Black 2012 Mustang - Years of disappointment in detailing has lead me here

[Kaban]

I just washed freakishly salty car yesterday, that hadn't been washed in over 3 weeks.

Guess what I used?

No swirls what so ever were added to the paint.

Although that's fabulous.... the amount of time it will take you to wash a car with ONR compared with a traditional wash is alot more time consuming. Trust me, I've washed plenty of salt covered cars. I'm in Chicago also. Using ONR is a pain in the ass when you have to get into every crevice and every jam to remove salt that builds up. Doing a traditional wash, especially with a pressure washer I can guarantee you it will be a much more efficient and effective way of completely removing the salt and other dirt.

Sure, ONR can do it, but it will be alot more time consuming, and for someone who isn't trained to do it properly, they can be spreading the dirt around which does the paint no good.

 

[timaishu]

Here is what I would recommend.

Either find a detailer off this forum to do your car for you.

Or go to your local auto store or walmart and pick up a bottle of meguiars ulimate compound and ultimate polish. Those are two very good over the counter compounds/polish products that would be great to start with as they are cheap and proven to work. I think they would be a great starting point if you decide to buy a machine like the porter cable or griots garage polisher.

Before buying these products though. You need to learn how to not install swirls into your paint. No point in buffing them out if your going to install new ones while wiping off the polish residue or washing your car.

 

[clawlan]

Here is what I would recommend.

Either find a detailer off this forum to do your car for you.

Or go to your local auto store or walmart and pick up a bottle of meguiars ulimate compound and ultimate polish. Those are two very good over the counter compounds/polish products that would be great to start with as they are cheap and proven to work. I think they would be a great starting point if you decide to buy a machine like the porter cable or griots garage polisher.

Before buying these products though. You need to learn how to not install swirls into your paint. No point in buffing them out if your going to install new ones while wiping off the polish residue or washing your car.

Yea I think that is where I am going to start. Have the car professionally done, and then learn the proper techniques to maintain and eventually feeling comfortable enough to do it all myself.

 

[timaishu]

Be sure to support our local members by finding a detailer from this website.

You may want to read this article too if you havn't already.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html

The reason I say you should choose a detailer from here is you are supporting our members detailing business and you are certainly guaranteed to have it come out great. You need to be aware of the "hack detailers" out there. Just because someone claims to be a detailer, it doesn't mean they have any idea as to what they are doing.

 

[clawlan]

Be sure to support our local members by finding a detailer from this website.

You may want to read this article too if you havn't already.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html

The reason I say you should choose a detailer from here is you are supporting our members detailing business and you are certainly guaranteed to have it come out great. You need to be aware of the "hack detailers" out there.

Of definitely. I had been lurking here looking for a detailer in Atlanta. I've read that Ed with HighEndDetail is a great choice, as well as Bryan of Peach State Detail. I sent Ed a PM so hopefully he'll get back to me. I couldn't tell if he has a website though...

 

[timaishu]

Cool.

You should post some pictures of your car. Maybe a sun shot so we can see the conditon of the paint.

 

[clawlan]

Cool.

You should post some pictures of your car. Maybe a sun shot so we can see the conditon of the paint.

Great idea. Terribly overcast today but I will as soon as the sun is out again, hopefully tomorrow.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Yea I think that is where I am going to start. Have the car professionally done, and then learn the proper techniques to maintain and eventually feeling comfortable enough to do it all myself.

Smart move. rops:

Take your car to Bryan Burnworth.

 

[Kaban]

Although having a pro detail your car is very nice, I don't understand how that's going to teach you anything about detailing or post detail maintenance... You need to polish swirls to learn how to remove swirls... as in take a buffer in your hand and do it yourself. There's really not that much to it, people on the internet make it sound like it's rocket science when it really is very very simple. Read Mike's articles and you'll feel much more comfortable with what you need to do.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Although having a pro detail your car is very nice, I don't understand how that's going to teach you anything about detailing or post detail maintenance... You need to polish swirls to learn how to remove swirls... as in take a buffer in your hand and do it yourself. There's really not that much to it, people on the internet make it sound like it's rocket science when it really is very very simple. Read Mike's articles and you'll feel much more comfortable with what you need to do.

Yes, but not your first time on a brand new car. Practice on other cars first, IMO.

