Hey, I was just curious to know how people's cars are looking since the detail day, and if they've done anything to their cars yet with any knowledge or confidence they gained?

Projectsherv, I think you had the rotary holograms on your rear decklid, right? You polished out one side, but the lighting was too bad to see if it helped. When you've seen it since then, can you tell an improvement, or did it not make a dent?

Is that black Z still looking nice? Did any of the swirls return? Make sure you wash it carefully and use quality wash mitts and drying towels to reduce future marring.

Is that trim detailer on the side mirror housings still looking nice and black for the two cars we did that on?

Any other feedback of any kind?

 

Also, it came up about how to prevent getting wax or polish into emblems, on molding, etc. One way when using a power buffer is to just not get near these. I find that it is difficult not to ever brush up against one, though. So you can also mask these off before buffing. If you plan on doing a polish and wax, or multi-step polishing, then this pays off even more because you mask once, then go to work instead of dancing around emblems all day.

I was doing this today, and it took me about 10 minutes to mask off the back half of my car. Your cars have less molding, so it shouldn't take as long.

Another thing you can see here, is I didn't try to tackle the whole car today. I'm just going over the rear 1/4 and decklid today to reduce some of the waterspotting my car has. I did the hood a few days ago, and will do the doors some other time. You don't have to spend an entire day working on your car, you can spread it out. This is less time consuming at once, and less tiring. And if you have limited pads and towels, you don't have to worry about running out in the middle of a detail since you are doing a smaller area.

This can also be useful if you don't have a garage. You only have to keep one area of the car really clean, and you will be done sooner.

 

My car looks like doo-doo...I just finished driving it to NC in the rain.

 

I really got a lot out of the session on using the porter cable polisher, as well as the claybar.

Since the detail day I've applied another coat of Zaino Z2. I probably wont claybar until after this winter season.



It was great to meet everyone!


I had to split early, what product/process did you guys use to restore the side mirror housings? Mine are crusty too.


Thx,

Mason

 

Well until it rained yesterday, it was looking GREAT! I still do notice some of the swirls on the rear pillars, so I'll have to track down some of that polish and get those taken care of.

Speaking of which, where can the pads we used on the Porter Cable be purchased? I've been checking hardware stores, auto part stores, and no luck!

Where can we get that polish also? I think I might need the 83 on those rear swirls, just because of how much light they get.

Thanks a bunch though man, I learned a lot!

 

Sometimes places like NAPA or Pep Boys will carry Meguiar's professional stuff. But it varies by store, so you may want to call. I know of one jobber-type place that sells most of Meguiar's line in Herndon. There are probably others as well, I only know of this one. It's called Total Auto Parts. I've never seen the 6.5" polishing pads, though, just the larger 8" rotary ones. They can probably order them for you. They should have #82 Swirl Free Polish, #83 Dual Action Cleaner/Polish, and also a nice in-between product called #80 Speed Glaze. I like #80 a lot.

You can also order online directly from Meguiar's: www.meguiars.com or from a lot of other online detailing places. If you don't already have a backing plate, Meguiar's has a nice deal online for a PC backing plate, two polishing pads, and one finishing pad (we didn't use this, but it's more for a wax or glaze application) for $33. It's part #WDAV99. They also sell the kit without a backing plate for $25 #WDAV99-B.

 

Mason, glad you got something out of it. The same techniques for polishing can be used with ZPC (Zaino Fusion) if you use that for swirl correction. However, I've never really had problems using Zaino after Meguiar's polishes either. A Z6 wipedown after polishing should be fine.

We used Gold Class Trim Detailer on the mirror housings. If yours are "crusty" you may need to actually clean them with something first.

Here is the before:


and the after:


The pictures aren't so good because it was getting dark out. But I thought they looked much better after, it gave the car a more finished look. We used a foam applicator to apply it, but I usually use foam cosmetic wedges. They are little foam triangles you can get at makeup places. My wife buys them for me, and they work great.

Is that Z16 on your tires? They look nice, I like that clean black look. I'm not into the tire bling. I usually use NXT Tech Protectant for a similar look.

 

Yea, Thanks Aurora,
My car was looking REAL nice until I took it to Charlottesville in the rain... Now it looks pretty bad. (had to drop it off for paint work yesterday so no chance to clean it either... )

The side mirrors look a lot better after we applied the Trim detailer. I will definitely be using that again when I get the car back next weekend (with my new body kit installed.... ) YEA!

Brent

 

cant wait to see it bambam

 

Actually it's the "303 Aerospace Protectant" stuff. I never cared for the Z16. It came in the Zaino "starter kit" and I really wasn't fond of it at all.

Couldn't agree more about ditching the tire bling. 303 is kind of pricey, I'll definatley try the NXT Protectant.

 

Yea, droped it off with Steve Saturday, hope to get all that back by next weekend and then off to AAM for tuning and the BBK. I did get to see your GT kit, really looking forward to seeing that in person painted and such.