The teflon deal is good for people who really do nothing to their cars and like to see the water beed up.

The real way to car for a car is to polish it and then wax it. Note I did not say just to wax it.

There are some good info out there on Meguiars web site, Adams web sitew and others. They have forums were you can learn a lot from the companies and even posters. Just because they may not make the product you use the same principals apply to all good waxing and polishing.

What we covered here is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of little tricks to learn and tools to learn about. Practice and working smart is the key not so much working harder.

As for the dealer stuff I would just have them polish the car out and just wax it with a good carnuba wax. I use Mother paste but there are many other just as good. THis will give you fairly long protection. I then use micro fiber rags and dusters on my car on the between times and after washing detail with Adams detailer. I have found it to be the best on black. I hate the smell but it works.

One final tool that helps with the HHR is my Metro Vacuum MB3CD Air force Master Blaster 8-HP. This is a blow dryer for cars. I will warn it is not cheap nore is it for everyone. But if you have black cars and like to keep them with out marks this is a great tool. Even Micro fiber and chamois towels will still mar a finish if they are not perfectly clean. Air does not leave a mark.

I had the 4 HP one and it work good. I now upgraded to the 8 HP and it works twice as good. They are not cheap and like I said not for anyone. If you have a show car or want to keep a dark color look great then it is for you.

They also are great for drying the dog and engine compartments etc.

 

Adams and ONLY Adams for me. Zaino cool-aid drinkers seem to pop-up on these boards all the time. Go ahead, spend A LOT of $$ on Zaino and you won't see nearly the results of Adams. Oh, and I'm not gonna put 5 applications of ANYTHING on my cars especially Zaino. If it doesn't work in one or two coats (with the proper prep) it's crap...period. I know, I've been there. If you've never heard of a clay bar then stop right now. If your HHR is a DD then a Porter Cable is a MUST. Nothing will get your paint perfect better than a machine. Sorry, but it's true. Just ask any good custom paint shop.
Meguire's is good over the counter stuff as is 3M. Still ALOT less $$ than Zaino with fantastic results when used properly.
I'll be detailing my baby this weekend and I'll post some finished pics. Happy detailing!!

goatcheez

 

got this stuff at Griots worked very well 1 step sealer easy to do I got the glass polish since and no more water spots on my glass, have been pleased with all that I bought from Griots.

 

Havent claybarred yet but I do use Eagle One NanoWax and it works wonders on my black paint! Fills in the swirls and minor scratches just fine but Im sure it would be even more inconspicuous if I would do it more consistently. I'll make sure that I try the claybar soon though.

 

Stealth Look at Autogeek.com and at the duragloss aquawax or the Optimum Car Spray Wax, both work a lot better then nanowax and last a lot longer as well.

 

We all can say what we like and use but it all comes down to how you use it that makes the difference.

I have seen people use the best products in the world with poor results.

 

I agree with hyperv6. How the tool(s) are used is the most important part. Using the best products with a Flex polisher and not knowing how to use the Flex polisher can cause all kinds of bad holograms, more swirls, etc.

 

So many will buff a car with a buffing compound but never finish it with the final polish products. Then many fail to seal it with the proper wax and just use a cleaner wax and screw up what they didn.

Doing the job is a case of not just wiping on and off a bottle of Ice or just usig one compound.

Think of buffing as like sanding a table. You need to use severl levels of sand paper. You start with the heaviest first to clean it up and then move the the fine grit to finish it.

I keep 6 levels of compounds and glaze and start where the job needs to start. Most times I only need as light clean up with the glaze or I will get some cars that need the heavy compounds.

It is easy to learn as it just takes some practice and knowledge.

 

I have been using a random orbit (dual action) polisher for the last year - a Porter Cable 7424XP - along with Adam's Polishes products. I tried removing swirls from my black paint by hand, but it is not realistic to do so. The Porter Cable, along with the Adam's products REMOVE the swirls, and the swirls are what you are seeing. It is the safest random orbit buffer you can use, in my opinion. Swirls are mostly caused by how you wash the car. So, you need to get into a much better and careful wash routine.

So, being a lazy guy, I have 'stepped up' my wash technique so as to not to create so darned many swirls. I do this by using 2 wash buckets (5 gal. Homer buckets) 2 grit guards (one in the bottom each bucket), and two wash pads. I only use one wash pad exclusively for the upper half of the vehicle (this part is generally cleaner than the lower part) and one exclusively for the lower half. The wash bucket has a grit guard in the bottom and gets the car shampoo, and the other bucket has a grit guard and plain water.

I always wash from the top to the bottom of the vehicle. I only use the wash pad on a small amount of the paint before switching to the other side of the pad, then take the dirty pad into the rinse bucket and scrub it on the grit guard in the bottom - both sides of the pad. Then I take that pad, wring it out outside the bucket, then put it into the wash bucket and repeat the scrub on the grit guard, and only then take it back to the paint. You will be surprised at what is left in the bottom of the rinse bucket below the grit guard, and to a very small extent in the wash bucket! It works. I also dry with a microfiber drying towel (adams) and switch sides often just in case I missed something on the finish.

I also use a Gilmour Foammaster Foam gun (with Adams car Shampoo) to foam the car 2x. I rinse the finish first, foam the finish and let it sit 3 minutes, rinse that off, then foam it again and then start to wash with the wash pads.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't really that much, and my finish stays much nicer and I have to correct it with the polisher a lot less often. I only have to correct the finish about 2-3 times a year, and it looks amazing. Even getting near the correction time, it still looks better than 90-95% of the cars in the parking lot at work, even the Benzes and Beemers. And the shine left by the fine polish and the Porter Cable can't be beat.

I learned a ton of detailing stuff (not a car guy by nature) on the Adams forum site. They were very nice and didn't ridicule me for not knowing all this stuff, so I asked questions, read, learned, and tried it out, and it worked!

 

The Porter Cable is one of the best investments I have ever done. I still have a regular buffer for fresh paint and bigger jobs but the Porter Cable is great for detailing and clean up. As long as you keep the pads clean even a novice can do a great job with little fear of doing any damage.

The blaster dryer is also one tool I will not do without. It does more to prevent paint damage than anything else you can do.

http://www.metrovacworld.com/node/898

Most people damage paint more drying than any other time. Even micro towels help but still can effect the paint.