Just banged out my first hand wax exterior detail

[bullfrogs_M3]

Got all of my exterior product in a few weeks ago so I decided to bang out the exterior this weekend. Damn damn damn, stuff takes a LONG time to do. Here is what I did...

-- First Day --
Wash (Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss)
Dry
Claybar (Detailed Image Fine Grain Claybar) with Dodo Juice Born Slippy Clay lube
Wash again (new bucket of wash water of course ;) )
Dry
(moved the car into the garage at this point)
Sealant (Chemical Guys Jetseal 109)

-- Second Day --
Hand wax (Dodo Juice Blue Velvet)
- Installed driver side window regulator while the wax cured a little
Microfiber towel buff on Blue Velvet wax
- Swapped out headlight lenses while the wax cured a little longer
Hand wax (Dodo Juice Purple Haze)
- Installed passenger side window regulator while the wax cured a little
Microfiber towel buff on Purple Haze
Wash wheels (P21 Wheel Cleaner)
Exterior Trim cleanup (Black WOW)

-- Pull car out of garage into the sunlight to see how she looks (and find any spots that I might of missed) --
Clean windows (Chemical Guys Window Cleaner)

Pics - yea, they suck I know. No tripod and an old Point and Shoot (note: Ignore the front bumper, i really didn't do anything to it. There is a mess of betalink where the splitters where and the bodyshop said that the only way to get it off is to strip the bumper down to the plastic, repair and respray it. Sigh.....there goes another $500-600)

http://gallery.me.com/jeremiahconnelly/100066/P1010280/web.jpg
http://gallery.me.com/jeremiahconnelly/100066/P1010283/web.jpg
http://gallery.me.com/jeremiahconnelly/100066/P1010285/web.jpg
http://gallery.me.com/jeremiahconnelly/100066/P1010286/web.jpg
http://gallery.me.com/jeremiahconnelly/100066/P1010288/web.jpg

All said and done it looks so incredible. There is a significant amount of paint correction that I need to do in a few weeks, but a guy I know who details for a living is going to work with me side by side to show me how to correctly do paint correction.

Even my neighbor came out after i had the car out in the sun and was like, "damn!! Looks better than a showroom" haha Doing this has exposed a number of scratches that I didn't even know I had :( But a little Dr Colorchip and a proper paint correction should take care of a lot of my complaints.

[spencers]

Wow, no polish step???

Looks great! New headlight lenses rock. I know how you feel about a full detail taking so long to complete. I've retired to only doing one per year

[danewilson77]

Jeremiah...what's the story with the hood roundel?

[bullfrogs_M3]

The body shop lost it during the respray. So he had to order a new one. Should be in today

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Looks great, J. I thought the roundel flew off because of you driving the car really, really fast. :biggrin

[az3579]

Looks great, J. I thought the roundel flew off because of you driving the car really, really fast. :biggrin

If the Roundel flew off from high speed, I'd be worried about BMW's build quality...

But I'm not, because it took me 15 minutes and some serious brute force to get mine out!

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Yeah. I am not worried either, BP. I was just kidding. Those roundels are definitely tough to get out.

[Ryans323i]

I think your pictures are great, and the car looks magnificent. Black is the hardest color I've ever detailed, so great work. I does take forever, but the self satisfaction you feel (and all the complements) make it worth it!

PS Is it necessary to wash after claying?

[spencers]

PS Is it necessary to wash after claying?

Yes, and usually a good idea to polish as well.

[az3579]

Yes, and usually a good idea to polish as well.

Good to know; didn't know that.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[bullfrogs_M3]

Yes, and usually a good idea to polish as well.

Yea, I knew i had to wash after the clay job but I didn't know much about polish. I used Monkey's guide/product as my step by step. He didn't have a polish step in there so I didn't do one this time. I'll have to do some research to see what polish is best for black cars. Thanks for the info.

[kayger12]

My understanding is that no matter how careful you are, claying almost always results in some micro-marring of your paint. I believe that's why polishing is recommended after claying. Some polish info below.
http://www.detailedimage.com/wax.php?id=13407&url=detailedimage.com/Auto-Detailing-Guide/Polishing/#polish

[M0nk3y]

I think your pictures are great, and the car looks magnificent. Black is the hardest color I've ever detailed, so great work. I does take forever, but the self satisfaction you feel (and all the complements) make it worth it!

