Hi all,
Just wanted to get on here and say how much I appreciate this community. I've been scanning the threads for weeks now, a couple hours at a time sometimes, and i decided it was time to attempt to detail my car. I wasn't going to post because I don't think I did a great job, just an OK job. Not quite up to my usual standards. But then i thought it might help others who are just starting out to see how much fun polishing can be.
It all started with my tax returns. I never really cared about my Sonata the way I cared for my prior vehicles. I thought of it as a beater and a grocery-getter that could fit the wife and 2 kids comfortably if need be. So with my tax returns, i bought new wheels and lowering springs. It changed the look of the car drastically and I instantly started falling in love with my car. So i decided to try to make it look shiny and new again, that led my here.
I first bought the griot's 6" rop and some polishes. Then a buddy of mine at work offered up his B4000 hood as a sacrifice for practice. He had severe clear coat failure and didn't care whatsoever if i messed it up. That's where the fun began...
BEFORE:
I didn't take many pictures because the goal wasn't to make a post about what i did. I just wanted a comparison. But in the second picture you can tell just how bad it was. The clear coat was AWFUL!!! It looked worse than the bare paint underneath. It was very hazy and had tons of oxidation.
So what i did was wet sand the edges of the clear coat to try to smooth the transition from clearcoat to no clearcoat and then went to town with Ultimate compound and my Griot's DA. I did about 6-8 passes with the ultimate compound with a megs red cutting pad, cleaned the pad and then about 5 more passes. Then I started with Griot's machine polish 3. I did about 12 passes with that on a Griot's orange polish pad, basically 6 passes on the left side of the hood, then 6 on the right side, clean the pad, then repeat. After that i used Megs show car glaze on the bare paint, then topped the entire hood off with Mother's synthetic wax applied with Griot's white pad on my DA. I did the work when it was starting to get dark so the pictures aren't the greatest, but you can get the idea. Also, the pics are taken with a cell phone. I don't own a dedicated camera. Here are the results:
AFTER:
You can't even see the line where the clear coat ended in the pics from these angles. However, the next day it rained pretty heavily and the line was definitely noticeable again, although a LOT!! better looking than before.
So now that i had a little more confidence, i decided to try my daily driver out. It has been poorly maintained by me. It is 3 years old and had never seen wax in it's life, but has seen plenty of swirl-o-matic sandpaper carwashes. Once again i don't have many pictures because this post wasn't planned.
BEFORE:
Even from a distance of about 15 feet, you can see the swirls and RIDS all over. Especially by the door handle, which is weird because that door is almost never used.
I start by washing with Zymol soap, I just picked it because it smells amazing. I'm not picky about carwash soap. Then i clayed using a Zaino clay bar that i had left over, still wrapped, from my previous car ( which i had to throw away after this car). Then the fun began, i started polishing with griot's machine polish 3 and griot's orange pad. I tried to keep it to about 6 passes per 2x2 section. Once i finished the whole car, i wiped it down with a clean dry woobie MF towel, which i love!! for a finishing towel. Then i applied Mothers reflections car wax. As a side note, i did not clean the wheels or wheel wells, so yes i know they look crappy. And also, it was getting cloudy by this point, so some of the pictures look a little dull
AFTER:
The picture of the hood still has a little bit of "Reflections" on it near the windshield on the driver's side. I just wanted to take a quick pic while the sun popped out for a couple seconds.
While i am generally content with the outcome, i still think i could have done a lot better. I've learned a lot more about detailing since my attempt at polishing my car, like for instance.... Don't let your last step be a polish with an orange pad before waxing. lol. Hopefully my next go-round will be more knowledgeable and I will be more excited with the outcome.
And lastly, I ordered a tub of P21s 100% pure carnauba wax and it came in the next day. Here is what my car looked like with the P21s applied. These pics are really grainy because it was twilight when i took them and i guess my phone's camera doesn't like poor lighting.
P21s:
Hood:
Passenger Door:
Well, thanks for reading. I know it was long. Any advice or criticisms are welcome. And once again thanks to everyone on here for keeping the site going with all kinds of good information!!!
