Today was my first real detail and I think it didn't go as smooth as I expected. Where to start? First, it seemed to take forever just to clay the vehicle. It was so contaminated that the claying water was turning yellow. Is that normal? Second, I think I was putting too much pressure against my pad (megs DA MF) that I melted the pad onto the backing plate. I tried to work it as was but that didn't do so well. Luckily I live near a auto detail store and just picked up another. I might have been working too fast because I saw a lot of RIDS when done. Maybe I was being too hard on myself... Is there any advice from you all that can help stream line my next detail? The car was a 2009 Nissan Altima with white metallic paint. I did one to two passes depending on the panel with D300 and MF DA pads and sealed with Coll 845. Thanks for reading, sorry no pics.
First real detail and what a headache!
- Thread starter cruzncali
- Start date
weavers
New member
- May 4, 2010
- 354
- 0
don't beat yourself up. it takes at least 5 details to have a grasp on detailing, another 10-15 to feel competent, and many many more to master it. its gonna take a good 10-15hours of using the DA to feel really comfortable and get good results. few people get professional results the first time. watch mikes videos and try again. in time you will be able to detail quicker, expect the first five or so to take some 15hours per car.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70g83mnTn4]How to do a "Section Pass" with a Porter Cable 7424XP - YouTube[/video]
Sometimes after claying you need to wash the car all over again. I prefer ONR. the other option is to do an IPA wipe down. rubbing alcohol and water(i use 1:1 or you can dilute it more. neglected paint always takes forever to clay. expect 20-60mins, maybe more. remember use lots of lube, light pressure, and very fast passes, up down, left and right.
with a DA work in small sections 12"x12" do a test spot. always always do a test spot. try different pads, different products, different amount of preasure and different number of passes. I have a groit DA, most daily drivers i do need m105/meg ultimate compound with orange pad speed 5 with 4-6passes. the follow up with white lake country pad with m105/ultimate polish. i like hydro pads and surbuff pads. i do a few small sections, determined what works best and then do the whole car. nothing is worst than doing the whole car, then checking results and being disappointed. you need more passes for sure, compound won't even start to break down till 4 passes.
on your backing plate use a sharpie and mark it. sometimes if you use to much pressure it bogs the machine down and the pads won't spin. so make thick line so you can see it spinning with a black sharpie.
i love collnite 845, wonderful wax.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70g83mnTn4]How to do a "Section Pass" with a Porter Cable 7424XP - YouTube[/video]
Sometimes after claying you need to wash the car all over again. I prefer ONR. the other option is to do an IPA wipe down. rubbing alcohol and water(i use 1:1 or you can dilute it more. neglected paint always takes forever to clay. expect 20-60mins, maybe more. remember use lots of lube, light pressure, and very fast passes, up down, left and right.
with a DA work in small sections 12"x12" do a test spot. always always do a test spot. try different pads, different products, different amount of preasure and different number of passes. I have a groit DA, most daily drivers i do need m105/meg ultimate compound with orange pad speed 5 with 4-6passes. the follow up with white lake country pad with m105/ultimate polish. i like hydro pads and surbuff pads. i do a few small sections, determined what works best and then do the whole car. nothing is worst than doing the whole car, then checking results and being disappointed. you need more passes for sure, compound won't even start to break down till 4 passes.
on your backing plate use a sharpie and mark it. sometimes if you use to much pressure it bogs the machine down and the pads won't spin. so make thick line so you can see it spinning with a black sharpie.
i love collnite 845, wonderful wax.
You should do yourself a favor and get a little bit of Iron-X for next time. It honestly makes claying a piece of pie. For me, as I own a lighter colored vehicle, it was always the iron particles that were the biggest ##### to clay-out. Iron X does that for you in minutes.
Secondly, I'm not sure how you created RIDS with a MF pad? If the polish/pad combo was too aggressive you would have created buffer swirls which need to be polished out with a finer polish.
Secondly, I'm not sure how you created RIDS with a MF pad? If the polish/pad combo was too aggressive you would have created buffer swirls which need to be polished out with a finer polish.
ryance39
New member
- Aug 8, 2011
- 95
- 0
You'll never forget your first time... Haha, but seriously you'll learn something every detail for.. Well forever. Never stop learning, don't be too hard on yourself but learn from your mistakes, a big help in your situation would be to practice practice practice and come up a routine/process and stick to it.