Detailing Newbie after some advice
Discussion
Recently realised how good a detailed car looks - as opposed to the Turtle Wax and leather weekly clean my Dad taught me, read up on some forums and gave it a go.
Bought all Meguiar's products (lots of Halfrauds vouchers for Xmas) - Clay, Scratch X, Step One Paint Cleaner, Step Two Polish and some Gold Class Wax. Polished by hand using new 100% cotton cloths. Followed all the instructions and have to say - apart from swirl marks I've caused - I'm pleased with the finish I've now got on my Cranival red metallic paint.
But;
It looked perfect when finished in the garage under a combination of Flourescent and Halogen lighting - but in bright sunlight shows a lot of swirls, so what lighting do you guys use to show up problems that you can then work on till they dissapear? Obviously I was causing the swirls at some stage after the Paint Cleaner but just couldn't see them and realise what I was doing.
How long should Gold Class wax last? Is it worth layering to get durability?
Do you guys still use a leather to dry off after washing or are the Microfibre towels better?
I'm resigned to doing the whole process again to get rid of the swirls - but don't want to do so until I've found out what I've done wrong.
Cheers chaps, over to you
Bought all Meguiar's products (lots of Halfrauds vouchers for Xmas) - Clay, Scratch X, Step One Paint Cleaner, Step Two Polish and some Gold Class Wax. Polished by hand using new 100% cotton cloths. Followed all the instructions and have to say - apart from swirl marks I've caused - I'm pleased with the finish I've now got on my Cranival red metallic paint.
But;
It looked perfect when finished in the garage under a combination of Flourescent and Halogen lighting - but in bright sunlight shows a lot of swirls, so what lighting do you guys use to show up problems that you can then work on till they dissapear? Obviously I was causing the swirls at some stage after the Paint Cleaner but just couldn't see them and realise what I was doing.
How long should Gold Class wax last? Is it worth layering to get durability?
Do you guys still use a leather to dry off after washing or are the Microfibre towels better?
I'm resigned to doing the whole process again to get rid of the swirls - but don't want to do so until I've found out what I've done wrong.
Cheers chaps, over to you
Get yourself over to detailingworld.co.uk for guides on processes. also the products you've bought ie the step 1, 2 & 3 aren't really a heavy cut to remove the swirls.
for this there are much heavier cut compounds. these are things such as poorboys super swirl removers, menzerna polishes such as intensive polish, there are also trade lever megsuiers products. Autoglym super resin polish is also a good starting place.
as for the lights, the halogen stand lights are what are commonly used. these show up defects really well. as you say, you then keep working until the defects are gone. providing there's enough clearcoat/paint to work with.
for this there are much heavier cut compounds. these are things such as poorboys super swirl removers, menzerna polishes such as intensive polish, there are also trade lever megsuiers products. Autoglym super resin polish is also a good starting place.
as for the lights, the halogen stand lights are what are commonly used. these show up defects really well. as you say, you then keep working until the defects are gone. providing there's enough clearcoat/paint to work with.
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