I just washed my Fit and I can see scratches on the hood....I tried to be really careful, rinsing my mitt in between panels, not even washing the skirts until all other panels were done...and still, there are the scratches. Will the wax help disguise them or do I now need to add polishing creme to the routine?

I think I am just going to give up and use the power wash and no mitt...it seems that no matter what I do, I get crap on the mitt and it scratches. It's kind of ridiculous, but....

I didn't do the claying yet because I need to go and give blood, but I will start it later. There is pollen flying around and I will need to rinse the car before I clay it, so I will probably finish up tomorrow. Do I need to wash it again before I clay it tomorrow?

This is a freakin pain in the butt!!!!

 

Yikes, sorry to hear about the scratches. You're not using the same sponge that you washed the skirts, wheels, underbody with are you? If you won't be claying until a few days, you might want to use some detailer and microfiber towels to remove the pollen. Washing might not be so important because you will be getting the car "dirty" again anyway after you clay it. You'll see all the dirty contaminants bleeding off of your car.

I would clay, ScratchX the bad areas, then wax.

Here's a video on how to clay bar: YouTube - How to Clay Bar

If it's clearcoat, minor scratches try using some ScratchX. How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online

Here's another regarding swirls. ScratchX works great!
How To Remove Swirls By Hand - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online

 

it's probably your drying towel and technique that's causing the swirls.

try some MF waffle weave towels and blot dry.

 

No, I'm very careful to rinse out my mitt after I do one body panel, and I do the underbody last, after everything else is done. I rinse before I start washing, but my hose isn't very powerful. I'm not sure if I did this last time I washed, or this time. It's not super-serious but I need to hone my technique for the future. I sure don't want to keep doing that.

I did go ahead and clay the car, since my other appointment got postponed. It took about 3 hours from start to finish of wax. I'll post photos in the pictures forum. My gosh. Running my hand along that finish is better than sex. I haven't waxed a car by hand since high school. Well worth the time. The scratches are still there, of course. I didn't have the Scratch-X. Can I use it after waxing or do I need to wait until the next wax job?

I have some flaws in my paint, however, especially on the roof. I have no idea where these came from, but they seem relatively permanent. Not like chips, more like small rust spots. ??? Should I have a body shop look at them or could a detailer take them off? I'll take some photos of them later - my light is going away now.

 

 

Better than sex indeed

I would use the ScratchX right after the clay bar while the paint is bare. With a wax on there I'm not sure the ScratchX could do it's job that well.

 

I don't see anything wrong with the hood. You should see the swirls my black Fit gets! The only thing I can say is get a bunch of terry towels or microfiber and after you wax, wait a good 10 minutes. Then start wiping off from where you started waxing. Take your sweet sweet time. First time I waxed (polished rather) was in the shade of a DIY carwash, it looked good in the shade, I pulled out and went to the gas station cuz I was supersweaty and I look at my ride and it has swirls and leftover wax EVERYWHERE. I was SO embarassed. So basically, don't use a helluva lot of wax, just put a bunch on an applicator pad and don't put any more on the pad after that. I go through about 10-12 towels wiping off wax, and I work up a HUGE sweat, like I jumped into a pool. It's hard work without a buffer or mr. clean autodry, let me tell you. But right now I have no swirls, just a layer of pollen and some bird doodoo

 

Make sure you are using good quality microfiber and not ones that come from Wal-Mart there is a difference. Also it is a great idea to take off your nozzle and run a steady stream of clear water all over the car to make sure it is rinsed really well. Never use a lot of pressure on your towels and using the absorber or something that takes the bulk of the water off the car before you start drying helps too. Meguiars has a great forum that gives you video and step by step techniques by great car detailing guys. They are also very helpful if you have any questions because most of the guys on the site are professional detailers.

Cat :X

 

Do not know how to properly wash a car. ALWAYS start at the roof and work your way down so that dirt from say the bottom of the fenders does not get into your washing towel and then you wash your hood. If I wanna be Extra Anal I change wash rags a couple times during the process but this car has so little paint it's not necessary. And always use a seperate rag for wheels.

 

taking a pict in the shade will not net you the imperfections you want to find.

best time to check your paint outside is in the morning. it's not too
strong like in mid-day and not soft like in golden hour. when the light
is too strong it sometimes fools the eye and hides the imperfection.


while working in my garage, i usually take my blue hue twisty type
flourescent light to check for swirls. on a dd i really dont care too much,
but on my hobby cars i can get very picky.

just some of the stuff i use. primarily Griot's and Prima. i have both
the 6" and 3" random orbitals.

 

Your detailing cart gives me heart palpitations. Can I come over and borrow it??

How hard is it to learn how to use a random orbital buffer? How long have you been an experienced detailer? Do you ever eat off your garage floor?

Oh, and p.s. - the scratches are on the OTHER side of the hood, not the area I took the photo of.

