Hi folks, I recently discovered detailing and decided restore my car so I bought a bunch of stuff. My plan is to de-grease the entire car and get rid of the old wax, clay, compound, polish and lastly put a ceramic coating on my car. However, although I have done a ton of research, I still have many many questions that I would like to ask. So in no particular order:
1) Should I use Maguiar's wash plus for the initial strip wash? I have heard a lot of good things about it but I am still unsure if I should invest in a bottle of the stuff as it's quite expensive where I am from. Should I get it for the initial decontamination or is it better to just stick with the traditional way. Also, if I do use the wash+, is it possible that I can skip the claybar step as the wash+ itself has abrasives in it. I'm curious to know what you guys do when when you want to strip wash your cars.
2) How effective is a clay towel? I recently bought both a clay towel and clay bar to use on my car. I'm curious to know the kind of results that you guys are getting when using the clay towel vs a clay bar. Should I use the clay towel on the whole car or still clay bar the heavily contaminated areas. Also, I'm wondering how long a clay towel really lasts. I read online that its pretty reusable but how many times can I actually use it?
3) Has anyone tried a cheap ceramic coating before? Seeing how cheap it is, I bought a couple bottles of the 10 dollar mrfixit9H coating from alixpress. I would never use it on my more expensive cars but I am seriously considering putting 3-4 coats on my daily driver. Any one have any application tips and tricks for applying a ceramic coating?
4) Is it useful to put a layer of wax on a ceramic coated car? I have a bottle of ultimate wax and a bottle of paint protect and I'm wondering if it makes a difference at all to put these products on a ceramic coated car. From what I heard, waxes and sealants on ceramic coating does not last long at all. What do you guys think?
5) Is paint protect more of a coating or is it more like a wax/sealant? I am really confused as the way you apply it and how long it takes to cure is awfully similar to a ceramic coating. Also, does it add any kind of gloss and shine to the paint at all or is it just strictly a hydrophobic thing?
6) How do you know if you've gone too far during the Compounding/Polishing? Are there any signs at all that you can see/feel at all if you are close to burning through the clear coat? I am using ultimate compound and polish with a clover ct9000 21mm DA polisher (Cheap rupes clone).
7) How much defects can polishing remove? To save some time, I plan on only compounding the really bad areas and polishing the whole car but I am wondering if the polishing can remove any defects at all or is compounding absolutely necessary to remove swirls. How do I know if I only need to polish and not compound? On a side note, how much of the polish/compound do you go through per car and how long does a bottle usually last?
8) How do you tell pads a apart? Ok, so a friend of mine recently gave me a set of 3 pads. One cutting, one polishing and one finishing pad. The only problem is that he has no idea which one is which. He has no idea which brand they are. The only thing I know that its not a set of cheap Chinese pads. Two of the pads are foam while one looks like a microfiber/wool? One of the foam pad is orange and the other is a dark brown color. My friend swears that the one that looks like a microfiber is finishing but I am not so sure. Is there a texture visual indication of which one is which or is it impossible to tell at this point? If I post a pic is possible for you guys to determine which one is which?
9) What should I do after polishing, re-wash or IPA wipe down? After compounding/ polishing, I see some guys re-wash the car and others just IPA the whole car to remove the oils. What do you guys recommend/do prior to applying a coating/sealant? I am curious to know.
10) Do you really need to use an Iron remover? To me it seems like washing, claying, polishing and compounding would be enough but a lot of people that I see online are using some sort of iron remover. Is it really necessary?
11) spray wax confusion. I have been eyeing the 1 gallon xpress spray wax as its priced really well. What do you guys think of using it as a drying aid after maintenance washing? I also am wondering if I can use as an emergency spray detailer for removing bird poop and stuff off the car while I am out. I know meguiar's do sell a standalone detailing spray but I hate to buy 2 different products for different purposes.
So that is all the questions I have. I am really sorry for asking so many questions but I am really exited to detail my cars and some help would be amazing! Sorry for the rambling post. Its my first time posting here. Thanks guys! I appreciate the help!
