I learned this from Experience Detailing kakis.

Make sure your car is clean, before waxing. The wax used to last 2 months, after I clay. But now not even 1 week, and I know the car is not clean enough even after wash.

If 1 layer of waxing not enough, try and apply another layer on a clean car.

In this kind of weather, the best mean to get max durability out of a wax/sealant is to wash as often as practically possible. Rain or shine, I would wash my cars every weekend and, so far, I have minimal problems (except for getting a mild flu once in a while...hehehe). I know that is a lot to ask, especially for those who haven't got the luxury of a covered parking/porch. But try your best.

More than often enough, I find that the beading deteriorate drastically after only one week in this kind of weather. But, often enough, they would come back after a good wash. So, it could *most probably* mean that the surface is contaminated instead of the wax/sealant failing. Another thing is, I found that in this kind of weather, I would need a stronger dilution of shampoo than normal to decently clean my cars. Strong dilution = strip wax? Well, if it happens, I'd rather top it up (e.g. with something like OCWax or DG Aquawax or any spray topper) than leaving the contaminant to do more damage.

Just my 2 sen worth. Regards.

Actually how 'reliable' is spray wax (liked optimum or meguiar's) compare those paste type ???

heh same f***ing experience im having here

everyone experiences the dust.

no matter what was you use.

assuming was = wax, really? even meguiar's also got dust? lol

friend was saying that his meguiar's ultimate wax would never have it... so i dunno.
mine's a cheapo kura kura haha!

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Added on December 18, 2012, 4:12 pmfully agree on this. but yea the toughest part is finding the time commitment to do weekly washes

This post has been edited by Quazacolt: Dec 18 2012, 04:12 PM

anyone tried Z7 before? planning to get some since the review is quite good..

meguiars UWW and GC doesnt seem to have enough cleaning power . probably coz my area has very hard water .. grr..

2 days of no wash = stains all over.

Is it possible to remove light scratch mark on taillight ???

I have z7, just about as mild as GC. For more cleaning power, I'd suggest you try DG 901 - Car Wash Concentrate or Optimum Car Wash. DG got smaller bottle that you can try 1st, and I think OCWash also got 1lit (32oz) bttl.

Yup. Done it before on my ex - Myvi. I used a mild polish by hand with a foam applicator pad (Meg's M205 - consumer equivalent is Ultimate Polish).

haiya.. i just bought Z7 in singapore.. once this one goes out i will try OCWash.. me more interested cleaning powerrrrrrrrrrrr...

By using hand-polish can arr ?? can use any type of polishing cream ??

I tell you my fav shampoo when I need that type of 'cleaning power' - Meg's Hyperwash. Unfortunately it only comes in gallons.....

I only did the tail-lamps by hand...didn't plan to do anything else so lazy to bring out and set up my rotary. I did use my rotary for my heavily swirled up Waja tail-lamps. But for that I went for more power and use my rotary with a compound. Came out decent enough too. If yours is just light swirls then you should be looking for something with the aggressiveness of Meg's Ultimate Polish, maybe ScratchX or SwirlX. Or, you can try something more aggressive like TW Rubbing Compound but with lighter pressure....but not sure how that would turn up as never tried before. Anyhow, what car are we talking about? Maybe somebody with experience on the same car can offer better advice.

finally broke my detailing virginity last saturday! man it took me 7 freaking hours to finish up both interior and exterior. details as below:

1) Started at 10:30am with Gold Class wheels cleaner to wash all 4 wheels one at a time. It was not too dirty (new car ) so was a pretty easy job. just spray, wait, rinse.
2) Washed with UWW, 2 buckets and grit guard in the shampoo bucket. easy enough as well.
3) Clayed the whole car with Meguiars clay kit. I used a single 50g bar with the Quik Detailer. Had a frustrating time needing the clay to fit my palm. getting holes in the clay when rubbing. One important lesson i learned here is to finish up the top portion before moving to the bottom. i started off with the right door panel, when i was rubbing the bottom portion, unknowingly, i picked up a tiny grain of sand. when i move to the bonnet, i started introducing fine scratched to it. fortunately i noticed it and was able to remove the scratches with Ultimate Polish.
4) Stared polishing the car at 11:15am using Ultimate Polish. Boy, it sure is real hard work using elbow grease.. stopped for lunch at 1:00pm only half the car completed.
5) resumed polishing the other half at 2:00pm. right hand started aching.. when done, wasted a few minutes admiring the shine..
6) started waxing at 3:30pm with Ultimate Liquid wax. This is not as difficult as polishing, but i noticed that ULW behaved slightly different from the kit/turtle paste was i used previously. i could hardly see the product getting applied on the paint. even after leaving it to dry, i could hardly see any wax stains, until i scrutinize. Am i using too little product?
5) Completed the final wipe at 4:30pm, started applying Headlight Protectant to all lights.
6) applied Ultimate protectant to the all exterior trims.
7) applied Endurance Gel to all 4 tyres
8) Finally got started with the interior at 5:30pm. Used Quik Interior Detailer for a quick wipe followed by Ultimate Protectant to all interior vinyl, plastic and rubber trims. love the gloss that followed. just nice. not too shiny.
9) applied Gold Class Leather Cleaner/Conditioner to the seats. Love the gloss after that
10) Completed by wiping all glass with NXT glass cleaner. love it! no streaking at all. checked the time. 6:30pm

