What do you guys do when at the car wash?

So i have no idea about what clay bar does ect. But how can i restore my car's paint smoothness because my whole cr is smooth but my fender is not, so what is it that you guys do when you take it for a wash?

depending on the situation you talking about you might need to wet sand it if its orange peel in the paint.
if you paint is smooth but dull, you need to polish.
if you paint feels like sand paper, you need to claybar it before polish.

^nicely put in layman's terms. Check out the detailing subforum, lots of good info there.

Get the car professionally detailed on the outside. It'll cost you around 300-500 bucks but they will make your cars paint as smooth as silk and get rid of all scratches as well. It'll be like new

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

Get the car professionally detailed on the outside. It'll cost you around 300-500 bucks but they will make your cars paint as smooth as silk and get rid of all scratches as well. It'll be like new

Do this^

I'd probably get all the dents/dings repaired if you have any, before getting it detailed.

I did a claybar on my paint and the amount of dirt it picked up was absolutely amazing. The whole bar was covered in dirt and had to be thrown away after a few passes on the car.

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

Get the car professionally detailed on the outside. It'll cost you around 300-500 bucks but they will make your cars paint as smooth as silk and get rid of all scratches as well. It'll be like new

Really? You're always telling people to DIY, but you're telling this guy to drop hundreds on a detail? Sure, he sounds like a noob when it comes to detailing, but this stuff is not that hard. Good quality soap, clay bar, polish, wax, and pads can be had for less than $50. If you know somebody w/ an orbital buffer, even better.....

Originally Posted by ryannel2003

I did a claybar on my paint and the amount of dirt it picked up was absolutely amazing. The whole bar was covered in dirt and had to be thrown away after a few passes on the car.

Bought my car new in '04 and after a couple of years learned about claybar, got one, and used it. Took off lots of roughness so the paint felt clean & smooth when I ran my hand across it. Curious thing to me is after many more years I wash the car and try to use the claybar again, but the car stays smooth and claybar picks up nothing.
So I know my car was real dirty from the first time, but can't figure why it never needs the bar again.

Originally Posted by jiggz

Really? You're always telling people to DIY, but you're telling this guy to drop hundreds on a detail? Sure, he sounds like a noob when it comes to detailing, but this stuff is not that hard. Good quality soap, clay bar, polish, wax, and pads can be had for less than $50. If you know somebody w/ an orbital buffer, even better.....

It sounds much easier then it is . Detailing a car is very very difficult to get right . Sure you can do something to make the paint look better but its nothing compared to what a professional detailer can do. I've tried it many times, I bough expensive products , cray, polish, sealant , wax etc and tried and tried.I had some good progress but I can honestly say that its best left for people who actually make a living from it.

Replacing some parts on your car doesnt compare to detailing the paint. Any person can pretty much turn a wrench and undo a few bolts after he gets a few tips from people but with car care you actually have to know what you're doing .

Not really, just hard work, the right tools and patience. The OP has an apparently minimal issue on one small part of the car. Spend time reviewing methods on the detail forum and he will be fine.

Originally Posted by shadow 2

Not really, just hard work, the right tools and patience. The OP has an apparently minimal issue on one small part of the car. Spend time reviewing methods on the detail forum and he will be fine.

I'm not a believer in this. I wish someone would have told my cars previous owner to go to a professional. Now, I will pay for what he should have.

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

Any person can pretty much turn a wrench and undo a few bolts after he gets a few tips from people but with car care you actually have to know what you're doing .

True x46

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

Any person can pretty much turn a wrench and undo a few bolts after he gets a few tips from people but with car care you actually have to know what you're doing .

Depends on who you're talking about. You could flip this statement around real easily - many people struggle mechanically but could easily detail a car. It's really pretty simple.

I am one of those people who struggles to do the simplest mechanical task. But by reading the forums, watching Youtube videos and practicing on an old car hood I got from the wreckers, I became quite good at detailing. Washing correctly, removing grease, wax and tar stains, claying and machine polishing, followed by waxing has made a huge difference to my car.

However, to do my car properly as a beginner took me at least 8 hours work. If you have to buy a polisher and all the other products, it may be cheaper to just pay a detailer.

Of course, buying the stuff means you can do your car and other cars again for very little cost except for your time.

Drop that $300-500 on a professional detail for a special event or something like that.
Maybe to impress a new date. Be sure not to let it gone to waste.

Originally Posted by jiggz

Really? You're always telling people to DIY, but you're telling this guy to drop hundreds on a detail? Sure, he sounds like a noob when it comes to detailing, but this stuff is not that hard. Good quality soap, clay bar, polish, wax, and pads can be had for less than $50. If you know somebody w/ an orbital buffer, even better.....

HA HA HA. $50? You're out of your mind. Unless what you're toting as "good quality" is actually sh!t. A FLEX XC3401 buffer alone is $300+...and you've got to be out of your mind if you want to polish by hand and actually get good results.

OP, you're better off paying to get a detail if you don't plan on doing it often and it is a LOT of work to do it right...it's not worth the investment if you just use it once or twice, trust me.

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

It sounds much easier then it is . Detailing a car is very very difficult to get right . Sure you can do something to make the paint look better but its nothing compared to what a professional detailer can do. I've tried it many times, I bough expensive products , cray, polish, sealant , wax etc and tried and tried.I had some good progress but I can honestly say that its best left for people who actually make a living from it.

Replacing some parts on your car doesnt compare to detailing the paint. Any person can pretty much turn a wrench and undo a few bolts after he gets a few tips from people but with car care you actually have to know what you're doing .

This. Get it detailed one time, and then you personally keep it that way by buying a buffer and muchos products from autogeek.net

Detailing your paint is really not hard, but it is a lot of manual labor and most people get tired and half ass it. It is also something that costs a lot if you screw it up and mess us your paint job...

So if your really willing to learn and put in the work, you can restore your paint job but it takes hours if not days, and you need to be very careful that you know what your doing beforehand.

I was lucky when I found my car. The paint is in amazing condition. When I brought it home I washed, claybared and waxed it the next day. The hood had a few places where it looked like the rain was a little on the acidic side and bad water spots. I wash it usually every friday and when I dont wax I use meguiars quick detialing spray to help the wax out.

I havent been able to wax it since about march cause I just had pretty much my whole front and passenger side replaced because of a deer. Hood, passenger side fender, front bumper and both passenger side doors all replaced. The paint is beautiful but Its killing me that I cant wax it yet. But Im deff keepin it washed and I dry it off as soon as I cant to help prevent water spots.

Are you sure you cannot wax your new paint? I asked my body shop guy about that, and he said with modern paint systems you can treat the paint just like it had aged almost from the start. No need to wait the 30 days like you used to have to do.