 

[Theostoubos]

Just my 2 cents,

If you enjoy the IDEA of detailing your car, but had no much luck with it so far, I suggest that you keep on reading here on AG and educate yourself. Slowly but surely you will feel comfortable to start with the basics of proper auto care.

I can tell you for sure that there's nothing hard or frustrating with it. It's actually quite therapeutic in many ways if you ask me.

The basics that you should focus at least on exterior care are :

Wash
Clay
Polish
Protect

The most frequent Out of these steps are Wash and Protect. Claying and polishing your cars paint is not something you do every week. It is though necessary to do it as an initial approach to bring your car to a nice level.

You do not need a lot of things or expensive things in order to start and in order to detail your car and them maintain it in that level.

Based on these four steps you can get :

A Good car shampoo.

A mild clay and clay lubricant

Two polishes (depending the condition of your paint) eg Wolfgang Twins or Meguiars M105, and M205 or Menzerna Super Intesive Polish and Final Finish PO 85RD. Along with the polishes it would be great if you could invest to dual action polisher like the PC 7424, a 5" backing plate, and three pads. One for compounding (maybe not necessary in your case of a brand new car, unless the dealer made sure you have the "swirl option" installed), a polishing pad and a finishing pad that you could also use for applying your "waxes".

A good all around wax. Eg Collinite 845.

One single post is very small to tell you everything about car detailing. But this forum is a very good start. Invest some time on proper products and proper techniques and before you know you will be so hooked as we all are.

Enjoy the trip.

Theo

 

[FASTFRED]

Yes, but not your first time on a brand new car. Practice on other cars first, IMO.

+ 10 :xyxthumbs:

 

[Jomax]

Just my 2 cents,

If you enjoy the IDEA of detailing your car, but had no much luck with it so far, I suggest that you keep on reading here on AG and educate yourself. Slowly but surely you will feel comfortable to start with the basics of proper auto care.

I can tell you for sure that there's nothing hard or frustrating with it. It's actually quite therapeutic in many ways if you ask me.

The basics that you should focus at least on exterior care are :

Wash
Clay
Polish
Protect

The most frequent Out of these steps are Wash and Protect. Claying and polishing your cars paint is not something you do every week. It is though necessary to do it as an initial approach to bring your car to a nice level.

You do not need a lot of things or expensive things in order to start and in order to detail your car and them maintain it in that level.

Based on these four steps you can get :

A Good car shampoo.

A mild clay and clay lubricant

Two polishes (depending the condition of your paint) eg Wolfgang Twins or Meguiars M105, and M205 or Menzerna Super Intesive Polish and Final Finish PO 85RD. Along with the polishes it would be great if you could invest to dual action polisher like the PC 7424, a 5" backing plate, and three pads. One for compounding (maybe not necessary in your case of a brand new car, unless the dealer made sure you have the "swirl option" installed), a polishing pad and a finishing pad that you could also use for applying your "waxes".

A good all around wax. Eg Collinite 845.

One single post is very small to tell you everything about car detailing. But this forum is a very good start. Invest some time on proper products and proper techniques and before you know you will be so hooked as we all are.

Enjoy the trip.

Theo

Your post just made my life easy


Sent from my iPhone using
TapTalk
2000 Black DRW F-350
2012 pearl white Focus

 

[Bunky]

This is a good chart

 

[tuscarora dave]

Be sure to support our local members by finding a detailer from this website.

You may want to read this article too if you havn't already.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html

The reason I say you should choose a detailer from here is you are supporting our members detailing business and you are certainly guaranteed to have it come out great. You need to be aware of the "hack detailers" out there. Just because someone claims to be a detailer, it doesn't mean they have any idea as to what they are doing.

I absolutely agree with this posting.:iagree: Please have a look at this thread that I have pasted in below. This car came to me after a "professional detailer" detailed this poor girl's car. In the detailing industry (and perhaps many other industries) there are hacks in every demographic area. God forbid your new pride and joy ends up at a shop like this girl's car did. Be sure to look through all the pages of this thread (especially the 2nd page) that is where I illuminated with a halogen light the damage this hack inflicted on her car. These places are a dime a dozen and there are several clowns on every block that will tell you "Oh, I used to detail cars" and then hack the #### out of your car if you let them. Here's the thread.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/40472-repairing-other-guy-s-work.html

Being that your car has only 600 miles on it and you have basically zero real detailing experience, I suggest that you avoid any product that has the word "Compound" printed anywhere on the bottle, this includes "Ultimate Compound" as timaishu has recommended. (no offense timaishu) but as a newbie with a brand new black car, until he gains at least a little machine polishing experience he could only get in trouble with Ultimate Compound.

