CQuartz UK applied with no prep work - how to best remove

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BadRims

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It's too painful to describe how this happened but on a new white Audi CQuartz was applied yesterday with little to no prepwork beyond a basic car wash. I can see and feel contaminants in the paint. Strong claying seems to be removing the contaminants at the expense of marring. Would it be better to polish out the CQuartz instead of trying to "clay it out"? My concern is polishing something with containments clearly in the paint will make things worse.

Option A:
Iron X
Wash
Clay
Polish
Prep paint
Recoat

Option B
Iron X
Wash
Polish
Prep paint
Recoat
 
I would go with option A. Work with a surface as clean as possible when polishing. Then if you use a clay bar. Try claying in smaller sections and refold often. And have a great clay lube to minimize the clay marring. When you clay you would maybe see more clay marring in the coating. If you use a clay alternative. The same with working on smaller sections and rinse off the clay alternatives often. Also here make sure you use a good clay lube. And if it's the first time the clay alternative is used. Remember that it's needed to be breaked in on the glass first. So the protection film is worn off and it gets more sticky. If you don't break these in you can have a lot of clay marring before it's done if used on paint only.

The clay marring would be easy to correct when you polishing. But this is under normal use. If the contaminants is big and trapped into the coating. And you notice that's actually deeper kind of scratches than clay marring. Then I would stop and it's a little trial and error with getting the coating off. The solvents used to do this is very aggressive and to be handle with care and off the plastic trim and rubber seals. This we can take if you are haveing a big problem with the claying.
 
How will polishing with contaminants in the paint make anything worse? The coating is much softer than the clear. I'd think polishing should remove pretty much all of the coating. You could then start all over. Clay, polish and repapply the coating. If you really wanted to go slow you could clay, polish and then clay again.
 
tcope said:
How will polishing with contaminants in the paint make anything worse? The coating is much softer than the clear. I'd think polishing should remove pretty much all of the coating. You could then start all over. Clay, polish and repapply the coating. If you really wanted to go slow you could clay, polish and then clay again.
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I was under the impression that the contamination would get smeared around and scratch the paint? Maybe I’m crazy.


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Wax & Grease Remover (a solvent in a can/bottle), will remove most coatings if applied by hand with a towel a few times, and should get rid of the coating. I think it's worth a try because it's easier to decontaminate the paint without the coating on it.
 
expdetailing said:
Wax & Grease Remover (a solvent in a can/bottle), will remove most coatings if applied by hand with a towel a few times, and should get rid of the coating. I think it's worth a try because it's easier to decontaminate the paint without the coating on it.
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I may have to try this or go straight to polishing as mentioned previously as using the clay bar is very very slow going.


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tcope said:
How will polishing with contaminants in the paint make anything worse? The coating is much softer than the clear. I'd think polishing should remove pretty much all of the coating. You could then start all over. Clay, polish and repapply the coating. If you really wanted to go slow you could clay, polish and then clay again.
Click to expand...

Polishing will remove the coating, but why would you polish paint with bonded or embedded contaminants in it? The polishing step is intended to remove swirls and scratches in the clear coat, and due to the abrasives in the polish will also remove the coating.

Polishing is not the way to remove bonded contaminates. You will shorten the life of your pads if you are not polishing a clean contaminate free surface.

Tony’s advice is spot on, the OP should go with option “A.”
 
BadgerRivFan said:
Polishing is not the way to remove bonded contaminates. You will shorten the life of your pads if you are not polishing a clean contaminate free surface.

Tony’s advice is spot on, the OP should go with option “A.”
Click to expand...

I have tons of unused new polishing pads. Are there other negatives to polishing with contamination (I can see and feel it)? Perhaps throw the pads away after one panel/section?

With regards to why I would polish first, i would only do it in the interest of time as the claying is taking a long time.

big thank you for everyone’s response. I’ve been so distraught over this I couldn’t sleep last night.
 
What clay do you use?

There is a big difference between clays. And there are clays that are very effective to pick up contaminants. I use a clay bar not sold on AGO. But these 2 are simualar and very good. The prices is a little higher on these. But with stubborn contaminants you often needs less aggitations with a more aggressive clay bar. 3M Perfect-It III Cleaner Clay - 38070 and Meguiars Professional Detailing Clay – Aggressive - C2100. And a great clay lube is Dodo Juice Born Slippy Clay Lubricant Concentrate. If it would be me I would start with these and see how it works. Now you can have a problem with getting the contaminants that has been totaly sealed in by the coating. But those I would think is so small that they would not be a big problem when you get to polishing. And clean the pad thoroughly with a compressed air to blow off the pad with or a good pad brush. Inspect the pad after the test spot and see how it looks like with the contaminants and if you can clean them off.

3M Perfect-It III Cleaner Clay, 3m 38070, a paint-cleaning detailing clay that grabs foreign particles as it glides across the paint.

