Product advise

[spikeyboy]

Hi Guys,

been a while since i last posted

Anyways my car is currently with Nathan to work his magic

Once i get it back i want to keep it looking as good as when i pick it up from Nathan.

So would like some product advise please - Car is S4 in Noggy blue.

Have previously been using AG SRP, AG EGP and Pinnacle MXT.

I am almost out of all of these products so it could be time to use something different / better (i can use up what i have of these products on my wifes new balck focus ST)

I also have use of a Megs G220 polisher with Sonus White, red and yellow pads - if that makes a difference.

Obviusouly to start with i would just want to top up on what Nathan uses (Zimol wax).

Another question is if i keep on top of the cleaning and topping up the wax coat will i still need to do a full protective build up later on (ie will the lower protectants break down over time) ?

thanks for the usual helpful advise

[steelwind101]

Hi Spikey

Post up some photos of your car when its done, it will look superb no doubt!

Once the car comes back with the Zymol on, which i think should probably give you around 3 months of protection if you treat it right you can just wash and quick detail.

Alot of the looks you will now see with the car are to do with fact its been machined polished. In my opinion i would try to touch the paintwork as little as possible accept for washing and drying! Shampoo, used at the wrong dilution ration may strip your wax but for the most part, if used correctly you will be ok.

For maintaing that fresh detailed look i would invest in a good quality "quck detailer". This is applied when you have tried rinsed the car and before you dry it. Apply to one panel at a time, my favorties for expensive wax would include Pinnicle Crystal Mist. Zymol also do a product called "Field Glaze" which can streak but looks really good. I would advise getting some good microfibre cloths if you buy this! I saw after rinsing, if your car has alot of water on it you may want to dry it fully before applying the above. In the past i have had no issues using these after "sheeting" off the water with the hose with no attachment.

Personally, i would avoid using spray detailers/sealants such as Zaino Z8, Aqua Wax and all those b/c they often tend to provide a bit of a reflective look. Zymol is very oily, which gives it must deeper wetter look.

As for new when you have gone through what Nathan applies there is alot of choice. DoDo Supernatural is an easy winner and well priced. Souveran Wax and Signature Series II are both very well priced at Elite Car are. Neither will last that long but look great.

Zaino and Wolfgang Sealant should be considered if you want something thats going to last a long time and look very good as well!

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

Geoff,

thanks for the quick reply - i will look into those products.

When you say good quality mircofibres are you talking drying micro fibre towles or cloths ? i have sonus der wonder drying towels x2, megs drying towel (used for nooks and cranies ) plus have souns plush micro fibre, and two elite car care plush mircro fibres.

[spikeyboy]

will also see about putting photos up - although im guessing nathan may do this anyways

[steelwind101]

Hi Spikey!

It sounds like you are all set MF department, the ones you have sound excellent!

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

excellent

After readin up i think i will get the "Field Glaze" especially if Nathan uses the Zimol vintage wax - just makes sense to top it up with the Zimol detailer.

Fingers cross now that Nathan gets it finished tomorrow - cant wait

[spikeyboy]

picked the car up Friday - looks stunning

will get the photos from Nathan soon - i had to drive home over 60 miles in the rain so didnt look as good when i got it home so havent taken my own photos yet - needs a clean first !!!!!

[steelwind101]

Hi!

Im sure its going to clean up really nice now! The Field Glaze sounds like a good choice, let me know what you think of it.

Cant wait to see the pics, hopefully he got a good few before you had to drive it home! Nice weather today here in London!

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

Hi Geoff,

thanks fro your advice so far - still no pictures from Nathan - hopefully soon - he took some before it went out into the rain

Im still confused on how best to look after the car now its had it paint correction and want to keep it looking its best.

What i do undertand and have the equipemt for is the actual cleaning:

1) Snow foam.

2) Presure wash off.

3) Clean with two bucket method, using megs hyoer wash with lambs wool mit on tob half of car, new megs micro fibre mit on lower half of car and older megs micro fibre mit on the wheels.

4) Quick detailer will use Zymol field glaze.

Now the bit im confused about

Once i chose my wax i it worth topping up say every two - three week with the wax rather than just use the field glaze ? is it worth doing this and will it lengthen the time it takes for the zymol vintage wax to break down ? or should i just stick to the field glaze until it needs rewaxing ? also could i use what is left of my pinnacle xmt 180 over the zymol vintage wax ?

once it needs rewaxing what should i ideally do ? wash and then wax ? or should i e applying a sealant or polish first ? if so what would you recommend.

Taking price out of the equation (within reason) which wax would you go for ? im leaning towards the dod juice super natural.

Fiannly what are the CCS applicator pads you have recommended to someone else on here - cant fid you thread with the recommendation but the author of the trhead i read said "thanks geoff for the advice" on them

lots of question i know - sorry

Thanks.

Edited April 16, 2009 by spikeyboy

[JonC]

Fiannly what are the CCS applicator pads you have recommended to someone else on here - cant fid you thread with the recommendation but the author of the trhead i read said "thanks geoff for the advice"

Geoff recommended these:

Car accessories: exterior, interior car care, Meguiars, 303 Products

They're superb applicators; perfect size too. I used the white (very slight cutting qualities) for applying a paint cleanser and the red one (polishing) for appying the sealant and LSP

[steelwind101]

Hi Spikey!

Your process for washing the car now seems good! How often you need to top up your own wax is really down to how durable it is. Say for something like Supernatural wax i would think apply 2 coats a week apart or so would be good, then you would not really need to top it up. The wax would expire 10 weeks later and you then just use a paintwork cleaner product and start again.

If you were using something that was less durable, say Pinnicle Souveran wax then you could top that up every 3 weeks, then quaterly use a paintwork cleaner product to get a fresh clean base.

