Wash, clay bar, wax, tadaa!
 

Well after hearing so much about what great things a claybar can do for your paint, I decided to do it to my car for it's birthday. (It turned one on august 20th, lol) First I used armour all car wash, then I washed it again with my mr clean auto dry. Then I cleaned the rims and tires. After that, I used a clay bar on every single painted surface of that car. I got even parts you can't see. Then I waxed with meguiars NXT tech wax, again just like the clay - even the parts I couldn't see. I waxed the rims as well. Then I used a microfiber to wipe, followed by a nice thick coat of turtle wax's best tire shine on the the tires. Then I rewaxed the rims.

Here are the results in a poor lighting environment, my driveway on a hot summer day.

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So whadya think about the wash, clay and wax? And how could I make these photos better?




and anybody wanna make me a sig?
http://s615.photobucket.com/albums/t..._0998-Copy.jpg

looks really good IMO, I used Dawn dishwashing detergent to remove wax that was already on my car and ended up having to work harder with the clay bar because there was a lot of minor damage to the paint ALL OVER that was just covered up with wax..

I used the Zaino showcar kit and it turned out nice, ended up getting 3 coats on in six hours with high temperatures and bad humidity. I'm about to take all the wax off again and start over, just waiting for a free day :)

I hate hard water spots, they are so f'in hard to remove

wow looks great man..really like the grille

when did you get this car? looks sweet

+1

car looks great man.

Car looks great. A few suggestions to you would be to clean the rims and tires first. Also, I'd look into picking up a polish. You should always polish after claying.

I have a porter cable, and a foam gun. Both are great tools to have, really saves some time. A full detail on my car after about 6 months usually consists of:

-Cleaning Wheels/Tires
-Wash
-I usually spray a thick layer of foam, and use that as a lubricant for my clay.
-I'll spray a layer of foam and rinse it off.
- Completely dry the car. I use a leaf blower. Some people don't like the idea, but i don't have any issues with it. I use a waffle weave microfiber towel to dry majority of the car, and the leaf blower to get the water out of those f'n crevices. Us 99-04 owners know (hood scoop, under the c-pillars, 3rd brake lights, inside trunk, side markers, etc)
-Depending on if I have a significant amount of swirls or not I use Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover.
-I'll use a polish, just to keep the same theme going I use Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish.
-Then i'll throw on a coat of Pinnacle Souveran.
-Then i'll finish up, windows, black accents, tire shine, wheel polish etc
-Then i drink. and take a nap.

looking clean did u wax and polish by had or use a machine?

he didn't polish at all. And I am assuming he waxed by hand.

No polish, and hand wax.

Looks pretty good.

Check out the California Water Blade, they have em at AutoZone for $9.95. Makes drying a breeze :D basically you just slash excess water off with a few strokes then go over the parts you missed with a leaf blower, towel, or whatever you use.

After using the water blade I can use ONE SMALL microfiber towel to finish drying and the towel is barely moist afterwards.

california dry blade works wonders, i had the hard water spots problem at my house, and the dry blade took care of that.

You just have to be careful with those, as if you get any particle of dirt on the blade and you will scratch the shit out of your paint ALL OVER your car. So keep that in mind. I have one, but I just use my microfiber towels instead.

Criticism on the pictures, don't make them as harshly angled. If you have to tilt your head to get a good angle looking at it then you've gone too far. Thats why pic #3 looks best IMHO.

I like the car though....chrome grill not my favorite since our color blue is a darker blue chrome looks very overplayed and is much too popular by the "ricer" crowd now...

I'm making this car have a blue/silver-chrome theme. I want to put silver full body stripes on it, which I think will really pull the chrome together with the blue. the chrome grille isn't really my style, but I know it will look good when everythings said and done.

Still think the chrome is too flashy. I like the blacked out trak-pak grille better. Or the Agent 47 grille as well.

Chrome and silver don't really match either, seen it before and it looked very out of place.