Meguiars Professional Detailing Clay Aggressive - C2100

Dodo Juice Born Slippy Clay Lubricant Concentrate, born slippy clay lube, detailing clay lubricant, clay lube concentrate
 
YouTube

Here is a thorough video about some ways to go. The last option that will be getting the coating off you do it on your own risk. As this will also impact on the clearcoat. So do as he do and step up in aggressiveness. And maybe with several applications of a wax and grease remover could be takeing off your coating as it's newly applyied. Last resort is the paint thinner. A 15 minutes video that is the basics on how you remove protection from your paint.
 
BadRims said:
I have tons of unused new polishing pads. Are there other negatives to polishing with contamination (I can see and feel it)? Perhaps throw the pads away after one panel/section?

With regards to why I would polish first, i would only do it in the interest of time as the claying is taking a long time.

big thank you for everyone’s response. I’ve been so distraught over this I couldn’t sleep last night.
Click to expand...

First of all, take a deep breath and don’t worry so much about this... it’s not the end of the world. Nothing to lose sleep over. It’s going to be just fine.

My advice would be not to compound your initial “mistake” by continuing to do things improperly. It may be more time efficient to pound a nail with a sledge hammer, but does that mean you should do it?

The point is using the right tool for the job it is intended to do is the best way to go.

Foam, wool, and microfiber polishing pads are not contaminate removal tools. If you want to be more efficient by using your machine polisher, consider something like the Nanoskin Autoscrub system products for mechanically decontaminating paint:

Nanoskin Car Care Products, nanoskin autoscrub system

I have not personally used them, but it could be an option.

If it takes you some time to correct your mistake then that’s the price you will have to pay for rushing the process (IMHO ).
 
BadgerRivFan said:
First of all, take a deep breath and don’t worry so much about this... it’s not the end of the world. Nothing to lose sleep over. It’s going to be just fine.

My advice would be not to compound your initial “mistake” by continuing to do things improperly. It may be more time efficient to pound a nail with a sledge hammer, but does that mean you should do it?

The point is using the right tool for the job it is intended to do is the best way to go.

Foam, wool, and microfiber polishing pads are not contaminate removal tools. If you want to be more efficient by using your machine polisher, consider something like the Nanoskin Autoscrub system products for mechanically decontaminating paint:

Nanoskin Car Care Products, nanoskin autoscrub system

I have not personally used them, but it could be an option.

If it takes you some time to correct your mistake then that’s the price you will have to pay for rushing the process (IMHO ).
Click to expand...

You're right on all counts. I'll purchase part of the nanoskin system (looks like they have a few good products). What makes all of this really bad is I paid someone a lot of money to do this.... It would be easier to stomach if I had done it (in fact, I have done it before).
 
I wonder how defensive the coating is in protecting any contaminants underneath. What I mean by that is, will claying now (and/or iron x'ing) without removing the coating be less than fully effective because the coating is "blocking" access to all the contaminants underneath?

That was an interesting video Tony shared above. Based on how robust coatings are to remove, I might be inclined to use a strong solvent to remove as much of the coating first and then go with Option A. That is, remove the coating and then start from scratch with wash, iron x, clay, polish, prep paint and recoat.

I do understand some are suggesting an aggressive claying will remove both the coating AND underlying contaminants. I'm just coming from the "remove coating" first angle, then start over with the normal process of steps.

Just my thoughts and great discussion here.
 
Paul A. said:
I wonder how defensive the coating is in protecting any contaminants underneath. What I mean by that is, will claying now (and/or iron x'ing) without removing the coating be less than fully effective because the coating is "blocking" access to all the contaminants underneath?

That was an interesting video Tony shared above. Based on how robust coatings are to remove, I might be inclined to use a strong solvent to remove as much of the coating first and then go with Option A. That is, remove the coating and then start from scratch with wash, iron x, clay, polish, prep paint and recoat.

I do understand some are suggesting an aggressive claying will remove both the coating AND underlying contaminants. I'm just coming from the "remove coating" first angle, then start over with the normal process of steps.

Just my thoughts and great discussion here.
Click to expand...

Your reasoning here is exactly why I recommended the Wax & Grease Remover first. I would think IronX wouldn't dwell very long on a coated surface.
Wax & Grease Remover is also cheaper than a quality synthetic clay substitute.
 
So when my dog has to go the veterinarian, and they give me options, I always ask, "Doc, what would you do if this were YOUR dog?" Then I get my answer.

IMO, if this was MY CAR... I would carve out two days to "do the needful." Doing the needful is basically following the tried and true steps, as I've learned from Mike Philips, Renny Doyle and Jason Rose.


First, how do you know that the car wasn't prepared properly? One drive home from the shop and any car has the potential to fail a baggy test to some degree. With that said, you're asking if you should clay or not clay... Those were the two options given, yet, you said you clayed and felt it was getting off decontamination... So I guess you're claying..

