Detail tomorrow - need advice!

[JLTSX07]

Hello,

Well, I'm going to detail my mom's 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe for her. It's silver and currently has 25k miles. Anyway, the paint looks to be in great shape. I honestly don't see any swirls/scratches. I know that silver's hard to detect imperfections, but so far it appears to be ok. So, here's my method to detailing it - any thoughts/advice would be great!

1. Wash with Optimum No Rinse
2. Clay with Megs Smooth Clay Kit
3. I'm not sure what to do here. I don't visually see and swirls/scratches. The paint appears to be shinny, even with no polish/wax of any kind currently on it. I do own a G-100, which I plan on using. I also have a lot of polishes including, M80, M83, Swirl-X, Paint cleaner from my smooth clay kit, etc. Should I skip this step and go righ to applying a sealant? I was going to use Fourstar Ultimate Paint Protection. I was then thinking about applying some Megs #26 (liquid).

Will the #26 make a bright silver car look better? Or is this primarily for darker colored cars? Also, will I achieve a better end result applying the #26 with my G-100 and a W9006 finishing pad vs. by hand?

Any thoughts would be great!

Thanks,

Jeff

P.s. How long do I have to wait between the sealant and the #M26?

[Murr1525]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

If it has never been detailed, there is probably some dirt on the paint. So something like #80, or a cleaner/wax would be fine.

The cleaner/wax would save you a step.

Might just have to do a test spot, and see which wax you like better. I think I get a nicer shine removing the wax by machine, but that might just be me.

As far as how long in between, at least 15 minutes would be nice. 12-24 hours is absolute best.

[Tuck91]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

Wash
Clay
ColorX or SwirlX are easy to use
M26

M26 will work fine on all cars, but it tends to make your paint look more dark and more rich in color.

If you use the G100 to apply your choice of wax then you simply make it faster and easier to apply a thin coat.

You can wait at least 12 hours in bewtween applying your choice of wax, but if your pressed for time then do them one right after the other

hope this helps.

[JLTSX07]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

So, Swirl-X would be better than M80? I do have 2 bottles of Swirl X. I think I'll give that a shot with the W8006 pad... SOund good?

Also, the Santa Fe has the plastic on the bottom of the doors... What's a good product to shine that up?

[Tuck91]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

So, Swirl-X would be better than M80? I do have 2 bottles of Swirl X. I think I'll give that a shot with the W8006 pad... SOund good?

Also, the Santa Fe has the plastic on the bottom of the doors... What's a good product to shine that up?

SwirlX is more aggressive than M80 and utilizes SMAT and M80 uses Diminishing abrsives. M80 is less agressive, so start with that first and see if that gives the results your looking for. If not, then i suppose you could try SwirlX.

For Black plastic trim: ASD or M40 work perfectly.

[JLTSX07]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

Also, I'm still using the old soft buff 1.0 pads. What is the BEST way to clean them after I'm done using them completely?

Lastly, what's the best way to clean them on the fly? I was doing some searching, but finding threads from 2 years ago. Is there a new way of doing it?

Do I want to spray Megs Qwik detailer onto the pad before applying some product each application?

[akimel]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

Any of your choices--M80, SwirlX, Cleaner Wax--would probably be good. As Mat notes, Cleaner Wax would save you a step or two--not only will it clean your paint but it will provide a layer of protection. You could then top it with your Fourstar Ultimate Paint Protection, about which I have read good things, and call it a day.

But if you want to do some mild abrasive polishing, I personally would go with the SwirlX, polishing pad, and four passes (2 up/down, 2 right/left) per section. Polishing with the SwirlX will go a bit more quickly than polishing with the M80. Given that the car's paint appears to be in good condition, your goal is not to remove swirls and scratches but simply to clean the paint. I'd do a test spot and see how it looks. After the SwirlX, you could then apply a coat of the UPP and top it either with a second coat of UPP or a coat of M26. With a silver car I would probably go for the second coat of UPP, but it probably doesn't matter. I'm sure the car will look great regardless.

Have fun and good luck!

Al

[tguil]

Re: Detail tomorrow - need advice!

I did a quick detail on my daughter's silver Tacoma last weekend. It appeared to have no swirls so I used ColorX. Because I didn't have a lot of time, I didn't clay it. I used a polishing pad to apply the ColorX and worked it like a polish. It turned out great and I could have stopped there. However, I did apply a coat of NXT the next day. If you are pressed for time think about using ColorX. It looks great on silver (or any other color).

Tom