Re: New Car Prep
Mike. Would enjoy getting your opinion?
Thanks for posting this to the forum... January is my busiest month with the Stuart Boat Show, Mobile Tech Expo and my first Detailing Boot Camp Class for the year that typing time on the forum is very limited.
I have one question and wanted to get your opinion. I just bought a brand new Land Rover LR4 - silver. I am about to wash it for the first time. What steps should I take to make sure it is protected correctly (steps necessary, glaze, polish, clay, pad color, product etc.)? On the side note, I use a porter cable and have all Wolfgang and pinnacle products.
Thanks!
Here's what I would do if it were my silver Land Cruiser. The same thing I do to my wife's SLK350
After we purchased it I did the following,
Inspect the paint for above surface bonded contaminants.
First, wipe a section of paint on a horizontal panel clean with a spray detailer and do the Baggie Test. If you watch My Classic Car with Dennis Gage I've shown this twice now on his TV show.
The Baggie Test - How to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants
If the paint feels bumpy then you can do one of two things.
Decontaminate the paint when you wash the car with either a Nanoskin Wash Mitt or a Nanoskin Towel. Both will work great. I'd use the Blue or Fine Grade and do be careful as it is possible to mar the paint ANYTIME you mechanically decontaminate paint, even with detailing clay. You probably won't see it on silver but you would see it on black paint.
If you don't want to decontaminate the paint during the washing process you can always clay it after you wash and dry the paint that's personal preference. In my opinion, Nanoskin products remover a great majority of above surface bonded contaminants than claying.
Now you know if you have to mechanically decontaminate the paint or not. You need to check though because even brand new cars can be contaminated.
Chemically decontaminate the car
This is an OPTION. You don't have to do it. As I've explained multiple times on this forum Iron X is like car insurance. It's something you want to do but you actually don't want to need it. That is you want to spray your car down with Iron X but you don't want to see the bleeding effect. It's better to "ensure" the car is not contaminated with iron particles and have peace of mind versus see your car bleed like a stuck pick and then "know" it was contaminated.
Click this link and see all the steps and the order in which I did them to our silver Mercedes-Benz SLK350. This article is VERY THOROUGH and too long to simply copy and paste into this thread.
2006 Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 Show Car Makeover Pictures
You'll also see we machine polished the paint using Wolfgang products and the Porter Cable 7424XP. We were lucky in that there were very few swirls and scratches in the paint and it only required a light polishing with Wolfgang Finishing Glaze.
Test Spot
I asked Robert to do the Test Spot using Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover with a Tangerine Hydro-Tech Polishing pad on the Flex PE14.
Inspecting with a Swirl Finder Light
The results looked phenomenal but the pant looked good to start with.
Second Test Spot
I did the second Test Spot, which we should have done the first time, (my fault), only this time I used the same type of pad but went less aggressive with my product and tool. For this test spot I used a 5.5" Tangerine Hydro-Tech Flat pad on the Porter Cable 7424XP and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze.
This comb removed whatever light swirls, scratches, oxidation there was on the paint so this is the combo we used over the rest of the car. It's kind of nice to have a car where the paint isn't completely filled with deep swirls and scratches for once.
As you can see we did two test spots and found that all the paint needed was a light polishing.
Next we sealed the paint with Black Label Diamond Surface Coating.
I chose this because it was a new product and it needed to be showcased. There's no pictures of the product or us applying it in the thread because the product was not public yet but that is what we used.
Keep in mind you have to use the prep polish before applying the coating to remove any of the polishing oils left by the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze. I cover this in the write-up.
And here's how she looked....
And to this date she still looks the same and I maintain the finish with the Pinnacle Black Label Coating Detailer (to remove dust in-between normal washing), and the Pinnacle Black Label Coating Booster to maintain that just waxed or in this case, the just coated glassy look.
What I like about the Pinnacle Black Label Surface Coating is I can use it on all surfaces, so paint, glass and plastic.
Once or twice in the last year and a half I have wash the car and used the blue Nanoskin Wash Mitt on the horizontal surfaces as I felt little bumps and then re-applied the Surface Coating.
After that it's back to washing with the foam gun and the chenille microfiber wash mitt and maintaining with either the Black Label Coating Detailer or the Booster.
Incredibly easy products to use. Keeps the paint looking new and glassy and just as good makes washing the car fast and easy.
If you don't want to go that route then after machine polishing apply a coat of the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0
Hope that helps...
