show car preparation

[carguy]

My cars are show cars stored inside an air conditioned garage. I do try to drive them around the block every 2-3 weeks to keep the seals oiled. They are trailered to shows 5-6 times/year.

My objective is to obtain and keep the deepest polish finish on them. What products would you recommend and any application tips?

Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Re: show car preparation

Originally posted by carguy
My cars are show cars stored inside an air conditioned garage. I do try to drive them around the block every 2-3 weeks to keep the seals oiled. They are trailered to shows 5-6 times/year.

My objective is to obtain and keep the deepest polish finish on them. What products would you recommend and any application tips?

Thanks

Hi carguy,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

What condition is the paint on your show cars right now?

By that I mean, I have see a lot of show cars that have horrible looking finishes, by horrible, I mean they have swirls in the paint that is visible in bright light like sunlight and the lighting used inside of buildings used for car shows.

If you read through some of the Saturday detailing clinics we hold here on Saturdays, I take a lot of before and after photos showing swirls, and then no swirls. I use the sun to highlight the true condition of most of the cars brought to our classes.

Here's an example from the recent Miata event...





The above photo was resized to 600 pixels wide, the below photo is a 650 pixel cropped section taken from the original.



The below photo is the original resized to 600 pixels wide



The below photo is a section cropped out of the above photo at 600 pixels wide but in no other way changed to show an accurate depiction of the condition of the paint before we work on it.




Here are some photos showing how we removed the swirls from the drivers side of the hood...

Swirls in paint, before and after...










When you look at the finish on you show cars in bright light, how do they look?

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

If the finish on your show cars looks really good to start with, then I would recommend trying Meguiar's new NXT Tech Wax. This new wax leaves a very high gloss shine and helps to eliminate fine swirls and scratches. It's perfect for show cars.

Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax




Check out what one application of NXT Tech Wax did for this black Corvette... (NXT Tech Wax is on the drivers side)



Mike

[carguy]

shows cars

My show cars finish are good, but they definitely have swirls, some worse than others.

I try to use my air compressor to blow off all dust and clean them using quick detailer. I would never wash them because of the potential of water spotting hard to reach spots in the engine compartment, etc.. One of my questions is since they remain in my garage 99% of the time would I be better of using just polish on them as opposed to wax? If so, what should I use to clean paint, get rid of swirls, obtain a show car finish, and then protect it?

Thanks

carguy

[Mike Phillips]

Hi carguy,

Meguiar's makes two kinds of polishes

Cleaner/polishes - These use a diminishing abrasive to gently remove defects in the paint
Pure Polishes - for the creation of gloss and beauty

You can read more about them here,

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

To remove the swirls, the best way is to use the G-100 dual action polisher. If you read through the threads in these two forums,

Detail Classes at Meguiar's
Extreme Makeovers


you will see a lot of people using the dual action polisher and products like,,

#80 Speed Glaze



and

#83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish




With Meguiar's Meguiar's W-8006 foam polishing pad



on the G-100a



to remove swirls the easy way. After that, apply a pure polish and couple applications of wax that creates rich looking, optically clear high gloss results with a deep, wet look. For example,

Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax



Gold Class Clear Coat Car Wax



#26 Hi Tech Yellow Wax




Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Last weekend, these two people came to Meguiar's and learned how to remove swirls on the below Mercedes-Benz,

A little girl and her Grandma learning how to polish remove swirls and polish paint to a swirl-free finish just like a couple of Pros!





Turning this,



Into this!

[Mike Phillips]

If you want to do all of your work by hand, we can show you how to do this too. Check out the results we created by hand from the recent Miata event here at Meguiar's.

Up next...

The power of the hand!


We're going to take the below red dull, hazy and swirled-out Miata and give it a deep, rich, optically clear, show car shine!

Before


Original, untouched section cropped out of the original photo above


Before


Original, untouched section cropped out of the original photo above


And the results... by hand...



Oooo.... ahhh....



Before


Original, untouched section cropped out of the original photo above


After



Original, untouched section cropped out of the original photo above



In the above after photos, you can actually see the area we worked by the way the swirls and haziness begin to show up about on the drivers right side of the hood as we only worked a strip about a foot wide out from the tape line.

After






We did all the work on this Miata using,

ScratchX



Deep Crystal Polish




Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax



Mike