Several Detailing Questions :)

[RocketGirl85]

Good morning fellow car detailing enthusiasts,

First and foremost, I apologize if my post is a bit long-winded. However, I am extremely interested in detailing my vehicle (which I regard as my absolute pride and joy; it is a dark red 2016 Ford Escape SE) by myself. I had a few questions:

1. I am strongly considering purchasing a foam gun for my garden hose. I typically wash my car the old-fashioned way: two-bucket method with soap and water around the entire vehicle. But I started becoming very interested in using the foaming method to help minimize the possibility of swirl marks and scratches (which I have quite a bit of, grr). I do not want to invest in a pressure washer and foam cannon. I was wondering, what do you recommend as a decent, affordable foam gun for a garden hose?

2. I am a Meguair's girl, but over time, I started warming up to Chemical Guys products. I am now thinking of jumping on the Chemical Guys bandwagon and purchasing the Honeydew Snow Foam Auto Wash (in addition to the foam gun in Question 1). Does anyone have any experience with Honeydew? If so, what results did you get?

3. I clean my wheels at least twice a month. But the amount of brake dust is absolutely killing me, LOL. What is an effective wax to apply to the wheels so that the brake dust does not adhere to them. I noticed that Chemical Guys has the Wheel Guard Max Coat Wheel and Rim Sealant. Is this a good product?

4. I have plastic trims along the sides of the vehicle, which horribly started to fade in recent weeks. I used Cover All Tire and Interior Dressing, which was great. But it left a residue on my hands when I rubbed the trims a few days later. Yuck! Any good products to suggest that can possibly yield a permanent (or at least a long-term) restoration of plastic trims? I previously tried a Mother's Trim Restorer gel, but it was horrible.

5. I have quite a few swirl marks and scratches. I am strongly considering taking my vehicle to a professional detailer to address the swirl marks (since I have been unsuccessful in removing them myself with my Griot's random orbital and Meguiar's Ultimate Polish and Compound), but what do you recommend in terms of wet sanding small scratches that go beyond the clear coat?

RG85

 

[Buster906]

Good morning fellow car detailing enthusiasts,

First and foremost, I apologize if my post is a bit long-winded. However, I am extremely interested in detailing my vehicle (which I regard as my absolute pride and joy; it is a dark red 2016 Ford Escape SE) by myself. I had a few questions:

1. I am strongly considering purchasing a foam gun for my garden hose. I typically wash my car the old-fashioned way: two-bucket method with soap and water around the entire vehicle. But I started becoming very interested in using the foaming method to help minimize the possibility of swirl marks and scratches (which I have quite a bit of, grr). I do not want to invest in a pressure washer and foam cannon. I was wondering, what do you recommend as a decent, affordable foam gun for a garden hose?

2. I am a Meguair's girl, but over time, I started warming up to Chemical Guys products. I am now thinking of jumping on the Chemical Guys bandwagon and purchasing the Honeydew Snow Foam Auto Wash (in addition to the foam gun in Question 1). Does anyone have any experience with Honeydew? If so, what results did you get?

3. I clean my wheels at least twice a month. But the amount of brake dust is absolutely killing me, LOL. What is an effective wax to apply to the wheels so that the brake dust does not adhere to them. I noticed that Chemical Guys has the Wheel Guard Max Coat Wheel and Rim Sealant. Is this a good product?

4. I have plastic trims along the sides of the vehicle, which horribly started to fade in recent weeks. I used Cover All Tire and Interior Dressing, which was great. But it left a residue on my hands when I rubbed the trims a few days later. Yuck! Any good products to suggest that can possibly yield a permanent (or at least a long-term) restoration of plastic trims? I previously tried a Mother's Trim Restorer gel, but it was horrible.

5. I have quite a few swirl marks and scratches. I am strongly considering taking my vehicle to a professional detailer to address the swirl marks (since I have been unsuccessful in removing them myself with my Griot's random orbital and Meguiar's Ultimate Polish and Compound), but what do you recommend in terms of wet sanding small scratches that go beyond the clear coat?

RG85

Welcome to the addiction. I recommend you seek the IK foamer line. Autogeek and TheRagCompany and others sell these.
You mentioned the clear coat has scratches. Consider Dr colorchip. I prefer Meguiars to Chemical Guys. I have both brands and always reach for Megs no matter the application.
For the wheels, try Dodo juice wheel wax or a Sonax wheel coating which is an aerosol.
To increase your knowledge in the world of detailing, YouTube can give you a plethora of opinions and individual product insights.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Good morning fellow car detailing enthusiasts,

First and foremost, I apologize if my post is a bit long-winded. However, I am extremely interested in detailing my vehicle (which I regard as my absolute pride and joy; it is a dark red 2016 Ford Escape SE) by myself. I had a few questions:

I detailed an Escape a year or so ago....