I would suggest that you use a finishing polish with some "filling capabilities" (fillers) as the fillers will help to conceal any hazing or micro marring that may occur during your learning curve. Below is a link to a product that I have found very easy to work with that creates an exceptional look especially on black paint. I recommend this product because you are not asking "how do I become a professional detailer" but rather "how do I make my brand new black car look nice and avoid all the frustration". While the product description says to use it with a rotary polisher, I assure you it works well with a DA polisher and finishing pad for simple maintenance duties with some filling/concealing capabilities. here's the link.

Mothers Professional Foam Pad Polish, mothers car polish, machine polish, auto polish

If you want to work by hand then I suggest the product linked below.

Mothers Professional Hand Glaze, glaze car polish, hand polishing glaze

Go slow, follow the recommended "good washing technique", ask lots of questions and most of all, have fun with it. TD

 

[ProMoDe]

Detail designs auto spa outside of ATL is where i would recommend you going. They do excellent work. Not sure if they are a member here or not.

 

[05xrunner]

careful with it...the black Ford paint is SUPER SOFT. I cant even use Cobra waffle weave towels to dry it cause it will marr my paint..I only use the Cobra rolled edges to dry the car. they are also the ONLY towels i let touch my paint. get a good wash mitt cause of the super soft paint so you dont inflict more swirls.
if you are going to polish...I found the best combo on this paint is the low profile crimson Hydro tech and Menz 85RD..since the paint is really soft it will easily remove light imperfections and it will finish down leaving the paint like a mirror with no marring.

 

[timaishu]

I absolutely agree with this posting.:iagree: Please have a look at this thread that I have pasted in below. This car came to me after a "professional detailer" detailed this poor girl's car. In the detailing industry (and perhaps many other industries) there are hacks in every demographic area. God forbid your new pride and joy ends up at a shop like this girl's car did. Be sure to look through all the pages of this thread (especially the 2nd page) that is where I illuminated with a halogen light the damage this hack inflicted on her car. These places are a dime a dozen and there are several clowns on every block that will tell you "Oh, I used to detail cars" and then hack the #### out of your car if you let them. Here's the thread.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/40472-repairing-other-guy-s-work.html

Being that your car has only 600 miles on it and you have basically zero real detailing experience, I suggest that you avoid any product that has the word "Compound" printed anywhere on the bottle, this includes "Ultimate Compound" as timaishu has recommended. (no offense timaishu) but as a newbie with a brand new black car, until he gains at least a little machine polishing experience he could only get in trouble with Ultimate Compound.

I would suggest that you use a finishing polish with some "filling capabilities" (fillers) as the fillers will help to conceal any hazing or micro marring that may occur during your learning curve. Below is a link to a product that I have found very easy to work with that creates an exceptional look especially on black paint. I recommend this product because you are not asking "how do I become a professional detailer" but rather "how do I make my brand new black car look nice and avoid all the frustration". While the product description says to use it with a rotary polisher, I assure you it works well with a DA polisher and finishing pad for simple maintenance duties with some filling/concealing capabilities. here's the link.

Mothers Professional Foam Pad Polish, mothers car polish, machine polish, auto polish

If you want to work by hand then I suggest the product linked below.

Mothers Professional Hand Glaze, glaze car polish, hand polishing glaze

Go slow, follow the recommended "good washing technique", ask lots of questions and most of all, have fun with it. TD

No offense taken Dave. You make a good point.

Unless you know what you are doing, you could remove more clear coat than necessary or remove too much too fast and get into trouble like you said.

I only have experience in using Meguiars compounds and polishes. OP, maybe you should start out with something along the lines of M205, swirlx or ultimate polish. I believe out of those 3 swirlx has the most defent remove capabilities but is not as aggressive and ultimate compound. I have used all 3 mentioned above and they were pretty easy to work with other than the fact that swirlx is very thick in consistency, so its hard to squeeze out of the bottle.

Like Mike Phillips says in his book, start with the least aggressive method first.