Hello,
After being a longtime lurker on this site I decided it was time to sign up so that in the future as I need advice and help I can get it here...
So far I have learned a ton of things reading all of the threads and articles here. I found this site 2 years ago after selling a used car that I attempted to do some paint correction on. When we originally bought that car used it was completely swirled out - it killed me to wash it and see all the swirl marks covering the entire car! Having never done any kind of correction, or having any knowledge of what that meant, I was able to use a cleaner wax and my cheap Black & Decker "polisher" get the car looking good enough to sell it to the first buyer who came to see it..
I realized I wanted to find some better tools and a few weeks later found this forum. That year for my Birthday my family bought me a foam gun, a GG 6" DA polisher and some various soaps!
We currently have 2 cars that overall are in great condition - a Acura TSX we bought used and a Nissan LEAF we bought new a couple of years ago. Normally I wash them with the 2 bucket method, a foam gun and use Aquawax during drying. This has kept both of the cars looking really good. Since we have owned the cars neither car has ever been through a car wash or had the dealer wash them...
Last weekend I attempted my first full paint improvement/correction on the Acura and it turned out great for my first try. I dodged a few rain showers and finally had to move the car back in the garage to finish it.
Here are the steps I took and a few things I learned:
1. Detailed the engine compartment for the first time! Kind of fun.
2. Foamed car & let it dwell (simple hose mounted foam gun), then rinsed it off
3. Dried car with leaf blower
4. Sprayed it with Iron Remover (not much purple showed up - mostly on the wheels which I had done a month or two previously)
5. Foamed car again and rinsed it off
6. Did a simple single bucket wash using ONR and a wash mitt
7. Dried the car
8. Used a Nanoskin clay sponge on entire car
9. Used my GG 6" DA with a 6" orange pad and HD Speed.
10. Went back over the car with a good towel and a few sprays of Aquawax to clean up any leftover polish
This entire process took me a good 8 hours and the car looks great, is super slick, and has no contamination I can feel anymore. The finish is now slightly darker (Glacier Blue Metallic). In the sun, or with a super bright LED flashlight, I don't see any swirls of any kind. I was able to get rid of some minor scratches and a few other issues. I did learn that I need a bunch more polishing pads as using only one it quickly filled up and I needed to stop and clean it and get it dry and workable again which took some extra time!
Anyway, I have lots to learn, and am looking forward to using this site a bit more and keeping our cars looking great without getting to far down the rabbit hole!
I have some new pads and a few new liquids to try on order and will try those out on our LEAF in the next few weeks...
After being a longtime lurker on this site I decided it was time to sign up so that in the future as I need advice and help I can get it here...
So far I have learned a ton of things reading all of the threads and articles here. I found this site 2 years ago after selling a used car that I attempted to do some paint correction on. When we originally bought that car used it was completely swirled out - it killed me to wash it and see all the swirl marks covering the entire car! Having never done any kind of correction, or having any knowledge of what that meant, I was able to use a cleaner wax and my cheap Black & Decker "polisher" get the car looking good enough to sell it to the first buyer who came to see it..
I realized I wanted to find some better tools and a few weeks later found this forum. That year for my Birthday my family bought me a foam gun, a GG 6" DA polisher and some various soaps!
We currently have 2 cars that overall are in great condition - a Acura TSX we bought used and a Nissan LEAF we bought new a couple of years ago. Normally I wash them with the 2 bucket method, a foam gun and use Aquawax during drying. This has kept both of the cars looking really good. Since we have owned the cars neither car has ever been through a car wash or had the dealer wash them...
Last weekend I attempted my first full paint improvement/correction on the Acura and it turned out great for my first try. I dodged a few rain showers and finally had to move the car back in the garage to finish it.
Here are the steps I took and a few things I learned:
1. Detailed the engine compartment for the first time! Kind of fun.
2. Foamed car & let it dwell (simple hose mounted foam gun), then rinsed it off
3. Dried car with leaf blower
4. Sprayed it with Iron Remover (not much purple showed up - mostly on the wheels which I had done a month or two previously)
5. Foamed car again and rinsed it off
6. Did a simple single bucket wash using ONR and a wash mitt
7. Dried the car
8. Used a Nanoskin clay sponge on entire car
9. Used my GG 6" DA with a 6" orange pad and HD Speed.
10. Went back over the car with a good towel and a few sprays of Aquawax to clean up any leftover polish
This entire process took me a good 8 hours and the car looks great, is super slick, and has no contamination I can feel anymore. The finish is now slightly darker (Glacier Blue Metallic). In the sun, or with a super bright LED flashlight, I don't see any swirls of any kind. I was able to get rid of some minor scratches and a few other issues. I did learn that I need a bunch more polishing pads as using only one it quickly filled up and I needed to stop and clean it and get it dry and workable again which took some extra time!
Anyway, I have lots to learn, and am looking forward to using this site a bit more and keeping our cars looking great without getting to far down the rabbit hole!
I have some new pads and a few new liquids to try on order and will try those out on our LEAF in the next few weeks...
