As I know, PlastX should be the same range of diminishing abrasives polish. In theory that means that the abrasive grains shrink as u grind, eventually too fine to do anything. Worth to try for finishing if u have it on hand already.

Would the likes of Carpro Essence be in that category that requires infrared lamps to see final finish?

Can, u still got ur old Carpro Essence?

This week I still not feeling so well, next week come find u.

Should be ok, confirm with u by Wednesday via whatsapp.

Mmm, actually interior detailing doesnt have to be difficult, unless ur car is abused aggressively. There are many detailers on youtube that show extreme interior detailing, but u most likely will never let your car reach that level anyways. Even if u do have a family carrier and kids that mess up your car, if u do regular care and cleaning, then it is not so daunting if u wanna do a more thorough cleansing. Otherwise, a typical damp microfiber towel can pretty much clean your entire interior.

For me personally, interior cleaning requires repetition, but not so much gentleness. Exterior detailing requires more gentleness, as being overly aggressive especially in cleaning and polishing, can ruin the paint.

Just my 2 sen.

PPF no, but I can suggest a cheaper alternative since u arent doing it on the car itself. U could consider clear sticker wraps that kids use to wrap their textbook covers once upon in time. Its available in stationary shops and should be quite affordable.

With my old Nissan Sunny previously, I used to stretch out the entire length of the seat belt, then spray APC on it and scrub it with a damp microfiber cloth, then followed by a dry microfiber cloth to speed up the drying. In absense of APC, u could try any diluted dishsoap.

Well, it should clean the belt, and with that should give it some reasonable "lubrication".

Lol, no wor, I'm not KC, not sure who he is. When I had my Nissan Sunny, I didnt know of this forum also, and was pretty much a home detailer back then.

For any forms of clay other than claybar, I would submerge them in a container of plain water and keep it away from light and heat.

For claybar, I would keep them in the container that they came in, and squirt abit of quick detailer in the container to keep them from sticking to the container walls, also kept away from light and heat.

Erm, wetsanding glass? Is that advisable?

It sounds like the stubborn dirt u are facing cant be removed with regular washing alone. U can either consider some form of chemical decontamination or stronger wash soap with ur pre-rinse prior to washing, or claying.

Dish soap from my experience doesnt react negatively with clearcoat, just that with its stronger oil removal properties (as it is good at cleaning oily pots and pans), it shouldnt be used too frequently especially in areas like rims where lubrication is necessary for smooth rotation of the wheels.

As I know, the common method of cheap wash shops to remove stubborn dirt stains is via using diesel. However, there are many arguments around the use of diesel, some for and some against. If u follow the notion of safety first, then definitely diesel based cleansing should be avoided.

Hmm, your question seem to have alot of different angles, so I will try to break them down one by one.

Polish may not entirely strip coating, but it will definitely degrade your coating. Compounding (which in lay man is aggressive polishing), will strip your coating.

Key scratches are abit more unique in it own way because it is done on purpose and someone pushes a key onto your car and drags it across the panel. There is a strong possibility that such a scratch will penetrate through your coating, clearcoat and colour coat, sometimes all the way to your base primer or even reaching bare metal. For such an extremely deep scratch, there's actually nothing u can do except either touchup paint yourself or repaint the panel.

For other scratches, if they are on your coated car, then the scratch is probably on your coating and not on your car's clearcoat (unless the scratch is very deep and have penetrated your coating).

It will ultimately depend on what is your mindset about car care protection. A coating is applied to protect your car's clearcoat, and if u want to polish off the coating to remove the scratches then topup your coating again, it kinda feels like a waste of coating as chances are all the other properties of the coating (like water beading, ease to clean, etc) are all still there.

Whether to apply a topcoat on top of your ceramic coating, I believe there was a discussion on this thread some pages back. Maybe u can check it up and see.