end result. my car looked far newer than when i first collected it, interior included (even after the SA sent it for washing). super happy and satisfied with the results after all the hard work. All in all i think i did pretty ok for a noob. took a few photos with my dinosaur 5800XM, but the pics didnt do it any justice. will take more next week using a proper camera. Now i hope that the wax will last me until the next Saturday for me to wash and maintain it with UQD & UQW. one thing i noticed is that my paint has a lot of orange peel when put under yellow lamp. not sure if i want to get it removed. dont want to thin my clear coat so early

p/s minus point is that the wife is not too happy of me neglecting my parenting duties to my 2 year old and 1 month old.. had to explain to her that i will no need to spend so much time maintaining the hard work that i put in today.. hopefully this is true

pps my arm still hurts..

This post has been edited by mav3rick: Dec 19 2012, 02:17 PM

Hmm, regarding Permanon, I don't mix different brands of product to use. Last time used all TurtleWax range. I brought my car to a professional shop for first time Permanon application cos i wanted to see how do they apply.

Now as for maintenance, I just wash it with brillantshine or diamond 2-in-1 bi-weekly or even 3-week interval. Water sheeting effect still there but you can tell it's slightly diminishing. So i'll just wash with Hecta PL and spray with Permanon Platinum 3-5% once every 2 months. Spent about an hour or so for the whole process including cleaning the interior, and I used less water and less messy than waxing.

It's been 5 months and no worries when driving during this rainy period. That's why i think if you're using Permanon, you need to really clean the surface thoroughly with Hecta PL (I dont use clay bar), dry it quickly to leave the surface bare clean without any residues. Then only spray Permanon, best is to mixed with RO water, I tried with clean filtered water but not as good as RO water.

If properly applied, it'll actually last quite long. At least this is what i experienced.

cheers

Hey mav3rick, nice one. Sounded like you broke quite some sweat while having some fun too. Just remember, actually you've just completed the easy part. The more difficult part is yet to come - maintenance and keeping your car looking pristine. I haven't use ULW yet, but from using other liquid sealants, it's when you can clearly see the liquid been applied or the sealant leaving stains, that's the time you should be worry.

So, now you're starting to see the orange peel eh...??? Bad luck my friend, that thing will be bugging you everytime you look at your car....hahahaha. But you're right, removing the OP would probably mean removing too much paint. Wait until you're ready. It took me almost 2 years for me to get the courage to reduce (not remove) them.

- watch mike philips autogeek/meguiar's youtube tips on claying lol that should help your concerns

- that's fine, you only need a thin layer and using too much product means you need extra work to buff off

- for orange peel, have to polish after claying/prior to waxing. mine has a lot too, lazy to do that for now rofl

You mean from this....sanded...





To this....





MUAHAHAHAHA.......

wow very nice XD

still a bit afraid on taking the polishing step, considering my paint job is just 6 months old or so for my car (full respray 6 months ago)

however the damage has been done due to negligence in maintaining it (prior to picking detailing as a hobby, i think i wash my car every 1-2 months ) and never clean up bird droppings/tree sap/tar marks etc so yea, everything's etched pretty deep in

Well...to tell you the truth. If you really want to go that route and want to DIY, you better really make sure to allocate the time. Those front panels alone (bonnet, left and right front quarter panel) took me one whole day to finish (including coating). But, maybe I'm just slow or just couldn't work as fast as the real pros.....

Plat tu tutup satu tak tutup satu, nampak lagie "Siang Hari".

You did some sanding too right? Because talked to those Detailien before, they said orange peel need to do sanding.

Which really make me curious, sanding??

I used to sand ppl's car, but that was preparation for new color coat.