Where to start on detailing my new 2006 Black MPS sports

[muzz71]

Hi,

I have just purchased a 2006 Black MPS 3 Sports. Litterlally yesterday, Just like some advise on where you would start on detailing the car.

To give a brief description of the current paint. The doors and fenders front and rear look very good. The bonnet shows a few sign on rain marks and the roof is similar when you look at it under artificial light. To the naked eye it is very good. I may just be picky here though, but I want a perfect finish.

I dont think it has been detailed in a while as when I washed it yesterday for the first time and there was little water beading going on.

I dont have any types of orbital polishers and wanted to just do it by hand.

What would you do?

I looked on the Zas website site and was going to look at buying the Prima kit but it is showing as out of stock.

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

[Caffeine Fiend]

Hi and Welcome Chris

The Prima Paint Protection kit is a good product. I highly recommend it, having applied it to a number of customer cars, not the least of which my own.

It is however only as good as the prep work you do prior to the kit being applied. By that I mean the quality of the paint/clearcoat surface.

You've mentioned you've had a look on ZAS, and that's a terrific place to start. If you haven't seen it already, have a look at the Detailing Library Joel (ZAS) has set up. It's very informative:

ZAS Car Detailing Products : Detailing Library - Detailing Guides & Tutorials

As a starting point, my recommendation would always be to decontaminate and then paint correct the surface prior to any paint protection going down

By decontamination, I mean at the minimum a claybar (such as: Prima Clay Kit)

Paint correction can be done by hand, however you'll be limited in what you'll be able to do without a machine polish.

For hand paint correction, I would recommend the following:

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound 450ml G17216

and

Lake Country CCS Foam Hand Pad Orange

Basically if it doesn't come out with those, you'll need to resort to machine polishing (which is a very real probability if you want to obtain as clear and swirl-free finish as possible)

I would also pick up several good microfiber towels: ZAS 40x60cm Plush Microfibre Towel


Ultimately though, I would recommend you speak with someone about getting the car professionally paint corrected. This will then give you the best possible base to build off.

I know that Jason (LittleRedMPS) here on the site has started offering paint correction services to people in NSW in the same way as I do for people down here in Vic. I would perhaps get in contact with him and have a chat about some options.

Cheers and good luck

Dan

[LittleredMPS]

Thanks Dan.

Hi Chris, feel free to get in touch with me if you need some work done on your pride and joy.

Cheers,

Jace

[luke 3mps]

This is the most unbeleivable detail job..

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=81391

[Caffeine Fiend]

Lukey, it may disturb you to find out that, engine bay fabrication aside, the decontamination, multi-stage paint correction, and glazing/waxing is very similar to what I do as par for the course with my customer's cars and my own

Including isopropyl alcohol and also demineralised water wipe downs

That guy has just taken more photos than I normally do



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[muzz71]

Thanks for the welcome Dan.

Thanks for the advise you have given, I might give what you have suggested a try first before seeking help from Jason. Thanks for the offer Jason, I may be in touch.

I will put an order in for some products from ZAS and give it a go.
I will let you all know how it turns out.

So just to get it right. You would recommed
-a full wash and dry
-Clay bar the complete car
-paint correction using Meguiar's Ultimate Compound 450ml G17216
what steps or products would you recommend next?

-Thanks

Chris

[LittleredMPS]

I would only use compound if you really have to Chris.

If the paint marking or scratching is not bad you can probably get away with a lighter cutting polish, instead of a hard cutting compound.

Always start with the gentlest option, and increase with lack of results only.

If you need to compound, you will also need to use a lighter cutting polish afterwards, or you are likely to have marring on the clearcoat surface. This will produce weird effects on the paint surface when you wax, and reduce ultimate shine.

After using a lighter polish there are a few different options. You can either use a glaze, such as Amigo, or a fine finishing polish (of which there is a multitude).

If you want a longer lasting protection, you should look at using a sealant, such as Epic or Opti Seal, though Opti Seal will apparently not bond to the Prima Amigo Glaze.

After all this you can look at either a carnuba wax to bring up a nice finishing shine and depth, or possibly a carnuba/polymer wax blend that has a better lifespan, but at the sacrifice of ultimate shine and depth.

Im sort of trying to put a story into a few paragraphs, and the options for products is almost endless.

Just be aware that if you try polishing or compound correction by hand, the results could vary wildly, as these products require heat to break down and work properly.

[Caffeine Fiend]

In a 'Pro' grade compound Jace you're dead right. They're designed chemically to really require a machine to work correctly. However Megs Ultimate Compound(UC) is more of a consumer grade product and responds very well to being used by hand, as most home users don't have access to RO, DA or rotary polishers (or, with all due respect, the ability to use them confidently and effectively)

Before moving to machine polishing I started out with UC and an orange hand pad. It was long and laborious, but it gave me reasonable results with minimal risk of damage to paintwork. I still use it for areas a machine can't get to such as under door handles etc.

It will never get near a proper staged machine polish though, but it can still achieve reasonable results

Dan

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[muzz71]

Ok thanks guys. Now I am really confused.
Looks like there are a lot of different methods and products.
I want to start with the most gentlest method as I do not want to stuff the paint work up as it is not too bad the way it is. Just wanted to try and make it a bit better.

[Yeldarb]

Hey Chris, Joel (from ZAS), Dan and Jason are fanatics when it comes to this stuff. I have a tentative booking with Dan sometime this year to get paint correction done, and I'm in Brisbane.!!!

You're a lot closer than me, might be worth the trip