Just a side note though, rightfully prior to applying your coating, the detailer (whether its u doing DIY or a shop) should do a thorough polish to the car and bring its shine to as perfect as possible first before applying coating. Failure to do so means u still have defects underneath your coating which will probably show after coating is applied. Something to bear in mind.

I believe I would be one of those that complain about coating being a watermark magnet in the past.

Just putting things into perspective, car care isnt a perfect art. Most of us here that drive cars use our cars as daily drivers. There is only so much we can do to protect our cars from the elements.

Yes, coating is highly durable, very hydrophobic, quite easy to wash, but its a waterspot death sentence if u are not diligent enough in doing regular cleaning. Yes also, wax and sealant are weaker and wear off faster than coating, but they are sacrificial layers meant to be washed off eventually and take the waterspots and other grime with them, just that u have to apply them more regularly.

So ultimately, it depends on what type of detailer u are. Are u diligent in washing, or are u diligent in waxing/apply sealants?

Just a side note, the more recent pages of this thread have talked plenty of new generation spray sealants, which are much more durable than the old ones in the past. If u are in no rush to join the coating bandwagon, why not consider buying a spray sealant and try it out first? For all u know it could be the right stuff for ur detailing style. If it works, then u save buckets of money from doing coating, if it doesnt then u can still strip your car naked and apply coating.

Anyways, just my 2 sen.

Mmm, as far as I know the disc will have rust spots on the surface if u leave ur car long enough without driving. I dont think it is due to iron remover and APC. However, as bro teikchuan mentioned, drive it a short while and press brake a few times while and they will all disappear.

I wouldnt suggest sanding it, leave that for last resort.

Start with some form of APC. If dirt persists, then move on to a degreaser (usually alkaline based).

I was already curious about the relevance of pouring car wash soap into a pump dispenser, as it takes alot of pumps to have the right amount when making wash bucket soap. Now that u mention foam lance, then it makes perfect sense, hehehe

Though, I could suggest a more cost effective pump would be using recycled body wash bottles. Just my 2 sen anyways

11.11 Sale! Try get from there!

Sorry to say, since u mentioned that your car is white, it will always be the most prone to look dirtier compared to other color cars that took the same weather beating. The advantage of white car is scratches, swirls and holograms are almost invisible to naked eye, but dirt is the most obvious. In contrast, black cars advantage is the hardest to notice if dirty, but scratches, swirls and holograms appear much easier under typical light.

If u usually use damp/wet towel to wipe your car, consider at minimum thoroughly rinsing the car with plain water one round first. At least that should remove the much bigger grime and reduce the chance of your towel grabbing the grime and dragging it around your car causing scratches. Also, as bro V429 mentioned, do consider using ONR as your "water lubricant" for ur towel cleaning method to further reduce chance of towel grabbing dirt and dragging.

Do consider to shop for a durable wax or sealant, and apply it regularly to be the sacrificial layer between your clearcoat and the weather elements.

Looks fantastic! Keep up the good work!

Yes, factory paint is generally orange peely, factory doesnt go so far to flatten the orange peel out, so its entirely up to u if u wanna attack that. Just bear in mind that orange peel removal also means removing more clearcoat than typical compounding/polishing. Also, attacking orange peel as I know has 1 common method which is wetsanding, and 1 less common method which is using jeans pad for compounding. U should consider learning either one of these techniques before attempting orange peel removal.

Personally I wouldnt bother. In the years down the line u may wanna compound and polish your car, and that will somewhat refine the clearcoat abit to reduce the orange peel. Its not perfect, but just looks better. Just my 2 sen.

I'm just wondering, would soaking the used MF cloths in soapy water help? I know cloths that has been used for coating buff-off mostly not safe for car paint use after that, just wondering if there are any way to revive them back to normal use.

My relative once told me, some things that are made in China, u should pay for the cheapest u can find, because chances are all come from same single factory and its just a matter of markups.

That being said, sometimes if u trust that your supplier give u warranty and also pre-filter out poor quality batches, then no harm paying abit more for the same.

Just sharing 2 sides of the coin.