s Wax #26. Leave it on to dry, then buff it off. If you do Option 2 with a paint sealant you can even add more depth, shine, and protection by putting on a layer of carnauba wax.
Tire Dressing
I already wrote a long write-up about proper tire dressing application on a car forum, so I will copy and paste it!
Here it is:
Clean tires with a heavy degreaser (use Wesley's Bleach White to clean heavily soiled tires). This is the most important step in ensuring that your tire dressing "adheres" well to the rubber. With the slightest dirty tire, the dressing will stay on the rubber for only a few hours, at best.
Take a clean DAMP sponge and spray a good amount of silicone dressing onto it. For a more natural shine you can use a water-based dressing such as one that Meguiar's makes - it is clearly labeled as "silicone free". Apply the sponge/dressing directly to the tire with hard pressure. The sponge retains the dressing really well so you don't need to add more dressing very often. For more shine, use less water and more dressing. For a more natural shine (which is what I prefer) make the sponge more damp and use less dressing. Make sure that all areas of the rubber are covered with the dressing.
The purpose of using a damp sponge is to:
1) Control the amount of shine (ie, if you want bling or if you want the natural look)
2) It gives you much more control over the dressing application to ensure that all tread grooves are filled.
3) Prevents overspray of silicone onto your paint or wheels
4) A fully absorbed sponge won't remove the silicone from the tires, whereas a damp towel will actually remove the silicone from the tires. This is why your many attempts to apply silicone with a terry towel won't work
If your tires will not hold the dressing and you know they are clean, your rubber is old and brittle due to age and sun. The only solution is to get new tires. Occasionally I would apply sandpaper to the tires - this would temporarily smooth the rubber and allow the tires dressing to set in.
You don't need any special tire dressing that's pushed by some company's marketing department - get the cheapest silicone dressing (the clear kind) that you can find. Silicone is silicone!
There you go....hope this helps.... sorry for the long post! Jeeze, I started writing 45 minutes ago.
Tommay85
Well-Known Member
eglplt, LOL I'd like to think that I drive a nice car, but it's not a Lotus Exige hehe. I consider it nice though for my budget. It's a huge step up from my old 1983 Honda Accord... anyway... yes about 9 years ago I owned a detailing business. It was one of the best jobs I've ever had honestly - I loved cleaning/detailing cars and making people happy. I had regular customers who had me wash their cars weekly and sometimes twice a weekly (this crazy ditzy Porsche lady was my best customer). So... to start things off...
Washing
Wheels
Wash the wheels first. Any grime from the pressure washer (assuming you have one - pressure washers are great for wheels) will splash onto your recently cleaned paint if you wash the wheels last. If you don't have a pressure washer, you'll need even more elbow grease. Elbow grease is the only and best way, even with a pressure washer, to properly clean wheels.
To start off, you need a good degreaser for the wheels and tires. If you have a Costco in your area, buy this generic "Oil Eater Cleaner & Degreaser" by the gallon - that's the Amazon.com link, but it's sold at Costco for a bit cheaper. You can dilute it 1 part water 1 part degreaser since this stuff is very strong. Squirt the tires and wheels really good with the degreaser. Let is sit for 5 minutes, more for dirty wheels/tires. Use a separate bucket and fill it up with Dawn (but do NOT use Dawn or dishwashing soap on your paint!). Take a course hair brush, dip it into the Dawn bucket, and scrub the wheels to get the majority of the brake dust off. Follow with an old toothbrush scrubbing for the hard to reach areas. Rinse, lather, repeat. (j/k…only for dirtier cars)
Paint
Use a very good car wash soap that suds up really well. Having a sudsy bucket of soap is crucial in keeping the paint slick to create a boundary between the dirt and paint. I used to get Meguiar’s #62 Carwash soap from a detailing supplier, but I just order it online now. I’ve found a lot of really good inexpensive soaps at Kragen (well, called Checkers in this region) which should be fine too. Just don’t use dishwashing soap – it will strip your wax coating with this stuff.
Use a lamb’s wool wash mit. This will lather up the soap even more. Start at the roof and work your way down. It’s sort of pointless to wash from the bottom up – why would you want dirt to run back down onto the lower clean portion of your car?
Dry it with a deer skin or synthetic absorbing cloth. The synthetic absorbers last longer than deer skin and can be thrown in the washing machine.
Washing the paint is not much of a science, so I’ll stop here.
Waxing
Yes, a waxed car will remain cleaner than a non-waxed car. It’s very important in maintaining your car’s paint with a wax coating. This will prevent oxidation. I use three different liquids total for waxing. Use a separate towel for each application:
Cleaning the paint (after washing):
As BuickCFI mentioned, I love my Porter-Cable dual action buffer too. Amazon has them for $120. I start off with a a minimally-abrasive chemical paint cleaner like Meguiar’s Fine-Cut Cleaner. This gets the rough environmental fallout off the paint and prepares it for the polish. When I detailed cars, I used a Makita high-speed rotary buffer – but be extremely careful with a rotary. Within seconds of leaving a high-speed rotary buffer on your paint you’ll all of a sudden see paint primer, then shiny metal
Polishing:
Option 1 - After using a liquid cleaner, you can use Meguiar’s Glaze #7 for polish. This is where your paint’s shine depth will come to life. Most polish is meant to be rubbed in and does not dry. Rub the polish in really good. If you have a poorly prepped paint, you’ll have a hard time smoothing out the polish. Don’t try rubbing in polish when the temperature is below about 45 degrees. It starts to thicken up and will be difficult to buff in.