Review: GYEON Q2 ONE Enthusiast Ceramic Coating by Mike Phillips

1. I am strongly considering purchasing a foam gun for my garden hose. I typically wash my car the old-fashioned way: two-bucket method with soap and water around the entire vehicle. But I started becoming very interested in using the foaming method to help minimize the possibility of swirl marks and scratches (which I have quite a bit of, grr). I do not want to invest in a pressure washer and foam cannon. I was wondering, what do you recommend as a decent, affordable foam gun for a garden hose?

I like and use the 1/2 gallon model here,

Autogeek Half Gallon Foam Gun FREE BONUS!

2. I am a Meguair's girl, but over time, I started warming up to Chemical Guys products. I am now thinking of jumping on the Chemical Guys bandwagon and purchasing the Honeydew Snow Foam Auto Wash (in addition to the foam gun in Question 1). Does anyone have any experience with Honeydew? If so, what results did you get?

Most important product when it comes to car detailing are the products that use abrasive technology. Meguiar's product use great abrasive technology.

Most products like car wash soap, vinyl dressing, tire shine, waxes, glass cleaners, etc. work great from established brands. It's the abrasive technology where it either works or it doesn't.

3. I clean my wheels at least twice a month. But the amount of brake dust is absolutely killing me, LOL. What is an effective wax to apply to the wheels so that the brake dust does not adhere to them. I noticed that Chemical Guys has the Wheel Guard Max Coat Wheel and Rim Sealant. Is this a good product?

Get this, very good stuff.

Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armor, gtech wheel coatings

Note: No matter what you use, brake dust and road film will still build-up on the wheel. The difference with a ceramic coating is it will wash off easy.

4. I have plastic trims along the sides of the vehicle, which horribly started to fade in recent weeks. I used Cover All Tire and Interior Dressing, which was great. But it left a residue on my hands when I rubbed the trims a few days later. Yuck! Any good products to suggest that can possibly yield a permanent (or at least a long-term) restoration of plastic trims? I previously tried a Mother's Trim Restorer gel, but it was horrible.

Get this,

Pinnacle Black Label Ceramic Trim Restorer


Clean plastic trim really well, apply, wipe any excess off. Repeat once a year. Keep in mind, NOTHING lasts forever. The new plastic appearance from the factory didn't last forever and nothing you pour out of a bottle is going to last forever either. So find something you like and use it often. Not even you or I last forever.

5. I have quite a few swirl marks and scratches. I am strongly considering taking my vehicle to a professional detailer to address the swirl marks (since I have been unsuccessful in removing them myself with my Griot's random orbital and Meguiar's Ultimate Polish and Compound), but what do you recommend in terms of wet sanding small scratches that go beyond the clear coat?

RG85

Factory clearcoats are thinner than a Post-it Note, in my opinion, most people should not be sanding on factory paint, not even all the Facebook experts.

See my recent article here,

When to stop buffing - Or - How far should you go to remove swirls and scratches?



Also - you CAN do it yourself. My guess is you're technique just needs to be tweaked.

Watch this video, it will show you exactly how to use your GG polisher.

Then read these articles. I'd highly recommend reading the first one before starting and avoid all the common mistakes most people make when first starting out by getting [/LEFT]
HEAD KNOWLEDGE FIRST

.



DA Polisher Trouble Shooting Guide



Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation



Downward Pressure....What is "Moderate"?

--> another guy started this thread by the actual "how-to" information is something I wrote back in 2004 --> original source


How to divide larger body panels into smaller sections for machine buffing



How To Do a Test Spot






​

 

[Don M]

Look at Junkman2000 on You Tube, he doesn't seem to like OTC products (His loss IMO), but his techniques are sound.

 

[Kaban]

5. I have quite a few swirl marks and scratches. I am strongly considering taking my vehicle to a professional detailer to address the swirl marks (since I have been unsuccessful in removing them myself with my Griot's random orbital and Meguiar's Ultimate Polish and Compound), but what do you recommend in terms of wet sanding small scratches that go beyond the clear coat?

RG85

Do NOT try wetsanding stuff on your car. You can easily cause irreversible damage. If the scratch is through the clear, no amount of sanding will remove it, just get some touchup paint for those deeper ones and learn to live with it.

