Guest bastaad525 Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Hey guys, as some of you know I finally got my car painted a couple weeks ago... sux... it's already been so abused, dropped on by birds, coated by dust from leaf blowers, then rained on to make a nice mud pie. So... the guy told me to wait a week to wash it, and I"m ready to go! Now, it's only a $200 paint job, one stage, non clear coat paint. I just want to know what products you guys can recommend, that are commonly availabe, at say, Autozone or whatever, that work well and are safe. I'm looking for: Brand of car soap What to wash with? (sponge, special kind of towel, etc?) What to dry with? (Shammy (I KNOW that's not spelled right) etc.?) What brands of wax? Preferably something that doesn't have to be rubbed on and off too much, because that alone will scratch the hell out of the paint, I think. I've already noticed this paints tendency to get hairline scratches REALLY easily... I dont know if there is a way to avoid it or not. The car is dark blue so they show up pretty bad too. Well if you guys can recommend stuff that will not add to the scratches, or too much, that would be great. Or just stuff that will help the paint last longer in general... gonna be a LONG time before I can save up the REAL money to get a real paintjob and all the bodywork straightened up... I'd like it to at least be presentable in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72zcar Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 those frigging gardners with blowersshould be shot! When my car was still in primer dude was blowing dust all over it so much it looked loike it was in a dust storm, i yelled so much but then i realized he did not understand english. so i had to find his boss and gave him the riot act... i was so pissed off i was spitting all over him..haha... still he seemed not to understand.. i told him I got a leaf blower go get your car so i can blow shit all over it. frigging idiots. I hate birds and trees too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Chamois- "Absorber" around $8-$10 Wax- Meguiars and Mothers Soap- I prefer Blue coral or anything on sale Tire Cleaner- Westley's Bleache White. Tire protectant- Black Magic Make sure to get two sponges, one for the grimmy stuff near the bottom of the wheel wells and one for the top and the rest of the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 for the grimmy stuff near the bottom of the wheel wells and one for the top and the rest of the body. good idea thanks sumo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 My X-girlfriend loved cloth diapers for here eclipse turbo and I must admit, the one time I let here wax my truck it came out swirl free. I've see several wax jobs that had the swirl to them, but my black truck didn't have a single one when she was done! She washed her car with them aswell. Just make sure you run them through the clothes washer after every use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 240hybrid Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Great question Bastaad. I was also wondering if anyone knows where to get that "Dry-wash" stuff. I have heard talk about it in a post a while back but was having a hard time finding it. Are there any bad things about it? Has anyone heard about using motor oil in your tires? I saw it on Hot Rod TV along with a few other tips about maitaining your finish. They said apply reg. motor oil 3 times a week and you should only have to apply it once a month after that, cause it soaks into the rubber. Also, baby diapers for drying the car as already mentioned. Here's another question, has anyone seen that commercial for Mr.Cleans new car wash soap?? It causes the water to sheet off instead of beading. I was curious about it as I have seen water sheet off cars before, but thats because they needed waxing. Does this stuff just cut away the wax and cause the water to sheet off?? Or is it just me not trusting a company that makes household cleaners and thinks they should stay out of the auto-cleaning business ? Chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 For dark colors use a good glazing polish insted of wax. I use it all the time and it gets rid of swirl marks, and fine scratches. If you have one, use a buffer to apply it. If not just use elbo grease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Okay now I'm pissed... went to autozone last night and picked up: 1. ArmorAll car soap (supposed to work great in cold water) 2. Chenille car wash sponge x 2 (one for the bulk of the body, and one for the lower section of the car, as per Sumo's tip) 3. "The Absorber" drying cloth... this thing comes in a plastic tube, and the autozone employee said he LOVED this thing... he claimed WAY better than a regular chamois... wonder if this is the problem. It feels kinda like a regular chamois or kinda like dolphin skin... rubbery Okay so... first I just hosed the car off, to get rid of any big loose dirt. Then I gently washed the car with the chenille sponges and soapy water. Immediately afterwards I rinsed with the hose again and commenced to drying the car with "The