If it was dusty and your car hits the rain and dust/dirt spots appear all over then best to have it washed properly soonest (soap and all) as leaving them to dwell any longer may result in etching. if it was just dust but dry then leave it be until you are able to wash it.

you can employ those rinseless wash solutions but they are very costly and most people wouldn't recommend unless they are very desperate. if a properly carried out car wash has the risk of still causing swirl marks/hair line scratches, rinseless wash would definitely amplify that chance.

quick detailers are exactly what their name suggests, to detail (not clean/wash) and should only be use when the car has no or very very little contaminants on it otherwise, you are basically just rubbing, smudging and transferring whatever contaminants you want to get rid off from one place to the other. to make matters worst, you are dragging them along the way.

if you still want to use it then it will cause no harm to the PPF.

you are pretty much asking the same question as "should you wear clothes from Padini or Uniqlo".

please share a more detailed information (eg: price, packages, types of coating, services etc.) for people to even have a slight idea on what you are trying to ask.

i think an explanation is due on the discussion of the relationship between ceramic coatings and water spotting so that there be no misconception of the idea.



whatever it is (coated or uncoated), it is sufficient if you wash your car properly with a good shampoo once a week or once every fortnight (if schedule is tight), it is ABSOLUTELY OK to have the car in a normal dirty condition for a week or two because we do not have acid rain here in Malaysia, these wouldn't do much damage to the paint but what's destructive are those bird droppings and other funny types of stains which must be taken care of immediately.

I once parked my car in a basement parking and somehow there was a water leakage from the ceiling which i failed to notice, turns out those are limescale drips and because of its alkaline nature, eats rights through the coating that i had. ever since then, have always looked up.

Cleaning a coated car is the same as on a non-coated car, the main difference is that it is easier to maintain it - the hydrophobic nature prevents contaminants from sticking on the surface and most of them would be washed off during the initial rinse (minimizing scratches during the contact wash). Drying the car would be a breeze because you can actually sheet most of the water off the paint surface by running water through them - there's no need to wipe a surface twice or thrice just to get it completely dry leaving absolutely no water streaking whatsoever. It is a improvement in quality of life.



This post has been edited by shaniandras2787: Jul 28 2023, 01:22 PM

conditioners are not substitute for cleaners, they are moisturizers to ensure that the leather do not break down prematurely - the period for reapplication is highly dependent on the environment it is subjected to (eg: whether the surface is expose to UV/IR constantly or not and if yes, for how long) therefore for this, there is no one right answer and you will need to gauge the condition of the leather by looking at it.

i re-applied mine once every 6 months as my car is parked in the basement almost 90% of the time.

you can reapply every week if you desire but it will be a waste since the pores of the leather are filled and no absorption can happen.

most car coating packages comes with a "warranty" and in order for the warranty to remain valid throughout its duration, one of the most common T&C is that you cannot do anything to do or subject it to any other types of treatment(s) other than the ones approved / provided by the original shop that you purchased the coating from.

it is irrelevant whether Brand A has changed supplier or not, they are bound by the package that you subscribed to and if the package includes "maintenance" then irrespective whether there is a change or not, they did to comply.

while it may feel good but i think this has little to no effect in terms of trying to get your car washed the proper way simply because i can tell for sure that the workers will also use the wash mitt to do the contact wash for the entire car without ever dipping/cleaning the wash mitt after every panel, the worst thing they could do is also wash the tire well area before hitting the other surfaces

then there's the hygiene aspect of things, i wouldn't dip my hand again into that wash mitt after being used by strangers

oh shi- figured that it must have irked the workers a lot.

unless the car is absolutely soiled (ie: mudded / rained in between washes), it's best to leave it as it is until you are able to give it a proper car wash yourself. if the car is also coated then chances are that it wouldn't do much harm to the surface anyway and if there is, it's on the coating however if it does else fail, just go and get the coating topped up for a few hundred bucks.

beats having to look at a car that is tainted with swirl marks etc.

you should count your blessing that they did not "accidentally" water waxed your car and then forced you to pay for it. i once sent my wife's car for wash and despite me telling them "No" umpteen times, they deliberately do it so i ended up paying them extra RM25.00 for fear that they may gang up on me.

i personally don't think anyone can find a car wash that can do things according to the way they like because in order to cater for such request/demand, that business can only entertain a handful of car washes per day and it is not profitable at all - just calculate the time we all spent washing our cars and then divide such time with the operating hours of a normal car wash, i believe at max, that business model can only do a maximum of 10 car washes per day PLUS there's a limit to how much they can charge per car.

