Hi guys. I'm a passive member of Lowyat.net ( read up a lot, contribute sero, heheh ). Well, on to car detailing. If you guys are interested to get your car / bike detailed ( exterior only at the moment ), I can detail 'em for ya. Sundays only though. Please do check out my blog for more details : My Personal Detailing Blog.

Don't worry, I only use Meguiar's! All the way from the wash mitt, to MFs, washign solution, polish and wax too! And polishing work is done via a Bosch dual orbiter machine, assisted with one of MG's Professional range of cleaner / polish.

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Added on February 13, 2007, 3:04 pmPaintwork nowadays is very advanced, and usually, the type of clearcoat used on a car is pretty strong, either new car or freshly repainted car. As long as you don't paint your car under the ketapang tree shop ( or the cost of paintng your car is more than 20% cheaper than market prices ), the quality of paints used should ensure that the clearcoat is of good quality.

If you want the best paintwork for your car, this is the only brand to go : Glasurit. And make sure the colour is from the Glasurit high solids range ( quicker drying time between coats, and stronger too ), and the clearcoat is Glasurit Type HS.

I'm sorry to say that your statement here is wrong. Yes, the type of polish sold in the yesteryears contains a high amount of abrasives. These abrasives is the one that levels up your clearocat, therefore in the same time, the scratches are removed.

Nowadays, most polish sold is not as abrasive as the ones sold years ago, and some of them is pure polish. Pure polish here, as in, it'll only feed the important oils and polymers back into the paintwork ( which will help the paintwork to regain it's shine again ), and shines up the paintwork, and only contains very, very slight amount of paint cleaner. In this case, you may have to use a dedicated paint cleaner before the polishing part. You might ask : what's a paint cleaner? Sometimes when we wash our car, there might be some black film stikcing to the car even after washing. This black film is removed with the help of a dedicated paint cleaner. And no, none of these items ( either the paint cleaner or the pure polish ) will reduce the sight of scratches on your car. It'll only hide 'em ( via filling them up with the pure polish ) temporarily, and these scratches will come back in about a month or so.

The type of products I use is very2 safe, so safe until I can use it monthly for at least, 3 years on a minimum. This is because Meguiar's products, especially the Professional range, employs what they call as, Diminishing Abrasives. The abrasives contained in MG's Professional range works to reduce or completely remove the scratches, but it will soon break down and becomes a pure polish.

I'm sorry to say that, a lot of products sold here is full of bull. Once A Year Polish? Pah! Wax that can last one year? Pah!



This post has been edited by poyo: Feb 13 2007, 03:04 PM

Yes, like :

- Once A Year Polish
- Soft 99
- Turtle Wax
- Mothers
- Black Ice
- Zaino
- Featherlite

None of the items above works as promised ( removing swirls etc ), Zaino is overhyped. I've spent almost RM1k on Zaino stuffs, but they're not better than MG, since Zaino is marketed as the higher range of vehicle detailing stuffs. I spend the same amount of money and I get better results, and with the correct maintenance work, the car / bike stays nice, shiny and protected for a minimum of one month ( for a car that's parked outside, 24/7, and spends at least 10 hours a day parked right beside one of the major roads in KL )

I'm staying with MG because it works. And MG have their own forum, and this is where you learn on how to really use MG's stuffs.

Klasse? Sorry, Klasse, Swissvax ( or Swissol ) etc, they only HIDE the scratches and swirls, which will reappear after a couple of sessions of heavy rain ( normal here in our country ) or after a couple of car wash sessions.

And no, to me, Meguiar's is not overhyped. Because they do ask and listen from their customers ( via their own forum, and proven as for this year, they're bringing in one of the older product which was rendered obsolete a year before! ), and their product works as advertised! And if you get the chance to learn on how to use these myriad of MG's stuffs, you'll find that they'll work just fine.

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Added on February 17, 2007, 1:19 pmCan, not a problem. Do check out my blog : My Personal Detailing Blog. You'll find all the details and my e-mail address there as well, and also check out my work and the steps / process taken.

Location is Central KL, to be exact, Jalan Tun Razak. Be warned that I only do on Sundays though. I also offer monthly detailing + maintenance package as well. Pricing - wise, I need to know what car ( so can judge the size ) and I also need to see the car myself so that I know what kind of work and how long it'll take. Only then I can give you the correct price quote lah.

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Added on February 17, 2007, 1:42 pmThis is one of the infamous "packages" that a few car detailing centre offers. Although they have a very nice shop, got sofas, aircond waiting rooms, plus TV, and free flowing soft drinks, coffee and tea, it doesn't assure you that you'll get what you were really after ( in this case, your car to look good lah ).

What do they mean by 3 layer polish? If I'm not wrong, you cannot layer polish on your car, as it is absorbed into the paintwork's myriad of small pores ( just like our skin ) and after the car's paintwork is somewhat level ( that is, most of these small pores is now filled with polish, and that the important oils in the polish have been successfully introduced and seep into the paintwork ), only then it'll shine to it's best potential lah. The you must seal the work with a wax or sealant, or else it won't shine, reflect, and bead water to it's maximum ( a wax / sealant helps a lot in this area ).

And RM 180, to remove even at least 10% of swirls, plus washing, claying, paint cleaning ( does the package comes with this two services too? I doubt it. ), polishing and finally applying wax / sealant is too cheap. If your car is a Kenari, then this is THE price I'll offer you for a full exterior detailing work lah. But a large shop? Ek, no way! For the price they quote to you, no, the service will never remove any swils on your car, only hiding 'em temporarily.

