-ITGUY-

Hey guys, I just had my car detailed and I have a few quick questions if I could.

Before taking it in I let the detailer know that I had a few horizontal hariline scratches on the hood. These scratches had a faint white appearance and were visible from most angles (still not sure how they got there, although my car is black). After I got my car back, it initailly appeared that the scratches were gone. However, when I got the car home and inspected it further, I noticed that the scratches were still visible, but only at certain angles, in certain light. Is there any way that I could remove them permanently? I asked the detailer about them and he said the paint on the hood of my car was very thin for some reason and he didn't want to take it down too much. There were also some deep water spots on the hood that he didn't remove for the same reason.

My second question is, I have several tiny chips on the car (about the size of the head of a pin). Would it be wise to touch these up and maybe install the clear bra on top? Or are these just the nature of the game with black cars and will keep occurring?

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

Hayabusa02

Hi there,

I have had my 2010 graphite shadow G37xS for 3 weeks now. I've washed the car twice and want to get started on a good paint maintenance program. In the past I always used Zymol products for my paint maintenance. After reading this...I'm not sure how the Zymol stuff matches up? Are you familiar with it and do you have any opinions on it?

MY procedure was to wash the car, use a cleanser and then apply thei carnuba based wax. Sounds like I skipped a couple of steps.

So, going forward would you recommend staying with my procedure and just adding a sealant step in there or doing something completely different?

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iTrader: (2)

Good questions. Regarding the scratches and water spots, what the detailer probably did was temporarily fill them in with a glaze. This utilizes oils and various fillers to help mask the imperfections. Every imperfection is essentially dips and valleys in your clear coat. The only way to permanently remove them is to use an abrasive polish to help even out those dips and valleys making it smooth again. He is right in the sense that as you polish more and more, you wear down your clear coat more and more. I don't necessarily think that the Infiniti paint is thin, but it is soft. This means it doesn't take as aggressive of a polish to correct, so if he were to use a very aggressive compound / polish combo there is risk in damaging the finish. Typically you'd want to start with just a finishing polish and a random orbital buffer and go nice and easy. Some of the deeper imperfections may require a more aggressive approach, but you should always start with the least aggressive process and work your way up as needed, especially on soft paint.

Regarding the tiny chips, I personally wouldn't bother touching them up. Your bumper is going to get "peppered" over time because of the soft paint and simply driving it. If you opt at some point for a respray or a new bumper, then consider getting clear bra on it. I'd just wait until that point rather than dealing with a ton of little touch ups, but that's just my personal opinion. If it's bothering you a lot, then you certainly can touch it up, but make sure you follow the proper touch up procedures: prep the touch up area, apply many thin layers until it is blobbed over the paint allowing each layer to cure first before applying the next, wet sand the blob even to the rest of the paint, then polish (probably need a buffer) away the wet sanding marks to a uniform finish.

Hope this helps explain some things. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Certain Zymol products are decent, but the store bought Zymol is actually made by Turtle Wax. The high end Zymol waxes are nice but expensive, I've used Zymol Vintage before, which goes for around $2000 and it was nice, but tough to justify the cost.

What you posted up in the other thread looks real solid and can assure you that you'll be thrilled with the outcome of those products.

Let me know if there's anything else I can help with. Keep us posted on how things turn out for you, I'd love to see some pics!

George

-ITGUY-

Thanks for the follow up, great info. I guess my only other question would be, I have a bunch of tiny chips around the wheel arches from debris getting kicked up and whatnot. Would it be wise to touch these up and put the clear bra film over the area, or will that not make a difference.

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iTrader: (2)

That's not a bad idea since that area seems to get blasted with rocks on the regular. Having a clear bra there will definitely help prevent them from forming as quickly in the future. There's no real good answer because I don't like the looks of many clear bra installs, but on the other hand, rock chips are an eye sore as well...

freesurfer

Another clear bra question (sorry)...

