Detailers?

[EzyBrzy]

Originally Posted by darkonion

Just my two cents. If you want to do a really good job getting your car detailed, it is just cheaper to take it to someone and have it professionally done up. Once you get factor in your materials and equipment costs + a cost for your time, it's just about the same or more than going to a detailer. I am sure there are people here who can detail.

Yeah, been on chemical guys website and looking up all the materials and product needed. So far my list is about ~$80 which isn't bad and should be able to do my brothers and dads car with the small bottles. Includes new towels and applicator/buffing pads. Although, this would be done all by hand. . . I figured I'd have to use up my whole day off to get the whole thing done, but I've always been a DIY guy.

If there is someone that can do a full detail my car for around that much ~$100, I'd be willing to just do that.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by darkonion

Almost correct. Compounds and polishes work for all type of colors. These products address many things, like faded paint, oxidation, water spots, micro scratches, swirls, etc.

Lighter colored (white/silver) cars don't show imperfections as much, but still can benefit from paint correction.

LOL. I couldn't think of how to phrase it. But you said it pretty well in your other post. Anything outside of waxes and sealants are used for paint correction, and can be thought of like sand paper grit. Next spring, I'll probably end up polishing my whiteout. I didn't have the time for that step in the time I've owned my FR-S. I'd like to use it to remove the very little marring I have on the paint.

Since I mainly use Meguiar's, for anyone who wants off the shelf items, I believe how abrasive their consumer line is as follows:

Ultimate Compound, Scratch-X, Swirl-X, Deep Crystal polish. Correct me if I'm wrong. lol. I may be forgetting some products, but those are the only ones I've had to use.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by EzyBrzy

Yeah, been on chemical guys website and looking up all the materials and product needed. So far my list is about ~$80 which isn't bad and should be able to do my brothers and dads car with the small bottles. Includes new towels and applicator/buffing pads. Although, this would be done all by hand. . . I figured I'd have to use up my whole day off to get the whole thing done, but I've always been a DIY guy.

If there is someone that can do a full detail my car for around that much ~$100, I'd be willing to just do that.

It takes me at least 5 hours to do a wash, clay bar, some paint correction (mainly larger scratches, if any), and wax with my FR-S. Took more than 8 hours with the Yaris since it was larger, and I did polish it. haha.

Shoot, I've spent 3-4 hours detailing just the rims before for the Yaris.

[KalbiCool88]

Originally Posted by darkonion

I have some experience with paint correction. What would you like to know?

Looming to get some work done. Just don't have the time myself.

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[darkonion]

Originally Posted by EzyBrzy

Cars look good. Like I said, wanted more a protective coat for the winter while making the paint pop out more. Some of the videos I looked at on youtube said to use sealant and the a light coat of wax after it cures to get the best results.

That first picture with the Yaris looks amazing though. I guess I'll experiment lol

It sounds like you are looking more for durability. That's absolutely okay. Let me lay out some of your options.

First, you want to wash your car. Pretty straightforward. Next thing you want to do is clay bar the car. Clay bar will remove any surface contaminant that is stuck to the paint, especially if your paint feels gritty. Clay bar each section until the panel feels smooth and free or grit. You want to do a decent job. Just keep in mind that the reason you are doing this is to give a clean plaint surface for the wax or sealant to adhere to.

Next, would be polish. You can choose to do this or not. It really just depends. I would try to do this if time permits. I feel like a light polish will help with leveling the paint and making the surface a little cleaner for the wax/sealant to adhere.

The next step is to seal/wax your car. Sealant is more durable than wax, but usually doesn't look at good as wax. Here are your options.

You can put 1 layer of wax or sealant on and call it a day.

You can put two layers of wax on. So... put first layer on. After it has crosslinked to the paint, buff the excess off then put another layer on. In this case, you'll get the "glow" of wax, but with the durability of 1 layer of sealant.

You can put one layer of sealant, then follow it with wax. Same with wax/wax, you let the sealant crosslink, then apply wax. This is kind of the middle ground. You get the glow and durability of the two products. Not going to be as much glow as wax/wax, but better durability.

Last, you can go sealant/sealant. Lot of protection, but definitely no glow.

[Kamakanani0]

Originally Posted by EzyBrzy

Yeah, been on chemical guys website and looking up all the materials and product needed. So far my list is about ~$80 which isn't bad and should be able to do my brothers and dads car with the small bottles. Includes new towels and applicator/buffing pads. Although, this would be done all by hand. . . I figured I'd have to use up my whole day off to get the whole thing done, but I've always been a DIY guy.

