Newbie Questions

[Wornslick]

Just bought the wife a gold 2006 Cadillac DTS and I have decided to try the Maguires 5 step car care method on it. A few days after we got it I noticed some scratches on the trunk lid. I contacted the pro's at Maguires about it ( it passed the fingernail test) and they told me to try the Scratch-X product. Could someone tell me at what point in the 5 step process do I apply the Scratch-X? Also here in Missouri it gets pretty cold. I have no heat in my garage, how cold can it get and still be able to use Maguires products? Thanks for the great website. I plan on learning alot here.

Wornslick

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

The process is called the 5 Step Paint Care Cycle, you would,

Wash
Surface Prep
Polish
Protect
Maintain

That would look like this,

Wash
Clay if needed
ScratchX if needed
Polish - This is an optional step
Wax
Maintain

Check out this thread,

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

Since your car is brand new it should not need to be clayed, that said a lot of times a car sitting on a lot at a dealership can have bonded contaminants on the paint just from being exposed to the outdoors.

So wash the car, then feel the horizontal surfaces with your clean hand and inspect for little bumps. If discovered then you need to clay and you would clay after washing and before using ScratchX

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

Removing swirls and scratches out of a modern clear coat is not always easy depending upon how hard or soft the paint is, how deep the swirls or scratches are and your skill level.

There are hundreds of threads on this forum about people struggling to remove swirls and scratches out of their car's paint using ScratchX and that's because it's a gentle approach as a coarse, harsh approach would remove the scratches you're trying to remove but leave in their place scratches from the removal process.

The good news is we're introducing BRAND NEW technology that makes removing swirls and scratches a lot easier. The problem is these products won't start shipping till January, maybe a few in December.

Until then all you have is the original ScratchX formula to work with.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

Click on the pictures to learn more...


Swirl and Scratch Removers

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

From our Hot Topics forum,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...

[ed888]

Re: Newbie Questions

I have a 2009 Altima in black for 2 weeks and I am planning to apply NXT Tech Wax 2.0 before the snow comes. Question is: given it's a new vehicle, do I need any other steps other than a good car wash before I apply the NXT 2.0? Thanks.

[Murr1525]

Re: Newbie Questions

Are any other steps required? No.

But depending on your goals, if you want the best looks, etc, then after washing, you might want to evaluate the finish, see if it is rough, etc. That would be a clue to use clay and a paint cleaner or cleaner/wax before Nxt 2.0.

[sudsbyhubbs]

Re: Newbie Questions

I have a 2009 Altima in black for 2 weeks and I am planning to apply NXT Tech Wax 2.0 before the snow comes. Question is: given it's a new vehicle, do I need any other steps other than a good car wash before I apply the NXT 2.0? Thanks.

Based on how I've seen car lots "wash" their new cars, I would suggest claying, then waxing for the winter.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

I have a 2009 Altima in black for 2 weeks and I am planning to apply NXT Tech Wax 2.0 before the snow comes. Question is: given it's a new vehicle, do I need any other steps other than a good car wash before I apply the NXT 2.0? Thanks.

Even though a brand new car is brand new and should look like it and the paint should feel as smooth as new glass, because cars tend to sit on the lot for some time and can be swirled out by the people payed to wash the cars sometimes daily or buff the paint out to so called, "Get them ready", you really need to wash the car and then feel the paint with your clean hand and inspect for bonded contaminants, these would feel like little bumps on the paint and if discovered then use some detailing clay to clay the paint and this will remove these bonded contaminants.

The next thing you would do is to look at the paint in bright light like the sun when it's overhead and look for swirls or even buffer swirls. If discovered then depending upon your goals and expectations you could either forget about them and apply a coat of wax or your could remove them, kind of up to you.

Keep your fingers crossed that the dealership didn't give the DISO, that stands for the

Dealer Installed Swirl Option

Or the in-house detailer, some other detailer or the car wash guys didn't hack up the paint.

Does that help?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

Based on how I've seen car lots "wash" their new cars, I would suggest claying, then waxing for the winter.

I need to learn how to write short copy...

[ed888]

Re: Newbie Questions

Thanks all you guys comments. I will give the vehicle a good wash and inspect the paint as suggested.

-Ed-

[Ieyasu]

Re: Newbie Questions

Keep your fingers crossed that the dealership didn't give the DISO, that stands for the

Dealer Installed Swirl Option

*LOL* (sort of)

That's exactly what I've got. I'm going to wait for the new SwirlX and ScratchX 2.0 products.

Mike, which one do you recommend for DISO removal???

[Ieyasu]

Re: Newbie Questions

Whoops, saw this on another thread so I assume the same relationship between the two products will exist, correct?

Originally Posted by Mike Phillips
3 different levels of aggressiveness... from least to most aggressive...

SwirlX
ScratchX
Ultimate Compound

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie Questions

*LOL* (sort of)

That's exactly what I've got. I'm going to wait for the new SwirlX and ScratchX 2.0 products.

Mike, which one do you recommend for DISO removal???

Meguiar's teaches the philosophy of,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

The login being that by using the least aggressive product to get the job done you'll reach your goal, (remove the defects), while leaving the maximum amount of paint still on the car. Clear coats are thin to start with so you want to try to use the least aggressive product to get the job done.

That said, you also want to be effective with your time and energy. Interesting thing about our new technology is you can control how much paint you're removing by working the product less time and with less pressure so this enables to you start with possibly a product that's more aggressive than you might need but still only remove as much paint as needed to remove the defect.

No one can say exactly which product will be necessary to remove a defect because to be honest and exact a person would need to be working or testing a product on the car in real time, (can't do that with a forum that world-wide).

So a best intentioned guess would be that you can fix the problem with our new ScratchX when it becomes available. AT least you can start with this product and if it isn't removing the swirls fast enough at least you tried and found out and now you can substitute our Ultimate Compound.

When these products become available, pick up a tube of ScratchX 2.0 and do a Test Spot, inspect your results and move forward based upon your results.

Test Spot Threads