Long Term Car Care

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11Silverado

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Does anyone have a vehicle that have kept for a long time or plan to? How do you deal with swirls and scratches that inevitably happen? There is only so much clear coat and you can't polish over a really long time without running the risk of clear coat failure. What do you do to take care of your paint?
 
You can only do the best you can do. The first thing is to minimize the "swirls and scratches that inevitably happen" by learning and using good wash techniques (which is where most of the damage happens).

Then you want to use the least aggressive methods on swirl correction, and ideally use a coating to provide the most protection for your paint. Of course, don't forget your trim and headlights, which will also need car to survive long-term (trim especially).
 
I already use a 2 bucket method and dry with a master blaster. I'm always trying to improve my technique. I've thought about doing a proper correction and coating, but I want this truck to last a long time due to sentimental reasons and I need to preserve clear coat. However, since finding this forum I've wanted swirl free paint so I'm torn on the best option. Live with it or try to fix it.
 
Attached is the pic of my 15 year old VW daily driver. After a major correction polish session, it's all about being in maintenance mode so to speak. More specifically i've gotten into the habit of using AIO when needed, and wash with care/good products - which is key. Use a good soap, good wash mit, good drying microfibers etc.

I also make a habit to use detail spray and spray waxes in between paste applications. Part of the enjoyment of it is trying to keep your daily driver as nice as you can.

ScottH
 
I believe the majority of my swirls were from improper washing technique for the first couple years of ownership. I think I'll get a paint thickness gauge to have a general idea of what I'm working with. Your car looks great ScottH! I'm just curious if performing a correction once and using proper wash techniques and protection will be enough for the life of the truck.
 
11Silverado said:
I've thought about doing a proper correction and coating, but I want this truck to last a long time due to sentimental reasons and I need to preserve clear coat. However, since finding this forum I've wanted swirl free paint so I'm torn on the best option. Live with it or try to fix it.
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A light polishing isn't going to remove much clear. Arguably you would replace (some of) that thickness with a good coating.
 
Paint correction to perfection, then a coating such as cquartz, gloss coat, or others not mentioned on this forum, then proper wash methods and correct/recoat every 2 years.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
A light polishing isn't going to remove much clear. Arguably you would replace (some of) that thickness with a good coating.
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So when polishing after the life of a coating I'd be removing mostly the coating and very little clear coat?
 
FinishingTouchA said:
Paint correction to perfection, then a coating such as cquartz, gloss coat, or others not mentioned on this forum, then proper wash methods and correct/recoat every 2 years.
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Would you say this would not remove much clear coat after each correction and recoat? I'm interested in trying the Wolfgang coating.
 
11Silverado said:
Would you say this would not remove much clear coat after each correction and recoat? I'm interested in trying the Wolfgang coating.
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This would be dependent on the level of care taken while washing and the amount of risks you take on a daily basis. Here at AG some of us might consider parking at a Walmart parking lot extremely risky haha. If you can make it 2 years without incurring more damage than can be fixed with M205 on a white or black Hybrid pad then you are hardly removing any more than the coating. I've heard good things about the scratch resistance of the WG coating so that's what I would suggest if you're not looking to go to a professional only coating.
 
I take as much care as I can washing using a foam cannon and everything. I park away from cars and it doesn't get driven much, it's a 2011 with 21.5k miles. I appreciate the response and I should be able to have a better understand of how much clear coat is removed when I get a thickness gauge.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I think they do but that would be pretty useless for the OP who's trying to see how many microns he's removing.
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I can understand that for one correction but wouldn't you think it would help with the long term ownership of the vehicle or just not accurate enough?
 
I just don't think the magnetic ones have the accuracy or the resolution to determine how much clear you're removing. Heck, even the eddy-current ones have a hard time giving repeatable readings.

From the OP's perspective, he doesn't want to jeopardize his clear...which means if it's factory he has maybe 2 mils, and he doesn't want to remove more than 0.5 mils over the life of the vehicle...I'm guessing that magnetic gage doesn't have a resolution of greater than 1 mil...so he's going to want to use the full resolution of a gage like the HighLine, which IIRC is 0.2 mils.
 
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