Detailing Thread [For Newbies][ARCHIVED]

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:04 AM

*Excalibur: detailing is basically the systematic restoration of a cars interior exterior engine and etc to excellent condition, so if you have a really weathered car then you might need to do a 4 step as your detailing process, this would really reduce paint, conversely if your car is in excellent condition then you only need to wax it as your detailing process, the detailing process determines how much paint would be reduced, if the car is in great condition then the detailing process would not reduce clear coat, so to answer your question, if by exterior detailing you meant the 3 step where they use 1. rubbing compound, 2. polish, 3. glaze or wax, then this will definitely reduce clear coat, as to how many times you can have it 3 stepped, that also depends on your paint and its thickness, normally for earlier cars you could even perform a 3 step up to a maximum of 7 times and still be safe, nowadays paints are really really thin, some honda paint already transfer color, meaning there's no clear coat already, just after 2 3 steps, and if by detailing process you simply mean a two step which is polish and wax, then this is definitely more compared to a 3 step, you could polish earlier cars more than 10 times and still have enough paint, so it all really depends on a lot of factors

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:05 AM

sorry 2x post

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:08 AM

*SG: those are really nice repair shots, that would greatly help in giving people and referring people to a good shop, as for your baby, thats too bad, but don't worry you already have a new baby to take care of hehe

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:12 AM

*privatezone: yes using a clean damp cloth is good, if its just for maintenance cleaning thats also what i do, the cyberclean is actually good just for those hard to reach places like inbetween buttons and aircon vents, its good for that but you would want to use that as less as possible since it gets contaminated easily but yes its very good at giving a car that brand new look by cleaning those nooks and crannies.

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:18 AM

*scharnhorst: well regarding the wet sanding part, if you do it carefully its really not that scary, but i would suggest you let the blotted parts dry for about 2 week to 1 month before you wet sand them, just get 2000 grit and 3000 grit sandpapers, soak them for at least 30 minutes in water, sand the area until even, of course start with 2k and then 3k, apply a few polishes, good ones are like Megs SwirlX, Megs ScratchX and Moms Scratch Remover, you might have to apply repeatedly since we won't be using rubbing compound to be on the safe side. and then lastly seal the paint by putting wax, its not really that hard, if you want have someone do it for you for the first time and watch how they do it, im sure you could repeat the same process again

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:22 AM

*daney_waney: you might want to get the PC 7424XP, and before you buy that make sure you have a high capacity transformer on standby already with at least 1k to 1.5k watts rating, as for the pads, LC orange pads for swirl removal, white pads for hazing and dulling and buffing to a high gloss and black for applying waxes and sealants.

**madkatz** · May 2nd, 2010 05:24 AM

*scharnhorst: don't you just hate stone chips? hehe its gonna be a regular part of your vehicles travelling life, so yeah better watch how they do it so next time you could just DIY it and save time and money

**scharnhorst** · May 2nd, 2010 07:50 AM

*madkatz: thank you for the advice sir!

regarding the stone chips... yep. it's the price paid for wanting to get out of the drudgery of city driving

just for reference, where can I get 2000 and 3000 grit sandpaper? and for the polish, do I use microfiber terries to apply and then remove it?

**Chikselog** · May 2nd, 2010 10:29 AM

^
Sa mga hardware po try nyo kung meron.. Tapos yung mga polishes pwede na yung mga applicator pads pag-apply, then microfiber cloths/terry towels to buff off

BTW ma'am si madkatz hehe..