And I've seen a lot of cars exiting this (@rnauba outlet at Jln Tun Razak with major swirls and holograms...I'm not flaming this particular place, but everytime I'm on my way home ( my work place is only 5 minutes drive away from this shop ), I always make it a point to check out the cars at that shop....and it's sad to see the quality of their work. I have also seen, up close and personal, the staff who is responsible for the polishing job. The way he handled the rotary machine was scary! And no finishing work followed after the rotary work, simply wipe off then other staffs waxed the car immediately. Sheesh!

If you really want to get your car's exterior detailed, you can either :
- send your car to Autodetailer, SS2 PJ ( the only vehicle detailing shop that I will recommend ) and be prepared to pay at least, RM 400 ( that is, if your car is not larger than a 3 Series / C Class lah. larger cars than these two will cost more than RM 400! ).
- or, send your car to me! Less prices, and at least, 50% improvement overall! Only problem is, I only do on Sundays....

This post has been edited by poyo: Feb 17 2007, 01:42 PM

Thanks for your compliments. One thing I learn on how to do a good work is :
Treat your customer's cars like your own!

If you can afford it and want your car to be 100% flawless, AutoDetailer SS2 is the only place to go. If you can only afford 40 - 50% lesser price than AutoDetailer, then come to me ( shameless plug )!

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Added on February 21, 2007, 1:00 pmAllright, lemme straighten something up : No way that your car doesn't have ANY swirls. It does have some. Even mine got a few, but at least it's not so noticable, even in direct sunlight.

Ok, to maintain the quality of the paintwork on your car is simple : go for a full detail ( wash, clay, reduce those REALLY glaring scratches, polish and wax / sealant ). And do it often, like at least once a month. And wash your car weekly, a minimum. Or if got time, twice a week.

Rather than you going to that (@rnauba - sh!t - sh0p, come to me instead! I've said this once and I'll say it again. Everytime I go to work, or on my way home, I will pass their shop. I have also seen up close and personal, how the Bangla, or Vietcong boys polish cars with quite an abrasive stuff, with a ROTARY ( and the assh0le really doesn't know how to use the rotary properly ), and no FOLLOW - UP work with a dual action orbiter with a less stronger abrasive polish. Oh yeah, cars detailed by that (@rnauba - sh!t - sh0p looks shiny at their shop with all those bright lights, but take a good, 2nd look in direct, hot afternoon sunlight. You will see that the there will be holograms! Yuck! And what about swirls? Eeeuuwwww...

A number of my workshop boy's customers cars ( a few M3s, one M5 to say the least ) is detailed by them. Yes, the cars look shiny, but my car, when parked side to side and in direct sunlight, have lesser visible swirls compared to the cars sent to that (@rnauba - sh!t - sh0p! I got no holograms, but they got quite a few! And they pay RM 1700++ monthly for : 1 full detail work and countless washes. Well, I did try to bid their business, but since they can't leave their cars with me for days ( they do leave their cars at that (@rnauba - sh!t - sh0p for about 3 days or so when they go for full detail, when the work takes only a max of 8 hours ), I couldn't get it.

There are 3 types of polish ( that I know of ) :
- abrasive polish ( to smoothen out scratches / swirls ).
- abrasive polish with diminishing properties ( like MG's stuffs that I use. It will 1st smoothen out the body panels, then, under a minute or so, the soft abrasives in the polish with break down and become pure polishing oils instead, works well and is extremely safe ).
- pure polish ( will NEVER level out the swirls / scratches on the car, it will ONLY fill them in and the swirls / scratches will revela themselves in a couple of washes )

You can get swirls / scratches by :
- leaning / sitting on your car,
- buffing something off the car via a tissue, cloth, your own hands etc,
- rinsing, washing and drying your car ( when you are not doing the best possible way to reduce the chances of instilling swirls / scratches )
- when parking your car in a tight spot. The fella who parked his car beside you might accidently brush your car with his shopping bags ( yes, those heavy, filled with groceries plastic bags can scratch your paintwork! ), or worse, might swipe your car with his jeans ( those reddish buttons on your jeans? Oopppss! )
- driving. The car / lorry / bike / truck might be using softer compound tyres, and stones will stick on these type of tyres and fly off to you.
- when parking your car outside. Sometimes, some areas are "trapped" between taller / larger buildings. During strong winds, the areas lower, or trapped between taller and larger buildings will get that "mini tornado effect". Have you seen dusts and dried leaves swirling around in one spot? Imagine those swirling stones, dusts and dried leaves around your car? Voila, free scratches!

You will get swirls and scratches on your vehicles, it's something we can't avoid and something we have to live with. Best way to handle it is : do the best we can to reduce the chance of instilling MORE swirls / scratches, and do safe, repeatable remedy work that will safely remove, to some extend, these swirls and scratches and in the same time, not buffing too much clearcoat until the paintwork becomes too thin.

I'm not saying that I'm a pro in detailing, but I have learned a lot of detailing and now, I can detail the exterior of cars and bikes, reduce the appearance of swirls and scratches until they are about, at the minimum, 40 - 50% gone, and the car shines, reflects with good clarity and depth, and also, the wet - look!

This post has been edited by poyo: Feb 21 2007, 01:00 PM

clsiluf,

Do not worry when it comes to Meguiar's stuffs. From my own personal experience, it is safe for clearcoats AND single - stage paintwork as well.

The word "safe" here, means : it is safe to use the product to reduce or completely remove the scratch / swirls BUT they will not add additional "tiny" scratches, and will not make the paintwork area worked in with the said MG's product, become dull, like a number of products easily available at your friendly hardware shop / hypermarket / supermarket etc.

And do not worry about using any MG's stuffs on your car, as it will never dull, or work in too much of your car's clearcoat!

Check out my own personal detailing service blog to see for yourself. Yesterday, I added a short blog on one of my customer's car ( got scratches, a whole hog of 'em! ), that's a fine example of how good AND safe Meguiar's stuff is.