So your car isnt shining?
 

Materials:
Mcguires Color X -> Swirls
3M Scratch Remover -> self explanitory
Quix scratch remover -> Just incase 3M doesnt do the job
Mothers Back to Black -> Plastic Pieces
Mothers Clay Bar -> only if you have tar and crap
Mothers Cleaner Wax -> Paint imperfections
Mothers Sealer and Glaze -> If your gimp and think it helps
Back to black Liquid Wax -> if you have a black car


Ok here is the deal,

I wrote a show and shine last year and tested many new products however the result is basicly the same with even new products.

I will only write this ONE more time, after that...screw yourselves.

I have a 2005 cobalt SS/SC and go through 80-100 mph traffic, get more asphalt sticking to my bumper and more dump trucks dropping gravel on my hood than you could ever count.

True, i do repaint a panel if It gets a ding but otherwise it is original. To you newbs who claim claybar owns... I tried it... if you keep your car as clean as mine all the time (once a month wash, wax) then you will NEVER need one. I PROMISE that.

Claybar is only good if you have paint imperfections or asphalt grime on your bumper.... or when you neglect it completely. Since you are in this forum I guess your interested.

Do-it-yourself-brushes are a myth about swirls. I said this a zillion times. If you see swirls in your paint it wasnt because of a brush. Some idiot (namely you) decided to use a dirty microfiber rag or rubbing compound and destroyed your paint.... good job. Ill help you fix the mistake.

Key notes:
Rubbing or Polishing compound is only good for scratches that you can visually see that is deeper than comfort. Other than that use a cleaner wax or 3M's scratch remover. If you use Mcguire's scratch X your a newb. Please STFU and dont even talk to me. It doesnt work, never will, rubbed it in with a buffer, rotary, etc....doesnt work. It does help with swirls a little bit but Mcguires Color X works better for that.(more on that later)

Im going to take worst case scenario here. You are like me. You let your car become neglected since October of last year. Now car shows are popping up and you want to shine it up. First thing is first, Wash with dish soap. Forget the PH. It wont matter by the time you rinse it unless you let it sit in the sun for 100000000 years.(ok a few hours) Its a myth about the whole clear coat B.S. being eaten up. GM paint is garbage but not THAT bad.

Wash the car at a touchless car wash and use the warm soap, soap it over, rinse. If you dont care like I do you will rinse the brush off and use it on your own car. Rinse.

Ok woopie doo. Clean car. Drive it home if your crying about your clear coat. Otherwise use the absorber and dry it off. However, using the absorber at this point before driving it home will grind dust in to your clear coat. It is nicer just to drive it home with the dust residue.

USe mother's detailer and wipe the whole car down if you drove it home. If you used the absorber, you already did whatever scratching to your clearcoat...gratz. It wasnt much if you did (trust me I only stated it for the morons here).

Ok now check your bumper for asphalt grime and tar. Remove it with mother's claybar and ALOT of detailing lube (mothers) to help remove it without screwing up your clear coat. Mother's claybar is pretty forgiving so you can be moderate with the lube.

By this time you should have one ugly dull paint job. Great! Thats what we were looking for. Nice and dull to make right. Go over the part or all of the car that have scratches and use 3M scratch remover. Its a minor abrasive that works very well. For deeper scratches you will need to use a rubbing or polishing compound that im too lazy to go in to. Followed by the scratch remover.

So you went over the whole car and got it as good as your gonna get. Swirls show up, scratches minorly removed, dull claybar etc. Now time to beautify it.

Use mother's "back to black" on all the plastic first. It is easier to wax that off the paint than getting wax off your plastic.

Ok Now use Mother's cleaner wax for the car. Great! we are cleaning out some minor imperfections! After your done with the cleaner wax use Mcguire's Color X to remove the rest of the minor imperfections. Works like a charm.

If you have a black car finalize it with Black Magic Liquid Wax. I cant vouch for any other color but it will make it a VERY DEEP gloss.

Tire shine first....then clean rims (no need re-cleaning rims with slick crap)

This isnt as detailed as my other show and shine one but it will work.

btw: 05 paint ftw

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6...1087xw5.th.jpg


http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3...1074hb2.th.jpg


http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2...1101uc1.th.jpg

lol caught my wife (in pink)

Anyway, flame away

how long do you spend on this whole process?

ewwww.... swirl marks on the fenders.... maybe a re-polish? Looks good though.

i work 9-5 so i spent an hour a day for a week using the 3m scratch remover from the fall/winter removing the scratches from what i saw.

The rest was to finsih it on a weekend. About 3 hours. 1 extra hour because it rained on the car show date and we have like a 5,000 pollen count....ewwww

maybe 8 hours total....but isnt alot compared to 6 months of neglect imo. This will last the whole season being garaged.

Dumb...

Everyone knows it will show if the sun shine EXACTLY on the spot. Maybe learn2shine? Im giving random photos man. That was the worst one. Here

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1...1023hg3.th.jpg

Now please STFU

that was SOOOOO confusing....

Wrong.... I have been detailing since I was 15.... I would put money down that once my car is polished and waxed that you could not find one swirl or check on my car at all. My car is also an 04 that was neglected hard core until I bought it a year ago and wet-sanded the whole thing. I use a ton of different chemicals that are available through professional detail sources only and make sure to remove all imperfections from the finish.

I dont care if you have been detailing since you were 5

I see ALL imperfections when the sun itself reflects off the paint. Shame you wont be at the Ga meet lol. More power to you if you fictionally can do it. However I had people at the show ask me how i avoided getting swirls in the paint SPECIFICLY.