PS Is it necessary to wash after claying?

If you are going to be doing any other steps besides just washing and drying..yes. It's an important step. You will always get fallout on your car from DD it or even having it sit in the garage/outside...etc.

If you wax (or anything else for that matter), and you don't clay...you will essentially be grinding fallout that is on your car into the paint, causing more swirls and damage.


Yea, I knew i had to wash after the clay job but I didn't know much about polish. I used Monkey's guide/product as my step by step. He didn't have a polish step in there so I didn't do one this time. I'll have to do some research to see what polish is best for black cars. Thanks for the info.

I'll have a Porter Cable and Rotary guide up Thursday night. I'm getting hammered with finals this week. After Thursday I'm free.

How did you like the products?


My understanding is that no matter how careful you are, claying almost always results in some micro-marring of your paint. I believe that's why polishing is recommended after claying. Some polish info below.
http://www.detailedimage.com/Auto-Detailing-Guide/Polishing/#polish

Correct. It's unavoidable.

Here is how my Z looked after Clay. You can see the micro-marring above the and to the right of the light.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g135/1nFeCt1oN/DSC_0102.jpg?t=1304368794

I can't fully polish my car yet, because it had to go back into the body shop. I was able to do a 2x2 section to make sure the micro-marring could be removed.

This with with M105/M205 and LC Cyan and Tangerine HydroPads. Operated on a Makita 9227c @ 1300 RPM.

Not to bad, right?

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g135/1nFeCt1oN/DSC_0092.jpg?t=1304368835

/jack.

Moral of this post. Micromarring is unavoidable and will be removed with light polishing

[Kudos]

If you polish after claying, do you have to wash car after claying or is polish good enough to get rid of the marring? Of course followed by wax/sealant.

[spencers]

Always wash after claying

[az3579]

(I just noticed that every time I see this thread in the "latest posts" section of the main forums, the title says "Just banged out of my first hand..."... :rofl)

[zhpnsnv]

Good to know; didn't know that.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Yea, polishing is an important step in addition to clay. Clay can't help but mess up the paint - you're rubbing an abrasive material against the clear coat, picking up crap while doing so, then rubbing that crap over the clear coat as well. If it DOESN'T micro-mar the paint, I'd wonder if you were doing it right.


My understanding is that no matter how careful you are, claying almost always results in some micro-marring of your paint. I believe that's why polishing is recommended after claying. Some polish info below.
http://www.detailedimage.com/wax.php?id=13407&url=detailedimage.com/Auto-Detailing-Guide/Polishing/#polish

Yup.

[Kudos]

I just don't see the point of washing after clay, i've always just used a quick detailer after it's dry to lube up the surface, then wipe down with microfiber.

[M0nk3y]

I just don't see the point of washing after clay, i've always just used a quick detailer after it's dry to lube up the surface, then wipe down with microfiber.

Sometimes Clay will get the dirt particles loose off of the paint, but the particles themselves may not attach themselves to the clay bar; and may still be present on the paint.

Washing will fully eliminate all dirt after clay bar

[CERF04ZHP]

Looks great. Sometimes I get jealous of people with black ZHP's who keep them clean as a whip... ;-)

[bullfrogs_M3]

Looks great. Sometimes I get jealous of people with black ZHP's who keep them clean as a whip... ;-)

It is getting there. I need to do some serious paint correction and then she'll be showroom ready. I'm getting ready to drop another $150 at Detailed Image for all the paint correction and polish products. Can't wait to work on it with a detail pro/friend who will show me how to correctly fix the swirls and issues!!!

Yes, it took FOREVER to do the hand wax, I love love LOVE the way it came out. Absolutely incredible. I have never seen my paint look as good as it does now. hahaha I won't even let the wife park her dirty X5 in the garage because I don't want my car to get messy.

M0nk3y and everyone else, what do you use on a weekly basis to keep the car looking clean? I mean, over the course of a day/week, you can get a lot of dust and I don't necessarily want to have to wash my car every weekend. I have heard of Quick Detailer, but never tried it.

[kayger12]

So far, I've been washing every weekend. :(

Droid X. Tapatalk. Use it.

[nk_zhp]

I like the "angry" ayes on the car. Never seen a red bulb before.

