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Store Bought Waxes Part II (No Zaino Posts)
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I went out at lunch and parked in the shade. I liberally sprayed the door with the Spray N Clay lubed then glided the clay over the surface. I noticed no difference on the door and anywhere they paint was imbeded with the dirt. It did remove the bugs. The clay is quite sticky, I assume thats why you use the lube...perhaps I sprayed to much lube on...I'll try again later....
You would think using teh NuFinish 2 - 4 times a year would have no ill affect...I still think its a lousy clear coat job!
What did the clay bar look like after you used it? Was it dirty? When I clayed my hood to get off paint over spray or something from the factory I had to lightly rub in circles in a small area. I would say that for a 1 sq. ft. area I moved the clay bar around that area for 30 secs., maybe a little more. Once the clay bar gets dirty it won't remove as well, so you will have to fold the dirty side into itself over and over. Removing road tar depends on how long it has been on the paint. I had a very hard time removing tar even with tar remover. It took me a long time to get the tar off by soaking the tar area and lightly using a cloth over and over again.
Keep us informed of your progress, we can all learn something from this.
This evening I tried again, same results. One thing that really bothered me was this hazy spot on my door. Upon close examination, it actually looked like a clean spot. Against better judgement I did around and thru it with the NuFinish rubbing hard. Now I had a big solid white circle. It would seem the hazy area was actually the clean spot. I did the whole door and it looks new again. Whether or not there is clearcoat is there hard to say! Now the pain in the [non-permissible content removed] is that the door looks cleaner than some of the surrounding parts of the car. I personally think I just need some magic liquid I can wipe the car off with to cleanse out any discolration and get everything uniform again. Maybe Nu Finish is not the answer because it is too abrasive. Is the Meguiars cleaner wax abrasive if applied liberally and rubbed hard? If cleaner wax is not abrasive, maybe I need to try another brand.
Maybe the car really does need to be done by a professional. Like I said, its not looking too bad now. Perhaps in the fall, I'll dawn it, clean it up and try the Liquid Glass sealant....unless the S100 holds up.
Thanks again everyone.
I just saw a note, someone had asked where I was from...I'm in PA, and yes the car is outside all the time.
Do you live or work near chemical plants or some kind of heavy industrial area? Do you live or work downstream of steel mills or smokestack plants?
Reason I ask is I've run into this problem before. A family member used to work for a chemical processing plant and they'd have, um... "emissions" on a regular basis. This person had a white Toyota truck coincidently and it would get stained a very light grey on a pretty regular basis whenever the plant had an issue. It was detailed several times over the years but eventually had to be repainted at company cost due to the damage.
I'm not suggesting your car is having the same problems as I have no idea what is really going on. But it is unusual that this car has so many strange paint issues. At this point I'd suggest a 3-stage decontamination bath followed by machine paint polishing and topped with a polymer paint sealant for superior protection. This should get all the dirt and crud out of the paint's pores, removing any swirl marks and whatnot and should bring back the showroom shine.
You might want to talk to a couple of detailers and see what they say. Tell them you want the swirls and marring removed, not hidden with a glaze or oily polish stuff that makes paint look great but doesn't last. Ask them if they offer some kind of decontamination wash process that will chemically remove the crud from the paint without damaging it. A good detailer should not have to resort to aggressive machine compounding but light to moderate machine polishing will likely be needed to restore the paint gloss.
I wish I could see the car in person and play with a few things to find out what the problem really is. Chemical contamination, industrial fallout, acid rain and other nasty things definitely take a toll on paint jobs. Some wax is better than no wax at all so it's good you're keeping up with it. Keep us all posted on how things go for you.
Is the Meguiars Cleaner Wax a good one. Is it abrasive?
I would think that the wax should be removed before using a clay bar or the clay bar would be full of wax. I don't like to hear the hard rubbing that has to be done to remove the spots from the paint as this can change the looks of the clear coat if it gets scratched.
Dawn, clay bar and sealer/wax, if that doesn't take out those spots then you need to talk to a pro.
http://site.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=39
you will find a bunch of stuff folks with white cars sometimes deal with. The post above shows a link to one such article.
For my car I really need to
1) dawn it
2) apply a cleaner wax getting the paint clean and even
3) S100 it
My trouble is I have to really fight with the Meguiars Cleaner wax to get a nice even clean finish...likely because the car has not been properly cared for the last 4 years...not that it been let dirty, just that on white cars rain and dirt get into the paint...or so I have read...
My only remaining question would be...is the Meguiars cleaner wax, even when rubbed hard, non abrasive? Is it safer to use it then NuFinsih...to me it works a little better? If so great I'll buy some more unless there is another brand reccomendation.....
Both products are close enough in performance that one could replace the other if you want to. Put it this way; both products are priced similarly and are marketed to the same customer base.