Absorber". First thing I notice as I get the water off is that the car is now COVERED in hairline scratches... WTF??? This is why I spent $10 on a super soft sponge?? Second thing I notice is that this absorber thing is doing a CRAP job of drying the car off... yeah it is super absorbent... but no matter what I do, even wringing the damn thing out after every wipe, it leaves behind small beadlets of water. Of course, as the water dries, it leaves the car covered in water spots. Third thing I notice, is that some previous water spots that had accumalated on the car from some rain a week ago did NOT come out when I washed it... WTF??? And lastly this thing is leaving some kind of oily streaky film behind as I dry. The damn car looked like crap... what a waste of $20 and 30 mins of my time to wash the car and have it come out WORSE than when I started! So I called a friend who also has a nice fixed up and painted Z, and asked him for advice. He said he always takes it to the do-it-yourself car washes, just hoses it off with high pressure soap or brings his own sponge, and then rinses it with the "Low Pressure Spot Free Rinse" option, then just drives around until the car dries itself. He says that the spot free rinse uses de-ionized water and that's why it dries spot free. He assures me this will leave me with a spot free car. So I go do just that, and of course it doesn't happen that way, now the car is covered with EVEN MORE DAMN SPOTS!! And I'm pissed because, again, once they're on there they dont seem to want to come out... and no matter how many times I wash it to get rid of the spots, it will just dry with more of them. So... what the hell did I do wrong?? I feel like I almost literally just ruined my brand new paint job. It's COVERED in scratches and spots now. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, the chenille sponge shed nice white fibers all over the thing too. If I had 5 less braincells in my head I'd probably go buy some primer and just reprimer over the paint... at least then I wouldn't care about this crap. I dont get it I bought the best stuff they had. Should I have gotten a regular sheep or cow skin chamois instead of this absorber? Should I not have used the Chenille sponges?? The only other stuff they had were regular sponge sponges, and some fuzzball looking sponge. I mean... surely this isn't supposed to happen?? What about people with really nice cars with really nice paint jobs?? I know not all of them take their babies to car washes... and I know that people like that probably get a lot more bent over somethign like waterspots and scratches all over their cars... what do they use?? I think I'll head back to the auto store and pick up a regular hide chamois, rinse the car off and wipe it down with that and see what happens... if it still spots up then forget it... I wanted to paint the car to protect it from the elements more than anything, but I also wanted a nice looking Z. What I did NOT want were these kind of headaches and stressing over scratches and waterspots... god forbid a bird should target my car now! advice please.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72zcar Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Did the guy that paint your car use a hardener in the paint? If not the paint can take 30-60 days to dry completely. This may be why the paint scratches so easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 400HP280z Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 i paint my own cars. something else is wrong here. i LOVE the absorbers, they do a perfect job and anyone can use them. i used a 1 STAGE URATHANE ENAMEL paint on my camaro. this paint is a really good 1 stage paint and has clear in it. you should wait 3 weeks or so to wash your car and about 3 months to wax it. the paint has to cure fully and if you wax it too soon it can't breath. also the spots may be from the water if its really hard water or even acid rain. when you look at a sponge to buy, look for something that will PULL the dirt and grime AWAY from the paint otherwise your sponge is now a peice of sandpaper so to speak. rinse your sponge offen and you should be ok. i rinse my wheels really well then rince the whole car. i then start from the top of the car and work down rincing the whole time to keep the dirt moving off the car. i think 72ZCAR may be right about something wrong with the paint. about 2 yers ago i paid to have my corvette painted and the first time i washed it(using a light mist of water) paint started flaking off. TALK ABOOUT PISSED. THE GUY DIDN'T SAND OR USE PRIMER/SEALER. and he just did it as fast and as cheap as he could. take a look at my webpage to see my camaro that i painted. http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=257565 don't get discouraged you bought the right stuff.talk to your paint guy and find out what he used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 It's a cheap earl sheib paint job. From what I understand, they use one stage eurethane paint, just as you mentioned. The guy told me to wait one week before washing, and one month before waxing... fuggin jackass... shoulda