This article is more to help others, not give wrong impressions. Lets see your how too with the rotary? pfft please Ive tried em all.

I have people comment my paint all the time as well... feel free to join in my "calling out hatrickstu" thread since he got banned and can't partake haha. This weekend I am doing the full detail, and I will post close up sun shots and "mirror"shots and all that good stuff. Don't take this as flaming. I'm always up for a "detail-off". I just have a bunch of stuff most people can't get and it works really REALLY well lol.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8...1104mo3.th.jpg

when you can show off this then talk to me.....

Notice the paint chips on my hood?

Im getting it repainted this weekend (if i dont go to the GA/AL meet) so i dont mind showing this

take a look at his thread with the newest pics ofhis

I can hang with you....
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...t/IMG_0844.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...t/IMG_0837.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ollingchop.jpg

/threadjack....

haha... thank you. You are forgiven for missing the meet ;)

my shots that are as far away look just as good. I wanna see a shot where u can see the sun reflect off something. The actual sun...not sunlight.

btw does look good

like I said.... this weekend. and I am not looking to be a dick here. I just want to see if you'll accept my challenge for the detail off :)

you did see the reasoning thread right?

yeah, i cant say i blame you hahaha

alright just checking now we can /threadjack

and I'll add. the first 2 pics I posted were taken today... and I haven't waxed it since before winter.

Just get some closeups and some where the sun hits any part of the paint while showing imperfections like hood chips :)

Your good and it would be rough to show a winner, but at the same time, i know im DAMN good at what i do. :)

You Should Tint Your Door Windows

GA law is 32 tint however, i recently found someone to do it on the low for 200....

Only problem is i spent 1200 on my nav unit 2 weeks ago and have a few panels to repaint. It'll wait but i feel ya ;)

Um, Chris you will own him!

And to the OP if that is the best you can do, don't hang with the big dogs! :)

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7104/sigvd0.th.png

glamour shots are easy kid...please sit ;)

you should hit your caps lock key one time.

HA HA HA HA, kid that is funny! I'm not even going to grace this with photos!

Everyone that needs to know how my car can look has seen it!


So please and thank you have fun to yourself!

:)

Making a car shiney is easy! Making it smooth as glass and shiney takes talent. Anyone with half a brain can make a car shiney with SPRAY WAX

I see your swirls with the sig... just open it with photoshop and magniify it ;)

I will say that Dub also has some of the stuff you can't buy.... and probably the slickest paint on the site.... and isn't quite a kid either lol.

Dub and Chris you both FAIL and need to end yourself... :p:

Sorry to the OP, but there are some amazing detailers on this site, and I have seen 100s of pics of dubs car and Chris car in person and I can assure you they know what they are talking about...

magnifying a small image does nothing because the image becomes pixelated.

Nice job on the detail...

Here what I did with my products in conjuction with a porter cable and a gray foam pad.

No abraisives were used :twothumbs


I took a shot in the sun to show the difference on the hood. The left is unfinished, but has been buffed with a glaze. the right is just washed and clayed.
https://www.cobaltss.net/gallery/fil...8/4_900813.jpg


Heres the finish once the glazed was wiped off by hand and a 100% carnuba wax was applied.
https://www.cobaltss.net/gallery/fil...8/6_919075.jpg

And the money shot
https://www.cobaltss.net/gallery/fil...8/8_656027.jpg

Mind you I didnt use any abraisives. And these shots were taking in direct sun light with the camera flash on.

Not bad for 20 year old paint... not bad at all...

Um, I'm sure you do! I see swirls in yours as well and don't need them magnified! If I was going for a flawless detail it wouldn't have been put in my sig!

Once again, I am a horrible detailer I should stop doing it!

:)


I know I should! He makes me cry! LAWLERCOPTER!

No doubt about quality detailers,

this was a how-to for most people. Im good and i could run head to head with anyone here about show and shine. Im positive on that. Even brand new paint jobs barely look as good in comparison with the car shows ive gone to. Just come on down :)

Like I said... SHINEY is not all tha matters kiddo!

Subscribed for when I'm not drunk.

I need all the help I can get with my black cobalt.

lmfao kiddo?

Its doing with what you have that matters. Ill let them decide. Honestly. though, distance to distance... you guys dont have anything on me...lol

Hey you called me a kid and I'm damn near 30 so I can call you a kid too!

Oh believe me you can make black cars look really good... try it with some metallic flake and color shifting paint!

I actually think metallic is easier to clean up... the flake tends to make the imperfections hide a bit better.

TRUE... but it shows swirls like a summabich!

See post 29 rrutter81... You did a great job... but if your aiming for near perfection. Meguires is not the way to go... Considering all the abraisives you applied, from scratch removers, wax cleaners, etc... Not good for your paint at all.

If your interested, send me a PM. or hit me up via AIM. Recommend you stop by Harvert Freight and buy a porter cable for under 30 bucks. FTW

x2 he is right

metallic hides alot


Im close to 30 as well and have shown the closest shots... lets see some imperfections + show and shine

I only like mcguires color x.... which didnt seem abrasive at all.... 3M was very abrasive as all their products are.

WOW you guys have a lot to learn! Anywhosal keep thinking your GOD! If you want to see another quality black detail hit up HatrickSTU he's damn good too.

And meguairs sucks ass! I don't buy anything except detail spray and tire shine at the local stores... for good waxes Pinnacle Royal Glaze is what I use!