Processes :

Washing vehicle:
In order to remove road grime, we use The Chemical Guy's Maxi Suds and their wash product Citrus Wash.
The goal is to safely remove the dirt, airborne fallout (bird droppings, etc) and prepare the paint surface for the Clay procedure.

Using Clay is critical to any proper detail. Care must be taken, though, because too little lubrication for the Clay will cause scuffing of the paint, especially if the paint surface has heavy contaminants. We will clean the Clay bar regularly during the procedure to remove larger particles that build up. Most of what you see in the example below is hard water buildup and iron ore deposits. There are many other particles evident too. The black line is from the rubber trim on the car, and the right blob is a clean pice of bar.

 

After the Clay process we examine the paint surface with a dual quartz light. At this stage we will tape off the trim, rubber and angled edges. This is where we will look for the proper combination of buffer pad and polishing agent.
The goal is to remove as little of the paint surface as possible, but still attempt to remove as many of the more serious scratches and swirls.

 

 

 

The Cyclo Buffer. This is an invaluable tool for finishing the polishing surface. It has two counter rotating heads, very little vibration and is our guarantee that there will be no buffer shimmer once we have finished polishing your vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also use the Porter Cable adjustable single head orbital polisher. It's greatest strength is that it is very light, has a lot of power and there are tons of specialty pads to choose from.

 

 

 

 

This one is our Flex PE14--2 150 direct drive buffer. It has an electronic speed control, fully adjustable settings and is the workhorse when oxidation and swirls are present.

It has foam pads that range from Lake Country 3.5" to the huge RV 11" pads.

 

 

 

Using the right cut or polish and the matching pad is absolutely critical. Over the couple of decades, we have used many pads as they were improved upon. These days we prefer to use Lake Country pads and we believe that they stand alone in their field. We also use 3M convoluted foam pads for finish work on larger vehicles. When it comes to the need to use a wool cutting or polishing pad, we recommend that the beginner choose a foam pad instead. When we first started as paint refinishers, all that were available were wool pads or terry cloth covers and bad foam pads. Thankfully, technology has come a long way since then!

Cut/polish products.

Menzerna makes the absolute best polishing agents on the market today. Menzerna calls the PO 91E Intensive Polish a polish because it removes these defects with minimum to no loss of surface gloss. On most light colors you can go from Intensive Polish directly to finishing with your favorite wax or sealant. On dark color paints, a subsequent once over with Menzerna Final Polish will produce a completely swirl-free, high gloss surface. Even though this would normally finish the polishing procedure on a dark colored vehicle, we always move to a finishing glaze or Nano Polish to ensure the surface is prepared for the sealant or wax.

Meguire's cutting agents are excellent at removing deep scratches and swirls, and quickly dealing with oxidation. The agents break down as you use them, in similar fashion to the Menzerna line.

3M's Finesse It II polishing product is par none for final work, and it works excellently with the Cyclo dual orbital polisher and the Milwaukee polisher with the 3M convoluted pad system.

 

Before any work is ever done with a buffer, we always tape off critical areas as safety is a top concern.

.In order to see your work surface when using a buffer, you need to have satisfactory lighting. Spot work is best viewed with a Quartz light. 250 watts is fine, but take care to choose one that has a polished reflector, instead of a bumpy one. Flourescent side lighting works great too.

 

Waxing or sealing the paint surface is straight forward. We prefer to polish in the first coat of sealant or wax, then go back over it again by hand. The Cyclo with wax pads is the ultimate in softness and ensures that the wax is bonded to the surface.

With the softness of many clear coats out today, we have found it critical to only use the highest quality micro fiber towels. The Chemical Guy's supply us with excellent towels. Please do not use Costco or Sam's Club towels that come in bulk. They are of the lowest quality available and we regularly have to repair client's vehicles because they scratch heavily.

 

There are many other procedures used when it comes to vehicle detailing. Choosing the right brushes, using an air compressor to quickly blow out water or dust while working, using covers to protect finished work while polishing to choosing the right protectants for each surface, it all comes together with experience.

 

 

Detailing Guides

Here is a collection of guides:

How to Wash and Wax your vehicle.

Sealant or Wax, How to choose.

Give us a call to discuss your particular vehicle.

800-618-5881