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Came to polish my Jag xtype last night (2005, 110k miles) for the first time and used a polishing buffer machine with some autoglym polish. After buffing it up the paintwork is not silky smooth and glossy - more of a slightly rough feel to it. Could this be due to the cars high mileage and probably lack of polishing previously? The car was an ex fleet car so i doubt anyone has ever polished it, though it is in very good condition.
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Paint surface probably has all sorts of muck stuck to it. Maybe a claying would smooth the surface, then a coat or two of a decent wax would have it a bit more silky smooth?
What AutoGlym polish did you use? Some are more sharper than others so if this was a subtle one maybe it didn't take much of the old paint off?
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it was the super resin polish (with the red sticker). brand new bottle. Then i followed it with the autoglym gloss guard (brown sticked bottle).
I had the same problem on a 6 year old vectra but wasnt too fussed on getting that clean but the jag looks nice and id like to have it looking its best!
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I know you said you suspect that it has not been previously or at least recently polished but my money is on there being old residual polish on there.
Someone like Stu ( Northants ) will know what to do but he's maybe buffing something himself at this very moment.
Anyway, my guess is that it will be saveable but you may need to start again having removed whatever it is already on there.
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It needs to be clayed first.
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what is clayed?
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what is clayed?
The condition you find yourself in if you go for a night out in Stoke.
;-)
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you buy a thing called a clay bar, and with a lubricant you run the clay bar over the paint. The clay bar picks up all the minute grit and merde that embeds itself in the paint. This should provide a nice smooth surface for you to polish onto and get the mirror shine.
Stunorthants (our resident detailer) will be along shortly to explain.
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>>he's maybe buffing something himself
Oh! You are naughty!
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Definitely clay it all over; you'll be amazed with the results and it's easy to do. Choose a very mild abrasive clay as some of the more aggressive ones can damage the top coat if incorrectly or over used. Use plenty of lubricant so the clay doesn't drag. This gets rid of all the contaminants (bumps!) and your paint will then be ultra smooth. A polish with your orbital polisher for a deep shine, then you protect it with some decent wax or a glaze product. This time of year a glaze is much easier to use than a wax especially the harder ones.
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It needs to be clayed first.
Never thought you were the type!
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www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=56...6
Yup, clay's what you need. Not hard, but tedious.
Try the plastic bag over hand trick. Put your hand in a thin, cheap plastic bag and run it over the paintwork. You can feel the specks of grit. Now use clay and keep checking. The difference is astonishing and it shows in the shine too.
JH
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This will show you how far you can go www.detailingworld.co.uk/
Meguiars Last Touch as a lubricant and Bilt Hamber Auto Clay tinyurl.com/73oxeg seem to be recommended when claying.
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Bilt Hamber reckon you can use water as a lubricant with their Auto Clay. I have some but not used it yet.
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I've used the Bilt Hammer clay bar. Use water from a small spray as a lubricant and leather off the residue.
The results are good, you can feel the difference as the bar moves more smoothly and just by the feel from your hand. You can see the debris in the bar, that's why you should keep moulding and turning it.
Its tedious work, but if you work on a couple of panels a day you will soon finish the whole car.
The other option is a machine polish with the correct compound but it can be messy and you have to be careful not to 'burn' the paint. Now that will give you a good base for polish.
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Clay, clay all the way.
Bilt Hamber Soft is the one to go for.
Make sure the car is well washed beforehand - 2 buckets work best.
Best of luck
Barchettaman
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Make sure the car is well washed beforehand - 2 buckets work best.
yes, the two bucket method! Poetry in motion.
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is there a chance of 'going through' the paintwork witha clay bar. I want the car looking nice but dont want to ruin the paintwork. Thanks
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No - thats why we suggested using a clay bar rather than a cutting compound (like t-cut)
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The most common reason for overly rough paint is usually fallout from railways. If it has no wax/polish it will feel clammy but shouldnt have any real grainy feeling to the touch.