so the solution is, wash the car ourselves



what i find surprising is that how come still no entrepreneur wants to invest in self-serve car wash bays like these - the arrival of these would be a blessing for people who live in condominiums which has no designated car wash bays but loves to wash their own cars.

those are tire shine i guess, they are free but yeah, they are quite horrible as they gave the tires a wet/greaser look which i absolutely hate

as for the self-served car wash bays, i can only think so as i have seen some in the US but almost nowhere else, not even in Japan (iirc). anyway, an OK car wash now costs around RM15.00 and above, those RM10.00 and below has really become unacceptable as of late.

perhaps you are right, the investment money does not justify the foreseeable profits but so are many things in the beginning

i would pay a monthly / annual subscription fee to use these facilities rather than subscribing to that CeramicPro car wash gimmick in Puchong. At the very least, i'm getting the satisfaction and ease of mine that my car is well taken care of (by myself!)

which one did you bought? the Leather Care?

by the way, just to share - if you are driving a Japanese make then i'd recommend you to look at the products from Soft99. I've tried detailing products from multiple brands previously and find that somehow Soft99 is "easier" on them.

Even SONAX is supposed to be a "forgiving" brand isn't very forgiving.

Armor All is an "OK" brand, doesn't stand out for being anything so if you have very little expectation for detailing products then you can use it (since it is cheap to you) but do not expect it to perform exceptionally well / long lasting. You'll most probably need to apply it frequently as well - i personally do not think it can ruin your leather unless you used it in a way that it was not meant to be used. Also, do check whether the product contains alcohol because if there is, your leather will dry and crack in no time.

Meguairs is a famous brand but mostly because they invested a lot in advertising, my personal experience with them aren't very good and i prefer SONAX over them but if Meguairs works for you then very good.

Soft99 so far seems to be the middle ground, above average quality with affordable pricing and easy application as well (very important). i have yet to have an unpleasant experience with any of their products.

always go by the notion of "good things not cheap, cheap things not good" - if you like your car then avoid them because (i) i doubt those products are certified and (ii) i also doubt if they have underwent proper testing before put out for sale.

long long time ago, i once bought a windscreen repellent from there (forgot the brand), smells like concentrated IPA and doesn't work at all (not even a bit). so, you'll most probably waste your money on a bad day but on worst case scenario, damage the part beyond repair.

if you are cheap (like everyone else, me included), just browse the Soft99 range, they are as affordable/safe/reliable as they can get.

Cquartz is a kind of ceramic coating, correct?

If so then there is no need for you to apply the Fusso on top of it because the coating would have provided sufficient paint protection. furthermore, the coating's hydrophobic properties would have prevented the Fusso from adhering to it - so, it's basically throwing time/money/effort away.

however if you STILL feel the NEED to apply another layer on top of the coating, you'll be better off with spray-on waxes (eg: Graphene Flex Wax by Turtle wax etc).

if you are already on a snow foam/pressure wash set up and is ON a budget then just spray a thicker foam on the rims and then thoroughly wash the rims with a wash mitt - there is no need for an iron remover unless your brake pads kicks off a lot of dust OR you frequent tar roads.

if you are not on any set up then the bad news is that rim/tire cleaners are generally expensive and not cost effective. I was on SONAX Xtreme and its costs around RM75 - RM85 depending on sales. a bottle would last me for about 24 tires (economically used) and that's it so that translates to about RM3.00 per tire/rim.

cats are nuisance to meticulous car owners and unfortunately there is absolutely nothing you can do about it that is NOT DETRIMENTAL. so, you either speak to your neighbor to keep his/her cat away/indoors OR you can avoid confrontation and buy a good quality car cover and cover up every night before you go to bed.

also, coatings are additional sacrificial layers to protect your original paintwork so they are meant to be "harmed". the upside is that you can polish/buff off scratches on it without affecting the original paintwork and then top it up again so it's like having a new plaster on every time but this requires extensive work / effort to do.

for spray waxes, you can either consider Soft 99's Fusso range OR the Luminous spray wax from OSREN - both are equally comparable but aren't as durable as traditional paste wax that can last you up to 6 months. Spray waxes usually lasts you anywhere between a month or two before you start seeing some degradation so advisable to apply them weekly after a properly washed car.

don't buy into the misconception that a coated / waxed car will avoid water marks, in fact it will attract them simply because it causes the water to bead on the panels due to surface tension - a coated / waxed car makes maintaining the car more manageable and that's it. If all else fails, you can polish off the blemished part without hurting your original layer.

