Personally, I won't be bothered too much with rinsing and wiping dry after claying if I plan to wet-sand the whole car cuz it's going to get wet again (while 'wet' sanding) and also the surface is going to be compounded/polished so any marks or blemishes would be removed afterwards....just personal preference. And yeah, shouldn't you polish first before wax/sealant....????

Ok. Here's the thing. Normally, liquid sealant uses some sort of solvent or another as carrier, hence their liquid form. These type of carriers have a very mild cleaning properties. Some market these sealants as 'shine and protect'. The cleaning properties would remove, in part or in whole, whatever LSP/wax/sealant that's already on the surface. Normal paste waxes however, have very much less 'cleaners' in them. Hence applying a sealant on top of something else would be a little wasteful as some (or all) of the existing LSP would be removed, if the existing LSP hasn't properly cured. So, the idea is, if you want to top up or do a 2nd layer, use something that doesn't contain (much) cleaners in them. In general, the step is sealant (liquid) then wax (paste). Or, some times, two layer of sealants, not because to get 'double' protection but just to makes sure even coverage.

And another thing, let say both the sealant and wax you're using has very minimal cleaner. Sealants are generally more durable than waxes. I don't see any point of applying the less durable one at the bottom.....

Just my 2 sen.

That 'leaving it wet before wet-sanding or compounding' actually make sense, I didn't think the cutting pads would work great on wet surface. I have applied detail spray or liquid wax on the pads directly, but never water.

And my bad on the mixed up between polish and wax.. my understanding is that compounding levels the surface of clear coat to minimise visibility of scratches, which is to be followed by polishing with a DA buffing pad to correct any white-ness on the paint. Kindly correct me if I'm wrong.

So the proper step is:

wash -> clay -> rinse -> wet-sanding (optional) -> compounding -> polish -> seal -> wax? I wouldn't buy carnauba wax simply because it's organic and the beauty-ness disappears after a while of driving outside.

Sounds better. If you don't plan to sand then need to dry la after claying...sorry about that...my bad.

Eh, just to clarify...

When it comes to the terminologies wax and sealant, are you all referring to the same thing? As far as I know, it isn't about which is synthetic and organic, but they are two very different chemicals serving two very different purposes.

At least what I understand is:

Wax - Fills in narrow scratch gap on the clear coat and evens out the compounded surface, which improves fine scratches and swirls.
Sealant - A protective layer of coat which protects your finish after all the hard detailing work.

I may have gotten the terms wrongly.

This post has been edited by HuorEarfalas: Feb 7 2013, 04:34 PM

Well, the more accepted terminology amongst detailers is that waxes and sealants serves the same purpose - LSP (Last Step Process), i.e. for protection. Generally speaking, waxes have more organic ingredients and normally come in a paste form whereas sealants are synthetics and comes in thick liquid form.

For what you're refering above for wax, we termed them as 'glaze'.

Easier is you tell us what product you are going to use rather than a generic term such as wax, sealant, syntactic and organic. Now adays there are too many all in one product that doesn't work as the name describe. For example, we have a dura gloss product meant for boat that everyone happily apply on their car. We also have a some wax that Is pure bullshit and do not offer any uv protection at all.

Anyway, back yo your question, if your car is dark color you will love carnauba wax. It gives depth, not just shine.

Just want to whish you guys who are celebrating:

Have a Happy, Prosperous and SHINY New Year!!!!

My maid placed the dog chained near my car and that stupid dog kept jumping on my car.

Can polishing remove the scratched marks?????



This post has been edited by ExCrIpT: Feb 11 2013, 05:23 PM


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Anybody can give input on where to buy M101 and the 3m foam pads?

There is an automotive paint shop in Klang which you can buy M101. Can't remember the name. If remember correctly M101 is about RM100 per quart (~1L). They also do carry M105, Mirka compound/polishes, Farecla, automotive refinishing sandpaper, specialized masking tapes, etc. Last check, they do not have 3M pads. Need to get elsewhere.

Rough location is here:
GMaps location...

"Polishing" may or may not remove all. Likely need to "compound" aka cutting for the deeper scratches. Two different terms. Both involves leveling the paint to a certain extend. Depends how deep are those marks. If your fingernail can catch the scratch, then better to live with it.

P.S: Don't call the dog stupid... cause it ain't

This post has been edited by eohl79: Feb 13 2013, 10:55 AM

those look pretty medium-heavy to me.
I'd suggest get a good applicator pad like this one
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q...bg-tMDmI0ls5t7t

then get someones help to pour you some M105 or M101 (dont bother getting bottle of scratch X).

Lightly tape off the affected areas and cut away at only those areas. That way you will be more focused.
You probably need 3 rounds of good arm strength.

Happy Chinese New Year all.. anyway.. wanna ask.. where can i get 2000grit sand paper? i've been to few ace hardware oredi.. the finest i can get is 1500 grit.. i'm looking for 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200, 2000.. anyone here know where there got stock for this? thx~

Will Ultimate Compound do the job as well?
M101 or M105 are for detailing centres to use right?

I've tried asking ard and quite a few are unwilling to polish just a small part of the car.

Don't wanna polish the entire car as the car is just 3 months old.
reason being is that they said that part will look different after polishing as the layer is removed.

Will it be obvious?

Can someone give a few examples of DA polishers together with their price range? Thanks.

well anyone can use M101/105. I have a very small amount and I reserve it for heavy damages.
You can try ultimate compound but to me its still not strong enough for heavy scratches. If its even more deep, you kinda need to do some sanding and definitely need to machine it.

As for the part looking different, well yea, it would be cleaner. But after a few days, rain + dust and general dirt, even superman would have a tough time seeing a difference. As long as the scratches are gone we all go home happy.
you can do a quick broadcast to ask if anyone has a lot of 101/105 spare for you to try out.




at the moment I am using Dodo Juice's BUFF DADDY. Bought it for around 750 ringgit.

Hey guys. Was polishing my car last Sunday and I encountered this:



The back of my polishing foam pad where it comes in contact with the velcro backing got burnt from the heat. Anyone faced this before? Do you think the pad can still be used?

The pad is a goner on an ROB/DA but it *might* still safely run on a rotary. Save it for when you need to do stuffs by hand.

Is that an LC white pad? What situation caused that? Was the pad damp when you were using it?

Some details would be appreciated so that the same can be avoided.

Cheers.

Yes, it's the LC white pad. The pad was primed with polishing cream and I believe the heat buildup causing it to boil and burn the back of the pad.

I search the internet and I found this:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/flex-p...-melting-2.html

Perhaps I should change pad after polishing a few panels to avoid extreme product and heat buildup.

You're using it on what machine? Flex DA, Bosch ROB, a rotary or others? What speed? And again, and this is quite important, was the pad damp when you were using it? I asked this because on two occasions my pads did 'broke down' *almost* like yours when I was using it damp on a DA (but they're not LC though).