[M0nk3y]

To be honest; in a non-OCD way...

I wash my car every weekend. Every 2-3 Weeks I strip my wax and sealant and re-do that as well.

Quick detailer can be used; but with a week worth of crud on the paint, you're going to grind dirt and other particles into the paint.

EDIT: I'm glad you appreciate the products. I am always nervous when I suggest products that I love and other people may have other opinions on them.

[spencers]

Just give it a good wash when the dust and grime builds up. Your sealant and wax will protect.
I'm surprisingly not OCD with the general day-to-day look of my car (silver hides stuff pretty well), so I use the brake dust build-up on the wheels as the indicator of when I should wash my car.

Quick detailer is junk... Especially on a black car

[Kudos]

The quick detailer is just to lube the car to be clayed after washing and drying so i'm not claying against a dry surface, there has to be some lack of friction otherwise the clay will mar incredibly. no i don't use quick detailer to keep the car clean.

[static667]

Ok. Now I have a better idea of what I need to buy for my next detailing session. Which will probably be at the end of the summer.

[bullfrogs_M3]

I like the "angry" ayes on the car. Never seen a red bulb before.

No red bulbs. Just some red spray tint on an old set of bulbs. BOOM red bulbs. Its funny when I pull into my neighborhood if I flash my lights EVERYTHING turns red lol always get some interesting looks with that one. I just did it during my "red phase". I had red emblems and red BBS caps. Now, I just want to go back to looking as stock as possible save the BBS caps.


To be honest; in a non-OCD way...

I wash my car every weekend. Every 2-3 Weeks I strip my wax and sealant and re-do that as well.

Quick detailer can be used; but with a week worth of crud on the paint, you're going to grind dirt and other particles into the paint.

EDIT: I'm glad you appreciate the products. I am always nervous when I suggest products that I love and other people may have other opinions on them.
Thanks for the suggestions on the products. I am about to tackle the wife's X5 this weekend. Not looking forward to doing hand wax on as big a thing as that truck, but whatever. It needs it and I won't do it again until I can get the paint correction done on that as well. Here is the stuff i'll get next month for my paint correction:
DI Accessories Polishing Pal
DI Packages Headlight Restoration Advanced Kit
Chemical Guys Polishing Pad Conditioner
Lake Country 6" Backing Plate for Porter Cable 7424 - 148 mm
Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool Pad - 6.5 inch
Lake Country Orange Light Cutting Pad - 6.5 inch
Lake Country Green Very Light Cutting Pad - 6.5 inch
Meguiar's Ultra-Cut Compound M105
Lake Country Snappy Clean Pad Cleaner
Menzerna Super Finish (PO106FA Nano Polish
Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (PO83)


Ok. Now I have a better idea of what I need to buy for my next detailing session. Which will probably be at the end of the summer.

My suggestion is take a look at the products I have listed here, ask a bunch of questions to everyone here and look at/research products on Detailed Image and Detailers Domain. I did all of that for about a week before hitting the buy button at Detailed Image. It hurt to drop that much coin on product, but now that I have done it on my car, I have absolutely NO regrets on the purchase.

[M0nk3y]

I'm going to do a write-up on Porter Cable and Thursday, so wait a sec before you order.

Just looking at it quickly (and I mean quick).

Go 5.5" Pads.

M105 will replace SIP, you don't need both.
M205 will finish nicer than 106FA
You can get PO85RD if you still want a 3rd polish, you can jewel the paint them.

Ditch the wool. They don't work well on PC
Go Orange and White. Green is too light for a PC.

I'll add more details in my full guide

[spencers]

Whichever pads you decide on, you'll want 2-3 of each pad, per car you detail.

[M0nk3y]

Whichever pads you decide on, you'll want 2-3 of each pad, per car you detail.

This as well.

Personally I go through about 5-6 pads per step. But that's just me and the way I divide up the car

[kayger12]

Whichever pads you decide on, you'll want 2-3 of each pad, per car you detail.


This as well.

Personally I go through about 5-6 pads per step. But that's just me and the way I divide up the car

Good info. Was wondering how many I'd need. Thanks, gents.

[JohnnyGraphic]

5-6 pads!!! Dang! I usually use 2 of each of the polishing pads and only 1 for the wax/sealant step.

[danewilson77]

Bump.