- Joined
- 20 September 2006
- Messages
- 135
Detailing can mean different things to different people. To some people detailing is something they do occasionally while for other people it’s a lifestyle that includes countless hours. No matter what your process is, it’s important to get the most out of your time and effort while maintaining your vehicle. To optimize your detailing efforts it’s important to: assess your vehicle, know what options you have for products and tools, create realistic goals, determine how much time you have available and finally create a routine. By understanding these areas of a detail you can have a more organized routine and process that helps you efficiently reach your goals.
Assessment
Assessing your vehicle is the step where you observe your vehicle’s present condition and start formulating your general goals. The state of your vehicle will always vary from others because of the unique factors that comprise how your vehicle got to this point such as: year, make, model, color, mileage, storage (i.e. garaged), previous care, weather conditions, temperature, etc. Look over your entire vehicle and try to make notes of any imperfections you see. If you see major problems such as deep scratches/chips, dented panels or tears in the leather and you want to fix them you have two basic options. You can tackle the job yourself or you may want to have these handled professionally. Other imperfections such as stains, swirls marks, tar and contamination build-ups can generally be fixed during a detail. One of the main areas everyone focuses on when detailing is the exterior paint. To help you understand where to start you should check for: protection on the paint, contamination build ups and surface imperfections. To help assess the needs of your paint there are some simple tests you can try.
To see if there is any protection (wax or sealant) left on your paint you can spray water on your paint from a spray bottle. Generally speaking the smaller, taller and tighter the beads of water are the more protection there is on the paint. If there is no beading, flatter drops or pools of water there is probably little to no protection left on the paint. While this process is not an exact science, it’s a great indicator of how much protection is on the paint. We recommend misting water on a panel, both before and after completing a detail, to see the differences in the beading and to give you a base line for future tests. Usually if you’re trying to complete a full detail you’ll want to start with a fresh surface to ensure maximum results. If you want to strip off the protection and start with a fresh surface there is a variety of techniques you can use. After you have washed and dried the vehicle you can polish, clay or wipe down the surface with isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol) and a clean microfiber towel. Polishing and wiping down the surface with a 50/50 mix of water and isopropyl alcohol are very thorough options. Clay bar will help remove previous layers of protection but may not be able to remove all of it, especially if there is a strong layer of protection. Another option is to wash the vehicle with dish soap, like Dawn, which contains powerful stripping agents. Unfortunately this method can also prematurely fade vinyl and plastic trim so only use it as a last resort.
After you have washed the vehicle the majority of the loose contaminates should have been removed. To examine how much contamination is still on your paint you can put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and gently glide it over the surface. The sandwich bag helps amplify the amount of contamination remaining on the surface so it’s easier to notice. Often times, contaminates adhere to the clear coat’s surface or get stuck in the micro ridges in the clear coat. Many people are very surprised at how bumpy or rough their paint feels after completing this test. A common solution to removing tightly embedded contaminates is to use a clay bar after washing. By completely removing contamination, you can help maximize the results from your polish, glaze, sealant and wax.
One of the most common problems vehicle owners complain about is imperfections such as swirls marks and other micro-scratches in the clear coat. Imperfections, such as swirl marks, can be troubling because they fragment light and prevent the deepest and glossiest shine from being reflected. Swirl marks are somewhat inevitable on a “daily driver”, however there are lots of things you can do to prevent them and remove them. To more accurately observe the condition of your vehicle’s paint you should wash and dry the paint first so there is not contaminates obstructing your view. Your ability to observe swirls is also greatly affected by the lighting conditions you view the paint under. If you observe the paint in direct sunlight or under florescent lighting you are more likely to be able to see the imperfections. If you want to remove these imperfections you will typically need to polish the surface. Glazes are designed to hide imperfections and waxes and sealants will hide imperfections to varying degrees as well.
Assessment
Assessing your vehicle is the step where you observe your vehicle’s present condition and start formulating your general goals. The state of your vehicle will always vary from others because of the unique factors that comprise how your vehicle got to this point such as: year, make, model, color, mileage, storage (i.e. garaged), previous care, weather conditions, temperature, etc. Look over your entire vehicle and try to make notes of any imperfections you see. If you see major problems such as deep scratches/chips, dented panels or tears in the leather and you want to fix them you have two basic options. You can tackle the job yourself or you may want to have these handled professionally. Other imperfections such as stains, swirls marks, tar and contamination build-ups can generally be fixed during a detail. One of the main areas everyone focuses on when detailing is the exterior paint. To help you understand where to start you should check for: protection on the paint, contamination build ups and surface imperfections. To help assess the needs of your paint there are some simple tests you can try.
To see if there is any protection (wax or sealant) left on your paint you can spray water on your paint from a spray bottle. Generally speaking the smaller, taller and tighter the beads of water are the more protection there is on the paint. If there is no beading, flatter drops or pools of water there is probably little to no protection left on the paint. While this process is not an exact science, it’s a great indicator of how much protection is on the paint. We recommend misting water on a panel, both before and after completing a detail, to see the differences in the beading and to give you a base line for future tests. Usually if you’re trying to complete a full detail you’ll want to start with a fresh surface to ensure maximum results. If you want to strip off the protection and start with a fresh surface there is a variety of techniques you can use. After you have washed and dried the vehicle you can polish, clay or wipe down the surface with isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol) and a clean microfiber towel. Polishing and wiping down the surface with a 50/50 mix of water and isopropyl alcohol are very thorough options. Clay bar will help remove previous layers of protection but may not be able to remove all of it, especially if there is a strong layer of protection. Another option is to wash the vehicle with dish soap, like Dawn, which contains powerful stripping agents. Unfortunately this method can also prematurely fade vinyl and plastic trim so only use it as a last resort.
After you have washed the vehicle the majority of the loose contaminates should have been removed. To examine how much contamination is still on your paint you can put your hand in a plastic sandwich bag and gently glide it over the surface. The sandwich bag helps amplify the amount of contamination remaining on the surface so it’s easier to notice. Often times, contaminates adhere to the clear coat’s surface or get stuck in the micro ridges in the clear coat. Many people are very surprised at how bumpy or rough their paint feels after completing this test. A common solution to removing tightly embedded contaminates is to use a clay bar after washing. By completely removing contamination, you can help maximize the results from your polish, glaze, sealant and wax.
One of the most common problems vehicle owners complain about is imperfections such as swirls marks and other micro-scratches in the clear coat. Imperfections, such as swirl marks, can be troubling because they fragment light and prevent the deepest and glossiest shine from being reflected. Swirl marks are somewhat inevitable on a “daily driver”, however there are lots of things you can do to prevent them and remove them. To more accurately observe the condition of your vehicle’s paint you should wash and dry the paint first so there is not contaminates obstructing your view. Your ability to observe swirls is also greatly affected by the lighting conditions you view the paint under. If you observe the paint in direct sunlight or under florescent lighting you are more likely to be able to see the imperfections. If you want to remove these imperfections you will typically need to polish the surface. Glazes are designed to hide imperfections and waxes and sealants will hide imperfections to varying degrees as well.
