Turd Polishing

[SiC]

I've seen a few threads here where people have used mechanical polishers to really bring paint work back up to an impressive, shiney standard. What do you guys use on both what machines and products, and also any good techniques?

 

I've hand polished my cars before, but takes forever (I usually end up spending 4-6hrs) and for older/worthless stuff I really cba spending that long.

[Crusty Sills]

Check out www.detailingworld.co.uk/

Its a bit anal about polishing but plenty of good advice and some of the cars they do are incredible.

If your starting out machine polishing and want to buy start with a Dual action polisher instead of a rotary, you will have less chance of damaging paintwork.

Tape along edges and brightwork and work at a panel at a time.

Keep the mop head damp (not wet) and most important keep it moving or it builds up heat and burns the paint!!

[omegod]

I got a Clarke machine polisher and bought some different sponge mops from Halfords , had decent results with G3 followed up by autoglym and then sealed with ultimate gloss. Not had the guts to turn the speed up much or apply much pressure yet though 

[overrun]

Glue cotton wool balls to a 40 grit flap disc, attach to angle grinder and you're sorted*

[overrun]

Check out www.detailingworld.co.uk/

Its a bit anal about polishing but plenty of good advice and some of the cars they do are incredible.

If your starting out machine polishing and want to buy start with a Dual action polisher instead of a rotary, you will have less chance of damaging paintwork.

Tape along edges and brightwork and work at a panel at a time.

Keep the mop head damp (not wet) and most important keep it moving or it builds up heat and burns the paint!!

Good advice.

 

Also, remove or mask off as much trim etc as possible.

Splattered, dried compound is no fun, and almost impossible to fully remove and it undermines a good job, imo.

 

I suggest pressure washing the car straight after compounding it, to give you the best chance of getting it off.

[SiC]

Thanks for the advice. I don't want something too aggressive, otherwise I suspect I'll end up sanding all the paint off...

 

I've thought about getting one of those cheap orbital ones but looking around around on there, they don't seem to be well loved?

 

Is that because they don't have the price tag to be good, or because they are generally useless?

 

Dual Action stuff like the G220 and the Dodo Juice something (who came up with these names?) look good but a fair bit more than I was looking to spend on such a thing that won't be getting used regularly.

 

Saying that, the current Scenic I've got at the moment would probably be a perfect learning car for a rotary machine and not have to worry if I've ended up scrubbing all the paint off.

 

Si.

[Guest Lord Sward]

As mentioned here, mask off.  Also in my experience you cannot have too much water in the mix.

[beko1987]

Before you go polishing, you need to get your base sorted.

 

Start off with a good rinse with the pressure washer. Everywhere. In the trim edges, under plastic things, door shuts, under bonnet, the lot.

Wheels. Pressure wash under the arches, and the calipers. Spray wheel cleaner on (bilberry is gr9), and scrub with various wheel brushes. Do the tyres too.

Rinse off

Spray IronX on, wait 10 minutes. Scrub it in a bit with a brush, wait another 10 minutes then rinse off.

Snowfoam. A lance and foam is £50 on detailing world. Foam her up

When foamed, go around with a small detailing brush and a spray bottle of APC (G101 works well), and spray up the fiddly bits, around the doors, trim lines, roof rails. Then scrub them with the brush. Observe the thick black sludge coming from your door rubbers...

Once done, rinse off well.

Wash. 2 buckets, a washmitt and shampoo. Wax safe doesnt matter at the moment, so whatever shampoo you have. One bucket with shampoo, one with plain water. Wash a panel or 2 at a time, then rinse the mitt. Another panel or 2, rinse again etc.

Rinse the car.

Spray tar remover all over the place. Autoglym do a good one. Especiall spray around the bottom, sill and wheels. Agitate as needed then rinse and wash.

Clay. I recommend Bilt Hamber until the cows come home. The harsher one is good for cars that have never been clayed before, the soft one for if you clay a few times a year. Get the rose head on the hose, and get claying. Clay the glass, painted plastics, your alloys etc.

Rinse

Wash (trust me, you want to wash it again

Rinse

 

Then, dry. Get a blower (air bed pump, airline, hoover with a blow on etc) and blow the nooks and crannies out. The air should warm if from a motorised doo dah so will dry it as well. Then, with a good drying towel, dry the rest of the car.

 

Stand back, then examine the finish and go from there. The above will strip a car of all the dirt, contaminants, OLD POLISH that could hide shit loads of swirls etc.

 

It's what I do, need to do it to the ZX this year, need to spend money first though

[PiperCub]

The el cheapo ones are really only good for something not valuable  that you are trying to rescue it's appearance.

I have a Silverline one from Toolstation, won't use it on my decent stuff but it did a good job of shining up my old Eunos when it was for sale (& the paint was bloody bad on that!). 

