Okay so it's been raining here on and off for the past couple of days, and I've been working 10 hour shifts everyday for the past 13 days straight. So I've been leaving my car cover off of my car and my kittens have gotten a hold of the paint....FML

So my question is what is the best to remove small scratches? It's nothing that I can feel with my fingernail, but I can see them in certain light for sure.

Should I just try a clay bar, or use this http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-410.html and see if it works?

The scratches aren't bad at all, just clear-coat marks. Not all of them are from the kittens, but about half are. Others are from installation mishaps and the like.

I don't want to use real rubbing compound. I have used that crap before and it is wayyy to powerful for me.

Please help. I appreciate it.

 

Clay bar won't do anything for scratches, it's just used to remove debris from the clear coat. To get off those light scratches you will need a polish, the type is up you. Different people like different polishes it is just up to your opinion

 

I finally found my polish system. I got it at the local Tap Plastics which is a small chain that sells plastic sheets, blocks, rolls and tooling. It's a 3 stage system. All 3 stages are liquid. The first one is enough to pull visible single scratches out. The 2nd stage is fine enough to eliminate scratches on DVD's and Blue-Ray discs so they'll play. Stage 3 is for the final MIRROR polish and comes in a manual aerosol pump.

The manufacturer is Novus. For your nearest distributor call 18005486872.

This polish is designed to shine up plastics and is VERY gentle but also unforgiving of skipping a step.

 

Well it depends on a lot of things. Are you doing this by hand or by machine, and how long do you want to spend doing it?

Dan
www.dndautodetailing.org

 

Lol. No thanks. I'm not going to waste my money on a gimmick like that sorry 03gtmustang.

The pictures of before and after of the cars aren't even clean pictures. The before picture looks like it's been through a 5-mile gravel driveway.

I just need a way to get out surface buffs and scratches. If I spent money on the car I'd be getting the orange-peel pulled out of it, not just getting it waxed. I can do that myself for 1/10th of the price.

 

I wouldn't call it a gimmick. He did a pretty damn good job considering the condition of the paint beforehand. (judging JUST by the pictures)

If he does what he says he does, your not going to get much better.

 

Your never going to get hardly any paint defects our by hand, you need a machine polisher to do actual paint correction and it takes time and skill or you can make the paint look so much worse. You can however hide or reduce many of them by using certain polishes.

This Poorboys polish does a nice job of that.
http://www.specialtymotoring.com/pb-1007.html

 

Wow, did not expect to get an extremely ignorant response like that. I wasnt offering my services, I was offering advice coming from a very good professional.

Please, tell me how these are gimmicks and how my pictures are not clean? I do not "wax" cars, I do paint correction on them, exactly what you're asking about. The pictures below show what happens when a body shop improperly buffs, washes, and drys paint. The after pictures are after a series of 3- 4 machine polishing steps to remove the imperfections, level the paint, and produce maximum gloss. Again, tell me how this is a gimmick....

 

What he does is not a gimmick, it's damn good work. It takes time to be able to do work like that, you can't just get a buffer and do that

 

It's okay guys, let this guy screw up his paint and come crying back....

 

It's a gimmick because most of it is overcharged. You lead people to believe that never in their life could they do what you do. And some probably couldn't, but others could get swirl marks etc. out on their own with a few simple tools. Everything in the auto industry is a gimmick.

Factory warranties don't cover your car unless you let Ford service it everytime.

People have things like gears and exhaust installed because mechanics push them to believe that they can't do it.

I'm not saying I could take a car out and strip it down and paint it myself. But on your site you have wax and detail for $100. Sure you may save me time, but for $20-40 I could do the same job. Not harassing what you do, but I don't think removing scratches requires me to pay more than if I just had the car repainted.

I have body shop guys that would love to buff polish and sand down the orange peel on my car for free, but I don't have time for that ATM.

If you really want to help people then show them how they could do stuff like that on their own.

Once again, I'm not saying you do a bad job. But the prices you charge are not my cup-o-tea and I feel that making huge profits like that off of people who have regular cars, considering I didn't see anyone in there with anything super out of the ordinary, is a bit of maybe not a gimmick but thats all I can think of to describe it.

 

You cannot remove swirl marks with a few simple tools and no training. If you think you know so much, than why did you make this thread?

ONE of the products I use in my wash and wax detail is a water filtration system which is $360+. Then add on the DI resin which needs to be changed which is another $90 every time. $20 wouldn't even get you the wheel cleaner I use.

