a couple of streaks in my test section of ceramic.

[dochawk]

Ford finally released my wife's new maverick from our personal hostage crisis. Velocity blue:






I started with the ceramic coat today.

Showing that I have learned something over the years, I settled on the 1" strip behind the wear window, above the bed coating as the least visible.

I prepped it, the interior of the tailgate while it was down, and the left rear quarter panel. First rainless wash to remove dust, then again to clean, followed by a clay mitt with maguires detailing spray, and then the ceramic.

Then the ceramic.

I have a couple of visible streaks. There rather hard to catch on camera, but I finally succeeded.





Are these lines my applicator missed? or two much?

What do I do now? Aggressively buff with microfiber? a localized additional layer?

Once it started beading, I put the ceramic on the quarter panel, and it seems to have come out without a flaw. (As for the tailgate, lowering put it into direct sun, so it got left for another day.)

Is there really any point in the clay mitt? That was the slickest sliding with clay that I've ever felt; not a speck of friction.

And if I'm only using the rinseless wash, do I even need to bother with the paint prep spray/

thanks

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Hang on there, you went from claying with a detailing spray straight to ceramic coating? What kind of detail spray was it (you say only that it was Meguiar's)? And what coating did you use?

 

[Tasmania]

Full decon, with water and a pressure washer no need to clay if the paint was smooth, Then panel prep/IPA wipe down Then coat.

That looks like you left it on for to long before buffing off,
Or some reation with the detail spray.

 

[dochawk]

Hang on there, you went from claying with a detailing spray straight to ceramic coating? What kind of detail spray was it (you say only that it was Meguiar's)? And what coating did you use?

No, in order I
It's a brand new vehicle. Hand-washed with water only by the dealer before
1) Washed with Meguiar's rinseles Express Wash to get dust off (this is the desert!).
2) Washed again with same and clean microfiber.
3) used meguiar Quick Mist & Wipe detailing spray as clay bar lubricant.
4) used Backfire Paint Prep BF-340 to clean off whatever might be left of the rinsless
5) applied BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating BLACK EDITION

Full decon, with water and a pressure washer no need to clay if the paint was smooth, Then panel prep/IPA wipe down Then coat.

To be clear, is this to remove that layer so I can redo it, or what I should be doing in general?

That looks like you left it on for to long before buffing off,
Or some reation with the detail spray.

the two steaks are about half and three-quarters of the way across in the direction I applied it. Given that I buffed faster than I applied, it would have had less time than the starting edge, but more than the ending edge.

Shouldn't the paint prep have removed any remaining detailing spray or wash, though?

And what do I do now?

thanks

 

[Bosko]

Not that big of an area, just polish it off and reapply

 

[Optimus Grime]

Shouldn't the paint prep have removed any remaining detailing spray or wash, though?

No. Paint preps don't remove anything left behind from a previous product applied. They remove polishing oils and have some degreasing properties. From the description of the clay lube, it has some type of gloss enhancers it's leaving behind. I'm not saying that this is the cause of the streaking but I wouldn't apply a coating over paint that has anything on it left behind from a previous detailing step. If I wasn't going to polish, I'd use something like DIY RW for clay lube because it doesn't leave anything behind.

 

[MisterSnoop]

Nice lookin' truck

 

[Tasmania]

Not that big of an area, just polish it off and reapply

What Bosko said.

 

[dochawk]

polish it is!

but it won't be for a week ; I head out to my parents for a week in the morning.

I'm thinking to skip the clay. But is there anything I should do to remove any residual rinseless wash (given that we have insanely hard water, second highest in the US, and more than three times the level for "extremely hard")

 

[dochawk]

Nice lookin' truck

Thanks. We're retired ridiculously early, but she's wanted a little truck for 40 years, ever since her mother would cosign for the Escort, but not the ranger.

She's quite happy with it.

So now I want to keep it nice for her.