Detailing Your Paint: Finishing Details

[Candyman]

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to our next Segment on our Guide to Detailing like a Pro! In this segment, we are going to do some final touch ups, and discuss some great tricks to finish off our Detail!

WHEELS & TIRES:

No matter what kind of wheels you have, it is a good idea to polish them every now, and then to keep them looking their best, and make them easier to clean! Meguiar's, and Mothers both make a good Mag Wheel Polish, or for even better results, if you live near a Truck Stop, most carry a product called Jewler's Rouge, which is a white liquid product that is used to make aluminum truck wheels shine like chrome! If you can get some of that product, I highly recommend it as it does a great job! Application is very simple! Just take a clean white terry cloth, or Microfiber rag, apply a little polish, and then rub it onto the surface of your wheel. Keep rubbing until your rag starts to turn black, and then wipe the excess product off! To save time, you can also use the Mothers Power Ball which attaches to an electric, or 12 Volt Drill!

Now it is time to dress your wheel wells, and tires. I usually start at the wheel wells, and work my way down! Simply take an old rag, and a bottle of APC (All Purpose Cleaner), mist the inside of the wheel well, and wipe it down good. Next take a good one coat paint brush, and apply a little Tire Dressing directly to the brush, and apply it to the plastic wheel well. I like to use Meguiar's Endurance Tire Gel, but any good tire dressing will do! Next I apply dressing to the side of the tire walls using the same brush, and method as the wheel wells.

QUICK TIPS:

To avoid getting Tire Dressing on your freshly polished Wheels, Try this. Cut a piece of cardboard the same size diameter as your rim. trim off just enough to fit inside the lip of your rim but cover your wheel. Cut out a hole in the center for a handle, and cover it in ducktape. Now you have an instant wheel cover, and you will never get your freshly polished wheels messed up with tire dressing ever again!

If you have a Billet Grille on your PT, you can save a lot of time, and effort when polishing it by stopping by your local carpeting store, and picking up a small scrap of deep pile carpeting.. Simply apply a dab of Jewelers Rouge directly to the carpeting, and let the pile of the carpet get polish into every small nook and crannie that would otherwise take a very long time! After you have polished your grille, simply wipe off any execc product with a clean Microfiber Rag, and check out your freshly polished Grille!

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have gotten dried wax on black plastic, and you cannot get it to come off, grab a clean Terry Cloth Rag, and a dab or either Peanut Butter, or Peanut Oil. The Peanut oil content has a chemical reaction which will dissolve the wax residue, which will correct the problem both quickly, and easily! This method also works excellent on Aluminum Diamond Plate, which can easily tear up, and/or rip rags to pieces!


FINAL DETAILING:

Once the wheels are polished, and dressed, I take a clean rag, and finish polishing all the rest of the Chrome using the same Mag Polish, or Jeweler's Rouge to give everything a good luster, and overall better, more finished look! Affter that is all done, I then wipe the car down with another clean Microfiber rag folded into four, and a bottle of Quick Detailer. Look really closely for wax residue in all of the small cracks, around windows, and moldings. These areas can be cleaned using the tip of a toothpick, or a small sprits of Quick Detailer, and a Q-Tip! The more attention to the small details will pay off with the end result!

Next is the glass. First off spray your glass cleaner onto the window. Instead of wiping it off right away, give it a couple of minutes to react on the surface. Agitate the glass cleaner with 000, or 0000 grade steel wool prior to wiping off. Now, when you are ready to wipe the glass down, you want to wipe the interior windows in an up and down motion. Next wipe the outside down using a side to side motion. The reason for this is, if you see streaks, you will know where they are.

FINAL WIPING TECHNIQUES

One mention about your final wiping technique. (Not initial removal of product, but after the most of a product has been removed and now you're just giving the finish a final wipe).

Often times we'll witness people wiping the wax off their car, or giving their car's paint a final wipe using fast, spastic wiping motions. Instead, try this, take your wiping cloth, whether microfiber or cotton, be sure it is large enough to fold it 4 ways to give you plenty of cushion to distribute your hand/finger pressure more evenly over the surface of the side of the cloth in contact with the paint, and then wipe the finish slooooowly, not quickly like you're trying to put a fire out.

Wipe the finish slowly. Give the substance on the surface enough time to transfer to the fibers of the wiping cloth. Think about it... if you move your wiping cloth quickly over the surface, you're only allowing nano-seconds for any small amount of wax/polymer residue to transfer from the paint to the cloth.

If you slow down the rate of travel of the cloth over the finish, you improve the chance for whatever it is you're trying to remove to successfully transfer to the fibers of your wiping cloth.

If you follow all of the above, always using clean, dedicated applicator pads to apply your products, then removing them using clean wiping cloths, your finish should look clear, glossy and rich in color.



Now, your final step on Detailing the outside of your PT is to stand back, and admire all your hard work! The outside of your ride is now detailed to perfection, and you did it all on your own!

We have one more segment intended to help people with convertible PT's clean their tops. Then we are on to the inside!

I hope you enjoy my Tutorial's, and thank you very much for reading my Guide to Automotive Detailing! Till next time, take it easy, and we will see you a little further down the road!

For more great information on Professional Automotive Detailing, please check out:

Company & Forum Announcements - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online

Or check out our Meguiar's Inside man and Custom PT Owner Michael Stoops for the latest deals on all your Detailing Chemical questions, or needs and be sure to tell them the Candyman sent you!

Michael Stoops
Surface Care Specialist
Meguiar's Inc.
(800) 347-5700 xt 175
mstoops@meguiars.com

Candyman

[Candyman]

Reposting in correct order

[abcpetcare]

Your tips and tricks are really useful and informative.
Thanks for guiding us in this way.

[bobs turbo pt]

great advice !!

[YoungCruiserrr]

Ron or Carey, maybe sticky this?