Any paint experts out there?

[mcmaddy]

I wouldn't be letting a dealer anywhere near your paintwork with anything. As you've said it's the most expensive car you've bought so why not let a professional detailer look at it. You've got probably the best one in the North East right on your doorstep. As for the sales manager saying detailers are fanatics it just shows how arrogant and ignorant he is. In the grand scheme of things having the paintwork looked at properly and potentially sorted without damaging it is surely the most important thing.

[monkeyhanger]

I wouldn't be letting a dealer anywhere near your paintwork with anything. As you've said it's the most expensive car you've bought so why not let a professional detailer look at it. You've got probably the best one in the North East right on your doorstep. As for the sales manager saying detailers are fanatics it just shows how arrogant and ignorant he is. In the grand scheme of things having the paintwork looked at properly and potentially sorted without damaging it is surely the most important thing.

It might be the most expensive car i've bought, but I get the "fanatic" comment to a point. The shoddy dealership in Woking are on one extreme end of the spectrum, and detailing standards are on the other. I did baulk at the £1300 quote for clear wrapping on the front end, in my mind set that's just crazy money for the service offered, where is seems that prevention is significanty more expensive than the cure.

I do get on a mass produced car, you can't expect the dealerships to lavish £600 worth of detailing on every car they sell, i just want to get the piss poor current situation to a decent situation.

They've made it clear that they won't fund a £600 detail that would meet a rich Arab's expectations for his Lambo. I'm not looking for that level of perfection, especially out of my own pocket. If I can get 90% of the way there for 10% of the cost, that'll do for me.

I've got today off, so i'm going to go at the car with some Autoglym tar and glue remover first and if that doesn't shift it, i'll move to the mild clay bar and machine polish afterwards, then look to apply a decent sealant (i'm all out of C2V3, so will have to buy something else as an order with Ultimate Finish has been on back order for 2 weeks waiting for their upholstery protector to come back into stock. Doesn't look like a lazy day for me.

[SRGTD]

As for the sales manager saying detailers are fanatics it just shows how arrogant and ignorant he is.

Arrogant and ignorant; definitely - but then most dealership staff haven’t graduated beyond the single bucket, sponge and wash leather for maintaining a car’s paintwork. Like others have said, I wouldn’t let a dealership loose on my car with a clay bar - most don’t even know how to wash a car correctly, let alone carry out a paintwork decontamination process.

I’d describe my self as a ‘hobbyist detailer’ - I just like my car to look decent. I’d not consider myself to be fanatical about the way my car looks and it’s certainly no garage queen. IMHO there’s a difference between being a fanatic and liking your car to look decent.

As for using a clay bar - I’ve clayed cars I’ve owned with good success (admittedly, I’ve never done a brand new car though where the paint may not have fully hardened). IMHO provided a mild clay is used with plenty of lubrication (I use a quick detailer), and the outside surface of the clay bar is folded to the inside regularly so the surface of the clay that’s being applied to the paintwork is always clean, there’s little risk of marring or inflicting damage.

Really important to keep the bodywork panels being clayed well lubricated though, keeping the surface of the clay that’s in contact with the paintwork clean, and only use light pressure - let the clay do the work for you. Ending up with paintwork that feels ultra slick and smooth is very satisfying. Additionally, the longevity and durability of any protection product applied to thoroughly decontaminated paintwork will be maximised as there’ll be a very strong bond between the protection product and the paintwork.

Now I must get round to decontaminating my car’s paintwork soon…………

[willni]

A lot of fun things in this thread to talk about.

Firstly the paint, if it feels like frosted glass and sounds like sand paper it's heavy contamination, the liquid removers won't work and I'd personally just skip the mild claybar and go straight to a heavy one and if it's the entire car safe yourself the hassle and get a clay mitt to make it faster because claying in boring!

As for using a clay bar - I’ve clayed cars I’ve owned with good success (admittedly, I’ve never done a brand new car though where the paint may not have fully hardened). IMHO provided a mild clay is used with plenty of lubrication (I use a quick detailer), and the outside surface of the clay bar is folded to the inside regularly so the surface of the clay that’s being applied to the paintwork is always clean, there’s little risk of marring or inflicting damage.

