New Ride

[jcma81]

Here is a picture of my new car.



Does any one have recomendations on what products to use on the paint. I currently have #9, DACP, #7, NXT, #26. Gennerally applied by PC. I wasn't sure about the paint hardness and which products I should use with a soft paint.

Thanks for any input.

[Vegas SRT]

I would pick up some #80 speed glaze. Also I currently like #20 followed by #16. Pick up a few bottles of QD as well very nice for dusting off the car. Nice BMW by the way!

[Vandelete]

that is sure a nice car....

[mustangless]

that looks nice 745?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New Ride

Originally posted by jcma81
Does any one have recommendations on what products to use on the paint. I currently have

• * #9
  * DACP
  * #7
  * NXT
  * #26

Generally applied by PC. I wasn't sure about the paint hardness and which products I should use with a soft paint.

Thanks for any input.

Hi jcma81,

It's really hard to get a lot of reflectivity and depth out of light colors and white paint but you can create a lot of gloss and shine. The trick to this is to keep the surface smooth as glass and polished and waxed all the time.

So if you don't have any detailing clay like Quik Clay System then you might thing about adding this to your arsenal of products.




If you haven't inspected your car's finish already, then the next time you wash and dry the car, use your clean, dry hand and feel the horizontal surfaces for little bumps on the finish, which if you find them are air-borne contaminants that have landed on the finish and bonded to it. Clay will safely remove these bonded contaminants.

Note: Even brand new cars can have bonded contaminants. If a car is parked outdoors for any length of time at all it is completely possible for air-borne contaminants to land, settle and bond to the finish.

As far as hard paint versus soft paint goes, hardness and softness varies among paint types and is relative to your point of reference. We had an excellent example of different hardness and softness of paint over the summer at a clinic for the members of Corvette Forum.

In the below pictures are two clear coated Corvettes, both of them had a single, isolated scratch in the middle of the hood. With the white Corvette, we were unable to remove the scratch by hand using ScratchX. With the red Corvette, we were able to remove the scratch with ScratchX by hand. So paint hardness, or softness can vary even among cars from the same manufacture, it depends on a lot of different factors and you simply will not know if your car's finish is hard or soft until you see what you can do with a defect by hand or machine.

CorvetteForum at Meguiar's!


We determined the first order of business was to remove the bonded contaminants by claying the car. To do this we used Meguiar's Quik Clay System.

First, a quick lesson on how to remove bonded contaminants was followed with a demonstration,



Note: Even though the finish on the Corvette looked awesome, the clay reveals another story!









Here's Chuck claying an area that is often times overlooked but usually just as in need of a claying as the rest of the car's finish.



The rear-end portion of cars often get a build-up of bonded contaminants because of the air currents swirling around behind the car introducing dirt and dust in traffic onto the finish. Oftentimes the bonded contaminants found in areas like the above will be particles worn off brake pads and even tires.









Afterwards, everyone inspected the results. If the claying process is performed properly, the finish should now feel smooth as glass.



After removing above surface defects, the next order of business is to remove below surface defects such as swirls, scratches, road stain and dirt in paint.









Afterwards, everyone inspected the results,











Sometimes, a demonstration goes really well, sometimes it doesn't. In this case, ScratchX was able to remove the fine scratches and improve the deeper scratches but it did not completely remove the deepest scratches. This is why on the back of the label it says,

If ScratchX cannot remove a scratch or blemish, only machine applied professional formulas can o the job. Please call our technical help center toll free for further assistance on how to restore your finish 1-800-347-5700

The paint on this particular Corvette appeared to be as hard as nails and to remove the scratches completely, it would require machine applied products.

Luckily, a red Corvette would soon be pulled in where we were able to remove about 99% of the scratch by hand using ScratchX.

After working on the white Corvette, we turned our attention to this beautiful red C5



While the above photo shows a beautiful Corvette, when up close and in person, it is easy to see a single, unsightly deep scratch in an arc shape going across the hood.



The above photo help to show the location of the scratch. Below are some photos showing the scratch up close. (It was hard to capture a really good photo of the scratch on red paint)





The scratch was at least 12 inches long and distracts your attention from an otherwise pristine Corvette to this one single eye-sore in the middle of the hood.


We pulled the red Corvette into the Meguiar's Garage wiped the hood down with some Quik Detailer to remove any light dust and then proceeded to remove the scratch using ScratchX and the techniques outlined in the How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX

Here's the owner working the ScratchX over the scratch.



Here's another forum member applying a second application,



After removing about 99% of the scratch, we applied a coat of Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax and then pulled the car out into the sun to inspect the results,

The scratch is gone and the finish is drop dead gorgeous!



(Note the lack of any swirls)

And here's the owner happy to be rid of the unsightly scratch!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Of the products you list that you have, you can use the cleaner/polishes to insure the surface is a smooth and defect free as possible after claying. Then you'll need to decide for yourself which wax looks better on your car's finish and you can only determine this by testing. My guess is after you clay and clean the paint, either of these two waxes will create a lot of gloss and shine on your clear coated white finish and I would probably give the edge to the NXT Tech Wax.

Mike

[jcma81]

Thanks for all the pointers and compliments.