Cquartz UK Questions

Boejoula

Boejoula

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Ok, so I'm planning to coat mine and the fiances car. I will be doing hers first as mine is in the body shop right now and will have to wait for paint to fully cure on the bumper. My plan of attack will be the same for both cars. They are both Honda Accords, a year and a half old. My sedan is silver while her coupe is white.

The Plan
1. Clean wheels and tires.
2. Wash using CG Honeydew and foam gun using the Gentle Approach.
3. Spray again with the Honeydew and clay.
4. Quickly rinse, dry, and spray with Iron-X then power wash it off and completely dry the vehicle.
5. Orange Hybrid pad with FG400 (3401).
6. White Hybrid pad with SF3500 (3401).
7. CarPro Eraser.
8. Black Hybrid with CarPro Essence (3401).
9. 2 coats of CQuartz UK.
10. Admire.

As for the questions; would you change anything? Does the Essence need to be wiped of before applying CQuartz UK? Will the 4 supplied suede microfibers be enough (per car)? Am I missing anything? What do I need to clean the suede rags with to be able to reuse them?

I'm sure I will have more questions as these get answered. Thank you in advanced!!Feed back please
 
How is the condition of the paint?

The only thing I'd change is to re-evaluate to see if you even need Orange Hybrid with FG400. That's a pretty aggressive method, especially on a Honda (known for soft paint). I'd suggest go with the White Hybrid and SF3500 or CarPro Essense with White Hybrid first to see how it looks. There's no need to use both SF3500 and CarPro Essence. Pick one or the other. The idea is to go with the least aggressive method first. No need to take off more clear coat than needed.

If you end up using SF3500 then you'll need to use eraser before applying CQuartz UK. If you use CarPro Essence then I believe you don't need to use Eraser (but you need to wipe it off before applying CQuartz UK). I have not use Essence yet and going based on what I'm reading from others on the forums.
 
I think your making it harder than it needs to be.

Give CarPro Essense a try and see how it looks. The nice thing about essence is you can go right to applying CQUK.

Iff Essence isn't enough then go more aggressive. But I think you will find Essence correcting & filling a lot of imperfections.
 
I would wash, ironx, rinse, clay, re wash (I would prefer to use reset or Meg's 114 as they leave nothing behind) and go straight to a test spot with essence.
 
apthai said:
How is the condition of the paint?

The only thing I'd change is to re-evaluate to see if you even need Orange Hybrid with FG400. That's a pretty aggressive method, especially on a Honda (known for soft paint). I'd suggest go with the White Hybrid and SF3500 or CarPro Essense with White Hybrid first to see how it looks. There's no need to use both SF3500 and CarPro Essence. Pick one or the other. The idea is to go with the least aggressive method first. No need to take off more clear coat than needed.

If you end up using SF3500 then you'll need to use eraser before applying CQuartz UK. If you use CarPro Essence then I believe you don't need to use Eraser (but you need to wipe it off before applying CQuartz UK). I have not use Essence yet and going based on what I'm reading from others on the forums.
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Ebg18t said:
I think your making it harder than it needs to be.

Give CarPro Essense a try and see how it looks. The nice thing about essence is you can go right to applying CQUK.

Iff Essence isn't enough then go more aggressive. But I think you will find Essence correcting & filling a lot of imperfections.
Click to expand...

Only reason I was planning on FG400 and orange is because I want to make sure paint is as good as can be before coating. Paints are in pretty good shape as we both take good care of the cars. I have been detailing for some years now at a shop and only hand wash my car there. We use the same methods on every car and I've become pretty inimpressed with it. So I'm looking to expand my knowledge with more/better chemicals so I can go out on my own. Figured I would learn on my own cars.
 
Joe, I agree with the others. Your laid out plan looks great with the exception of the first compounding step.

I know you want to get everything perfect and I feel that SF4000 on the white Hybrid pad driven by the 3401 at speed 5 will have the cutting power to clean up the paint while finishing out LSP ready. Start off with this as a test spot.

Combine that with the CarPro Essence on the black Hybrid and it will further refine the finish while preparing the paint for UK.
 
Your simple attack to this project will be fine ,you will get so many opinions on here so go what you have ,and don't bother washing the app suede cloths they will harden ,maybe just buy enough of them next time as far as eraser it's up to you they say it's coating ready after essence.my personal approach doing all the prep work I would use eraser and let it gas out for 30 min before applying cq.merry Christmas
 
I will do some test spots and figure the least aggressive approach. This will be the first time using Menzerna and LC pads.
 
GSKR said:
Your simple attack to this project will be fine ,you will get so many opinions on here so go what you have ,and don't bother washing the app suede cloths they will harden ,maybe just buy enough of them next time as far as eraser it's up to you they say it's coating ready after essence.my personal approach doing all the prep work I would use eraser and let it gas out for 30 min before applying cq.merry Christmas
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Are you certain that the use of Eraser on freshly applied Essence is a good idea.