told me to wait longer. I'm so pissed.... I thought the chenille sponge was the thing for washing? I dunno crap about this stuff man... I was dipping and wringing the sponge very often. What about the Absorber?? Everyone says they have good results with this thing... why was it leaving streaks and water spots for me? Am I supposed to use it like a chamois? I was told that with a shammy you just lay it out, single layer... like you're throwing the sheet over your bed, then just pull it off slowly. I tried using the Absorber this way, and just using it more conventionally the way you'd dry the car off if you were using a towel. Now the next question is, what do I use to get the scratches out, without buffing if possible because I dont have a buffer? And what about the water spots that didn't come out with soap and sponge? What can I use to get them out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 It was leaving streaks because your paint has not fully cured yet. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest freakypainter Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 if its earl scheib 299 special dont expect much, they use a synthetic enamel that most of the time doesnt have a hardner it just air dies like testors model paint. youcan buy a gallon of almost any color, including metallics for around 50 bucks. that kind of paint gives a good single stage paint a bad rep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 the absorber works best when you use it like a towel. when you go over it it doesnt look like its completly dry but afterwards it doesnt leave any water spots. (i use this on the family black cadillac seville so i can tell) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Go here, all your questions will be answered. http://www.properautocare.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 It was leaving streaks because your paint has not fully cured yet.Tim Nice... so why'd this idiot tell me I could wash it after one week?? Just like he neglected to tell me not to TOUCH the paint when I picked it up... and then I leaned against the car and put a nice pants print on it. If the paint they use is giving 1 stage paint a bad rep, then the guys at this particular earl sheib have officially made cheap paint places look like criminals. The paint would still be perfect looking if they had simply warned me of the things I needed to know... not like I didn't ask! I asked the guy so many times if there was any things I needed to know. I'm gonna take it back tommorow and rip the guy a new one. And they're GONNA buff the thing out for free. One question no one has answered... for future reference, or just in case my tantrum tommorow accomplishes nothing, how do I get water spots and hairline scratches out, is it possible to do without buffing? Is there a certain product I need to use or what? Or do I HAVE to get it buffed out? How much is a body shop going to charge to buff the whole body? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 You will have to wait for the paint to completely cure, which I think will only happen once we get some nice warm days. Then you can buff with compound and a polisher. It will take you a full day to do it properly, and will make a hell of a mess. After polishing, then hand glaze it, that will hide some of the scratches and swirl marks. Wait a few weeks, then wax it. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 You will have to wait for the paint to completely cure' date=' which I think will only happen once we get some nice warm days. .......................... After polishing, then hand glaze it, that will hide some of the scratches and swirl marks. Wait a few weeks, then wax it. Tim[/quote'] Great... so until then I shouldn't wash the car anymore?? The thing gets dirty fast... what if it rains or something? Then even more water spots... and about the hand glazing... only SOME of the scratches are going to be covered? So that's it then once it's all scratched up like this it's pretty much permanent? Or will the wax cover up the rest? I'm so friggin bummed about this.... really wishing I'd painted it a lighter color now again you were right Tim... but damn all their light colors sucked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Hate to say this, but I will anyway : I told you so.... and You get what you pay for..... Both cliche, I know, and of absolutely no help to you, but trueisms none the less...... Maybe they can bake it for you? Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 400HP280z Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 ok syn. enamel is the cheapest paint you can get. it is NOT want i used. i have more bad news too. you can't buff a 1 stage paint. if you get fisheyes or orange peel or a bluejean imprint...lol you have to sand it down and respray it. the easiest and thing to do is have them redo it with a better paint like a urathane enamel. and as said before you get what you pay for. no one cares about your car, like you do. thats why i learned to spray my own cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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