Since you like Meguiars, I HIGHLY recommend you get a bottle of M100 (compound) and some Lake Country orange pads and even wool pads if the swirls are severe. M100 has been a staple product at our shop since they released it years ago. Ford paint is a bit on the harder side but SUPER easy to finish down well. For the finishing stage, I recommend a white LC pad and Meguiars M205.

It's easy to get lost when product shopping. We've tried dozens of different brands of polish and compound over the years, most were sent to us as free samples. My go-to is still Meguiars M100/205 and Menzerna 85rd (I believe now it's called 3800)for the real finicky cars.

 

[Kamakaz1961]

NO WET SANDING PERIOD! Get a nice starter DA Kit. Get Mike Phillips How to book and watch his How-to videos. Another good videos to watch is Junkman2000. He makes the videos fun. But you should listen to Mike Phillips...PERIOD!

He is the Oracle of the Detailing World! You should follow their Facebook posts too! Lost of pictures (I can understand pictures...LOL) and lot's of great information too. But welcome to the detailing world. Once you get the bug, you will NEVER LOOK at a vehicle the same way EVER! You will look at how much swirls are on each vehicle!....LOL

Again, welcome to AGO!

NEO
The Matrix

 

[UncleDavy]

Welcome to the forum Rocket and we appreciate your passion for this hobby/profession/obsession. There is no need to take your car to a professional detailer nor wet sanding. Since you have a Griots DA you are on the right track. Ditch the Ultimate Compound and go with a higher quality compound and polish like Griots Correcting Cream, 3D or Menzerna. My truck is my pride and joy like your Escape and I wanted it to be free of swirl marks before I sealed it this winter. I have tried correcting it before but I was never totally happy with the results. Last week I upped my game with Meguiars microfiber cutting pads and it made all of the difference.
Watch Mike's videos, get some quality products and do the correcting yourself. The end results will be very rewarding and you will be so happy that you did it yourself.

 

[The Guz]

Mike gave you come excellent advice.

If you like Meguiar's then pick up some M110 and M210. Toss in M205 as well just in case M210 doesn't have enough correction.

If you want to take the time and effort then a wheel coating would be a good choice. For example Gyeon Rim. It will take more prep but it will make future cleanings easier.

 

[fightnews]

Ceramic brake pads cut down on the dark brown break dust from regular break pads but IDK? They still leave a sand colored dust inside the rim barrel. I guess it comes off but most of the wheel cleaners are made for iron brake particles. They don't change color with the ceramic brake dust. I've only had them for a few months so I'm still judging.

Before that I was using polish angel supersport wheel coating and that was lasting a good 6 months and super easy to apply. Id have to do the barrel every couple months at least.

 

[2wookies]

Just stay away from CG. Their social media and marketing department truly are incredible, at selling average products for too much money. The products found in the store will blow away any CG product.

Mike and the others gave you great tips to follow.

 

[ghostwrench]

3. I clean my wheels at least twice a month. But the amount of brake dust is absolutely killing me, LOL. What is an effective wax to apply to the wheels so that the brake dust does not adhere to them. I noticed that Chemical Guys has the Wheel Guard Max Coat Wheel and Rim Sealant. Is this a good product?

RG85

This is in my wheelhouse. I drive a Mini Cooper with white painted wheels. The OEM brake pads dusted my wheels like crazy so I began searching for options (besides cleaning). I decided to try low dusting brake pads and found Hawk HPS brake pads. I am very pleased with their braking feel and most importantly, they hardly dust at all. I can go a couple of weeks without washing and they don't look too bad, whereas the OEM brake pads had my wheels black after about 3 days driving.

For my car, they cost about $100 per axle but I think the benefit is worth it.

There are other low dusting brake pads available but since I have first hand experience with Hawk brake pads, that is why I name them specifically.

I also use the CG Wheel Guard Max Coat wheel wax. It's green in color and the first time I applied it on my white wheels, it stained them. I learned to apply VERY thin coats. The other cars in my care have clearcoated alloy wheels. I use it primarily for the gloss it leaves on both my painted wheels and the alloys but I guess if it helps ease my wheel cleaning regimen, that's a bonus!

 

[Kaban]

Just stay away from CG. Their social media and marketing department truly are incredible, at selling average products for too much money. The products found in the store will blow away any CG product.

Mike and the others gave you great tips to follow.

Chemical Guys is garbage. Not sure if I am allowed to post that (in case AG sells that brand).

 

[PaulMys]

Chemical Guys is garbage. Not sure if I am allowed to post that (in case AG sells that brand).

AG sells CG products.

Also, check rule #4 in the Forum rules...........