If anything, my prices are on the low side compared to people who do what I do. You think I haven't done a ton of research to see what others are charging? Others charge anywhere from $50- $75+ an hour. I know people who get $1000+ for paint correction details.

www.belladetailing.com
www.autowerkesexclusive.com/detailing.html
www.reflectionsdetailing.org/3.html
www.newshinedetailing.com
www.gtaindetail.com/info/exterior/
Would you like me to keep going?

My services are targeted towards a certain clientele base. That is people who have an understanding of what paint is supposed to look like and appreciate the work I do. It does not matter what kind of car they have.

As for helping people, thats exactly what I was attempting to do for you. If you look at my posts in detailing sections of other forums then you'd see that ALL I do is offer advice. I'm done wasting my time with you, good luck. And FYI, orange peel in factory paint is not just in the top layer of clear, so good luck with that. Let me know when your clear starts failing after they wet sand if for free.

 

Also you get paid for your time to do these details and use good products. It takes a lot of time and I mean hours and hours to do actual paint correction.

 

+1

 

I have spent up to 6 hours just on the outside of a car before. It takes a long time to really work the imperfections out of the paint and do all the steps that are required for a great finish.

Dan your work has come a long way, and your details are very nice by the way.

 

hell I would take those so called "gimmicks" done to my car any day of the week, your work rocks Dan!

 

How much is your time worth?

Consider the time it takes to do the job correctly and factor in paying yourself even minimum wage for that time How much did the job cost you so far? What is the cost of the supplies needed? Yes you may have them in your garage now, but you had to pay for them at some point. If you went out and bought all the supplies new it would be more than $20 - $40. A good clay bar kit costs over $20 ... AND it's not just wash and wax that price included detailing the car. Have you seen a detailed car where the detailer took Q-tips to get all the dust and crud out of the interior? How much time do you think that takes? Add to that fact that he's using premium products on your car not just some cheep turtle wax and armor all.

Also, your comment that if he really wanted to help others he should tell others how to achieve similar results, you put your foot in your mouth there. Search this forum, read the stickies about how to wash and detail your car, which products to use, etc. Guess who the person who posted that info was? Yup, the same person you're accusing of ripping others off.

 

Originally Posted by 08mustang_gt
Tell you what, 08 Mustang GT... go do your $40 paint correction on your own and then come back here and cry how you totally FUBARed your paintwork.

I can't tell you how many paint corrections I have done because someone thought my prices were too high; they could do it on their own, or hire the "I can detail your car for $25" off of a Craigslist "detailer". Hell.. I've done paint correction on some cars that the owner paid $300+ to have "detailed".... more like "Swirl-o-Rama!

I can come and show you how to detail your car... pay for my flight, hotel, meal expenses and my hourly rate and I'll be glad to put in for a few vacation days from the firehouse to show you.

PS: $100 for a paint Job? Earl Scheib hasn't charged that in years!

 

^Pwnd.

 

Mr. Zip your signature is sexy as hell.

 

not sure if this is still on topic at all but what i would do since i detail cars everyday is throw some polish on there and high speed wheel it and they will come right off

 

A rotary in the hands of the hands of the inexperienced is a surefire way to destroy a paint job.

 

Are you learning to buff in a body shop?

 

03gtmustang hey buddy you seem to have all your eggs in a row and the pictures look fantastic... I recently just got out of the detailing buisness. Now that I have gotten out of the buisness I strickly hate buffing. Although your prices are a bit high I am sure up in NOVA *where everything is expensive* that you are right on target... can you shoot me a ballpark price for my saleen... I will be comming from richmond... I will strip, and claybar and wax just the front bumper for the trip there... Alll I need is very light fine scratch buffing... you dont even have to wax or seal it.. I will do it in your parking lot before I head home... let me know in a PM if you dont mind.. Thanks bud

 

I dunno about you guys, but i need to find a place that does a good job of detailing for around. My car is starting to look sad.. I got a gravel road for about a mile and it looks like someone tried to key my car but failed at it. Know any places that do a good job near central texas?

 

Take some real basic soft liquid polish and a high speed wheel(buffer) and set it at about 3(or 1800rpm) and press real hard back and forth but don't do it for more than I'd say about 8 seconds. It's best to have a detailing shop do this. Come all the way up to Michigan! Haha I could do it. But honesly those scratches probably wouldn't even need to be wheel'd. Just a good HARD orb polish overlapping the surface in multiple directions, then wipe off with a clean soft microfiber towel.

 

Recomendations on good polish sold at autozone? Id rather not order it online.

 

None. Lol. I have heard semi-good things about Meguiars if anything, but there's better for the money online.

 

find a KOI that sells 3M stuff or Wizards stuff.

 

I love Meguiars. I've been very happy with their swirl remover and Dark Crystal system. It has never failed to deliver great results for me.