DIY - Car Care & Detailing thread

Its been a long time and I'm done doing any detailing on my car. Why? Its been close to 2 months and the car looks like this after a wash. Totally disappointing, Disappointing because there is nothing left to do on this car



Ah well, time to find another bakra and I think I have

Some time back I tried some stuff on Chetan's punto, well called him to drop off his car for a full detail and he did!

Hood used to look like this:



Bad swirls. This was the state on the whole car. Once again my aim was to see how much I could improve in a single step. 50/50 below:



Left side after :





mmm



Hatch! Repainted single stage, but loved it!



Hatch close up






C Pillar. There were some abarth tracks which have been removed



Hood:



the whole deal:



This is still WIP, both bumpers need wet sanding which I might do it tomorrow. There is still a polishing step to enhance the gloss and finally seal/wax it!

 

Tat exhaust tip, can put trucks to shame.

Nice gloss and finish. Detailing obsessed guys can never keep their hands free.

Did you clay the car, SunnyBoi?

 

I'm not much of a cosmetic guy but DAYUMM that tip looks beautiful :O will post better pics after I give it some Metal Polish love

Yes! Used Mothers clay bar and honestly this was the first time I felt that claying made a massive difference. There were few panels with bad overspray which were cleared by the Clay. Overspray was so bad a part of the clay turned red :|

Lots of tar on the car as well. Removed them using WD40 since I left my Tar remover in Blore

 

:shock::wowAwesome man!! :up.. Just waiting for the Wheels and tyres to be put on to this car. I am gonna meet you tomorrow for something else :-D

 

This is really Awesome job bro !!! I'm looking for similar kind of job for my Red Rocket , Could u suggest some some place where i can get this finish in Bangalore.

 

Awesome work Sunnyboi, I'll proabably drive down to Bangalore one day to learn some of this stuff from you.

Have a couple of questions:

- How risky is wet sanding? Can a amateur like me try it on say - a door panel?

- Is a rotary polisher mandatory or can everything be done by hand for starters? I'll do panel by Panel so it shouldn't be very tiring. Don't want to invest in equipment just yet.

- Are these polishes etc necessary to begin with or can i try a small panel with some 3m rubbing compound and then some liquid wax just to check if this is something i can really do before investing in all kinds of polishers etc?

Excuse me if some of my questions sound lame but my black car is in the worst possible state and i'd like to try and see if i can show some love towards it rather than letting some detailing guy show his love/hatred.

 

That might not be required, I just might come to Hyderabad in coming weeks on work - I'll keep you posted

Very risky. I have burnt the paint and clear coat on my car at lot of places while wet sanding. Worst part is, you burn a spot while wet sanding, when you compound the area to remove sanding marks, that spot will increase many times and end up looking much worse. I did a test spot on the red punto and I am a bit apprehensive - that is why I said I MIGHT try wet sanding.

I've been rubbing by hand since many years using Turtle Wax Scratch and Swirl Remover (works great by hand!) but years of rubbing will not come close to what 5 minutes with the rotary can do to the same panel. You can get great results by hand but you will end up spending far more time and effort than with a machine.

I use a rotary primarily because it is cheaper compared to Dual Action Polishers and at the same time faster - risks are higher but I appreciate the time savings.

These polishes are specifically made to be used by machines. I have tried 3M rubbing compound with the rotary but it was ineffective, did not produce any useful results at all.

 

Excellent, can you please do a mini workshop sort of in hyd on detailing so that we gain some knowledge about it. Like on products, steps, risks.. The hyd bikers kiss my car too often these days.

 

Dont you come for work around Kerala :confused. Can you please explain in detail what all steps you did on the Punto & the products used.

 

Looking forward to this. Im on ((^^)**&*!