 

 

Beko - pardon my ignorance/stupidity/<insert insult> but I've heard about claying/clay barring, what's the process exactly? I know it's supposed to remove surface shit (ingrained stuff) prior to polishing. Is it as straightforward as it seems? Any catches? Doesn't the clay get contaminated?

Appreciate this sounds dumb but I'm not into the fairly new science of detailing and have never 'Clayed'! 

[Matt]

Beko - pardon my ignorance/stupidity/<insert insult> but I've heard about claying/clay barring, what's the process exactly? I know it's supposed to remove surface shit (ingrained stuff) prior to polishing. Is it as straightforward as it seems? Any catches? Doesn't the clay get contaminated?

Appreciate this sounds dumb but I'm not into the fairly new science of detailing and have never 'Clayed'!

 

It removes ingrained contaminates and dirt that regular washing doesn't shift. Ever looked at a cars paint and noticed lots of little black dots? That's tar, washing won't remove it but clay will. Car paint is a lot more like skin than you might realise; if a basic wash is akin to taking a shower then clay is like an ex foliating scrub. It's very straight forward so long as you clean the car properly first. Becko suggested using the hose for claying but I wouldn't advise that personally as I doubt that water will provide sufficient lubrication for claying. You always wash before claying so drop the clay in your soap bucket before washing the car and then just keep the soap bucket and wash mitt handy and use the soapy water as lubricant. I use Meguiars clay (you can get it in Halfords) and here is how you use it:

 

1. Split the block in half

2. Turn and fold the bar a few times

3. Drop it in your soapy bucket until you've finished washing

4. Squeeze a soapy mitt over the area to be clayed and KEEP IT WELL LUBRICATED

5. Simply wipe the clay back and fourth until you feel the roughness disappear. Don't add pressure.

6. Once the clay is dirty again twist and fold it until you get a clean area.

 

If you drop the bar on the floor bin it, DO NOT put it back on the paint. 'Virgin' paint will really take it's toll on clay so buy a few bars. I washed and clayed my dads Clio for the first time in at least 6 months last week and here is how the clay looked after doing just one half of the bonnet of what most people would call a clean car.

 

[Hendry]

The el cheapo ones are really only good for something not valuable  that you are trying to rescue it's appearance.

I have a Silverline one from Toolstation, won't use it on my decent stuff but it did a good job of shining up my old Eunos when it was for sale (& the paint was bloody bad on that!). 

 

 

Beko - pardon my ignorance/stupidity/<insert insult> but I've heard about claying/clay barring, what's the process exactly? I know it's supposed to remove surface shit (ingrained stuff) prior to polishing. Is it as straightforward as it seems? Any catches? Doesn't the clay get contaminated?

Appreciate this sounds dumb but I'm not into the fairly new science of detailing and have never 'Clayed'!

 

I believe the way to do it is, and how I do it anyway, use about a third of a clay bar, plenty of water or quick detailer in a trigger spray bottle as a lube otherwise the clay might mar the paint, do a panel at a time, fold the clay over continually until you get a clean side to work with, repeat over the full car until you reach a stage where you pass the clay over the paintwork and it remains clean, you have successfully Decontaminated the paint.

[beko1987]

Bill hamber clay needs no lube, just water. Sorry, should have clarified that. You can get clay that needs special lube, but the lube costs extra.

[beko1987]

Clay also works better on a warm, sunny day. Don't do it on a cold wintery day, it goes too hard and goes like rubbing a stone on the car

[PiperCub]

Gentlemen - thanks for the advice. May try it on the 406 first though just in case! I bought one some time ago (a B-H one IIRC) but haven't had the balls to try it on anything valuable. 

 

I assume when a clay bar is contaminated, it looks like it, ie: dirty, then it's time for a new one? (as per Matt's photo).

 

 

Clay also works better on a warm, sunny day. Don't do it on a cold wintery day, it goes too hard and goes like rubbing a stone on the car

That's what concerned me! Point taken, warm day use only. 

[Matt]

Larry from AMMO NYC has loads of great videos and information on his YouTube Channel as well as his show on /DRIVE, /DRIVE CLEAN

 

 

4th gen Legacy estate <3

[Matt]

Clay also works better on a warm, sunny day. Don't do it on a cold wintery day, it goes too hard and goes like rubbing a stone on the car

 

Have a bash with the method I mentioned above and make your soap bucket nice and toasty. I had no problems this way. The problem with only doing this stuff on warm days is that your soap tend to dry. 15° and overcast FTW.

 

I assume when a clay bar is contaminated, it looks like it, ie: dirty, then it's time for a new one? (as per Matt's photo).

 

Only if you can't find a clean area when you fold it around. If it looks like that all over, it's shot.

