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[Dstanic]

I bought some Nanowax... since a couple people on here with black cars really like it.  It's time to POLISH the car, and get it looking like brand new.  I might wetsand some spots that have touchup paint before I start buffing.  I'm going to use the painter's Makita polisher (the DeWalt I use it great, but it's not as refined and the Makita has a bail grip handle, and it's lighter)



1.  wash car

2.  Put masking tape over rubber/plastic areas so the compounds don't stick.  Also the badges.

3.  3M 06060 extra cut rubbing compound with wool pad.  Get the last 4 years of crap off the paint...

4.  3M 06064 Swirl Mark remover with black foam waffle pad.  Get the clearcoat nice and smooth from the rubbing compound and a nice shine.

5.  And the last step as far as polishing... the new 3M™ Perfect-It™ 3000 Ultrafina™ SE 06068.  
"3M™ Perfect-It™ 3000 Ultrafina™ glaze & foam pads help eliminate swirl marks on painted surfaces, even on difficult dark colored cars. Use foam pad (PN05733 & 05751) as a paint finishing step after swirl mark remover. Wipe haze with Detail Cloth."
 My prayers have been answered!  I did a BLACK 2003 Cadillac DHS Deville, and there are **NO buffer marks** in the sun because of this product!!!  This stuff brings up an incredible smooth shine, just like brand new paint.  Black is so hard to do, I love this product!!!

6.  Wash again to get the greasy 06068 off...

7.  Wax car with Nanowax.  Repeat waxing again in 1 week.

[Euro]

damn, want to do mine?

[AWeb80]

nice.  i got a friend that'll do that for $70....he works at teh biggest auto detail place in town....

i'll have it done in a month or so...my paint should shine...its never ever been polished....

[Dstanic]

If I was doing a white car I'd just hit it with rubbing compound (If nessesary) and a polish... since it's very hard to see swirl marks etc.  But hell, for most white cars slap on a coat of wax and it looks pretty good.  Black and dark colors are hard!!

Ya theres a few places around here that charges $100 or 150CND  to do a complete detail of cars... the one place likes to use so much silicone products it SMELLS bad!  They do a quick buff and some sort of cheap greasy wax.  The place we get our cars rustproofed/glass fixed they also do detailing ($150 for complete interior/exterior/polish) but I haven't seen any of their work to compare quality.

[3100MPFI]

I am going to do this to a friends 1984 Lincoln Town Car sometime this weekend.  He is getting ready to sell it, and I am going to make it shine.  The car is in really good shape for it's age.

[GTP_MuNkY]

so how much would I have to pay you to do mine next? lol

Jamie

[skiiirt]

$150 sounds like a great deal

Around here a good waxing will cost you over $500
Hell a ming shine starts at like $350 for the cheapest service

[Dstanic]

Well it took me 8hrs !!

Gave it a quick wash

Dried it, used compressed air to blow water out from the mirrors, mouldings, etc..

Put masking tape around the badges, and the stupid non-painted plastic mouldings.

Hit it with the rubbing compound.  It took a little more effort than I'm used to, cause that Liquid Glass wax is pretty good stuff!

Wipe off rubbing compound with MF cloth

Gave it a quick wash again to get the compound off (it was damn dusty doing the whole car).  Left the tape on, I washed with a garden hose and mit to be as gentle as possible.  I tried using the swirl mark remover before washing, but there was too much residue.

Dried car again

Swirl mark remover on entire car.  I used compound/SMR on the tail light panel on the back, took all the little scratches out, looks like brand new!

Wipe off as much dust as I could, used a damp chamois to scoop up the dust (3M stuff is very effective but very dusty!)

Applied the Ultrafina glaze/polish stuff, gave it that "I'm a new car" look.  Did one panel at a time, wiping it off with MF cause it leaves a greasy residue.

Wiped off remaining dust and splatter off the windows and got the fuck outta there.  Now all I need to do is get a toothpick and fill in all the tiny stone chips.

