LED's are 5630 SMD's supposedly 3-4 times brighter than the 5050 SMD. i like the color alot, have never been a fan of the bluish white, the ones i got are just a very clean white. for the 200's we need 11 168/T10 wedge bulbs, 1 29mm festoon, and 2 29mm fuse bulbs for the vanity lights. as far as the process goes it's pretty in depth and for your average diy'er there's quite a bit of investment for tools and supplies. here's a list of my favorite products that work extremely well in my hands, that's not to say other products aren't great, these for me look the best and are easy to work with:
TOOLS
-i used a rupes polisher, doesn't need to be this high end you can use a PC 7424 and get the same results just takes more time, a Porter cable is probably better in a beginners hands so you don't burn the paint or take too much away.
-lake country pads, i have the whole set up but at minimum depending on the severity of swirls and one or two step correction and whether you want something showcar or just DD. green is a great all in one pad mild cutting and still polished very well, white is even milder and for very fine swirls will work fine, you'll also want a blue finessing pad, and a red or black for final wax.
-lots of high quality microfiber towels
-halogen work lights, the ones on a stand
-paint thickness meter
-air blower(filtered air)
-2 buckets with grit guards
PRODUCTS
-diluted isopropyl alcohol to 10%, no stroger as IPA is a hot chemical and too much or letting it sit can wrinkle the paint
-menzerna po106fa (super fine nano polish)
-menzerna po83
-wolfgang deep gloss paint sealant 3.0
-pinnacle souveran
-carpro PERL diluted 1:1
-blackfire clay
-soapy water/detail spray/clay lube
-chemical guys diablo wheel cleaner
-dish soap
PROCESS:
-so for new cars this isn't such an issue but it's nice to know how much paint you have to work with, measuring the paint on older cars and on the exotics i used to do was a must.
-so for top to bottom details like this i'll use dish detergent like ajax in a foam gun to remove any existing wax, and also wash with a microfiber mitt.
-then dry the car and use air as needed to get water out from any nooks and crannies, i use a filtered air shop vac on the blower setting
-clay bar the entire car with plenty of lube until the clay glides smoothly, hard to explain but you'll know when you feel it.
-10% IPA wipe down
-now take the light and inspect the car and find the worst swirling or hazing
-do a test panel to see how aggressive you need to get with product and pad. i always start with the mildest pad and usually i can eyeball where i need to be, being a new car there were very fine swirls so i chose a white pad and the menzerna finishing polish, PO106FA, in my opinion the two menzerna polishes i listed will correct 99% of ALL cars no matter how bad the swirls or hazing is. the green pad works well with the po106fa as well but is a bit more aggressive and good for deeper swirls, it's either green or white, hardly ever need both with the po106fa, they both finish out the same, just the green cuts more. i normally do about 4-5 passes at a slow steady movement, make sure to use pad conditioner or some kind of wetting agent like detail spray to keep the pad lubricated so you don't burn the paint up, alson you don't need alot of pressure let the machine do the work. for a PC it's setting is around 5-6. wipe and IPA wipe and inspect. if you need more correction either do another pass or get more aggressive, if the green or white pad don't work you'll need to do a two step correction with the PO83 and a more aggressive pad. i won't get into that since i didn't do it. the panel should look perfect. for me the whole one step polishing took about 6 hours, two step would take twice that if not more, this is a labor intensive job
-now it's time for glaze, sealant, or wax. i went to sealant, some folks don't like the look of a sealant as it is very glossy, but the upside is it lasts a long time. another downside is most if not all sealants have an 8+ hour cure time where ideally it should be in a garage or at the least no water, this is where detailing gets tough as most people can't be without there car for 2-4 days. i was able to do that and finish the car extremely well. wolfgang sealant is my favorite, easy to work with and looks incredible, i did two coats abotu 18 hours apart, 2 coats aren't vital but it looks a tiny bit better, to a normal person they'd never know. glazes are used to "fill in" and fine fine swirls and scratches, i haven't used glaze in a long long time, never have been a huge fan. waxes are normally carnauba based and add depth but aren't very durable like a sealant, they do however look better with the depth they add. after the second coat of sealant has cured i added 2 coats of pinnacle souveran(14 hours apart), again super high quality and i only use it for darker colors and red as it adds lots of depth and warmth to a sealed car. again this is personal preference, it is on the higher end. i applied the pinnacle by hand and the wolfgang with a blue finessing pad on the rupes.
-so if you do the math theres about 3 days worth of just waiting for stuff to cure, you can violate these cure times and looks wise nothing really changes just the durability goes down. again what i did was overkill and for most folks 1 coat of sealant is suffice. i still love to detail cars and recently have thought about maybe doing a car or two a weekend depending on how much work is needed. if anyone has any questions i can try and spread the knowledge. also i probably wouldn't practice on your new 80k truck find a beater.
no plans to come to new york anytime soon but if you're ever in northern virginia let me know, i detailed cars throughout college and grad school to help pay bills(9 years), now i'm actually using my education to make a living
yeah i know icon has the stage 4 out already, i've spoken to them over the phone and the billet UCA's are due near the holidays so might as well wait.