Ok, if it were my car I would do it properly myself to give it a full fresh new beginning:

- Engine / Engine bay
- Wheels / Tires / Wheel Wells
- Iron-X (done in the shade, let it dwell per instructions) --> Go right to foam bath
- Foam Bath 2 bm / 2 wash mitts and agitate the soap / iron-x mix....
- Rinse
- Inspect the paint / do
the baggy test...
- Clay (you can use clay or a nano-skin mitt). For my cars, I use Pinnacle Fine Poly Clay and Megs D114 as my clay lubricant. D114 is no longer available but it's replacement is McKee's 37 N914. The reason for this is it will leave nothing behind... no wax no fillers.
- After clay, inspect the paint. If you want to use a coating you have to used a dedicated polish. At present, I believe the only AIO for coatings is CarPro Essence.
- Paint Correction ---> do a test spot... See what least aggressive pad and product will yield the highest results. Use lots of pads. (typically 6 for an entire vehicle).
- Inspect the paint... Make sure you eliminated any marring or light scratches... Don't get OCD on a few random scratches that didn't come out during the polishing session. You'll get into trouble real fast if you start chasing those down.
- Wipe down - Either an IPA or Car Pro Erasure: I like Erasure because it's all pre mixed and it's bubba proof and it has lubricity... It smells nice too. It's pricy but I know what results I'll get and I know I wont be putting scratches back in the car.
- Apply the coating... Make sure you do a test spot... time / temp / humidity all play a factor. USE LOTS of Car Pro MF/Sued towels. Always follow up with a second towel. Change them out often. Use a good light, like Scangrip, or even better have a second person with a Scangrip follow behind you. If you don't have a second person, work in small sections... but be DARN sure you get every bit of it off because once it dries... you're fighting high spots.
- Final inspection
- Finish the detailing ---> coating plastics, trim, tail lights, wheels... dress wheels, etc...

That's what I would do.... :)
 
Paul A. said:
I wonder how defensive the coating is in protecting any contaminants underneath. What I mean by that is, will claying now (and/or iron x'ing) without removing the coating be less than fully effective because the coating is "blocking" access to all the contaminants underneath?

That was an interesting video Tony shared above. Based on how robust coatings are to remove, I might be inclined to use a strong solvent to remove as much of the coating first and then go with Option A. That is, remove the coating and then start from scratch with wash, iron x, clay, polish, prep paint and recoat.

I do understand some are suggesting an aggressive claying will remove both the coating AND underlying contaminants. I'm just coming from the "remove coating" first angle, then start over with the normal process of steps.

Just my thoughts and great discussion here.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify what I meened. There seems to be contaminants that is taken off by claying. And this is for these contaminants and not that you would remove the coating. It's for the followed step to remove the coating. So just take off the contaminants that has not been covered by the coating in this case.

Then it's a judgement call to make if you would strip the coating off chemically or physical. After the claying I would do the baggie test to feel if the paint is smooth or if you still feel some bumps on it. If it's not smooth from the feel from the baggie test I would try to knock the coating down with several applications of a wax and grease remover. This is so if the coating is holding the contaminants so strong that the clay don't be able to pull it off. Then there can be contaminants big enough to do damage when you polishing the coating off. If you get a smooth feeling from the baggie test. I would think that the contaminants that is trapped under the coating is so small that it would be no problem to polishing them off. And to be on the safe side. A couple of wipe downs with the wax and grease remover followed by the polishing would be a great choice to do.

This is also much of a guessing game as it's impossible to know what to do without getting to look at it. If you have a inspection light and can capture the dirt in the coating with pictures. But this is more about the feel of the paint to get a knowledge about how big the contaminants are. Or if the imbedded dirt and contaminants is so small that it would be safely polished off.

Sorry to hear about what you experienced when you trusted someone to do a great work on your car. But I think that you will be able to fix this. It's just a PIA to be doing so and there are some different ways of doing it.
 
SWETM said:
Just to clarify what I meened. There seems to be contaminants that is taken off by claying. And this is for these contaminants and not that you would remove the coating. It's for the followed step to remove the coating. So just take off the contaminants that has not been covered by the coating in this case.

Then it's a judgement call to make if you would strip the coating off chemically or physical. After the claying I would do the baggie test to feel if the paint is smooth or if you still feel some bumps on it. If it's not smooth from the feel from the baggie test I would try to knock the coating down with several applications of a wax and grease remover. This is so if the coating is holding the contaminants so strong that the clay don't be able to pull it off. Then there can be contaminants big enough to do damage when you polishing the coating off. If you get a smooth feeling from the baggie test. I would think that the contaminants that is trapped under the coating is so small that it would be no problem to polishing them off. And to be on the safe side. A couple of wipe downs with the wax and grease remover followed by the polishing would be a great choice to do.

This is also much of a guessing game as it's impossible to know what to do without getting to look at it. If you have a inspection light and can capture the dirt in the coating with pictures. But this is more about the feel of the paint to get a knowledge about how big the contaminants are. Or if the imbedded dirt and contaminants is so small that it would be safely polished off.

Sorry to hear about what you experienced when you trusted someone to do a great work on your car. But I think that you will be able to fix this. It's just a PIA to be doing so and there are some different ways of doing it.
Click to expand...

This is very helpful - THANK YOU. All of the suggestions on this thread are going to help as I dive into it this weekend. I tried one round of the discontinued Griots Garage Paint Prep as I had it on hand but nothing much came of it (as expected).
 
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