If it is fallout, polishing alone would be a very hardwork way of removing it.
Clay bar or a heavy duty cutting compound ( used with water and not to be confused with lightweight T-cut ) would be the way id be looking although using a machine to apply polish does tend to mean it just floats over the surface compared to applying by hand.
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>>is there a chance of 'going through' the paintwork witha clay bar.
No chance at all provided you use a mild clay bar (and plenty of lubricant) as recommended above. In this weather the clay bar will need to be softened up by placing it in some warm water. You're more likely to damage the top coat with over zealous polishing. You'll probably find that you have to move the clay bar over the paint many times to remove all the contaminants but you won't be damaging it. Could take 10 to 15 minutes of steady work per panel. Well worth it and you'll be delighted with the results. Used clay bars do a great job on windscreens.
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>>is there a chance of 'going through' the paintwork witha clay bar.
I can understand your misgivings. I thought the same until I used one myself. I got the Bilt Hamber clay and you can use water as the lubricant. It really does work very well.
Edited by andyfr on 31/12/2008 at 10:56
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Im thinking of getting this today. Not as cheap as the option mentioned above, but they only seem to be available off the internet.
tinyurl.com/5peehz {link to halfords website shortened to restore page width}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 31/12/2008 at 14:58
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Seems a lot of money to me but then I buy my chemicals at trade prices which always makes retail stuff look comically expensive ( the polish I use for instance in general cleaning is just £3 a litre but its great stuff and very versatile ).
If your happy to put the work in on your car, then it seems as good a product as any.
Let us know the results!
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Xtype, I have used that kit and it works well.
The ´problem´ with it is that the recommended lubricant is the Quik Detailer spray that comes with the bar. Run out of this and you may be stuffed, and have to buy another bottle of QD. Some people use a weak car shampoo solution as lubricant but I couldn´t get this to work at all.
Whereas the Bilt Hamber clays just use tap water (you need only provide the empty spray bottle).
Here´s a link to the BH website. I´ve ordered my stuff direct from them in the past and postage has always been quick and efficient:
www.bilthamber.com/autoclay.html
Their Autobalm is excellent stuff too.
Edited by barchettaman on 31/12/2008 at 11:58
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I used the Maguiars (?) clay bar and lubricant as in this kit but the kit is very expensive. I bought from www.vertar.com/ but I'd certainly go with Bilthamber option & water today - bargain price.
JH
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Check out:-
www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/detailing-clay/meguiars-qui...l
It's the same kit but without the bottle of cleaner wax (you don't need this if you're going to slap some AG Super Resin on) and only has one lump of clay (more than enough to do one car, I've reused mine many times over)
Failing that, have a rake around the website that I've linked to and there are plenty of other options, in fact it's quite mind boggling just how many options there are!!
My recommendation is definitely Clay though and then followed up by AG polish, I used clay on my 2002 Fiesta after it went into a bodyshop and came out covered in paint overspray, it lifted it all off and also reemoved some rough contamination that had been on the car since I bought it brand new!
Let us know how you get on!
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Did someone once say on here (may have been somewhere else) that blue-tac works as good as a claybar does?
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Tried using clay but all of my christmas cards fell down.
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Its the abrasives in the clay that remove the contaminants. The clay is merely a carrier for the abrasives.
HTH
Edited by barchettaman on 01/01/2009 at 00:47
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Il try it over the weekend and let you know. I was going to have a crack at it today but the wife was annoyed id spent 4 hours polishing it the other night and now i want to spend another 4 hours putting clay on!
Slightly off subject but can anyone recommend where i could get larger wheels for the car - or is this a good/bad thing? The car is on16" wheels at the moment. Would upgrading to 18" ruin the ride?
Thanks in advance
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Firstly I agree with altea and all the above and it sound like it needs claying.
This will remove all the tiny fragments of metal and carp from brake dust etc that has embedded within the paint work.
