Detailing the 100- my plan

[Pucker5]

Hey guys, covid 19 has interrupted my regular detailing interval on my cruiser. I do the regular washing but I have a Detailer who Does my winter and summer polish and wax with one of those two being a bit more cut during the detail. Anyways I’ve got a little bit of experience detailing but not enough for my own standards. Anyways, here’s my plan

tool - Bauer 6 in. 5.7 Amp Heavy Duty Dual Action Variable Speed Polisher (Equivalent to the 129.00 porter cable)

-Adams iron remover
-Chemical guys melon wash via foam cannon
-Clay bar treatment
-Light cut and high shine polish using Sonax profiline perfect finish with light cut tcp pad (blue)
-swap pad to soft tcp pad (green) to finish application of perfect finish (Sonax advises this process)
-apply Jascar power lock plus with ultra fine tcp pad (Black)
-finish with single application of collinite 845

Now my cruiser specific questions.
-Vehicle year/co is 2003 galaxy mica gray, what rpms does
Toyota paint like?
-it’s pretty hot in socal right now. 80 degrees plus late into the evening and swampy. Any of you southern states/gulf coast guys have timing/temperature best practices?

I’m not trying to win a car show and there’s a lot of products out there but Any feedback is greatly appreciated specific to our trucks and the process.

 

[Kabanstva]

I’m not familiar with that buffer but have used the porter cable way back in the day when most detailers still used those. The PC is a very weak machine so if the buffer you’re using is similar, you want to run it at full speed on your working passes after you’ve spread the polish. There’s no worry with rpms or burning paint on a weak machine like that, it’s not a rotary and it stops rotating when you get to an edge or angle it (it only spins if you keep the pad perfectly flat).

Oh and there’s no need for 845 after already applying power lock. Trust me, you’re wasting your time with that.

 

[Pucker5]

Yeah I may leverage the 845 for my quarterly mini detail if I continue to do it myself. Thanks for the input

 

[jon91581]

I'd suggest having a few extra pads around in case of contamination during the cutting/polishing stage. No matter how well I wash my truck, it always seems like I pick up a little debris, even after clay bar, iron decontamination, etc. It's a huge vehicle, too, and if I'm going to spend the time cutting/polishing, I plan on going through at least 2-3 pads for each step.

As far as heat and humidity is concerned, I'm in Houston, and my best results are to wait until Fall! In all seriousness, getting the car washed/decontaminated early in the morning and moving to a garage, even if it's not air conditioned, is really my only option. If a garage isn't an option, you can try working in the shade under a tree or pop up tent to keep the car's paint surfaces cooler.

Good luck, and post up pics when it's done!

 

[MongooseGA]

I don't know how the paints varied from year to year, color to color, but the clear on my '05 Galactic Gray is pretty hard. I've used my PC to correct the paint, but did need to use a more aggressive pad/product combo than I likely would have on many other vehicles.

Like mentioned above, I'd have at least 4-5 pads handy and anticipate cleaning them all at least once or twice during the process. You'll likely go through at least one pad per panel before they're gunked up. To maximize the power of your orbital, I've become a big fan of the micofiber buffing pads like Eurofiber. They've got some extra bite when using heavier polishes or compounds but can also handle lighter products to finish out the job.

 

[icce]

Based on your description of your detailer "cutting" every 6 months (which is insane to me btw) I'd proceed cautiously. If it were me, I'd check paint thickness with a coating thickness gauge to measure how much clear you have left on the vehicle before even considering a paint correction. You're about to remove even more clearcoat from your vehicle and don't have a clear understanding of where you are starting. Clearcoat is thin on these vehicles.

 

[Pucker5]

Based on your description of your detailer "cutting" every 6 months (which is insane to me btw) I'd proceed cautiously. If it were me, I'd check paint thickness with a coating thickness gauge to measure how much clear you have left on the vehicle before even considering a paint correction. You're about to remove even more clearcoat from your vehicle and don't have a clear understanding of where you are starting.

Use of cut was a poor choice on my end as He basically 2 steps and Starts a medium pad instead of One stepping with a light cutting pad. In the three years he’s done my
detailIng he’s done that only twice. First time was 3 days after it got off the shipping truck. Paint overall looks pretty solid Minus big scrapes I don’t care to fix but I can tell it needs some love.

 

[icce]

Use of cut was a poor choice on my end as He basically 2 steps and Starts a medium pad instead of One stepping with a light cutting pad. In the three years he’s done my
detailIng he’s done that only twice. First time was 3 days after it got off the shipping truck. Paint overall looks pretty solid Minus big scrapes I don’t care to fix but I can tell it needs some love.

To be 100% clear, you are saying that your detailer has performed a two-step paint correction on this vehicle twice during your ownership? How else is it maintained? Where is it parked? How do you use the vehicle? How often do you wash it and what is your washing process?

If the paint already looks "solid" but you state you aren't trying to win a car show, what are you hoping to achieve?

 

[Pucker5]

To be 100% clear, you are saying that your detailer has performed a two-step paint correction on this vehicle twice during your ownership? How else is it maintained? Where is it parked? How do you use the vehicle? How often do you wash it and what is your washing process?

If the paint already looks "solid" but you state you aren't trying to win a car show, what are you hoping to achieve?

correct on the two step. I do the washing every two weeks and I use sonus carnuba spritz afterwards. Chemical guys melon wash.

 

[molonlabemike]

Detailer here.
Toyota paint is really hard and in order for me to achieve real results 90% defect removal I have to rotary buff then follow up with a DA to remove holograms.


For the clay bar, unless the vehicles paint needs a lot of love for removing surface contamination just clay bar it after you strip wash. You can use iron remover but if your washing regularly and detail it regularly just skip that step. Also pro tip, use eagle one “black and plasti dip” over Adams. Same product for $6.
For polishes, can’t say much as I don’t use Sonax. Personally I would skip any “wax” and go with a sealant. Traditional Wax’s melt off and last 30-90 days in SoCal vs sealants are seeing 6+ months. I love turtle wax ceramic hybrid solutions “wax”. Wipes on super easy, shines great and last a long time.

 

[Pucker5]

Detailer here.
Toyota paint is really hard and in order for me to achieve real results 90% defect removal I have to rotary buff then follow up with a DA to remove holograms.


For the clay bar, unless the vehicles paint needs a lot of love for removing surface contamination just clay bar it after you strip wash. You can use iron remover but if your washing regularly and detail it regularly just skip that step. Also pro tip, use eagle one “black and plasti dip” over Adams. Same product for $6.
For polishes, can’t say much as I don’t use Sonax. Personally I would skip any “wax” and go with a sealant. Traditional Wax’s melt off and last 30-90 days in SoCal vs sealants are seeing 6+ months. I love turtle wax ceramic hybrid solutions “wax”. Wipes on super easy, shines great and last a long time.

thanks man, going to skip the extra 845 wax. Was planning on using jascar power lock plus As my sealer