As SRGTD said lots of lubrication helps to reducing marring or damage, I just spray snowfoam on top and use it after it's been washed as it's also lubricative, but it's important to note claybars are an abrasive tool, and will add swirls to the paintwork so you always want to follow this up with polishing or a filling glaze.


As with the Sales Manager said detailers are fanatics, of course we are!  If we weren't you'd get the same standard he delivered the car in! A £600 detail isn't for Lamborghini's it's for any car as I speak I have a Skoda VRS in for one, for all that you want from the car a maximum of £200 would get you 95-95% of paint perfection.

That being said the way they delivered the car is not on, but realistically they've saved you hassle as clearly they don't know what they're doing with bodywork and would've risked more damage than good.

I'm all out of C2V3, so will have to buy something else

Gyeon WetCoat or Koch Chemie So.02, you'll thank me later 

[monkeyhanger]

A lot of fun things in this thread to talk about.

Firstly the paint, if it feels like frosted glass and sounds like sand paper it's heavy contamination, the liquid removers won't work and I'd personally just skip the mild claybar and go straight to a heavy one and if it's the entire car safe yourself the hassle and get a clay mitt to make it faster because claying in boring!

As for using a clay bar - I’ve clayed cars I’ve owned with good success (admittedly, I’ve never done a brand new car though where the paint may not have fully hardened). IMHO provided a mild clay is used with plenty of lubrication (I use a quick detailer), and the outside surface of the clay bar is folded to the inside regularly so the surface of the clay that’s being applied to the paintwork is always clean, there’s little risk of marring or inflicting damage.

As SRGTD said lots of lubrication helps to reducing marring or damage, I just spray snowfoam on top and use it after it's been washed as it's also lubricative, but it's important to note claybars are an abrasive tool, and will add swirls to the paintwork so you always want to follow this up with polishing or a filling glaze.


As with the Sales Manager said detailers are fanatics, of course we are!  If we weren't you'd get the same standard he delivered the car in! A £600 detail isn't for Lamborghini's it's for any car as I speak I have a Skoda VRS in for one, for all that you want from the car a maximum of £200 would get you 95-95% of paint perfection.

That being said the way they delivered the car is not on, but realistically they've saved you hassle as clearly they don't know what they're doing with bodywork and would've risked more damage than good.

I'm all out of C2V3, so will have to buy something else

Gyeon WetCoat or Koch Chemie So.02, you'll thank me later 

I just looked into those 2 suggestions. Presumably they look shinier/wetter when applied? I've used C2V3 for years, and although it doesn't look amazingly glossy, it does stay very hydrophobic for 4 months and then starts to fade over the next 2 months. From what I can find out online, the Gyeon lasts 3 months, and there were a few variants- is the essence stuff a concentrated version of the normal one?

4 hours of graft and I've improved the consideration hugely. I used the Autoglym tar/wax/Silicone etc remover. All over and most panels are now as smooth as you'd expect. A second go with that stuff, and a bit of rubbing on maybe 1/6 of the car improved things further. A third go was done on what remains- the drivers side wing mirror and the top parts of the doors (the area above the body crease that meets the door handles) still remain slightly rough, probably 80% better than they were. So I then gave tge whole bodywork a quick buzz with my orbital polisher and a mild white polishing pad and some Autoglym  super resin polish. I was just wiping off the residues with a microfiber cloth when it started raining, so there might be some well spread out residues remaining.

I didn't go with the clay bar in the end,given how much I got off. If I want it feeling perfect as well as looking great, I'll wait for the paint to harden some more.

[willni]

Yes essence is a more concentrated version you can mix down, the standard gyeon is perfectly balanced so i wouldn’t bother with essence. You can apply it after a wash while the car is wet and so you’ve detailed the car in 5 minutes and will have great gloss!

I don’t use C2V3 unless it’s on a gtechniq applied car anymore, too many better options now.