RFD Official Detailing Thread - Post all Detailing/Paint Related Questions here!

eclone wrote: ↑ Either I'm getting too old or I'm really losing interest in detailing. Used to be able to hammer out a 3 stage with taping in one sitting. I cleansed and taped last night and doing 45min blocks today, I only managed to polish 60% over 3.5hrs. Didnt even bother with clay since I only drove 4k last year. Think it may be time to hang it u and just pay someone next year.

Cars' gotten bigger
Your spare tire has gotten bigger.

Pads and tap generally stayed the same size.

sickcars wrote: ↑It is a lot of work. I have done a bunch of cars over the past few years where they drop it off at 8 or 9am and I'm working on it until 6-7pm. Thats including wash, clay, decom, polish & ceramic coating. Only stopping for maybe 30min lunch. But as the years go by it gets tiring & of course it depends on the car and how bad the paint is.

It's tough work and I respect anyone who does this for a living. I'm dreading having to go back out to continue working on it, can't imagine having to do this day in and day out, on other peoples cars.

warpdrive wrote: ↑ Just spray and wipe off wax for me these days. In the end it's not worth the trouble. Springtime, I'll do paint cleaner with machine to get off the crud and then something like spray on, wipe off wax. Seal and Shine is my friend.

Honestly I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self not to spend that much time and money detailing the car. Just drive the car and enjoy it but don't obsess over it.

Wish I could adopt that mentality. Drives me nuts even when the car is just dirty. My car also has thin, soft and a generally crappy respray so I really need to take care of it and throw on whatever protective coatings so it doesn't get beaten up anymore.

tebore wrote: ↑ Cars' gotten bigger
Your spare tire has gotten bigger.

Pads and tap generally stayed the same size.

Wish that was the case, but I've been driving and detailing the same tiny old Subarus for 20 years. They haven't changed much in size except for the newer ones.

I am part of a weekly shell car wash group. Is there any point for me to claybar and then wax my car? I am wondering if it will get stripped off when I next go for a wash? Any advice/

You should only claybar your car if you plan to polish it because it usually leaves light scratches or marring in the paint. Wax is worth it because it helps protect the paint & clear coat but it means you will likely need to wax more often because you only use Shell car washes.

Twism wrote: ↑ I am part of a weekly shell car wash group. Is there any point for me to claybar and then wax my car? I am wondering if it will get stripped off when I next go for a wash? Any advice/

Well with the spring weather coming out this weekend for many of us, thought id share a helpful video on black cars specifically and another on the first spring cleaning for those that were in storage:

Finally finished. I had a black Hex pad sitting around from when I bought the Torq 10FX. Decided to give it a go to apply butter wax and on the first section, it left unremovable haze. I had to polish again to remove it. Ended up just applying by hand as I normally do and had no issues this way.

I had it primed properly, anyone know why or what caused the haze?

Did you set the machine slower than when you're polishing? Were you generous with the Butter Wax on the pad?

I apply Collinite 845 by machine, and it works perfectly.

Did you leave it on the panel for to long maybe so it ended up drying?

+1 to using Collinite No. 915 Marque D’Elegance by machine and it came off easily. I suspect it also may be the product, I never liked Chemical Guys stuff.

eclone wrote: ↑ Finally finished. I had a black Hex pad sitting around from when I bought the Torq 10FX. Decided to give it a go to apply butter wax and on the first section, it left unremovable haze. I had to polish again to remove it. Ended up just applying by hand as I normally do and had no issues this way.

I had it primed properly, anyone know why or what caused the haze?

derass wrote: ↑Did you set the machine slower than when you're polishing? Were you generous with the Butter Wax on the pad?

I apply Collinite 845 by machine, and it works perfectly.

sickcars wrote: ↑Did you leave it on the panel for to long maybe so it ended up drying?

+1 to using Collinite No. 915 Marque D’Elegance by machine and it came off easily. I suspect it also may be the product, I never liked Chemical Guys stuff.