Would it be better to let it cure for a few hours?

Why do you believe a wipedown is beneficial between Essence & CQuartz?
 
AGOatemywallet said:
Are you certain that the use of Eraser on freshly applied Essence is a good idea.

Would it be better to let it cure for a few hours?

Why do you believe a wipedown is beneficial between Essence & CQuartz?
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I believe, from my reading, that it would better to use eraser before essence.
 
Boejoula said:
Only reason I was planning on FG400 and orange is because I want to make sure paint is as good as can be before coating. Paints are in pretty good shape as we both take good care of the cars. I have been detailing for some years now at a shop and only hand wash my car there. We use the same methods on every car and I've become pretty inimpressed with it. So I'm looking to expand my knowledge with more/better chemicals so I can go out on my own. Figured I would learn on my own cars.
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I maybe would skip the essence period.just polish then erase then coat.keep it simple essence is not gonna give you dramatic results for a extra hour of polishing .
 
Boejoula said:
I believe, from my reading, that it would better to use eraser before essence.
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My personal opinion would be to get the paint flawless as you can skip the essence ,for a hour of polishing with essence to me is not worth it.Dont overthink the process keep it simple and it will turn out great you won't know the difference if you used essence or not.
 
The colors being light you may not see a beneficial improvement with essence.
 
GSKR said:
I maybe would skip the essence period.just polish then erase then coat.keep it simple essence is not gonna give you dramatic results for a extra hour of polishing .
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Why are you indicating "a extra hour of polishing"?

I went M100, Essence, CQUK and got great results

Essence is designed to BE the polishing step and eliminate the need for an IPA/Eraser wipedown

It should actually SAVE a lot of time
 
GSKR said:
I maybe would skip the essence period.just polish then erase then coat.keep it simple essence is not gonna give you dramatic results for a extra hour of polishing .
Click to expand...

It maybe he can skip the polishing and Eraser..use Essence (1 step) and go straight to CQuartz.

Depending on the condition of his paint, this would be the fastest step. I did this on my Altima last week and it was quick and easy.

The one thing I found is that Essence did not hide as well as I thought it would. However, the wipe down was a dream..nice and smooth.

Went straight to CQuartz without a hitch.

One more thing, IMO the beading was as tight if not tighter than SPNS.:props:
 
Rsurfer said:
It maybe he can skip the polishing and Eraser..use Essence (1 step) and go straight to CQuartz.

Depending on the condition of his paint, this would be the fastest step. I did this on my Altima last week and it was quick and easy.

The one thing I found is that Essence did not hide as well as I thought it would. However, the wipe down was a dream..nice and smooth.

Went straight to CQuartz without a hitch.

One more thing, IMO the beading was as tight if not tighter than SPNS.:props:
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There's a lot of misconception about this product,I've seen guys use it after a 15 hr correction,I've seen it used alone.I tried the product to me it's a good product for a 1 year old car that needs to be amped up a little on a Sunday afternoon so once and done.I tried it on 14 350 z with results from 1 to 10 it gave me a 6 it's not a alien product from Mars .Its supposed to be a aio with fillers and some sort of protective barriers if you wish not to coat.so there is all sorts of method in using this product but I rarely see it being used as a stand alone.so ending conversation would be to use it on a stand alone situation .everyone uses it how they wish to.
 
AGOatemywallet said:
Where did you read that a wipedown prior to Essence was suggested?
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I didn't see it suggested. I was referring the the previous question where you asked about wiping down after essence.

I was thinking that after the compound and polishing step I would clean the paint from any/all oils and then stick to the CarPro stuff, Essence/UK.
 
Neither car may need a full FG400, they are both in fairly good shape but they are both personal cars. The wife's (fiancé was an old habit) goes through the automated so hers might be slightly worse than mine. The goal here is to not ably have 2 flawless cars to show as my work but to get used to new products I have never used. I am opening a detailing business in the spring and want to get used to these products and the coating process as well as have two cars to show as my work.

Thus, I figured the FG400 would provide an even cut across the whole car, taking almost any imperfections out. Then polish with SF4000 to get a really good shine. Eraser to get those oils off and Essence to sort of prep for the UK. I see where Essense could be pointless here but it's of a "let me see how it works" step for experience with the product while still drying to achieve the best look.

This job is not about how much money I can off it. It's more of an investment... How much money can this job bring me. I figured having a really glossy, clean, coated, and protected car will catch people's eye more.
 
GSKR said:
My personal opinion would be to get the paint flawless as you can skip the essence ,for a hour of polishing with essence to me is not worth it.Dont overthink the process keep it simple and it will turn out great you won't know the difference if you used essence or not.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought I read somewhere that the essence is used as an AIO with a good sealant but also as a primer for a coating. So wouldn't this be good for getting the paint flawless if using it as a glaze?
 
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