 

Short recommendation - if you really want to know how to take care of your paint, spend some time on Autopia - Autopia Home. The below list of suggestions is only a small sampling of ideas and techniques from their forum.

Longer recommendations - On washing - move to using the two bucket method to separate clean soapy water from water used to rinse your wash media. Be uber selective about your wash media. Folklore varies on what to use but many on autopia have had luck with grout sponges from Home Depot or Lowes. Others prefer wool mitts or sea sponges.

For drying, consider using a new leaf blower (one not used for mulching) rather than a towel. A clean blower will help you avoid scratching by minimizing the stuff you actually put against your paint. If you use a towel, get high quality MF towels from one of the better on-line detailing stores (autogeek, pakshak etc.). Most over-the-counter MF towels won't be suitable for your paint if you want it swirl free. You can test your wash/dry/seal media on a compact disc to see if it will cause scratches before it ever touches your paint.

For waxing or sealing, be equally as selective about the media used to apply the wax or sealant. Bottom line here is anything that touches your paint will scratch it. Touch it as minimal as possible and only use materials you've tested (search for the CD test on autopia) to be scratch free. If you want to isolate the source of your swirls, try moving the wash media one direction (up/down) and the wax/sealant media the other direction (back/forth). The direction of the swirls will help isolate the source.

Cleaning your wash media is equally challenging - use separate media for the lower dirtier portions of your vehicle, especially wheel wells and wheels/tires. Wash the media used on the wheel wells and wheels separately from the media used on your paint. If one of your wash sponges or drying towels gets dropped on the ground, don't use it on your paint again. Leave it for wheel well and wheel/tire duty or glass cleaning.

Nothing will entirely prevent swirling, micromarring or scratches so at some point you'll need to become proficient with a polisher of one variety or another. If you don't intend to do it very often, get a Porter Cable random orbit polisher. It's been popular with detailers for a long time so there's a long history behind it and chances of permanent paint damage are less than with other types of polishers. The PC can take a long time to work out certain types of paint damage so if you need to cut down on the amount of time you spend polishing, you should consider moving to a rotary.

One more big observation - opinions regarding paint care materials are as personal and varied as any topic you'll find on fitfreak, sometimes more so. Expect a lot of conflicting recommendations, expect to try a couple of times with different products and techniques until you find what works for you.

 

lol thanks.

random orbitals are easy to use, fail safe system if you use the
milder polishes with dimishing abrasives and mid-firm pads. as long
as you dont drop the pad on the ground and reuse it on the paint
without washing, you really can't mess it up. ive been detailing my
cars as a hobby maybe 10+yrs? i started using the orbital about
3-4yrs ago. it's not a must-have if your paint is well taken care,
but just makes the process go by 100000x faster than by hand.
i use it to apply wax as well. very fast process.

i got the 3" random orbital earlier this year. great tool for spot
polishing.

no, my garage floor is not that clean. my garage is well kept, but
not a showroom. it's a workshop.

 

I suggest doing the two method bucket.

 

Great post. Makes me feel positively normal to read these very anal instructions...How to spend an entire day washing a very small car....

And I can just imagine what hubby would say if I bought a leaf blower just to dry my Fit...omg.

 

If you research detailing their level of "analness" can be infinite. After seeing that cart I feel a little more normal. I own about $150 worth of very plush microfiber towels that I wash by themselves with special procedures. People should be careful with leaf blowers. If you accidentally aimed it down at the driveway for a moment then you now blew grit onto your car (SCRATCHES COMING). Also I already had an electric leaf blower which blew at 200MPH and guess what that's not powerful enough. I gave up on the leaf blower since the neighbors already think I'm mental. I get up at dawn to wash my car since the dark blackberry pearl paint gets hot in the sun and waterspots. Yeah this can get all out of hand! Sometimes I do indeed wish I'd bought silver.

 

my entire car is a waterspot right now. I don't know how it got this bad. I washed and polished it 3 days ago and it looks worse than cars that haven't been washed in 3 months. I am pissed at myself for obviously screwing something up. I'm gonna wash, use liquid clay ice from turtle, then turtle ice polish to finish the job.

All in all should take about 2 hours give or take 30 minutes.

 

oh my gosh! total orgasm! hahaha >.< thats so nice. dang.. jealous!

 

I hate sounding like a killjoy but the detailing forums are SUPER anal about testing if you read them. LIQUID clay has been tested and is inferior to actual clay. Clay is a solid. Claybars are solid. They are abrasives of varying grit. You can actually feel the claybar resisting forward movement and that means IT'S DOING SOMETHING! It's removing stuff! I was skeptical of claybars until I tried them. By the way the patent for claybars dates to like 1930. This is nothing new. They're also known as overspray clay because sometimes in bodyshops nearby cars develope "issues" that the shop owners would rather the car owner not see.

 

when I use the liquid clay it seems to do the job...it makes the finish matte/flat black as hell, but I guess I'll try the actual clay BAR to see if maybe it will take off the weird paint-like substance splattered onto my rear door...