Just wanted to get on here and say how much I appreciate this community. I've been scanning the threads for weeks now, a couple hours at a time sometimes, and i decided it was time to attempt to detail my car. I wasn't going to post because I don't think I did a great job, just an OK job. Not quite up to my usual standards. But then i thought it might help others who are just starting out to see how much fun polishing can be.
It all started with my tax returns. I never really cared about my Sonata the way I cared for my prior vehicles. I thought of it as a beater and a grocery-getter that could fit the wife and 2 kids comfortably if need be. So with my tax returns, i bought new wheels and lowering springs. It changed the look of the car drastically and I instantly started falling in love with my car. So i decided to try to make it look shiny and new again, that led my here.
I first bought the griot's 6" rop and some polishes. Then a buddy of mine at work offered up his B4000 hood as a sacrifice for practice. He had severe clear coat failure and didn't care whatsoever if i messed it up. That's where the fun began...
BEFORE:
I didn't take many pictures because the goal wasn't to make a post about what i did. I just wanted a comparison. But in the second picture you can tell just how bad it was. The clear coat was AWFUL!!! It looked worse than the bare paint underneath. It was very hazy and had tons of oxidation.
So what i did was wet sand the edges of the clear coat to try to smooth the transition from clearcoat to no clearcoat and then went to town with Ultimate compound and my Griot's DA. I did about 6-8 passes with the ultimate compound with a megs red cutting pad, cleaned the pad and then about 5 more passes. Then I started with Griot's machine polish 3. I did about 12 passes with that on a Griot's orange polish pad, basically 6 passes on the left side of the hood, then 6 on the right side, clean the pad, then repeat. After that i used Megs show car glaze on the bare paint, then topped the entire hood off with Mother's synthetic wax applied with Griot's white pad on my DA. I did the work when it was starting to get dark so the pictures aren't the greatest, but you can get the idea. Also, the pics are taken with a cell phone. I don't own a dedicated camera. Here are the results:
AFTER:
You can't even see the line where the clear coat ended in the pics from these angles. However, the next day it rained pretty heavily and the line was definitely noticeable again, although a LOT!! better looking than before.
So now that i had a little more confidence, i decided to try my daily driver out. It has been poorly maintained by me. It is 3 years old and had never seen wax in it's life, but has seen plenty of swirl-o-matic sandpaper carwashes. Once again i don't have many pictures because this post wasn't planned.
BEFORE:
Even from a distance of about 15 feet, you can see the swirls and RIDS all over. Especially by the door handle, which is weird because that door is almost never used.
I start by washing with Zymol soap, I just picked it because it smells amazing. I'm not picky about carwash soap. Then i clayed using a Zaino clay bar that i had left over, still wrapped, from my previous car ( which i had to throw away after this car). Then the fun began, i started polishing with griot's machine polish 3 and griot's orange pad. I tried to keep it to about 6 passes per 2x2 section. Once i finished the whole car, i wiped it down with a clean dry woobie MF towel, which i love!! for a finishing towel. Then i applied Mothers reflections car wax. As a side note, i did not clean the wheels or wheel wells, so yes i know they look crappy. And also, it was getting cloudy by this point, so some of the pictures look a little dull
AFTER:
The picture of the hood still has a little bit of "Reflections" on it near the windshield on the driver's side. I just wanted to take a quick pic while the sun popped out for a couple seconds.
While i am generally content with the outcome, i still think i could have done a lot better. I've learned a lot more about detailing since my attempt at polishing my car, like for instance.... Don't let your last step be a polish with an orange pad before waxing. lol. Hopefully my next go-round will be more knowledgeable and I will be more excited with the outcome.
And lastly, I ordered a tub of P21s 100% pure carnauba wax and it came in the next day. Here is what my car looked like with the P21s applied. These pics are really grainy because it was twilight when i took them and i guess my phone's camera doesn't like poor lighting.
P21s:
Hood:
Passenger Door:
Well, thanks for reading. I know it was long. Any advice or criticisms are welcome. And once again thanks to everyone on here for keeping the site going with all kinds of good information!!!
. Cars look good.
rops:
