[saisailendra]

Originally Posted by smsrini

Any thoughts on using a jopasu duster to wipe off dry dust before doing a quick detailing?

But as someone already said, this is God level of detailing! Take a bow!

Thank you very much for the Compliment.

I've used Jopasu duster a few times, few years ago, when my uncle bought his new car. As a product to wipe dust off, it's great, makes things much easier and quicker. But I wouldn't use it personally on my car. With time, it'll create swirls and it would be the last thing I'd voluntarily do on my car.

If you're a person who likes to drive a clean car everyday, then Jopasu will significantly cut the effort needed for it, but at a price (swirls).

So it all boils down to personal convenience and preference.

Originally Posted by keroo1099

I am glad I spotted your thread because I have just finished a DIY ceramic coating on my 15 Yr old Swift and all I could do was nod and say 'yep' to every step and coment you posted.

Mine is nowhere close to the effort you put in, but the results are pretty remarkable for the time I spent on detailing the car.

I used a DIY kit from Avalon King.

Thank you for your kind words.
Your ride looks fabulous , specially for a 15 yr old one. No effort is less effort. As long as you're satisfied with the results, the effort put in is worth it, I feel. I checked out Avalon King website after I've completed coating my car. Looked great. I'm sure it'll last long.

Cheers.

[Livnletcarsliv]

Great details and explanation. Great learnings as well.

[SS80]

Wow! Professional detailers will be shell shocked looking at the outcome of your detailing.

Also, a few questions
1. I assume that scratches are filled by wax polish and makes the light reflect better, hence the shine. Once the wax is faded or dislodged from the cracks, we need to wash and wax again. Is that right?

2. I just use a basic wax after wash, mine is a beige coloured car. Does waxing have any effect on car colour, does car look dull after some years?

3. On Amazon.in there are ceramic coating products starting from 1K to 11K, what specifications to look for when buying one?

Lastly, are you married. If yes, what is your family's reaction when you spend so much time on the car.

[saisailendra]

Originally Posted by SS80

Wow! Professional detailers will be shell shocked looking at the outcome of your detailing.

Thank you for your kind words.

Also, a few questions
1. I assume that scratches are filled by wax polish and makes the light reflect better, hence the shine. Once the wax is faded or dislodged from the cracks, we need to wash and wax again. Is that right?

Polish is the substance that has certain abrasives. It will even out the surface of clear-coat on the paint, thus giving us a good reflective finish. Polishes/compounds, ideally must remove swirl marks. But, a few polishes also might have fillers which will fill the scratches. If scratches are removed, the shine will last as long as another scratch occurs. However, if fillers fill the scratches, that shine will be short-lived, till those fillers are lost.

Waxes, on the other hand, ideally will form a layer over the clear-coat and protect the clear coat from further swirls. Again, some waxes fill the swirls, some don't but most of them do cover a very minor percent of defects, and give a great shine.


And yes, once the waxes wane, which happen naturally with time, we need to apply the wax again, for the shine and hydrophobic nature, which makes washing very easy. But that is not the case with polish. Polish needs to be done, when we feel the paint is swirled up and need some correction.

Polish = Correction of swirls
Wax = Protection of paint, added shine, hydrophobic nature.

2. I just use a basic wax after wash, mine is a beige coloured car. Does waxing have any effect on car colour, does car look dull after some years?

Waxes will improve the shine of the paint, irrespective of the color. Some waxes shine more, some last long. Some waxes help make the paint look "deeper" and richer. But, waxes by themselves do not make the car look dull over years. Rather, it is the application methods and wash methods, that make the paint look dull with time, which is because of swirl marks.

We, unconsciously rub the paint with a cloth that might have some dirt in it while washing the car. We might rub the paint when it has a little dust on it, with a dry cloth. Some dust might settle while we wait for wax to dry. And we apply wax with a foam applicator, which might have a little dust, or might grab the dust that accumulated on the paint. And while applying wax, we rub this applicator on the paint. So, all these little things, will induce swirl marks on the clear-coat of the paint. These swirl marks are very minor scratches, which, over the years increase and give us the dull look.

These swirl marks, can be removed easily later on, with a polish or compound and the shine can be brought back. And these swirl marks can be avoided to a great extent by adopting certain methods while washing and during the general ownership of vehicle. But still, for a car that is used daily, these swirl marks are inevitable.

