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-   -   A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/102011-superb-car-cleaning-polishing-detailing-guide-535.html)

Contact Keystone Enterprises or UD. Both are based in bangalore and have all the products you need. Details can be had in our Bangalore Directory section

People please advise: My car a wagon r 2010 faced an accident and was at the workshop for 20 days. The new painted body panels are almost factory finish but the undamaged sections (paint and glass) are coated with invisible grime which is rough to touch and has turned the finish dull. The car was exposed to rain and dust (the workshop is beside the highway) and this is probably the reason. Just washing does not remove this layer. Cleaned the glass area with toothpaste and it is almost 99% ok. But what about the paint? How do i clean this? Please recommend..

Claying followed by a polish like Meg's ultimate polish followed by a good wax should do the trick.
You can ask the bodyshop to machine polish the whole car. Most good bodyshops do this because otherwise the finish will differ in the freshly painted area and old paint.

Anyone here have any experience with Abro gold car wash, It's a concentrated liquid with carnuba wax. I ordered it today from snapdeal, along with microfiber mitt and cloth. Off lately, I have been ignoring polishing my car, as the color is white. But off lately have seen quite a swirl marks on it. So have now decided to take care of it.

I'll use this abro car wash and see if it helps, If not satisfied, I'll get the turtle or formula 1 wax.

I need advice from you guys, To how to get rid of swirls from my car now??

Can you maybe post a picture of the swirls - under the bright sun from an angle preferably, or using a LED torch? Micro swirls, although time consuming, is possible to remove by hand. But if the swirls are all over and are hazing the entire appearance of the color, only a machine pass or two can rectify it.

You can get rid of swirls in 2 ways - either have micro fillers to fill in the swirls (which, after a session of claying or IPA wipedown, shall be visible again) or take off a micro layer of paint/clearcoat.

For the first method, Sonus swirl buster (http://www.autogeek.net/sonus-swirl-buster.html) or Klasse AIO (http://www.autogeek.net/klasseallinone.html) is a good option.

If you have major swirl problem, I suggest that you visit a professional detailer (NOT the people hanging around petrol pumps) who can use a DA / Rotary correctly along with multi stage correction techniques. Be advised that taking off a layer of paint should always be your last option.

Reason is paint overspray. This is common when they do not mask the other areas properly. Rain and dust cannot cause this at all. Safest way as suggested is to get hold of a clay bar and do it else get the same guys to do it provided they know what they need to do!

Had a small accident about 10 months ago and had to get two doors on the car re-painted. It all looked good when done but recently I got the car polished at 3M and then noticed that the 2 painted panels looked blurred after the polishing compared to the rest of the car where the paint is 8 years old. I suspect it is an issue with the clear coat on the recently painted doors but not sure. Anyone faced a similar problem and is there anything that can be done to rectify it?

Thanks a ton for detailed explanation. No, it's not that major, my car is just 3.5 months old, so nothing major. It's just i could make marks on bonnet under light, I tried clicking it but they were not showing up.

Rest of the body isn't much affected, just was able to spot them on bonnet. Probably, someone cleaned the car with dirty cloth :Frustrati

Now question is, How to avoid the swirl marks ? and Does waxing the car, frequently, helps in controlling them ?

I am a noob, when it comes to car detailing. :p

Thanks,
Sameer

What you describe is probably orange peel. At 3M they typically use the one step compound with rotary polisher which is a bit aggressive. Painted on clear coat won't have the same hardness in most cases as the company painted panels. The blurring could also be due to haze because of the compound. If I may suggest you could try sonax polish ( easily available in most reliance mart/autozone outlets) This does have some fillers which could probably help. It will take some elbow grease. Use an applicator pad which you get at 3m (that have the meguiars pads available). It is probably because no one cared to analyse your paint before working on it. If you would have mentioned it maybe just maybe they would have tried something different.



To remove swirls - without a machine I find sonax polish works well. Top it off with a coat of collinite or turtle wax. Please wash and clean your car well using the two/ three bucket wash method before you attempt this.

To avoid any further swirls -simple - Don't TOUCH the car! It is as simple as that. Use a jopasu or California duster. For wet cleaning quick detailer with a microfiber cloth is great.

I suspect what they used at 3M is not 'polish' but 'compound'. Hazing is known to happen after compounding, and the way to get rid of the haze is to polish.
IMO on newly painted panels, compounding/wetsanding is not necessary unless otherwise to get rid of orange peel effect, that too with denim/velvet pads.
Try using a very low cut polish - that should clear the haze and give you good shine. Then protect with a coat of sealant / wax.

Swirls are best avoided by touching the paint minimally.
As you say your car is very new, best thing for you would be to clean the paint of your car using a paint cleaner (Blackfire total polish and seal, Klasse AIO, Collinite SS 126, Meg's cleaner wax etc) and use a LSP (Meg's gold class wax, Collinite 845, Klasse SG etc).
Then only use a good duster (California, jopasu) to clean dry dust, and use a good quality quick detailer (UWW, ONR, Meg's) & microfiber for quick detailing when you need to.
When you want to wash - follow the 2 bucket method - and use a microfiber cloth/wash mitt alongwith a pH neutral shampoo.

+1 to everything torquecurve said!

Thanks torquecurve and blackasta. I will double check with 3M if it was compounding or polishing. As far as I remember I was told it was a wash and wax so I assumed that was regular polishing. They were also aware of the painted panels, I told them it was done about 10 months ago prior to them starting the job. Thanks again.

Thanks for the heads up!

Any alternates? Like I said, dont know if I should be Optimum Wash and Wax everyday - but it does make the black look good!

Why not get yourself the Ultima Waterless Wash concentrate? It costs 1750 for 16oz (about 500ml), but you only need 15ml of it to add to 500ml water and you have the perfect detailer! I use this and the 500ml detailer is enough for three sessions of waterless wash (+wax as it leaves a very deep gloss.) So every use costs me less than 20 rupees!

I use this every weekend on my car and just the jopasu duster every other day to wipe off the dust.

Thanks, will check it out. Any particular place you get it from? (Online though, considering you're in Bangalore :)..)

Guys need an information on. Last weekend my car's rear bumper got a kiss from a biker. Now there is tyre mark on rear bumper but no paint damages as such. How can I repair it?