the good thing about a coated / waxed car is that you can get rid most of the water beads by running water through them.

for leather, i'm currently using this:-



relatively easy to apply, does not give off those unsightly shine/gloss, not sticky and also not greasy so you can also use it on the steering wheel. this product doubles up as a leather cleaner as well so 2in1.

i don't think this is a "spray wax" - more like liquid wax. the application mode should be "wax on, wax off" Miyagi-style.



for the FWS and other mirrors on the car, use this instead:-



you can also use it on the side mirrors and i personally vouch for this product. have been using it on my 2nd car and am still using it on my 5th. never fails and super easy application as well and can literally last forever if you don't use your wipers often.

looks suspiciously like the top coat / clear coat of the original paint work has worn off - nothing much you can do other than repaint the whole panel and then reapply the clear coat.

the reason why it got "whiter" is because your polishing removed the surface contaminants and the "glossy" effect is from the oil of the polishing compound. once the oil wears off, it went back to square one.

why would he not be able to buff the polishing oils off when it rains? did he do the polishing out in the open?

most people confused polishing and waxing and very often people thought they are one of the same so my guess is that the owner actually bought a "waxing" product (not polish) and then applied it. given how toxic tiktok is, the "wax" that he purchased is probably shi- and either is very acidic or alkaline in nature which resulted what you are seeing.

does the blemish only appears on certain spots of the front hood or is also found on other areas of the car?

by the way, did you also gauge the paint thickness on the other parts of the car (eg: the roof?) - are they consistent throughout?

did he happen to still have the product that he bought from tiktok?

that would pretty much clear up whatever that is causing the blemish.

i'm suspecting it's snake oil sold as some miracle water that claims to polish, clean and wax all at the same time in one application and underneath it all, it's just concentrated IPA.

just generally look for the ones with at least 3 layers (or 5), that should last you for at least a year before it starts to degrade. car covers are exhaustible items so they are not meant to last forever. even brick walls deteriorate if exposed to the forces of nature, let alone, fabric/cloths.

it depends entirely on how deep those scratch marks are because if they are etched all the way through your clear coat, there's nothing you can do other than to fill them up. Polishing does not actually "remove" scratches, it just smoothens the surface of the clear coat so light reflects off evenly.

you can do a simple test to determine how "deep" the scratches are by lightly running the back of your fingernails through the marks, if you don't feel a "kink" then they can be removed, that's the physical test.

another one which you can do is run water through the marks, if they disappear and then reappear then high chance they can be polished off but if they remained then you are fucked.

detailing washes does not do anything to the scratches except to clean your car a little bit more properly, that's all. if you are serious in getting your car back to its glory days then be prepared to splurge but it should be below RM1,200.00.

alternatively, just get yourself a polish from reputable brand and then DIY. Meguairs' brand is a good start, expensive but friendly to apply and does not require much skill to go about:-



if you are unsure then ALWAYS start off with a small patch first and see how it goes, once you are confident enough then progress to a bigger patch but never do the whole car at once, always by panels.

*cheap things not good, good things not cheap*

always go by this if you are result orientated, you may end up with no difference before and after if you are aiming for the "cheapest" but for worst case scenario, paint marring all over which will costs 2 or 3 times the price you paid (if it was rectifiable).

instead of sieving through your options with price, try reputation/review instead. the latter is always a good yardstick.



actually, the Glaco Q and the Glaco Ultra are essentially the same product but the former has a higher "hydrophobicity" meaning to say, you do not need a lot to have the water wicks off but the trade off is, it is not as durable therefore not advisable to apply in places where friction is constantly applied (eg: windscreen).

whether the product itself contains "self-cleaning" properties or not, it is always best to prep the surface before applying any sealant/protectant, separately. if your windscreen has been neglected for sometime or you feel the glass is "rough" to the touch then you can use this to it first:-



... but if not then just run a soft clay through gently and that should be sufficient.

for any application of LSP, you want the product to bind directly to the paint surface. if you have the car sprayed with water wax (or whatever it may be) and then applied the Glaco, the Glaco will bind on the water wax (or whatever it may be) and not the paint surface and when the water wax (or whatever it may be) degrades, it takes the Glaco along with it. the Glaco Q/Ultra is not a cleaner, it does not clean anything.

if i were you, i would apply the Glaco as soon as possible after the windscreen is dry without driving the car because road grime may have already stick to the windscreen while you are on you way bacl.

This post has been edited by shaniandras2787: Sep 18 2023, 09:56 AM