P.s. If you guys have any beginners advice, be sure to let me know. Thanks again!
1) Should I use Maguiar's wash plus for the initial strip wash? I have heard a lot of good things about it but I am still unsure if I should invest in a bottle of the stuff as it's quite expensive where I am from. Should I get it for the initial decontamination or is it better to just stick with the traditional way. Also, if I do use the wash+, is it possible that I can skip the claybar step as the wash+ itself has abrasives in it. I'm curious to know what you guys do when when you want to strip wash your cars.
2) How effective is a clay towel? I recently bought both a clay towel and clay bar to use on my car. I'm curious to know the kind of results that you guys are getting when using the clay towel vs a clay bar. Should I use the clay towel on the whole car or still clay bar the heavily contaminated areas. Also, I'm wondering how long a clay towel really lasts. I read online that its pretty reusable but how many times can I actually use it?
3) Has anyone tried a cheap ceramic coating before? Seeing how cheap it is, I bought a couple bottles of the 10 dollar mrfixit9H coating from alixpress. I would never use it on my more expensive cars but I am seriously considering putting 3-4 coats on my daily driver. Any one have any application tips and tricks for applying a ceramic coating?
4) Is it useful to put a layer of wax on a ceramic coated car? I have a bottle of ultimate wax and a bottle of paint protect and I'm wondering if it makes a difference at all to put these products on a ceramic coated car. From what I heard, waxes and sealants on ceramic coating does not last long at all. What do you guys think?
5) Is paint protect more of a coating or is it more like a wax/sealant? I am really confused as the way you apply it and how long it takes to cure is awfully similar to a ceramic coating. Also, does it add any kind of gloss and shine to the paint at all or is it just strictly a hydrophobic thing?
6) How do you know if you've gone too far during the Compounding/Polishing? Are there any signs at all that you can see/feel at all if you are close to burning through the clear coat? I am using ultimate compound and polish with a clover ct9000 21mm DA polisher (Cheap rupes clone).
7) How much defects can polishing remove? To save some time, I plan on only compounding the really bad areas and polishing the whole car but I am wondering if the polishing can remove any defects at all or is compounding absolutely necessary to remove swirls. How do I know if I only need to polish and not compound? On a side note, how much of the polish/compound do you go through per car and how long does a bottle usually last?
8) How do you tell pads a apart? Ok, so a friend of mine recently gave me a set of 3 pads. One cutting, one polishing and one finishing pad. The only problem is that he has no idea which one is which. He has no idea which brand they are. The only thing I know that its not a set of cheap Chinese pads. Two of the pads are foam while one looks like a microfiber/wool? One of the foam pad is orange and the other is a dark brown color. My friend swears that the one that looks like a microfiber is finishing but I am not so sure. Is there a texture visual indication of which one is which or is it impossible to tell at this point? If I post a pic is possible for you guys to determine which one is which?
9) What should I do after polishing, re-wash or IPA wipe down? After compounding/ polishing, I see some guys re-wash the car and others just IPA the whole car to remove the oils. What do you guys recommend/do prior to applying a coating/sealant? I am curious to know.
10) Do you really need to use an Iron remover? To me it seems like washing, claying, polishing and compounding would be enough but a lot of people that I see online are using some sort of iron remover. Is it really necessary?
11) spray wax confusion. I have been eyeing the 1 gallon xpress spray wax as its priced really well. What do you guys think of using it as a drying aid after maintenance washing? I also am wondering if I can use as an emergency spray detailer for removing bird poop and stuff off the car while I am out. I know meguiar's do sell a standalone detailing spray but I hate to buy 2 different products for different purposes.
So that is all the questions I have. I am really sorry for asking so many questions but I am really exited to detail my cars and some help would be amazing! Sorry for the rambling post. Its my first time posting here. Thanks guys! I appreciate the help!
P.s. If you guys have any beginners advice, be sure to let me know. Thanks again!
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