The problem with full on "top ups" is that after a while bonded contamients get on the surface of the car, and then you wax them in. You loose the looks a bit, less is more with most products!

When applying products you want put on the products that will give you the purest looks. I would not top Zymol Vintage with anything but maybe more Zymol Vintage. If you want to layer products, each one should compliment the one before it. The Vintage will last about 3-4 months or so, i dont think you could extend it further and still maintain a quality finish. Only Quick detailing will help bring back the looks as much as is possible.

On the top of a new wax and the process:

YOu will always need to "cleanse" the paintwork, as the swirls and the marring have been sorted already you just need to ensure the old product is gone and the new one has a good base.

Types of paintwork cleaners/cleansers would include:

DoDo Prime/PrimeLite

Zymol HD Cleanse

Pinnicle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion

Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer

Klasses All In One

I think the DoDo Supernatural wax would be an ideal product for your car and colour. I will say consider Zymol Concours wax also b/c its looks good on "full on" colours like yours and has excellent depth.

They Zymol application process is not as friendly as the DoDo one.

CCS means Closesd-cell Structure, this is different from the foam pads from say Meguiars where you can see tiny holes on the top of the foam. The Closed Cells give even coats of products.

More so, if you apply a liquid product it will not obsorb the product as quickly. You will use less and have less residue to buff away!

Its ok to ask lots of questions! I hope that helps.

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

thanks Geoff - yes that helps.

So i dont need to worry about sealants or polishes.

Just cleanse the paint and apply new wax when old wax is comming toi end of its life.

Is there any time that i should used selants or polishes (like SRP) ?

[steelwind101]

Hi!

"Just cleanse the paint and apply new wax when old wax is comming toi end of its life."

Thats right.

Sealants are often used instead of waxes or before low durability waxes. If you purchased Supernatural i dont think a sealant below it would be bring you any benefit.

If you wanted to go get a sealant instead of a wax Wolfgang Sealant 3.0 and Zaino Z5 Pro are both excellent choices! They would be of the same calibre (or there abouts) as Supernatural or Zymol Concours, they look a bit different but are of the same sort league.

As for polishing, over time you might notice some swirls creeping back in or a "dulling" of the paintwork from dragging towels and wash mitts across it. Its just what happens every time you touch the paintwork. You might benefit from a lite hand polish, DoDo Lime Prime has micro abrasives that will help sort that out inside the paintwork cleanser. It will bring back a little surface gloss as well.

Meguiars reformulated ScratchX and made SwirlX as well based off new compounds and they are said to be excellent. So maybe at some point you will need a polish but only maybe in a year or so unless you have an accident.

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

Again Geoff - thanks fro the advice.

I will probably be asking more in the future as i also have a G220 which i want to try on my wifes Focus in Black

Was going to use it on the S4 but decided to let Nathan do it

Guess i can still use the G220 when i does need a polish.

[spikeyboy]

still waiting for the photos from nathan.

Gave her a good clean today and used the zymol field glaze - the results.

sorry for the way i have attached - my webspace is playing up

Edited April 26, 2009 by spikeyboy

[spikeyboy]

hopefully this is clearer:

Edited April 26, 2009 by spikeyboy

[steelwind101]

That looks as great as it drives. money well spent i say!! The blue looks full of colour and swirl free, im sure you can keep it like that now that you have all the right gear! Do you know what got used on the plastic on the bottom of the doors?

I really like the photo of the back of the car as the paintwork looks mulit dimensional, deep, wet.

What did you think of Field Glaze and did you gear any smears?

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

Thanks.

Not sure what got used on the bottom of the doors - i know they took them off to give it s good clean behind them.

I have been trying out various different products on the plastic lower trim (sides and back) - when i cleaned her last week (prior to the field glaze arriving) i used simonize back to black - did a good job but a pain to actually use - best to spray onto a cloth and wipe on. when i cleraned this week i just used the flied glaze.

Found the field glaze really easy to use - no smearing at all, love the smell of coconuts as well, could still smell it this morning when i got in the car

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

Great pics spikeyboy. Lovely car and great choice of colour

[spikeyboy]

Geoff,

Still trying to decide whether to go for the lime prime or lime prime lite.

Realise the diffence is one has abbrasives and the other doesnt.

My concern would be - would the abbrasives put swirls back on the car if i dont apply the product correclty ? would it be best to apply lime prime with my megs 220 ? if so whcih sonus pad - yellow, red or white ?

Thanks

[steelwind101]

Hi Spikey

I would apply the Lime Prime on White Pad.

The real problem with the abrasives in the Lime Prime are with soft finishes and them not getting broken down. I think it would be the best choice for your paintwork, the abrasive content (which is minor) will help remove marring (which you might not think u can see but does accumulate over time) and give a nice finish ready for the wax!

Geoff

[spikeyboy]

Thanks geoff

[spikeyboy]

ok antoehr question - was going to buy a new sonus whote pad but saw your post about the megs soft buff 2 polishing pad - would you suggest this pad over the white sonus pad for lime prime ?

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

I use the Megs pad for applying SRP which is a similar product. I would only use a softer finishing pad for applying a glaze / wax / sealent. (unless I was polishing a car with very soft paint eg Honda)

[steelwind101]

Hi Spikey

Either pad would do for applying Lime Prime as long as its a polish pad. As TT has said, you need pad with enough polishing action other wise you just massage the abrasives against the paintwork and that ends up looking bad!

My opinion is the Meguiars polishing pads are the best, most versatile pad you can get. If it were me buying a polishing pad, get a Megs one, Soft Buff 2.0 if possible.

An advantage of the Soft Buffs 2.0 is you can wash them easier too, straight in the washing machine!

Geoff