Agreed. now I need to buy clay (i'm guessing most of the clay bars are the same?) and a polisher/pads/compound and i'll be set...

 

Not all clay bars are made the same. Some are man-made, some are natural clays, some have "cleaners" in them, some are for glass, and some are good

The Porter cable 7424xp is a very solid and long lived option. Certainly not the cheapest, but its not in FLEX territory. Personal preference: Stay away from the Griots orbitals. They have a tiny orbital pattern and generate a whack load of heat (the enemy during detailing).

 

yea the 7424 is the one i'd end up going with, seems to be the most common and "best" for the average-joe "detailer" like myself - http://www.autogeek.net/hk7424.html was the kit you suggested (and not griot pads)

any good suggestions for wax that won't break the budget?

 

Here is a great wax to use, and is "cheap" by most standards.

http://www.autogeek.net/wg5500.html

It goes on easy and buffing it takes ZERO effort. However it being a man-made water based sealant its a bit finikey.

1) Apply
2) Let sit approximately 30-90 min
3) buff off with zero pressure
4) pray to god that you can let it fully cure for 24 hours without allowing moisture on the surface


Usually its #4 which makes it a tough choice for us Nortwest folks.

 

****, sorry, i meant good clay, not wax. the sealant you linked is the one i bought so i'm set there =). semi-tough clay for a daily-driven car and maybe one for glass as well

 

This is a great paste-wax that wont have the curing problems:

http://www.autogeek.net/xmt-180-carnauba-wax.html

Or you could try BLACKFIRE products (which seem a little too over advertised and commercial for me. Plus, common, who puts their name in ALL CAPS? douch bags)

BLACKFIRE has paid a lot of money to buy autopia retailer and their forums so they can broadcast their products.

http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums/...uct-guide-how/

Fair disclosure: I've seen BLACKFIRE in action only once and it didnt seem anything different than what the old star shield or the euro-tastic one that was around for a long time (forget its name). And I like the warmth of a real wax over the 2-stage petro-chemical slick types (blackfire).

 

The Griots or Poorboy's clays are my favorite.

Windows: Just use a green coarse pad with a fine polish (3m Finesse It III or softer) on speed 4 and it will clean the windows better than window clay (which doesnt seem that great to me)

 

What do you think about Mequiar's 105 & 205 compound and polish? Seems to be a popular option for cut and polish.

 

The Megs professional line is pretty much an industry standard. They have a ton of good products.

When I worked at Seattle Collectors Garage thats what we used. It helps that they have a good bulk ordering program which is great for shops!

They have recently been re-vamping their product line but it had been about 10 years between updates. Thats why I didnt have them. I wanted the products that had been recently developed to beat them. If their new stuff is better than the old formula, I dont know. Need to make some friends at a shop!

 

I was looking over my car the other day and noticed just how bad the paint is on the TB evo. Its got nice color to it but the clear is so uneven that the whole car looks like a naval orange when it reflects light . so I was wondering if it would be worth it to wet sand the whole car before I buffed it. Or should I just stick with a compound and polish?

 

Hey Guys,

I got a little stuck on a down pipe install. I have almost all the full exhaust off, except my arms are too big to get in to break the bolts loose for the heat shield. I'm losing my motivation and patience. I need the car running tonight. I'll give $200 for someone that knows how to do this to come over tonight and help finish. PM me. Car only has 500 miles and is a 2012, so it's not been hard to get the bolts.



Top bolts in this pics.

Top bolts in these pics.

 

Pretty cool new part from redlinegoods.com

steering wheel covers for the 8s and 9s, hopefully they will have one for the X soon

http://www.redlinegoods.com/Evo8leatherwheelcover.php

 

^ Those would look nice in Angie's MR!

 

Looks ok. Id rather have a completely different wheel if I was gonna change up my steering wheel. Thats just me tho.

 

It would take about 20 hours (in my estimation) to wet-sand the entire car and you run a very high risk of causing damage which would require re-spraying color.

On a DD, my recommendation would be to do an aggressive cut on the entire car, ASSUMING you will be changing your washing/drying techniques and/or regularity to reflect that you actually removed a bit of clear.

For my car I did the very long-winded approach and touched up most of the damage/scratches, then wet-sanding just those spots and then the full detail. It kept more paint on the car and it looks pretty good.

Do I wish I had the coin to re-spray the entire car using a wack load of paint and a stronger clear? Heck yes! But I dont. So this is how I went about it.

Some pics:


side by side on the hood section: