Car Paint Maintenance, and cleaning.

cageceo · 08-09-2007, 05:38 AM

The biggest Noticeable thing on your Car is the Paint, It can give Your vehicle that Custom look you want. If you done your homework and looked up the Paint you want, and saved cash For the perfect look. Then you Should do your homework in maintaining and Keep that new paint Clean and looking new for years to come.

Detailing 101.
There are tons of different products and methods out there, and ultimately you have to find out the right one for your paint and your car. What works wonders for one person might not work so great for another.

in my opinion Meguiars makes the best car detailing products. In this post i'll try to focus on the products for your car exterior.

The steps we will be covering are:
Wash
Clean
Polish
Wax

Sounds like a quick job, but it can take hours and hours to get show-room quality looking paint.

Tips:

Micro fiber and sheepskin Cloths or mitts, Do not Scratch you Paint. (These won't be scratches you can see just looking right at your car, but scratches that will show up in sunlight that look like little swirls).

start from the top down when Soaping, washing, or rinsing .

it is a good idea to try and wash your car in the shade if you have any (like starting early in the morning) because when the sun is out it will dry water very quickly and leave spots on your car, and most products do better in cooler temperatures , and it gives you more time to work on the products without worry of it drying.

USE YOUR WINDOWS TO LEAN YOUR WEIGHT ON AND TO PUT YOUR HANDS ON TO HOLD YOURSELF UP AND BALANCE YOURSELF. Try to avoid touching your paint all together, I found that the windows are a good substitute and can give you leverage for working on any part of the car. Plus, they are the last thing you will clean, so don't worry

You can use products that you perfer if you have a prefence, Mequiars is pretty good all around price and results are even better which i will be using to illustrate.

Meguiars Gold Class car wash. There are different more expensive car wash soaps from them, but this one does a great job and there’s really no need to go extreme, since the wash is just getting the preliminary dirt off of your car.

With the soap you want to make sure you get a micro fiber mitt or a sheepskin mitt What you want to do with the soap is put it in a nice CLEAN bucket (Again, the more crap that you pick up on your mitt, the better chance you get scratches). The bottle will tell you how much to use, but you can be generous with how much you use. When the soap is in the bucket, use your garden hose with an attachment and spray the water into the bucket to make suds with the soap. Before you start applying the soap to the car, you want to make sure that you give it a good soaking so that your car is nice and wet all over. Then just dip your mitt into the soap and get it all nice and soapy and run it over a section of your car. now is a good time to clean the rims with the product I mention.

Rims: This product worked wonders for me and I didn't even scrub with a brush. With a hard bristle brush your rims will be clean. Maybe not shiny, but there will be almost no dirt, it works great!

This will just clean them up and you will be spraying them and scrubbing them so better do it now Before your car has all that nice product on it :-D

If you have chrome rims or special rims that need a different product just follow the directions on the bottle that you buy. You will want to start from the top , down and only do a section at a time (you could get away with an entire side of the car. I usually break it into front, left, right, back, but you can do smaller sections if you want). If you finish a section of your car with the mitt and notice that it is brown or dirty, take the mitt away from the car and spray it with the highest pressure setting on your hose (again, away from the car) so that the dirt gets washed away and doesn’t end up splashing back on your car.

The moral of the story is the less dirt touching your car the better. Once you soap up a side, make sure you rinse it off with your hose (I like the flat spray setting on most hose attachments, I wouldn't recommend a pressure washer because after so many washes it will start to weaken your paint) and rinse from the top down. There is no need to dry your car off just yet. Just make sure that when you are cleaning the other sections of your car, keep the previously cleaned sections nice and wet to avoid spots again. Then when you have finished with the entire car, get out your micro-fiber cloths. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...asin=B000E48IUG

That link is an EXPENSIVE example. I've found ten packs at target for 5.99 before. You will need A LOT OF CLOTHS. I would recommend 40-50 cloths, but you can go a little less if you are not picky. you can reuse your cloths, and here some people will tell you different things, but here's my opinion: If the cloth is clean, use it. i.e. if there’s no visible dirt and no product wiped off on it, you can use it. I find the best thing to do is fold it in quarters when using it, because then you get a bunch of different sides to work on (you just keep folding it differently and flipping sides). Most of them are machine washable, but be cautious some Products like wax may Harm your Washer or dryer.

Take your cloths and dry off your car. You don't have to be picky in a drying method, just get all the water off and if you see and spots give it a quick spray with the hose and wipe it dry with a cloth. When you are all done drying the car, pull it into your garage. (the reason you pull it into the garage is because of the shade and hopefully because its a little cooler. The products will go on your paint better if it is not hot)

At this point you are ready to start babying your paint :-D It is a lot of hard work but definitely pays off in the end.

For the next step use the Mequiars Auto Detailing Clay Kit

With the kit you will get clay bars and some quick detailing spray. This part will probably take you the longest out of all the steps. What you will want to do is take out your clay bar and knead it in your hands while spraying the quick detailer on it. You want to keep the clay bar nice and wet as you are using it on your car. When the clay is nicely kneaded and moist, take the quick detailer and spray it on a section of your car. Then take your clay bar and work it into your paint. You can press hard with this stuff, but use your judgment. There’s no reason to go Rambo on it, just give it a little force and rub up and down or in circles or side to side, it won't matter, essentially you are just picking up the little bits of dirt off the car that the soap couldn't get The clay bar will get almost all the dirt off your car (you'll be surprised how much dirt gets on the clay while you are working) when using the clay bar, you will see it start to turn brown from dirt, just re-kneed it until you get a clean spot on the clay and continue. remember to keep it moist with the quick detailer that comes with it. . Do a little section at a time (maybe a 1ft X 1ft section) and when you are done wipe it clean with a micro fiber cloth. The reason you want so many cloths is so you NEVER use a dirty cloth on a part of the car. The dirt from the cloth can scratch your paint. Now just go throughout your entire car doing this. If you are picky it could take well over an hour, but trust me it is worth it. After you finish a section run your fingers over the paint, or the back of your hand on it. It will feel like you just got a new paint job. It won't look like it yet, but it will feel like it.

To be continued !