It may also be worthwhile to use the autoglym paint renovator to remove the rough top coat (may not be necessary after claying though). This stuff is not as fierce as T cut and will only take a minimum amount of paint off.
Bilthamber do good polish and clay packages.
Unfortunately you then have to build it all back up again with polish and a top coat of wax.
Also I would not put bigger wheels on - it will have a detrimental effect on ride comfort - especially on the poor road surfaces we have in the UK so stick with what you have or replace with same size if you fell the urge. I put 17" wheels (penta) on my accord and regret it.
Good luck.
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moment. Would upgrading to 18" ruin the ride?
yes it will - dont do it.
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Just completed the clay today. The difference is amazing. Really easy to apply as well. Went over the whole car in less than an hour then applied Autoglym Super Resin Polish, followed by the Gloss Guard. Car looks great now with a real silky smooth feel to the paintwork.
Thanks for everyones advice.
P.S. How often would you 'clay' a car as a rule?
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Probably not more than once a year, clay only really needs doing if the car has picked up contamination. If it's kept polished and washed regularly then it will most likely not end up with much crud bonded to the paint. The Super Resin and Gloss Guard combo that you have applied will be good for at least 6 months.
If you regularly park under trees, near rail lines or a chemical works you may need to clay more regularly to maintain that finish.
I'm now the very proud owner of a Kestrel machine polisher and I know that I need to clay the car before I can machine polish it, which is unlucky as I hate claying it!
Edited by Blue {P} on 04/01/2009 at 04:09
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If I could ask a supplementary question?
Our Ka has solid navy blue paint ie non-metallic. Is the clay stuff suitable for that or am I better with a more traditional product like T-cut? It could probably do with a little tlc.
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First thing I should probably clarify, Clay and T-Cut are two totally different products that do different things.
Clay will be fine on a solid paint colour, all it is doing is lifting the crud off the surface, things that get stuck and bonded on to the paint that normal polishing will not remove. This means you are left with a very clean surface that will be silky smooth to the touch, you can then polish this surface with your favourite brand and it will provide a better finish.
T-Cut is a cutting polish that aims to remove a layer of paint (Clay doesn't do this), it's true that you may get a similar result but it will necessitate taking paint off and will be immensely hard work. Once you've finished T-Cutting you would then need to seal the paint with another product as T-Cut leaves it bare and the crud will just bond to it straightaway again.
Another point to make just to be pedantic (it wouldn't be the BR if someone wasn't would it? :) is that a pure polish does not protect paint, it merely adds shine, to protect paint you need a product that contains some sort of waxes or sealants. Many do, and one of the best on the market despite what some people claim is still AG Super Resin Polish, it fills in small scratches and then seals the paint to protect it. XType has boosted this again by adding the Gloss Protection which is a very long lasting synthetic sealant.
I'll see if I can find a good thread on Deatiling World to illustrate clay in action...
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OK, this thread will do, it's got a lot of pictures in so is not 56K friendly at all but if you go down through the pictures a fair way you will see the picture of what the clay looks like after being run across a very dirty car.
www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=97...2
Bear in mind that the car had been fully washed prior to that clay touching the paint, it's also an example of the importance of kneading the clay regularly, personally I wouldn't have let it get as dirty as that before mushing it up as all that dirt will inflict scratches, however, as they were about to machine polish the paint and restore it I doubt it made much difference in this case.
To get that kind of defect removal with T-Cut would be near impossible by hand.
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There are some great video's on youtube of Claying and how to apply it etc.
See below for the product which I used. Sound isnt great but you will get the idea.
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yfEfLGL59GI
I used Meguirs but I think il find a cheaper alternative next time. Car looks A1 now, (i did spend 5 hours on it!)
My girlfriends dad even commented on it today and said it looked like the bodywork was made from glass, and he is into cars about as much as im into needle work!
Edited by Xtype on 04/01/2009 at 16:14
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