I have had my truck for almost two years and try to wash and wax it reguraly. I live on a chip and seal road so specks of tar are always coming off of it, and on the truck. This spring I was going to try to take a clay bar to it, because I'm sure that it would help take all those spots of tar and other debris off. I also have some scratches to try to buff out. So do I just wash my truck, clay bar, scratch remover, and then wax it like normal. I don't know much about the polishing step, and I really afraid that I might mess something up.

Any advice,

Thnaks,

jrbhc8

 

Try this link;
http://homepage.mac.com/vladimir/bmwforum/Detailing.pdf

 

For the tar specs -- a good bug and tar remover will, most likely, do the trick. You should spray this on and allow some 'dwell time' so that the product may work on the tar. Wipe off with a 100% high-pile cotton towel. Repeat.

The drawback to this step is that it's going to remove any surficial protection (AKA: Wax) that may be present and thus, don't do this one until you're ready to really give all of the necessary steps a go.

While clay might work on some of the tar, I think you'll see that it'll also thrash your clay bar in short order. A bottle of B&T remover is cheaper than buying a few biscuits of clay.

Clay, however, is probably your next step (after you've washed it at the beginning obviously). Assess your vehicle -- does the paint feel like glass? Feel any 'bumps' on the surface of your paint? Are some areas worse than others?

Using clay is very simple... try this step next as a VERY important part of your preparation -- 100 out of 100 good detailers will agree, PREP WORK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ANY DETAIL JOB!!!

Polish -- no need to be scared here although, I understand the reasoning behind being a little timid. From the sounds of it, you don't have a mechanical application method (and that's okay). So, with that in mind, without having seen your paint, I'd probably recommend something that is very easy to work with by hand and doesn't offer as much swirl/blemish removing power as it does concealing power. Some may argue that you should always REMOVE swirls -- well, this is okay if you're willing to either destroy your arm working on your vehicle or if you have a machine -- by hand, without killing yourself, I personally think it's not that bad of an option. Any concealment though will be limited by the severity of your problem.

Try a system like Meguiar's 3-Step Deep Crystal system but, skip the third step (the wax -- we'll substitute something else there). The paint cleaner and polish really are decent products in my opinion. I think enough of them that they reside in my detailing spectrum. Follow the directions on the bottle precisely...

Last step -- and typically the easiest because the prep work is typically the most time consuming... protection. I'd recommend a decent full-synthetic wax like Meguiar's NXT or Mother's Synwax (which I still haven't tried... bleh! -- I hear GREAT things about it though). Apply two coats to ensure uniform coverage.

Feel free to ask questions if you have them!

RP

 

Thanks for the detailed run through. When the weather gets a little better I'm going to have to take my time and get it done.

Thanks again for the much needed info,

jrbhc8

 

No problem... again, if you have questions, feel free to ask!

RP