So, in summary, Yes, waxes do help in shining the paint, and No, they do not make the paint dull over years.

3. On Amazon.in there are ceramic coating products starting from 1K to 11K, what specifications to look for when buying one?

I'm not really sure about the ceramic coating products sold on amazon. I never tried them. So, I can't really comment upon them. If you are really serious about ceramic coating your car by yourself, I suggest you go for a well known branded one and take things slowly.

Lastly, are you married. If yes, what is your family's reaction when you spend so much time on the car.

hahaha, I'm still a bachelor. However, I do get weird looks and sometimes even taunts from parents, when I spend so much time on the car. But yeah, as years pass by and as they kept seeing me do that, they too got habituated to it. Should see how things will turn out in the future.

Happy Detailing.

[Karuz16]

Hey, I recently read your DIY thread. You really did an amazing job . Your thread is really helpful to me as I have been planning a similar project of my own. So for the past several weeks I've been youtubing the process and assessing the feasibility of doing it in a covered (but open on 4 sides) parking. I have a 6 month old white volvo XC40 which I've been ceramic spray coating since the first few weeks. I was planning on getting the cquartz UK 3.0 coating but your thread might have made me consider the 'lite' instead. Wondering if you could advice me on some of my doubts. My plan is to follow these steps:

1) Pressure wash (from a proper and trusted car wash)
2) Iron and Bug remover
3) claying
4) light hand polishing areas of pronounced swirl marks ( not the whole car)
4) IPA wipe
5) cquartz lite
6) Hopefully admire the finish

Firstly, I have very slight swirl marks on the paint (mainly on the bonnet) and don't want to go through an aggressive paint correction. My thinking being, if the paint is acceptable to me in it's present condition then it will be acceptable after the coating as well. My fear is the claying process might cause marring of the paint. Did you find any additional scratches added to your paint due to the claying ? If I don't plan on compounding/polishing should I even take the risk of claying ?

Secondly, I read your posts on a different thread for collinite 845. It seems to me that you are back at waxing. How does the paint seem now ? If the coating lasts only a year and I have to resort to waxing again then is it really worth putting in the effort. Should I simply follow my 2 monthly waxing routine instead . Can't you re-coat the car with the remaining liquid ? Or do you first have to strip the old coating before your can apply the new one ?

Anything you would have done differently ? I have a brother who lives in the States and will be coming home in November this year. So I have the option of getting some good car detailing products at a great price. I am being advised to simply wax my car for the first few years and once the paint is covered in swirl marks in 3-4 years then go for a ceramic coat. Your input will be highly appreciated.

Cheers !

[rahulk2510]

Wonderful thread!

I admire people who have garages where you get the flexibility of so many DIY's to make their car better. We apartment dwellers have very less possibilities to do so.

My query to you is what would you recommend to people falling in our category where even washing the car ourselves is problematic let alone waxing, detailing ourselves. I would take the car to a detailer to do waxing/ polishing/ coating but after that how would you to recommend to keep the car paint in good shape? My parking is open to air and hence exposed to the environment and I have tried real hard to explain my help to wash the car with some precautions but dont think he would ever comply for obvious reasons. If I stop taking his service it would necessitate me to clean the car but how to do so efficiently is my question.

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by rahulk2510

Wonderful thread!

I admire people who have garages where you get the flexibility of so many DIY's to make their car better. We apartment dwellers have very less possibilities to do so.

My query to you is what would you recommend to people falling in our category where even washing the car ourselves is problematic let alone waxing, detailing ourselves. I would take the car to a detailer to do waxing/ polishing/ coating but after that how would you to recommend to keep the car paint in good shape? My parking is open to air and hence exposed to the environment and I have tried real hard to explain my help to wash the car with some precautions but dont think he would ever comply for obvious reasons. If I stop taking his service it would necessitate me to clean the car but how to do so efficiently is my question.

Using a quick detailer or waterless wash like ONR will help if one is staying in apartment and want to clean their car themselves. You can also do the tried and tested 2 bucket wash. Honestly the only thing you cannot do in a apartment is using a pressure washer which I doubt most people staying in their own house has.

[neofromcapone]

What a clean-n-clear thread.
Thank you @saisailendra for this level of detailing (car & thread)
Should be our definitive self-detailing thread.
Rated 5 stars.