a detailing "DO NOT"

[BnVMPS]

Hey all, long time reader, first time posterOn the weekend I detailed my partner's car for her, the results were pretty good considering the paint hadn't been touched since it was purchased in Dec 08', anyhow i digress. Be very careful if you put tape on the roof were roof racks are meant to go. I used proper painters tape and unfortunately it didn't turn out well. It looks like the picture the whole way along both of the strips.

[ZedN]

That sux :-( Does it spend a fair bit of time out in the sun? Maybe the sun weakened the plastic or whatever it is made of..

[Scratch2k]

Ouch!

[BnVMPS]

Yeah tell me about it, it most definately does suck!! We have only owned it for the past 6 months and in that time the only time it spends in the sun is in the time it takes it to drive from the garage to work.

On a seperate note, I just dropped it off to get a clear car bra put on it (Ventureshield product) and it was the first time I had it out of the garage since detailing it. Anyhow, in the garage it looked pretty good, not perfect but pretty good indeed. On the way there my partner observing the car and possibly some 'antics' thought it looked fantastic. Once we got it to the shop under the florescent lights it looked absolutely s%*t house, I am very disappointed considering the time, effort and money I put into detailing it....rant over.

[ZAS]

Is that caused by your standard "blue" painters tape? Never seen that happen. Usually I have quite the opposite problem. Can't get it to stick properly!

If you don't mind me asking, what products were you using on your car and what is it that made it look terrible? Maybe I can add some advice to improve it.

[BnVMPS]

The tape I used was Scotch (it's green) and I tried taking some of the 'stick' away from it before covering up the areas I didn't want wax on. The products I used and the order I did things in was.
Meguiars gold class wash
Clay bar (mothers)
Washed again
Meguiars medium cut polish (I brought some fine cut as well but neither appeared to get rid of some light scratches left behind by the last owner when he used a traditional car bra)
Meguiars swirl remover
Meguiars NXT 2.0 (x2 with 24hrs between applications)
Mothers pure carnuaba wax
I used a wax attack palm polisher with foam applicators and microfibre cloths/cheese cloth to remove the products after each application. The polisher just oscillates, I'm not sure what they are referred to. Of course I made sure everything was clean beforehand. Any suggestions on how to get a better result would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[ZAS]

Hi BnVMPS

Can't see perfectly but your paint looks to maybe be black mica?

If this is the case my best bet would be that the carnauba wax has caused you issues. Under the lighting (or even more so in full sun) are you seeing what look like holograms at certain angles on the paint? If so this is "smearing" or "streaking" and is often easy to do on dark coloured paints, particularly with carnauba waxes.

Here are a couple of tips

1. Get rid of the cheese cloth and stick with your microfibre.
2. Try a quick detail spray on the smearing (assuming that is what the problem is). Usually this is enough to get rid of it and get your car looking good.

What actually causes the smearing is incorrect drying of the wax. It could have been a case of it wasn't left to dry long enough or you may have applied it too thick. So what happens is when you buff off the residue the oils in the wax are still wet and they just spead on the paint leaving an oily mess and looks like holograms.

The other thing it could be, and this is still smearing but not from the wax, but from the polish. Polish uses oils to lubricate the surface while the abrasives break down. Get yourself some Isopropyl Alcohol (you can buy it at Bunnings). Check what concentration it is, most of the time is is 100% pure or close to it. If it is, mix it 50/50 with water and put it in a spray bottle. After you use the swirl remover go over the panel with the IPA mixture. This will remove all the oils. It will also remove any fillers that the polish has left behind and you can check your work to see if the swirls have actually been removed.

So to summarise on how you can fix the issue:

1. First option would be to get a quick detail spray and see if that removes the smearing
2. If not, the Isopropyl Alcohol mixture will remove it guaranteed. Reapply your wax.

If you end up going with option 2 check your paint after the IPA wipe down to make sure all is clean and the smearing is removed. Then reapply the NXT, check your work in the sun to make sure no smearing. Then apply the carnauba wax and check in the sun for smearing. This way you'll find out who the culprit was. If no smearing occurs at all after reapply your protection you either applied it properly this time, or it was oils from the swirl remover.

Or I could be way off and smearing is not the problem?

---------- Post added at 10:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 AM ----------

Also, I've never used the green tape but maybe this is a different level of adhesive compared to the blue tape?

[Nexus]

Never apply it on top of synthetic sealants like Meguiars NXT 2.0
In my experience everything looks brill until you put the carnuba on top of the synthetic and all of a sudden every little scratch and swirl stands out like dogs proverbials. I did it once and ended up ringing around detailers to see what I could do to fix it, and it basically came down to cut off everything you just put on and start again...I was told by a number of detailers don't put carnuba on top of other sealants.

[ZAS]

I was told by a number of detailers don't put carnuba on top of other sealants.

Sorry to argue the point mate, but this is one of the most common things to do. Sealant as a base, and if you like the carnauba look, carnauba on top.

One thing that you never do though is synthetic on top of a carnauba wax (the opposite). Nothing to do with swirls etc though. Just because of the bonding issues.

[Nexus]

Sorry to argue the point mate.

Don't be sorry! I'm happy to be illuminated.

---------- Post added at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 PM ----------

Sorry to argue the point mate, but this is one of the most common things to do. Sealant as a base, and if you like the carnauba look, carnauba on top.

One thing that you never do though is synthetic on top of a carnauba wax (the opposite). Nothing to do with swirls etc though. Just because of the bonding issues.

Is NXT2 a sealant rather than a wax? It's sort of a one stop sealant+wax solution? I am not any kind of detailing expert, and certainly bow to your prowess and expertise.

Best results I had was after using Meguiars shampoo, a "liquid claybar", which I was really impressed with, a touch of meguiars rapid detail 'waterless' stuff here and there,followed by NXT2 all polished up.

Looked sweet. I shouldn't be posting here I haven't washed mine for at least a month. I have gray-black front wheels at the moment.