About the clear coat?

[jamieg]

Gents "Im sure TT & Steelwind :)"

Can you advise how to check the depth of the clear coat on a car, I'm removing lots of light swirls from my A4 and just thought I would ask really as I know you guys use machine polishers, does this wipe out some of the clear coat to even the surface out or am I wrong? or does the machine polishing fill the swirls?

My A4 has a heck of a lot of light swirls which I'm setting about by hand so was just thinking about the clearcoat.

Also what's the best sort of power washer for use with foam etc... as I've been looking and can only find the ones with a detergent compartment around £300.00

Cheers

[steelwind101]

Hello!

In order to tell how much paint you have, you really need a paint thickness guage. Depending on your car, where there have been resprays etc will all effect how thick it is.

In general unless you are doing some serious compounding your unlikely to be removing any serious amounts of clearcoat. That is of course providing you have not had someone done some serious work on it before.

I have been polishing for 10+ years and never been through my clearcoat, never had paint depth measuring gauge.

On weather your filling....it depends on what product you are using. Put simply in order to "remove" a swirl mark we level the paint on the whole area to the same as the depth of the swirl. So yes, you are removing clearcoat.

Some polishes will simply take the edge of swirls and scratches and make them seem less visable, others will place content in to the swirl and scratches. What products are you using? Some people will argue, to some degree that all polishes leave sort of fill. You can remove that after polishing if you want or need to.

£300 is alot on a pressure washer, Nilfisk is a brand i would go for. Relaible and heavy duty. You will need to purchase the foam lance seperatly, the detergent things do not create a decent foam....hot water is a nice bonus!

Geoff

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

Hi jamieg

I fully corrected the paint on my Golf last year and at worst I only removed 4 microns of clearcoat and nearer 3 micron on average. I used a paint depth gauge before and after on numerous areas of each panel and recorded the numbers.

Most panels averaged between 110 and 140 microns if I remember correctly, so removing say 4-5 microns is no big deal providing you only plan to do it every couple of years or so.

I only have experience of Karcher pressure washers so probably not best to advise. I would recommend a dedicated HD foam lance though and some snow foam if you lan to use the pw for washing regularly.

[Wizbit]

Not meaning to highjack this thread, but i've always wondered what a paint depth gauge looks like and how it works?

[steelwind101]

Hi Wiz

The paint depth or thickness gauge is an intreating bit of kit, of course (in most cases) its acutally measuring the thickness from the surface down to the metal. Not specifically the clearcoat, it often includes anti-rust or antiperforation materials that are on the bodywork too.

An Audi with Aluminium panels may/should show less thickness as they have less anti-rust/antiperforation material.

An example of what a PTG looks like:

http://www.paintdetective.com/images/Door%20Powder%20Andy's.jpg[/mg]

I think it works by sending a signal down through the painted layers which bounces of the metal underneath. Im unsure how well they work on painted plastic parts.

Geoff

[jamieg]

Cheers Geoff / TT

The products and order are as follows

Rinse off

Wash with Megs Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner

Dry with a megs drying cloth

Meguiars Scratch x 2.0

Autoglym SRP

Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection - leaving for the required time to cure

Autoglym SRP

Wax with Autoglym High Definition Wax

Any good? or doing something wrong?

[wyliss]

SRP then EGP and then SRP again ?. Are you not undoing the EGP layer by applying SRP again ??.

HTH

Cheers Geoff / TT

The products and order are as follows

Rinse off

Wash with Megs Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner

Dry with a megs drying cloth

Meguiars Scratch x 2.0

Autoglym SRP

Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection - leaving for the required time to cure

Autoglym SRP

Wax with Autoglym High Definition Wax

Any good? or doing something wrong?

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

Yep, EGP should be the very final stage as SRP is a cleaner polish and will remove anything on which you apply it.

[jamieg]

cheers for the information - nice to know about the EGP, so I trust wax should be applied after EGP.

Any recommendations on the power washer front?

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

You could apply a wax after the EGP but it's not really necessary.

You basically have a choice when it comes to your LSP (Last stage protection). This is either a wax or a sealant. Both effectively do the same job. Some argue that a wax can give a warmer wetter look and sealants give a more reflective / glassy look.

EGP is a sealant. There would be no harm in applying a wax on top if you really want to. I have done this in the past. Neither would there be any problem in applying a wax straight after your SRP and leaving out the EGP.

In Summertime, I should imagine that the EGP will provide 2-3 months durability before it breaks down. It's not a bad sealent.

The only 'no no' would be to apply the EGP after applying the wax because sealants contain solvents and these solvents would remove the wax upon application.

[steelwind101]

I would leave sometime after EGP and before the wax as EGP is pretty "solventy" and benefits from gassing off for a good few hours.

I dont know what washers people use, Karcher is popular but i have read alot of good things about Nilfisks. They are very durable and you read alot of complaints about Karchers, i think due to the use of plastic inside which tends not to be that weather proof and prone to having a shorter life, althought often cheaper. Check from model to model, but metal cylinder heads are a real bonus. At £300 you should probably end up with a decent one from either brand!

I know some people bought ones on here from the Karcher K4 series.

Geoff

[steelwind101]

TT and i almost posted at the same time! I dont have much experince with the HD wax, as i dont own it nor have it had a sample to try. I often used things like Nattys Paste wax over EGP and glossy reflective looks tend to easy to twist to wetness with a good paste wax.