Finishing advice / coatings

Just don’t want to risk introducing any scratching. I generally avoid using unless I have to but just after correcting and polishing, probably best to avoid?
 
A contact wash is going to be necessary at some point. 2BM and grit guards and the quality pre-wash you'll be good using a mitt, don't sweat it

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OK, thanks! I was really just thinking of avoiding it ahead of coating but I guess the paint is clean and a mitt would help remove dust…:xyxthumbs:
 
I use MF towels to wash my vehicles, different type of 2 bucket method
First / wash bucket has soap solution with about 10-12 quality MF towels in it. I use one towel per panel.
Second bucket is empty used only to hold the used MF towels
Nothing ever goes back into first bucket. Its not a fast or efficient process but its great for keeping the paint looking good.
 
Ben4 said:
Thanks - I'm defo doing CSL and EXO - as much as I like playing with the car, I have two kids and I don't have the time :-)
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I've heard that a lot!

Coatings are great for that.
 
Ben4 said:
Yeah, thanks! I actually use bilt hamber auto foam :-)

I don’t want to use a mitt now until after CSL but I’ll foam and rinse and panel wipe like you say to get rid of dust! I’ll post some pics when I finish polishing and then when coated, thanks
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How you going to dry? If using a towel I’d wash the paint to remove all debris and not wipe it in with a dry towel. Do you have a rinseless wash? Try that.

Actually if you still gotta order CLS I’d order Some Feynlab Pure Rinseless. Potent stuff and a great rinseless for coated cars. I’d wipe down with that and then panel wipe.


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luckydawg said:
I use MF towels to wash my vehicles, different type of 2 bucket method
First / wash bucket has soap solution with about 10-12 quality MF towels in it. I use one towel per panel.
Second bucket is empty used only to hold the used MF towels
Nothing ever goes back into first bucket. Its not a fast or efficient process but its great for keeping the paint looking good.
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I do the same for rinseless. For bucket wash I use 10-12 MF mitts.


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I don’t dry it - I use a water filter, so no spotting when naturally drying. Maybe I’ll give it a gentle blow but that’s it :dblthumb2:
 
Looks great

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I did the CSL and EXOV4 on my old Golf R.
I did not remove any badges (well, I guess there's only one small R on the back).

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I did the 3 towel method (See video below)
Towel 1: Level
Towel 2: Some buffing and also going a little further out in case product was 'pushed' to other surfaces.
Towel 3: Final buff and going out even further to make sure all product was wiped up.

I was overly cautious to make sure I didn't have any high spots. It likely took more time, but it worked out well.

Coating 427 Cobra Kit Car w/ Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light & EXO v4 - YouTube
 
Odrapnew said:
I did the CSL and EXOV4 on my old Golf R.
I did not remove any badges (well, I guess there's only one small R on the back).

attachment.php



I did the 3 towel method (See video below)
Towel 1: Level
Towel 2: Some buffing and also going a little further out in case product was 'pushed' to other surfaces.
Towel 3: Final buff and going out even further to make sure all product was wiped up.

I was overly cautious to make sure I didn't have any high spots. It likely took more time, but it worked out well.

Coating 427 Cobra Kit Car w/ Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light & EXO v4 - YouTube
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I see nothing wrong w/ the 3 towel method, the results there speak for themselves The important question is this though...do you use a tire brush to do the RW maintence wash

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That looks great! Thank you - I'll probably do the same. Just as a guide, I don't suppose you recall how many towels you got through in total? Was it 3 per panel? How long did that take you to do CSL + 2xEXO?
 
Ben4 said:
That looks great! Thank you - I'll probably do the same. Just as a guide, I don't suppose you recall how many towels you got through in total? Was it 3 per panel? How long did that take you to do CSL + 2xEXO?
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I think I went through 8-10 total.
I believe I used one side of each towel per panel and then flipped them over, inside out, backwards (if that makes sense......each towel was folded in fours).

I think about half way through one layer, towel 1 got tossed, towel 2 became 1, 3 became 2 and got a fresh towel 3.

It took me quite a while to apply the coatings, I think about 1 hr per layer (1 CSL and 2x EXO). There was a lot of waiting around, watching it flash.

I believe I put the layers on too thick, so the flashing took longer.

Also, I only did small sections (hood and roof = 4, doors at least 2.....etc). If I were to do it again, I'd thin out the layers and likely do larger sections.
 
Klasse Act said:
I see nothing wrong w/ the 3 towel method, the results there speak for themselves The important question is this though...do you use a tire brush to do the RW maintence wash

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I usually find whatever rag is in the drawer and a big ole bucket of Dawn dishwater. I keed of course.

I'm actually hooked on the 1 bucket, multiple towel wash method. I like the idea of not dipping the towel back in the bucket, just wipe, flip and toss in the dirty bucket (which goes straight into the wash machine).
 
Thank you - that certainly helps my planning for today :D
 
Finally.... finished (except for glass, which is next week)!

Very pleased - the paint was not good at all and someone at the dealership had done a TERRIBLE job of some bad cheap smart repairs and then completely ballsed-up the polishing as you could see, especially around the door handles on the earlier photos.

It now looks nice :cheers: (plus it should be easier to wash - it was a pig).

View attachment 75230View attachment 75231View attachment 75232View attachment 75233View attachment 75234View attachment 75235View attachment 75236View attachment 75237
 
Ben4 said:
Finally.... finished (except for glass, which is next week)!

Very pleased - the paint was not good at all and someone at the dealership had done a TERRIBLE job of some bad cheap smart repairs and then completely ballsed-up the polishing as you could see, especially around the door handles on the earlier photos.

It now looks nice :cheers: (plus it should be easier to wash - it was a pig).

View attachment 75230View attachment 75231View attachment 75232View attachment 75233View attachment 75234View attachment 75235View attachment 75236View attachment 75237
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Looking back at the before pictures, you're right, it was rough but turned out very nice.

What was your overall experience with the CSL and EXO?
 
I should've done more before pics, it was very rough. The dealership just used heaps of filler, so I hadn't spotted it when I bought it. I really didn't expect it to come up so well, which is why I hadn't planned on ceramic coating but I'm very happy now. I was quite aggressive with the compounding and spent time finishing nicely using decent products with no fillers.

I found CSL and EXO VERY easy. I expected a much harder time. It was laborious but then it would be, especially on a car this size. I'm slightly concerned about the amount of CSL I used - I bought a 50ml bottle and probably only used half of it, despite following instructions. The CSL instructions said to immediately wipe over but I did let it flash a bit and that didn't result in any streaking or high spots. I kept to quite small areas and so the CSL was time consuming - probably took me about 2.5 hours, maybe 3.

I was a bit less fussy with the EXO and could cover quite a bit with one 'pass'. Again, I only used about 35ml for the whole car (2 coats) which I found surprising. Probs took about 1.5 hours plus a bit per coat.

I found a super soft 1200gsm microfibre good for the first wipe and then used Gtechniq MF1 ZeroR for the final buff with the EXO and added a final final buff with CSL using GTechniq MF6 Haze buster microfibres.

Overall, I'd say a very good experience with both products although I'd like to be sure they are actually sticking to my paintwork! I should say they probably are - it does look better post-application.

Thanks for your message about application - it did help me plan.
 
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