Didn't have time to wash it again and wax, plus it was raining outside so waxing would have been kinda pointless (woun't cure properly).  I might wax it tomorrow at my parents house.  Anyways it looks fucking amazing right now... like a brand new car minus the stone chips!  Can't wait to wax it, it's gonna look great.  One more thing I wanna do before the Kitchener meet next week is paint the rotors and calipers (half assed at least) especially those new rear rotors, fuck did they start rusting fast!!

[Dstanic]

$150 sounds like a great deal

Around here a good waxing will cost you over $500
Hell a ming shine starts at like $350 for the cheapest service

The job I did I sure as hell would charge over $150!!  The materials alone (expensive 3M stuff) was probably over $50 alone.  And in 8hrs I still didn't get all that I wanted done.

For $150 at most places you probably get a quick buff with compound on any eye-sore scratches, and a 1 step polish and/or wax of some sort, which may have silicone in it... something that wouldn't take too much time.

[GTP_MuNkY]

$150 sounds like a great deal

Around here a good waxing will cost you over $500
Hell a ming shine starts at like $350 for the cheapest service

The job I did I sure as hell would charge over $150!!  The materials alone (expensive 3M stuff) was probably over $50 alone.  And in 8hrs I still didn't get all that I wanted done.

For $150 at most places you probably get a quick buff with compound on any eye-sore scratches, and a 1 step polish and/or wax of some sort, which may have silicone in it... something that wouldn't take too much time.

eek... your services are too rich for my broke ass!

Its getting washed tomorrow and waxed on monday.

Jamie

[Dstanic]

Jamie the problem with your car is it's 12 years old.  So it really depends how good you want it to look.  It IS possible to do rubbing compound (maybe even some wetsanding like I did on my GP)  and then a single polish cause red isn't gonna show problems near as bad as black/dark colors.

I could do a quick polish with this stuff we have called "Fine Finish", just use a generic pad and it works pretty good as a 1 step deal.  It's great for new cars that have a little scuff in the clearcoat or whatever.  

But really my GP looked pretty good with just a coat of wax applied every couple of months.  Red is a fantastic color to make bright and shiney, even if it has scratches/swirls in the paint.

[DiscoStudd]

What's your opinion on this "system" :

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_1000&L2=L2_1004&SKU=11119

Saw it in an ad in Popular Hot Rodding.  They throw in an instructional DVD and a "Detailer's Handbook" with the order.

Just wanted to get a pro's opinion on that system.  I'm thinking about buying it, 'cause I know absolutely zero when it comes to using an orbital buffer.  The last time I polished a car was ~8 years ago when my wife and I spent 4 hours hand scrubbing our Crapalier at a coin-op car wash (using Meguiar's 3 part polish & wax kit.)  I haven't done anything that would be considered "polishing" on any of my cars since then!  Now that the oldest car in our fleet is only 3 years old, I want to try my best to keep the finish "outstanding" on both cars...

[mfewtrail]

Hurry up and wax it and post some pictures Dave. I need to clean my white grand prix...maybe tomorrow if I have time.

Kevin, check out autopia.org. There's probably some posts discussing those products on that forum.

[DiscoStudd]

Kevin, check out autopia.org. There's probably some posts discussing those products on that forum.

Cool, will do!

[Dstanic]

Hurry up and wax it and post some pictures Dave. I need to clean my white grand prix...maybe tomorrow if I have time.

I will, hopefully today!

Kevin, check out autopia.org. There's probably some posts discussing those products on that forum.

I was going to say the same thing.  The link doesn't work but I probably haven't tried those products anyways.  For the record I use a ROTARY buffer (10amp, big monster).  A very popular choice amoung the autopia community is the "PC" (Porter Cable 7424) system. I've never used one myself and don't plan on bothering since I already have mastered the rotary, and my forearms don't get tired anymore .  
I have only used a handfull of over the counter products, the rest is 3M (for exterior) or AC Delco or CarBrite stuff from the supplier.  I still have a bottle of that Aerospace 303 (or whatever it's called) that I'm going to use on my interior, as well as a second coat of Lexol on the leather.