well im a perfectionist. i want my trucks paint looking BRAND new again. i see tons of tiny fine swirls and it bugs the crap out of me. im only 17 i spent good money on my truck and i want it showing. i really like the meguiars tech wax 2.0 and ultimate compound, i want to clay bar it and wax it. is there more i need to do? what are the best steps to take? what do you guys do and use? basically im looking for some tips as im still learning. thanks everyone

 

Start out by reading the sticky atop this section.

 

Lots of video out there on YouTube and the detailing forums about claying,buffing and just about anything else concerning appearance.

 

1. The absolute best washing device known to man is a long boar hair brush....yeah it's stiff when dry but when wet, it is softer than any cotton towel you could find & because of the tips only touching the paint, the swirl marks are almost 100% eliminated. Available at griots garage or Erie Brush & Manufacturing Corp, 860 W. Fletcher, Chicago (but you need to have a company name to purchase, no individual sales) .

The next best option, 100% cotton diaper (Babies r' us has em- about $20 for a bag). wash them 2-3 times with fabric softener before using them for washing & drying. For washing, without contact dirt on the vehicle, use the open butt of a garden hose, on low to apply water just ahead of the wash diaper....it almost makes the towel float and the remaining dirt float off the paint without touching.

2. Soap...I recommend: No7 Car Wash Concentrate
Available at any True Value Hardware; Mfg by RainDance/ArmorAll Corp. It has been around for 40+ years, is a powder, very inexpensive and us about 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons. It also has anti-water spotting agents which until you try it the first time, you would not believe the advantage of drying a black car.

3. General paint maintenance
General paint cleaning (if required) - use a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol & water (denatured is available at any hardware store & is oil free). It will remove any wax/polish and most all environmental contamination & ensure you are starting with a very clean surface.

For specific swirl mark issues I use BAF/Pro Car Care Beauty Products P21 Swirl Eliminator & Polish- although for 30 years I used 3M products specifically, recently I have not been as pleased with the quality of 3M’s hand glaze. I typically do not like "combination" type products but P21 is very, very impressive & effective from end result, ease of use & overall effectiveness.

Wax/polish...

The absolute best ($ for $) IMHO is "Satin Cream" (for dark colors), it is made by BAF & distributed through Pro Car Care products. It is very easy to work with either by hand, orbital or buffer. It has the same acrylic hardener as the high dollar paint sealants but it has 30% German imported carnauba....no, your arm will not fall off putting it on or taking it off & it has a very mild polish in it as well. Even parking the vehicle outside, the MFG gives a 6 months warranty before another application is required. I use this personally on my toys & daily drivers (which include a 1997 black Cougar sport) and all I can tell you are not even bugs like to stick to the paint- most of the time when water is applied they just float off- bird poop is just as easy. No smeary look either- very clean clear deep look. On my toys, I give them a fresh coat about every 2 years (literally, even for a show), my daily drivers (I have one that sits outside), I apply to the entire vehicle every 6 months, and do the hood, roof and trunk every 3 months (probably overkill, but I know it is well protected from the elements including industrial fallout)
BAF Industries 1910 S. Yale Street Santa Ana, CA 92704 800-437-9893

An excellent alternate product is 3M Perfect It Show Car Liquid Wax- a silicone wax/polish but excellent results as well, just maybe about 90% of the quality of the satin cream....and is available at any auto paint supplier or NAPA auto parts store.


With regards to claybar.....

Ford/GM/Chrysler/MB/Porsche all have service directives that specifically refer to paint correction/contamination procedures and clay bar is not a referred procedure and specifically identified as a method which only removes the surface level paint contaminants and as such, the "root' of the contaminant remains continues to destroy the paint from underneath the surface layer of the paint.

Just remember, Mequire's clay bar is rated at 3500 grit. There much better clay bar products out there rated at much finer grits- so if you are comfortable and believe your paint needs to be wet-sanded, and that is the only and safest way to correct the flaw/issue, then do so but remember, for 90% for all paint contamination issues there are products designed to relieve/remove/neutralize the contaminants without reducing the mil thickness of the clear coat

These procedures date back to 1990 and are still published in current oem paint maintenance publications/service manuals.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...r-bar-1997.jpg


https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...y-bar-2006.jpg

 

The best way to remove swirls is the polish the paint with a machine using KBM.
I'd suggest a DA machine. Being new to using a DA I might suggest a PC7424xp.

This was done with a PC7424xp and the Kevin Brown Method


It's not the most powerful machine on the market but it's safe and easy to learn.

 

The "trick" to keeping swirls off the paint is to use a proper wash method.
The most recommended method is the "Two Bucket Method" to prevent swirls.

 

Dang Merlin..... now that's a shine I have been contemplating getting a DA but having never used one and doing everything by hand... I am gonna start looking for a PC7424

OP.... post some before/after pics

 

Look at pic in bottom of post #4 for what before and after looks like with a DA polisher.

Me too! Here's another after pic.

 

awesome! thats exactly what i want! thanks very much!

 

i havnt looked into porter cable before, is it any good? i see they are on ebay for pretty cheap.

 

The PC7424xp is a very good machine.

The Griots Garage 6" has more power.

Both are good.

 

Ask your self if you want take this leap then think really long and hard on it. This is a very deep and dark rabbit whole you are about to jump into but you will have lots of company in your long slow downward spiral into OCDness and detailing. Ask me how I know...........

 

And I'd also add that the darker the color of your vehicle, the deeper the hole. Dark colors can look drop dead gorgeous if done correctly. (Notice Merlin's hood.) On the other hand, they're the least tolerant of even the slightest abuse. So even though many of us who have gone down this hole before you love the way dark colors look when done correctly, most of us hate the maintenance that comes with them. (The color of one of my cars is Dark Cherry, so I can speak with some authority here.)

For instance, here's a shot that shows what a 2009 GMC Denali I recently detailed looked like when I started. The whole truck was this bad:



Here's my favorite shot of the exact same truck many, many hours later:



As for lighter colors, they tend to hide minor imperfections that would show up in a minute on darker colors. On the flip side, they're much harder to make "pop" with proper detailing. (The color of my other vehicle is Oxford White, so I can speak to this one too.)

BTW, I started my long slide into OCD land with a Porter-Cable, still have one (among other things) and highly recommend it. Do read the Sticky though.

 

yup i understand that perfectly, i have a red 08 fx4. so it hides the scratches very well but like i said im a perfectionist

 

perfect ill study a bit on those and see which i like better