*Official* Ask A Detailer Thread

Congrats this is a great choice for a start. Hard to go wrong with the Megs 105 & 205 combo. A great 1-2 punch used by a lot of the pros.

For pads I would pick up the Lake Country CCS 5 1/2 in pads. Start with Orange and White for paint correction and either a Red or Blue if you plan on putting the Klasse with a pad. If you have major swirl marks or scratches you might want to pick up a Yellow pad as well.

Good luck with your start.

 

Hey guys I'm going to need a lot of help. I just recently joined the forums after driving my 05 Tacoma for about a year now. Was my parents but I hit 18 and they gave me the keys. From 05 to when I got it it sat there because of gas. Now that I have it the roof is faded, rock chips, scratches throughout. And I would say that I have about 20 small dents. Btw it's BSP. What should I do to get the body to clean

 

I will assume that at 18YO you do not have or can afford the cost of a buffer, pads, and polish.

I would first wash, then claybar and then use the Mothers cleaning system. Mothers has one of the best hand polish and wax systems on the market today.

http://www.motherscaliforniagold.com/index.html

All the auto parts stores carry this system. I would stay with the Mothers line for the claybar as well. Purchase a few quality microfiber towels not the cheap ones from Walmart or a big box retailer. You can probably find the Meguiars towels at the autoparts store as well.

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/x2020-supreme-shinereg-microfiber-towel-3-pack/

There are other purchasing options as well on line.

For the little dents and dings try to find a Paintless Dent Remover technician in your town. Depending on the size and number of dents the cost will be between $100 to $150.

 

Awesome thread and thank you so much for the info! All this has done is reassure that I've made the right decisions all these years by buying Meguiar's.

 

Actually not really, at I work and go to school. Most of my money has actually gone to my truck only. I wanted to ask about bufffering but I have no clue where to really begin with all that. When I have time, most likely my day off I want to call a ding repair and actually clay bar the car. But from there I'm lost.

 

Youtube and some manafactures have excellent vids on claybar and polishing.

The entry level for a buffer, pads, polishes, waxes amd a sealant is around $250-300.

Look at the Porter Cable XP for a decent quality buffer.

 

Oh damn, I never expected it to be that much. For entry level stuff at least

 

Porter Cable is a really decent buffer that will last you for a lot of years. My old Porter Cable, PC, is close to 11YO at this point. I also have another random orbital buffer and a direct drive buffer as well. I still use the PC buffer for certain aspects of mataining a finish.

 

so I bought a 99 red taco a couple of weeks back and I am very happy with it. The only bad thing is the paint it faded slightly. Am I right in thinking that a good polish and wax would help?

 

sub'd

 

sub'd. Love this thread!!!!

 

What you are most likely dealing with is etching in the clear coat. No amount of clay barring or washing will remove this. The only way to properly remove the water spots would be to polish and this would take longer than 2 hours. Sometimes you just have to let it go and give the customer what they pay for.

 

I am needing to clean my plastic gauge cluster and navigation touch screen in my 2012. I have been reluctant to mess with them because it seems the gauge clusters scratch and haze very easily. What products and techniques would you recommended for this task? Plexus and a microfiber?

 

Watched " Drive " last night and they were showing a guy that charges $5000 to detail high end vehicles. Technics are the same just products are different.
Spray with car wash soap
Rinse
Sheepskin wash mitt. Washed in straight line not swirl.
Pat dry do not wipe. Use microfiber
Claybar
Polish with machine low speed to high ( 3 small drops on pad )
Wax using very little said people over use wax
Working on a Bentley and turned out beautiful. Not worth 5 grand though.

 

Its all about the marketing. These guys, specifically Paul Dalton of Miracle Detail market to the very high end clients as if there getting something more. But in reality they receive the same service any of the top ranked detailers in the U.S. provide.

 

Am scheduled to take the taco in Thursday morn for full exterior detail. Quoted $200 ($150 is car price). Sounds steep, but have little time to do it myself and look forward to having a pro tackle the few small scratches I have. Local shop with terrific rep. Stated 5-6 hours is normal for the job. But $5k......

 

200 is reasonable depending upon what services you are receiving. I won't pick up a polisher for less than 300. It's just not worth the time. If your having the interior done as well, you are getting a good deal.

 

X2

Stolen for future use.

 

actually exterior only

cannot agree with this more. black is the best color going, WHEN IT'S CLEAN, but keeping her there can be a task