Option 2 – If you want thicker and more durable paint protection, buy Klasse sealant glaze. It’s a German made paint sealant that leaves a hard deep-shine acrylic layer on your paint. I swear by it. It covers up your crappy swirl mark removing jobs by leaving a hard acrylic glossy sealant. Not only does it leave your paint ultra glossy, it provides a very long lasting form of paint protection. Supposedly it lasts up to a year, but I wouldn’t ever neglect paint that long. I like to apply 5 or 6 applications of this stuff. The more applications you apply, the shinier your paint
Wax (Carnauba):
If you do Option 1, you’ll need to immediately follow with an application of Wax protection. I don’t use the buffer in this step. It’s unnecessary. I like to use Meguiar’s Wax #26. Leave it on to dry, then buff it off. If you do Option 2 with a paint sealant you can even add more depth, shine, and protection by putting on a layer of carnauba wax.
Tire Dressing
I already wrote a long write-up about proper tire dressing application on a car forum, so I will copy and paste it!
Here it is:
Clean tires with a heavy degreaser (use Wesley's Bleach White to clean heavily soiled tires). This is the most important step in ensuring that your tire dressing "adheres" well to the rubber. With the slightest dirty tire, the dressing will stay on the rubber for only a few hours, at best.
Take a clean DAMP sponge and spray a good amount of silicone dressing onto it. For a more natural shine you can use a water-based dressing such as one that Meguiar's makes - it is clearly labeled as "silicone free". Apply the sponge/dressing directly to the tire with hard pressure. The sponge retains the dressing really well so you don't need to add more dressing very often. For more shine, use less water and more dressing. For a more natural shine (which is what I prefer) make the sponge more damp and use less dressing. Make sure that all areas of the rubber are covered with the dressing.
The purpose of using a damp sponge is to:
1) Control the amount of shine (ie, if you want bling or if you want the natural look)
2) It gives you much more control over the dressing application to ensure that all tread grooves are filled.
3) Prevents overspray of silicone onto your paint or wheels
4) A fully absorbed sponge won't remove the silicone from the tires, whereas a damp towel will actually remove the silicone from the tires. This is why your many attempts to apply silicone with a terry towel won't work
If your tires will not hold the dressing and you know they are clean, your rubber is old and brittle due to age and sun. The only solution is to get new tires. Occasionally I would apply sandpaper to the tires - this would temporarily smooth the rubber and allow the tires dressing to set in.
You don't need any special tire dressing that's pushed by some company's marketing department - get the cheapest silicone dressing (the clear kind) that you can find. Silicone is silicone!
There you go....hope this helps.... sorry for the long post! Jeeze, I started writing 45 minutes ago.
Holy crap, I've never done anything that in depth. That is way more than I've ever thought you could even do to a car.
I'm definitly trying that stuff you've said on my cougar. 3 years of sitting in my dad's shop under a used tranny fluid burning heater with no car cover destroyed the paint. I only used wax, so I know that's why I didn't get very good results. Some of the crap on there didn't look like it'd come out though.
JaceTheAce
Well-Known Member
Holy crap, I've never done anything that in depth. That is way more than I've ever thought you could even do to a car.
I'm definitly trying that stuff you've said on my cougar. 3 years of sitting in my dad's shop under a used tranny fluid burning heater with no car cover destroyed the paint. I only used wax, so I know that's why I didn't get very good results. Some of the crap on there didn't look like it'd come out though.
Yeah Klasse is great. I have a bunch of it if you want to borrow some. It's kinda pricey, so just borrow some of mine if you want to try it out.
eglplt, you can also do those cleaner/wax all-in-one applications... if you don't have the time or don't want to put that much effort into it. I find waxing cars very therapeutic
eglplt
Well-Known Member
Jace...you are the man, thank you very much. I knew that your knowledge coupled with the enthusiasm you have towards cars would answer all of my questions and then some. I will print off your post and follow it closely, thank you again. It looks like my wife will be busy for some time, better get her started asap!
Blip16
Well-Known Member
mothers chrome polish works great for cleaning wheels as well. when you are done put a coat of NXT or Klasse SG on them to help keep them clean and easy to clean in the future. Magic Erasers also work very well for cleaning wheels with little to no effort
i recommend some sort of extremely fine cut compound for polishing. Pinnacle XMT 1 works great and is easy to apply with the Porter Cable.
for the Klasse products, get it here for relatively cheap, http://www.autogeek.net/klassekit.html it doesn't take much to do your car with this stuff, and the 2 tiny bottles i bought should last me about 4-5 years. Personally i am just using them now as a paint prep for the Sealant Glaze followed by some Caranuba wax. i did my car in August with the AIO and SG and it didn't last very long by itself. i also didn't do more than 1 coat of the SG so that could be too
www.autogeek.net has the best prices i could find on Porter Cable kits (with pads and towels) and their customer service is very good!!
JaceTheAce
Well-Known Member
mothers chrome polish works great for cleaning wheels as well. when you are done put a coat of NXT or Klasse SG on them to help keep them clean and easy to clean in the future. Magic Erasers also work very well for cleaning wheels with little to no effort
i recommend some sort of extremely fine cut compound for polishing. Pinnacle XMT 1 works great and is easy to apply with the Porter Cable.
for the Klasse products, get it here for relatively cheap, http://www.autogeek.net/klassekit.html it doesn't take much to do your car with this stuff, and the 2 tiny bottles i bought should last me about 4-5 years. Personally i am just using them now as a paint prep for the Sealant Glaze followed by some Caranuba wax. i did my car in August with the AIO and SG and it didn't last very long by itself. i also didn't do more than 1 coat of the SG so that could be too
www.autogeek.net has the best prices i could find on Porter Cable kits (with pads and towels) and their customer service is very good!!
Magic Erasers... I'll have to try those. Your Buick was quite glossy... probably the best looking Buick in Grand Forks