This is sort of like scratching a skin rash as it will only make things worse.
Basically, if the paint were good it would be worth around 2k or so. It's a green paint job but it's faded and turned black on the hood and roof, with the white edging that surrounds the black portion before it merges into the original green paint.
My question: I've heard that if you buff aggressively with a compound and then wax it like crazy it will look fairly decent and you should even get the original color back, to a point. Does anyone know if this is true? Or is the only solution actually repainting the vehicle?
Thanks
$750 is a great price for a good running Jeep. Those things will last forever with basic maintenance, esp. if it has the 6 cyl. motor. I'd grab it if it checks out and ignore the paint problem if it were me.
Thanks for your response. i was contemplating purchasing the jeep and I'm almost postiive I'm going to buy it; I may even sell my corolla and drive this thing around for a few years. It's not as 'comfortable' or as dependable, per se, but not having to pay a car payment plus increased insurance is very very nice right now.
I may go ahead and try to buff the problem areas out and then seal and wax the living daylights out of it. I don't know what kind of results I will get, but I figure it's worth a shot.
The ac even works! Quite well, too. A pity it is 13 years old, but with only 116k miles on it I expect it will last to 175k or so with no problem. I used to drive an 81 k car (chrysler e class) in college back in 97 or so and while everything else may have quit on me (windows, air, radio, all those types of things) that car never QUIT running, even with over 250k miles on it.
im actually pretty excited about the purchase...anyone wanna buy an almost new corolla?
Thanks!
It's a judgement call. Try it a few different ways and see how it works for you. For me, if I have to use several towels while QDing, the car's too dirty and should be washed.
Remember, rain water is not the same as the water that comes out of your faucet. If you have acid rain in your area you will be leaving that acid rain on your finish and applying something over it. You will be keeping the acid rain on your finish constantly. Use the QD in between waxing when you wash your car and be safe.
You mentioned in a couple of your posts that you washed your car and let it dry over night. You woke up and was surprised to see water spots. Almost always, when you do not towel or shammy your car dry you will have water spots.
It is my opinion, that once you fully clean and clay your car you do NOT need to use a cleaner wax at every waxing.
One last thing...one important thing you need to remember when you use clay to clean your car is to use enough lubricant (detailer) so the clay does not adhere to the paint surface. If you don't use enough lubricant, you will see marks left by the clay material.
I have a 42 year old Mercedes that gets a yearly wax (the car is infrequently driven)...I stripped off all the old wax and started fresh about 10 years ago, but for the past few years the paint has started to dull, and new coats of wax (Meguiars) don't seem to help. Suggestions?
Wish they would have said how and what they did to age the paint finish during the test period. Maybe I missed that since I was reading the article while waiting for my wife and I didn't have that much time.
On another note...I used my Meguiars QD for the first time. Essentially the product was free at Big Lots; I got 32oz of cleaner wax and 32oz of QD for $9.99. Anyway, to me, it seems the QD is nothing more than scented water.....I noticed it had very little cleaning ability and did little to enhance my shine. I had washed my car the night before and dried it, QD'd it the next day....maybe I am missing the point of this product.....
Why did you put the QD on your car the day after you washed it? What were you trying to accomplish? Just curious.
Have used NXT and other Meguire products for years but do not like the white residue on my black car. Called Meguires re this and some yahoo told me to use masking tape on all the rubber. Sure.
EagleOne claims no white residue. So far they are right.
Appreciate any input.
Both are pretty good Store Bought Waxes but neither are stellar in my book.
I, like the person in the above post, can't believe how many people come up and ask me what I you use to get my car to look so good.
Also, I'd like to know if anyone has used the new polish by Turtle Wax called Ice. If so, how do you like it? This topic has gotten almost as bad with the S100 posts as others have in the past with the Zaino posts.
I purchased Turtlewax ICE back in March to use on my Minivan, Company Car (Taurus) and my RV. I was all gunho!! It went on easy, gave a great shine...but within weeks, I went to wash the car and there was no beading and it seem to attract dirt and trap it?? $19/bottle at Murray's here in Detroit....CRAP.
A few weeks ago Consumer Report had auto waxes in their issue and picked Black Magic as a good buy ($6 at SEARS). I rewaxed my company car except for the roof just as a simple test. Weeks later my roof was a mess....stained, dirty etc...handwashing was only way to get it clean, while the trunk and hood look great!!
ICE....NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!
PS - CR didn't test ICE, don't know why!!! I also called 1 800 turtlewax to complain, all they said was "Hmmmm many of our customers are calling in loving it"? Another friend of mine purchased ICE on my initial recommendation....and he HATES it, in fact he rewaxed his STS with Nu Finish and gave me the bottle to try
Here are a few pics of the finished product
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Pic 2
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Pic 4