[scaryoldcortina]

I thought about polishing the laguna shortly before it broke. Now I'm regretting not rolling into a field full of glitter.

[Guest Lord Sward]

I wish I could valet like a pro.

[fatharris]

I wouldn't put it in the soapy bucket whilst you wash the car, as all the grit from the sponge/wash mitt will fall to the bottom of the bucket, and onto the clay bar.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[beko1987]

Depending on the clay it wont like lube, or shampoo. I;ve had Bilt Hamber disintegrate before using shampoo as lube just to try, and Meguiars clay marrs like a bastard if the lube runs out.

 

I've been known to take a grey but not heavily contaminated piece of clay and use it on the door/wing bottoms, where all the tar sits.

 

I taught myself with the Junkman videos, some good stuff, very detailed posts

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=281047

 

Dodo Juice have this too, which will take a weekend but should leave your car cleaner than it would have been when new. Dodo Juice products are amazing as well, I keep having naughty thoughts about a big tub of Rainforest Rub for the ZX...

[beko1987]

A clay guide

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=219972

[Matt]

Depending on the clay it wont like lube, or shampoo. I;ve had Bilt Hamber disintegrate before using shampoo as lube just to try, and Meguiars clay marrs like a bastard if the lube runs out.

 

I've been known to take a grey but not heavily contaminated piece of clay and use it on the door/wing bottoms, where all the tar sits.

 

I taught myself with the Junkman videos, some good stuff, very detailed posts

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=281047

 

Dodo Juice have this too, which will take a weekend but should leave your car cleaner than it would have been when new. Dodo Juice products are amazing as well, I keep having naughty thoughts about a big tub of Rainforest Rub for the ZX...

 

I found one glass cleaner that the Meguiars clay didn't like but Windolene, Car Plan Snow Foam and of course Meguiars quick detailer are all fair game. As for marring, don't run out of lube! I can't say I've had much luck with Dodo's products; I got one of their wash mitts which came with a hole in it from new and my replacement only lasted a few washes before the wool came off and the leather tore. Plus I found that it clung to little bits too much so was near impossible to clean. MUCH happier with the Meguiars one I replaced it with.

[beko1987]

Ah my wash mitts are £3 from asda. Never tried any wash mitts from Dodo but I swear by Born to be Mild, and Lime Prime.

 

Most of my kit is Chemical Guys tbh, didnt mean it to be, it just happened! Apart from Black Hole, that's Poorboys World.

 

May go on a fantasy shopping list so it can be dashed when my bonus isn't as big as I would like...

[beko1987]

 

God I wish I was single again sometimes! Wont be able to afford all of that, but that would see me through for a good while!

[For Fiats Sake]

I recovered the paintwork on the red panda with clay bar and g3 - it was well gone, half way around the car I went to toolstation and bought the silverline polisher, made a fantastic job, auto glym polish then the sealer wotsit on top.  

Car looked superb.  Unfortunately the sills were fucked so it's a donor now.

 

I hate the mitts though and use a soft brush to wash with, lots of microfibre towels to dry and apply bumper gel on the black bits.  Yeah drying a car makes a big difference to the finish!

My pet hate is the black treatment the dealers use on trims which streaks like Twiggy blubbing all down the body work.

 

I'm not anal about doing it and all my cars are filthy right now but come a nice mild spring day I find it satisfying to get old shite looking its best.

 

I had the new panda treated from new which I regret now as the paint probably needed clay barring first but I'll just wash and dry it for now.

 

I might get a snow lance this year just for the bizarre sight of my cars making the drive look like a foam party 

[beko1987]

I used to be anal about it, I'd wax the puma in my lunch break whilst the rear arches crumbled away...

 

Now I do t care so much, but I do like doing it, so will treat it more as a hobby, plus the zx would make an ace project. It's just finding a full weekend to have a crack

[drum]

Thread title reminds me of when I first got the allegro

 

 

I have a polisher that I tried with some finishing compound from Autosmart, but always got a cloudy finish.

[beko1987]

You want cutting/polishing first, a finishing compound wouldn't be man enough to fix the paint, just jewel it afterwards

[philibusmo]

Detailers pro tip:

 

If you have a Maestro with panels in 4 different colours, damage from at least 7 minor accidents and 2 major ones along with pound land wheel trims and rusty wheel arches then a clay bar will probably do little to enhance the look of your automobile whether you use a lubricant or not.

[lisbon_road]

I've had fantastic results with a polisher and G3 on my '94 Astra, red of course.  Great lumps of paint flying off everywhere, took it from dull to like new in about four hours.  Four years later, it isn't perfect but still looks pretty good. 

 

Does it work as well with more modern paint with laquer, and metallic paints?

 

Always wondered that, and one of you will know.  Thanks.