How to find defects on a white car?

Evan.J said:
I was doing some thinking about this.....

Since this is your parents vehicle and this is how they take car of the car now, is it worht all the trouble to create a show car finish and the have it taken through the same car wash again to get swirled up and all the hard work goes down the drain?

You should decide how the vehicle is going to be maintained will it be hand washed by you or go through the local car wash?

If its going to be maintained by you and only you then doing a full correction would be fine.

However if its going to be going through a car wash the doing a one Step or All in One would be a better option.
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Great point...

My parents unfortunately are not able to take care of there own car due to physical limitations, both of them are disabled so they are forced to taking it to this car wash. However since the car is fairly new and I want to help them out I have offered to take care of the car for them so from this point forward this car is going to be maintained by me only. However that being said they are not looking for a show car finish they just want a clean car that is properly maintained.
 
RubbishReview said:
So after reading all of this I am starting to ask my self if it is this hard to find the defects is it even needed to correct them? Plus every time you have to correct defects you are pretty much taking a very small layer of clear coat off of the car which overtime will weaken if not completely remove the clear coat. So would it not make since to just wait until the defects are clearly visible on the paint?
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This is a good practical argument. It's one of the reasons I have a white car now, so that I don't go insane with the normal wear and tear that a daily driver takes.
 
My car is not white, but it is definitely a light color; what Honda calls "Omni Pearl Blue." It is very difficult to see defects on it. The last bit of polishing I did was the hood, but I guess I do not have an aggressive enough product, because I can still see defects when I look at it closely (I am only hand polishing now as I cannot afford a DA and pads at the moment). A couple weeks ago too, I happened to open the rear hatch, and the sunlight hit it just right where I could see horrible swirling. But most of the time I see nothing at all. At some point I want to correct it all, but I can live with it since it is a DD, and you really have to strain to see the imperfections.
 
Although swirls may be hard to see on a white car when you're looking for them, I believe that collectively they have an overall effect when you stand back and view the car. I would think it would affect reflectivity as it would any other color.
 
When we detail white or silver cars, the best way to do it is in the dark lit by a single point light source. If you take a light colored car outdoors, unless the swirls are very heavy, the ambient light will blow out the defects making it difficult to see. It's a very common phenomenon to park a car under a street lamp and see defects or inside of a dark garage lit up with only the light bulb in the garage opener. Understanding why this is, it's easy to replicate it with a flash light or single overhead light. We use 5000 lumen LED lamps to see defects. Here are some examples of this. Also when photographing defects, you want to adjust the exposure to let less light into the lens.

White BMW in the shop








Our Custom light setup on a Tesla


Defects on a white Mercedes
 
OctaneGuy said:
When we detail white or silver cars, the best way to do it is in the dark lit by a single point light source. If you take a light colored car outdoors, unless the swirls are very heavy, the ambient light will blow out the defects making it difficult to see. It's a very common phenomenon to park a car under a street lamp and see defects or inside of a dark garage lit up with only the light bulb in the garage opener. Understanding why this is, it's easy to replicate it with a flash light or single overhead light. We use 5000 lumen LED lamps to see defects. Here are some examples of this. Also when photographing defects, you want to adjust the exposure to let less light into the lens.
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I am going to try the dark garage idea and see what happens.
 
stilltipping3 said:
Park in a parking garage with lights in it and ur swirls will illuminate
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Yeah, that is where the car is now and it does not show them... I am going to try turning the lights off and use just a single light source like others have suggested and see how that does. Nothing else seems to work that has been suggested here... I will post back and let everyone know if it worked or not.
 
I'm surprised no one has recommended checking it out at a gas station at night. I can see plenty of defects in my Taffeta White Acura at the gas station with no problem.
 
tnecniv said:
I'm surprised no one has recommended checking it out at a gas station at night. I can see plenty of defects in my Taffeta White Acura at the gas station with no problem.
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Those lights make me angry. You literally can see every single imperfection.
 
So I tired using a single light source in a dark garage... Didn't work still can't see the defects. I am going to wait until it's bright and sunny this weekend (hopefully) and give it another try then.


However I think I am coming to the conclusion that I am ok with out of sight out of mind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Street lights wiich are HPS (High Pressure Sodium)




Gas station lights MH (Metal Halide)



both work great and are free too. I've been wondering how they would look together on paint combined together. To get the full color spectrum.
 
hernandez.art13 said:
Street lights wiich are HPS (High Pressure Sodium)




Gas station lights MH (Metal Halide)



both work great and are free too. I've been wondering how they would look together on paint combined together. To get the full color spectrum.
Click to expand...

Both lights are also great a growing leafy substances.
 
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