Yes, I believe I used enough to apply at the lowest speed. Left it on for maybe 5 mins before trying to remove. I used Butter Wax since I had it sitting around and figured it's quicker/easier to work with since I had to get the car out of the garage.

It did come out looking very good but I kind of regret it due to the short life I'm reading from reviews. I'm thinking of adding a coat of paste wax in a couple weeks.

eclone wrote: ↑Either I'm getting too old or I'm really losing interest in detailing. Used to be able to hammer out a 3 stage with taping in one sitting. I cleansed and taped last night and doing 45min blocks today, I only managed to polish 60% over 3.5hrs. Didnt even bother with clay since I only drove 4k last year. Think it may be time to hang it u and just pay someone next year.

sickcars wrote: ↑ It is a lot of work. I have done a bunch of cars over the past few years where they drop it off at 8 or 9am and I'm working on it until 6-7pm. Thats including wash, clay, decom, polish & ceramic coating. Only stopping for maybe 30min lunch. But as the years go by it gets tiring & of course it depends on the car and how bad the paint is.

Yeah did my neighbour's car yesterday, was beat afterwards and pretty darn sore this morning! Same thing, started at about 8:30, finished it up around 8pm. I do his cars every year, He pays me but I don't ask him for a heck of a lot of money for it since I've been doing his cars so long. However I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it lol and I'm not even working right now--not too concerned about the money, but before it was more of just another car to practice on plus get paid at the same time but now I'm just like "ugh" lol.

Anyway his paint was in pretty bad condition (I don't get why people brush their car paint in the winter so badly because clearly that's what a lot of the scratches were and deep too--couldn't even get them all out but he's not looking for perfect anyway). I used Griot's Fast Correcting Cream and all the reviews on YT are pretty much spot on--stuff is great. Now I just have to wonder what the heck I do with the 1L of M105 I got at Walmart [US] on clearance? lol. Also still have a half a small bottle of that stuff too. The FCC is definitely much more enjoyable to use than M105. Results are better so far and though there is still dusting (and I still had to rinse afterwards) there was way less than dust-storming M105.

Also, has anyone had any seagulls come check out their foam-cannoning? Because after I used it yesterday all these seagulls started swarming around me One came as far as up on the sidewalk to check it out ... I was like, "hi what are guys doing here?" However the answer was unintelligible lol After a few mins I guess they realised there was no foods so they took off--guess they weren't interested in hanging out with me for 12hrs

What is everyone using for exterior trim?? Using chemical guys silk shine for my exterior plastics but I find it doesnt last very long.

I have not used it before but this looks good - https://3dproductscanada.com/trim-care-protectant/

congeetime wrote: ↑ What is everyone using for exterior trim?? Using chemical guys silk shine for my exterior plastics but I find it doesnt last very long.

congeetime wrote: ↑What is everyone using for exterior trim?? Using chemical guys silk shine for my exterior plastics but I find it doesnt last very long.

In the same boat since VRP doesn't last as well.

cristianosham wrote: ↑ In the same boat since VRP doesn't last as well.

Apparently, mothers trim plastic restorer is a good option

I bought this last year for my 13 year old winter beater, https://www.eshine.ca/collections/trim- ... store-30ml

EShine has been a disappointment for me. Everything that i need is always ’out of stock’. I don’t know whether it’s the pandemic situation or what, but others like Carzilla, auto obsessed, have been pretty good about restocking.

One of the reasons why I stopped using Eshine and went to Carzilla

nickgritz wrote: ↑ EShine has been a disappointment for me. Everything that i need is always ’out of stock’. I don’t know whether it’s the pandemic situation or what, but others like Carzilla, auto obsessed, have been pretty good about restocking.

sickcars wrote: ↑One of the reasons why I stopped using Eshine and went to Carzilla

Brake buster is out of stock.

Sorry, this question probably been asked many times over these 269 pages, but I am a bit lazy to go through all of these, even if I have noting much to do because of the pandemis

I am out of Iron X, own a white car and need something good to use as fallout remover / iron articles remover. Anything easy to find and cheaper than Iron X to suggest? I liked how Iron-X works, but it is expensive especially adding shipping fees