You say "there's no real good answer" but I'd really like your opinion: Are you a proponent of getting a clear bra? I would've thought that ITGUY could have gotten one since his chip holes were "the size of a pin". Also, it sounds like there's extra detailing work involved to avoid the edges of the clear bra and later tape over them and detail the bra separately. I'm deciding on a clear bra myself but am concerned that my car is two months old and it's already too late due to misc road debris and an imperfect bumper. As a professional detailer, what's your opinion on clear bras? Functional, but looks too wierd for your taste? Thanks.

TSHEMMEN

What can I do to get hard water spots off the mirrors? I dry them as soon as I can, but they still remain...thanks for any help!

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iTrader: (2)

My take on them is it's all about the install. I've seen some jobs done that you cannot even tell where a clear bra starts and ends. Personally, I don't know of an installer like that near me so I've never opted to get one.

The downside of a clear bra is you aren't immune to chips, scuffs, etc. and a big imperfection in a clear bra can be just as ugly as one in the paint. Cost to reapply a quality clear bra install can come close to a good respray.

I'd take a high quality clear bra install over nothing, but I'd rather nothing over a mediocre clear bra install... Hope that makes sense.

You can try some distilled white vinegar and water. The vinegar will help dissolve any mineral deposits left behind on the mirror. If that doesn't work, you can try to polish the glass to remove them.

Sometimes I've seen hard water or acid rain spots on glass or mirrors that will show up after a wash or when they look foggy but when clean they aren't visible.

Let us know if either of those work for you.

SnoopDawg

Hey George, can you provide any pro's/con's regarding waxing the car using a random orbital at minimum speed vs by hand? in my case using p21s Carnauba with Flex XC with blue pad.

My motivation is speed, i figure all the hard, meticulous work goes into the prep and waxing is just icing on the cake, I can get it done with the orbital much faster than by hand.

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iTrader: (2)

It really boils down to a preference when it comes to applying a glaze, sealant or wax via hand or machine.

Applying a paste wax via machine has more cons than pros. You typically end up using way more product than if you hand applied, which can also make removal harder. You can't always get in the tight areas, such as around trim, door handles, and other areas that a buffer will struggle to reach.

If you're looking to apply a wax via machine, typically users go with a liquid wax, like Optimum Car Wax since you can simply mist the pad rather than applying a paste wax to it.

The pros I guess are you can get the larger panels done quicker, but in the end I think it still takes about the same amount of time because there will be some parts of the car that you want to go back and hand apply.

Hope this helps.

SnoopDawg

Thanks George, btw/ any idea which of the 3M Automotive masking tapes will leave the least residue? I've seen lime, cream (and yellow? I think) tapes and was going to pick up a few rolls, but would like to know which is best. The blue stuff I get from Home Depot leaves a bunch of glue residue on the trim which is a PITA to get off...

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iTrader: (2)

They all tend to leave a tiny bit of residue behind unfortunately. Many pro's use the green 3M automotive masking tape, but I know a few that complain about the residue. The low adhesive blue tape seems to be the tape of choice, there are various grade adhesives with the blue, look for the easy release painters tape. The only downside is if any part of what you are taping is wet, the low adhesive tape doesn't work too well.

Hope that helps.

George

SnoopDawg

Thanks George, I didn't realize that there were different types of stickiness in the blue line, I'll have to check it out next time I'm at HD. Appreciate your advice. Cheers!

FourT2

So I've been trying to be pretty good about removing bird poop from the paint and bugs from my clearbra as soon as possible. I use Optimum Quick Detailer for this type of clean up and Plexus on the clearbra. So I was wondering if these products strip off layers of wax and sealant. Also, should I keep using Optimum Quick Detailer as a gloss enhancer after a regular maintenance wash? I don't want to remove layers of protection in the process.

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iTrader: (2)

Snoop, anytime

Using a QD like OID after wash shouldn't remove any of your protection, if anything it can help extend it. Plexus on the other hand has a lot of cleaners in it and would remove any protection if you had some on the clear bra. Plexus does leave a coating on the surface, but not the same as a sealant or wax.

If you wanted to add layers post wash using a spray on product, consider Optimum Car Wax instead of their Instant Detailer & Gloss Enhancer.

Let me know if there's anything else I can give you a hand with.