If there is someone that can do a full detail my car for around that much ~$100, I'd be willing to just do that.

invest In a harbor freight dual action polisher it's only $50-60 , if you want to cut/correct/compound major swirls use Menzerna FG400 with a buff & shine pad and then use a all in one sealant/polish with a polishing pad then add igreenlovers poly or Quartz coating believe me. It sounds like a lot but it's really really easy to detail our car

[darkonion]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

LOL. I couldn't think of how to phrase it. But you said it pretty well in your other post. Anything outside of waxes and sealants are used for paint correction, and can be thought of like sand paper grit. Next spring, I'll probably end up polishing my whiteout. I didn't have the time for that step in the time I've owned my FR-S. I'd like to use it to remove the very little marring I have on the paint.

Since I mainly use Meguiar's, for anyone who wants off the shelf items, I believe how abrasive their consumer line is as follows:

Ultimate Compound, Scratch-X, Swirl-X, Deep Crystal polish. Correct me if I'm wrong. lol. I may be forgetting some products, but those are the only ones I've had to use.

There's also an enthusiast line also. That's right between their consumer and professional line. To really be effective with any line, you really need a polisher of some sort.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

This was just from a small, 8"x3" section of my rear bumper using a clay bar (decided to go with a more risky bar, the blue bar, since my car is not parked in a garage).

https://instagram.com/p/8i7T9TGyzR/

Sorry, I don't know how to get just the picture from an Instagram post.

Make sure you use a quality quick detail spray and not just water when you clay bar. Trust me, a friend didn't listen to me and ended up scratching and marring his paint, and had to spend hours fixing all the scratches.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by darkonion

There's also an enthusiast line also. That's right between their consumer and professional line. To really be effective with any line, you really need a polisher of some sort.

I'd love to have a polisher, but I don't have a garage, and I've read that the battery powered ones won't cut it if you're doing some paint correction. So I've just used elbow grease. haha

[EzyBrzy]

Originally Posted by darkonion

It sounds like you are looking more for durability. That's absolutely okay. Let me lay out some of your options.

First, you want to wash your car. Pretty straightforward. Next thing you want to do is clay bar the car. Clay bar will remove any surface contaminant that is stuck to the paint, especially if your paint feels gritty. Clay bar each section until the panel feels smooth and free or grit. You want to do a decent job. Just keep in mind that the reason you are doing this is to give a clean plaint surface for the wax or sealant to adhere to.

Next, would be polish. You can choose to do this or not. It really just depends. I would try to do this if time permits. I feel like a light polish will help with leveling the paint and making the surface a little cleaner for the wax/sealant to adhere.

The next step is to seal/wax your car. Sealant is more durable than wax, but usually doesn't look at good as wax. Here are your options.

You can put 1 layer of wax or sealant on and call it a day.

You can put two layers of wax on. So... put first layer on. After it has crosslinked to the paint, buff the excess off then put another layer on. In this case, you'll get the "glow" of wax, but with the durability of 1 layer of sealant.

You can put one layer of sealant, then follow it with wax. Same with wax/wax, you let the sealant crosslink, then apply wax. This is kind of the middle ground. You get the glow and durability of the two products. Not going to be as much glow as wax/wax, but better durability.

Last, you can go sealant/sealant. Lot of protection, but definitely no glow.

Yeah in my head I've gone over the process as you stated.

Wash > clay > polish > glaze/finishing polish (or is this too much?) > Sealant > wax.

Not sure about the glaze part. It's another step but if I'm going all out anyways, there no harm.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

lmao, sorry, I couldn't resist since someone just posted that in the meme's thread.

[darkonion]

Originally Posted by EzyBrzy

Yeah, been on chemical guys website and looking up all the materials and product needed. So far my list is about ~$80 which isn't bad and should be able to do my brothers and dads car with the small bottles. Includes new towels and applicator/buffing pads. Although, this would be done all by hand. . . I figured I'd have to use up my whole day off to get the whole thing done, but I've always been a DIY guy.

If there is someone that can do a full detail my car for around that much ~$100, I'd be willing to just do that.

I think you are looking at $250-$300 to find an enthusiast detailer to do that work. Really, your biggest cost is going to be the polisher and cost of labor. I am not quite sure how you are going to do paint correction by hand, but you can. You are going to have a lot of difficulty removing heavier defects by hand. At the $250-300 level, you can probably have most, but not all of the defects corrected.

[darkonion]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

I'd love to have a polisher, but I don't have a garage, and I've read that the battery powered ones won't cut it if you're doing some paint correction. So I've just used elbow grease. haha

I don't have a garage. I have a polisher. Pop up canopies are nice.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by darkonion

I don't have a garage. I have a polisher. Pop up canopies are nice.

Where are you plugging it in?