polish every 6 months? you are not worried about removing the clear coat after couple of years?

thanks buddy, yeah there are a lot of videos about detailing. will watch it

I've only had my car for a couple weeks, cold and overall shitty weather. In between work, storms and darkness I managed to clay bar and at least get a coat of wax on it. The clay bar didn't pick up much of anything so there wasn't much grime collected during shipping. Plus there are protective films put on all the top surfaces during its trip from the factory.

The dealership, I assume, did however manage to get some pretty nice swirls and scuffs on the deck lid. I'm going to hold off till spring to do a good polish and overall paint detail. I may even color sand it. The factory paint really isn't so good. A lot of orange peel. Hoping there is a decent amount of clear on top of it.

Watch the videos, get a good buffer and pads and do it yourself. Its really hard to muck it up and something I enjoy doing.

Probably the best advice, although it can be safely resolved by a newbie with the right tools / supplies.

That is just a paint sealant ( no abrasives in it ) and unfortunately will do nothing to remove or even hide the swirls / holograms inflicted by the body shop.

Compounds and polishes are two totally different products. Polishes for the most part will remove swirls and light scratches inflicted during the wash process and can be followed up with the wax or sealant of your choice. Compounds typically are very aggressive for removing deeper defects and will need to be followed up with a polish to bring the gloss back to the paint before applying your wax or sealant. Wax itself will not hide anything but the lightest of swirls. Its not meant to do that job.

Very good advice and easily accomplished with the right supplies and a bit of time.

Not always, but for the little bit of time it takes to ensure the paint is clean, its worth it. All the FRS / BRZ I've done have been clean on the horizontal panels as they are covered in plastic but the vertical panels have been littered in rail dust from transporting.

You could polish your car twice a year with a white pad and M205 or Menz Power Finish to remove light swirls and you would never go through the clear. Both of those combos remove such a small amount of clear, its not even measurable with the electronic paint thickness gauge I have. Using a heavy cutting compound first and following up with a polish may result in removing 2-3 microns but thats it and that king of polishing should only be necessary once if you are maintaining it properly.

These cars don't come with much in the way of clear so I'd stay away from wetsanding and live with any defects that a product like Megs 105 won't remove. 2000 grit sandpaper won't remove much clear but once you are past that in aggressiveness, the clear is gonna come off in a hurry. You are correct in that using a DA polisher like the Griots or a Porter Cable is very safe and any enthusiast should own one in order to keep their car mint.

took the words right out of my mouth

That level of damage needs someone that really knows what is going on. to say it nicely is very hard, but they did way more damage than polishing for 2 years.....in otherwords they removed 2 years of the cars paint life.

How in the world can the word get out that true detailing cannot be done by just anyone.

I would take it back to the dealership and show them the damage, I would photograph it, and tell them you expect them to pay to have it professionally fixed. They will want to do it......they don't have the skill set. They like most other neo detailers will glaze it up with lots of oily products that will look great for about 6 washes, then bam they appear again.

Ken above outline perfectly all the points that needed to be made.

If you need some contacts for AZ detailers let me know, I don't know anyone off the top of my head, but have lots of connections in states.....just need to look them up.

Cheers,
GREG

ps. It may sound like I'm scolding you, I'm not, it just pisses me off that so much damage can be done so quickly.....fixing it will take 10x's as long to restore it.

no worries. thanks for the advice.

It depends on the pads and composition of the compounds you use doing a 1 step twice a year won't remove clear coat like your thinking it will. Been doing this for quite awhile.

If you are in the Phoenix area, I have someone for you,

Couple of people already mentioned www.WindowsAndWheels.com, so I will get the car inspected by them soon. thanks

He is good enough to do the job.