6gc's resident detailer is in! post your questions here!, need some help detailing? ask here Options

[opie_7afe]

so ive been away from the forums focusing on my other passion at heart and that is detailing, not your run of the mill detailing most shops and car dealerships offer, im talking OCD perfectionist detailing, removing swirls/scratches,prepping cars for car shows ect. ect. ect. so basically if you need any help getting your celica to look its best ask me some questions!, if your local to me i will even teach you better methods to detail your car. if you need any suggestions on good products to use, ask me. if you want to know how to get rid of that oxidized finish on the single stage paints used on celicas post in this thread!. hope i can help you guys who really want their celica to look its best figure out the best methods of detailing, maybe i will start writing some detailing articles here.

This post has been edited by opie_7afe: Jan 24, 2012 - 5:15 PM

[opie_7afe]

tips for the engine bay, basically what i do is wrap all the electronics(alternator,fuse boxes,relay boxes, map, fuel injectors,distributor, ect) and use some electrical tape wound tight around it to help prevent water from going into electronics, spray it down with some meguiars all purpose cleaner plus or la's totally awesome or purple power diluted 10:1(10parts water 1 part cleaner) spray down let soak for a minute or two, then use an assortment of brushes.also need some time also, helps to remove some items like the air box if you have one.

to fix the chalky oxidized finish you need to have a rotary or a random orbital polisher(not the cheap 10" or 6" ones) and need to have an assortment of pads/polishes to get it done right. if its really bad applying some meguiars #7 show car glaze and letting it soak for 12 hours(out of the sun) and then remove it. this feeds the paint with oils making it much easier to remove the oxidation. most jump to a wool pad on a rotary and some compound like meguiars m105, however you can use a 5.5" lake country orange or yellow pad on a random orbital with some m105 or the meguiars dual action microfiber system and that will remove the oxidation but will leave a haze/light hologramming(if your using a rotary) hologramming/haze is expected with a heavy cutting compound like m105. so you then follow up with meguiars m205 to remove the haze and bring up the gloss on a white lake country pad, if this is leaving slight holograms/haze then switch to a black lake country finishing pad or a different polish with a black pad. just a pointer the single stage white paint is really hard due to the titanium dioxide used for pigment in the paint, on the other hand black single stage is soft because the pigment is carbon, as you should know carbon is soft on the mohs hardness scale. it really does take a good bit of time for an oxidized finish but worth it when its done. you also need to judge on how bad the oxidation is to determine what the best approach is, what i will do is tape off a square on the hood or somewhere using painters tape and use the least aggressive polish/pad combo first, if that dont remove the oxidation then go more aggressive.what does work on white is some pinnacle xmt360,optimum poli-seal, meguiars paint reconditioning creme. stuff like that works great on white if your not trying to create a flawless finish, all of those products will remove medium to light oxidation and light swirl marks, deeper scratches you need to use something more aggressive, always remember to work clean also, meaning clean paint, and a clean pad. when your fixing oxidized paint the particles of paint and polish will get into the pad so you need to either wash your pad or switch to another pad,if you dont you will start seeing the pad not working well like it was when you first started, takes some time,effort,and patience to make oxidized paint look great but its worth it. if any of this has you stuck reply back listing what your stuck on and i will help further