08-09-2007, 05:38 AM	#1
cageceo Intake Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Delete Profile Posts: 48	Car Paint Maintenance, and cleaning. The biggest Noticeable thing on your Car is the Paint, It can give Your vehicle that Custom look you want. If you done your homework and looked up the Paint you want, and saved cash For the perfect look. Then you Should do your homework in maintaining and Keep that new paint Clean and looking new for years to come. Detailing 101. There are tons of different products and methods out there, and ultimately you have to find out the right one for your paint and your car. What works wonders for one person might not work so great for another. in my opinion Meguiars makes the best car detailing products. In this post i'll try to focus on the products for your car exterior. The steps we will be covering are: Wash Clean Polish Wax Sounds like a quick job, but it can take hours and hours to get show-room quality looking paint. Tips: Micro fiber and sheepskin Cloths or mitts, Do not Scratch you Paint. (These won't be scratches you can see just looking right at your car, but scratches that will show up in sunlight that look like little swirls). start from the top down when Soaping, washing, or rinsing . it is a good idea to try and wash your car in the shade if you have any (like starting early in the morning) because when the sun is out it will dry water very quickly and leave spots on your car, and most products do better in cooler temperatures , and it gives you more time to work on the products without worry of it drying. USE YOUR WINDOWS TO LEAN YOUR WEIGHT ON AND TO PUT YOUR HANDS ON TO HOLD YOURSELF UP AND BALANCE YOURSELF. Try to avoid touching your paint all together, I found that the windows are a good substitute and can give you leverage for working on any part of the car. Plus, they are the last thing you will clean, so don't worry You can use products that you perfer if you have a prefence, Mequiars is pretty good all around price and results are even better which i will be using to illustrate. Meguiars Gold Class car wash. There are different more expensive car wash soaps from them, but this one does a great job and there’s really no need to go extreme, since the wash is just getting the preliminary dirt off of your car. With the soap you want to make sure you get a micro fiber mitt or a sheepskin mitt What you want to do with the soap is put it in a nice CLEAN bucket (Again, the more crap that you pick up on your mitt, the better chance you get scratches). The bottle will tell you how much to use, but you can be generous with how much you use. When the soap is in the bucket, use your garden hose with an attachment and spray the water into the bucket to make suds with the soap. Before you start applying the soap to the car, you want to make sure that you give it a good soaking so that your car is nice and wet all over. Then just dip your mitt into the soap and get it all nice and soapy and run it over a section of your car. now is a good time to clean the rims with the product I mention. Rims: This product worked wonders for me and I didn't even scrub with a brush. With a hard bristle brush your rims will be clean. Maybe not shiny, but there will be almost no dirt, it works great! This will just clean them up and you will be spraying them and scrubbing them so better do it now Before your car has all that nice product on it :-D If you have chrome rims or special rims that need a different product just follow the directions on the bottle that you buy. You will want to start from the top , down and only do a section at a time (you could get away with an entire side of the car. I usually break it into front, left, right, back, but you can do smaller sections if you want). If you finish a section of your car with the mitt and notice that it is brown or dirty, take the mitt away from the car and spray it with the highest pressure setting on your hose (again, away from the car) so that the dirt gets washed away and doesn’t end up splashing back on your car. The moral of the story is the less dirt touching your car the better. Once you soap up a side, make sure you rinse it off with your hose (I like the flat spray setting on most hose attachments, I wouldn't recommend a pressure washer because after so many washes it will start to weaken your paint) and rinse from the top down. There is no need to dry your car off just yet. Just make sure that when you are cleaning the other sections of your car, keep the previously cleaned sections nice and wet to avoid spots again. Then when you have finished with the entire car, get out your micro-fiber cloths. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...asin=B000E48IUG That link is an EXPENSIVE example. I've found ten packs at target for 5.99 before. You will need A LOT OF CLOTHS. I would recommend 40-50 cloths, but you can go a little less if you are not picky. you can reuse your cloths, and here some people will tell you different things, but here's my opinion: If the cloth is clean, use it. i.e. if there’s no visible dirt and no product wiped off on it, you can use it. I find the best thing to do is fold it in quarters when using it, because then you get a bunch of different sides to work on (you just keep folding it differently and flipping sides). Most of them are machine washable, but be cautious some Products like wax may Harm your Washer or dryer. Take your cloths and dry off your car. You don't have to be picky in a drying method, just get all the water off and if you see and spots give it a quick spray with the hose and wipe it dry with a cloth. When you are all done drying the car, pull it into your garage. (the reason you pull it into the garage is because of the shade and hopefully because its a little cooler. The products will go on your paint better if it is not hot) At this point you are ready to start babying your paint :-D It is a lot of hard work but definitely pays off in the end. For the next step use the Mequiars Auto Detailing Clay Kit With the kit you will get clay bars and some quick detailing spray. This part will probably take you the longest out of all the steps. What you will want to do is take out your clay bar and knead it in your hands while spraying the quick detailer on it. You want to keep the clay bar nice and wet as you are using it on your car. When the clay is nicely kneaded and moist, take the quick detailer and spray it on a section of your car. Then take your clay bar and work it into your paint. You can press hard with this stuff, but use your judgment. There’s no reason to go Rambo on it, just give it a little force and rub up and down or in circles or side to side, it won't matter, essentially you are just picking up the little bits of dirt off the car that the soap couldn't get The clay bar will get almost all the dirt off your car (you'll be surprised how much dirt gets on the clay while you are working) when using the clay bar, you will see it start to turn brown from dirt, just re-kneed it until you get a clean spot on the clay and continue. remember to keep it moist with the quick detailer that comes with it. . Do a little section at a time (maybe a 1ft X 1ft section) and when you are done wipe it clean with a micro fiber cloth. The reason you want so many cloths is so you NEVER use a dirty cloth on a part of the car. The dirt from the cloth can scratch your paint. Now just go throughout your entire car doing this. If you are picky it could take well over an hour, but trust me it is worth it. After you finish a section run your fingers over the paint, or the back of your hand on it. It will feel like you just got a new paint job. It won't look like it yet, but it will feel like it. To be continued ! __________________ Delete Profile Last edited by cageceo; 08-10-2007 at 08:31 PM.