*Official* Ask A Detailer Thread

Much appreciated. Will do.

I don’t have any of the heavy cutting yellow pads yet so I will give the medium-heavy orange pads a try on the Audi and see how they work then get yellow pads if the orange are not cutting enough.

 

Hello everyone,
Hoping to get some help/advice. I recently sprayed my truck underneath with Fluid Film.

Well I didn't realize how windy it must have been and the wind picked up any overspray and now I can feel it on almost every panel on the paint. I have washed the truck 3x and I can still feel it on the paint.

Any advice?

 

Having used Fluid Film many times over the years, I struggle with you still having any on your paint after 3 washings. Most automotive car wash soaps should dissolve FF. If not, one wash with Dawn Dish Soap should do it. That said, Dawn is pretty tough on wax and your paint in general. I'd recommend re-waxing after using Dawn if you go that route.

Getting back to what you're feeling on your paint, are you sure you're not feeling good old fashioned surface contamination? That would be my vote. If that's the case, clay - properly used - should remove it. You will have to do some correction / polishing after using clay though because you will induce some minor surface marring no matter how careful you are. Then of course you will have to wax / seal or coat the finish to complete the job.

 

Thanks for the quick response.

The truck did have some contamination but it was a drastic change.
I plan on doing as you suggest.

Questions: what do you recommend if dawn doesn't work?
If I clay bar'd, would this make things worse?

 

I struggle with it actually being FF because that particular product just doesn't harden. It remains pretty much a jell. That's why I'm thinking you have another issue. As for clay and its effect on FF, if it was FF, it should just smear it around.

 

I hear ya! I was really surprised too.

The only thing that I can think of is that I did spray my rear leaf pack black before applying FF. Maybe that is the overspray texture that I am feeling. But I feel it on the front panels too. Some even got on my windshield and my wipers now have super friction. Which led me to FF overspray. Since I sprayed FF front to back underneath.

Thoughts?

 

I’m sure this has been asked before but which is better for drying a vehicle. A super absorbent towel (wooly mammoth for example). Or a chamois

 

I use a synthetic chamois and a waffle micro fiber towel

 

Question for pro detailers, do you guys see a lot of inclusions of black flecks in Super White paint? I did a 1-stage correction on my truck today to prep for sealant, and I found 8-10 all over the truck. Kind of disappointing to see.

The paint confused me. I was using a soft finish cut foam pad with an old bottle of Menzerna SIP, to cut the OEM swirls. The paint got surprisingly soft, but there was no paint loaded on the pad that I could see (hard to tell, white polish and white paint). To be honest I only detailed one classic car with single-stage paint when I ran my detailing business a decade ago, and a TON of paint loaded up the pads.

Man, the game sure has changed. So many product I used to swear by have disappeared, been bought out, or re-branded. Then there's this ceramic coating nonsense...

 

Super white isn’t a single stage in a classic car sense. It has the clear mixed in with the white.

Curious about the black flecks. Wonder if that is something an iron remover can get out. Rail dust perhaps

Ceramic coatings are far from nonsense. I haven’t used a sealer/wax in probably 4-5 years. Been using nothing but ceramics. Truck stays cleaner longer with it.

 

Not saying ceramics are nonsense, it's just newfangled technology for me. I missed the memo.

Paint had that tacky, sticky feel to it when it gets soft. Almost feels like you could dig a fingernail in if you tried hard enough. It's similar paint feel to what I would experience on clear coat with cheaper cars. I always figured these mixed-clear single stages paints were harder. Using a Porter Cable orbital with a fairly old bottle of Menzerna (7+ years). It still has the same consistency I remember and it was always stored in a room temp area.

The black flecks are in the paint. Some are level, some are actual depressions in the paint. Clearly contaminants present in the Toyota spray booth. It's not enough to make me flip out, just more than I would have liked to seen, specially with a truck from the Texas plant, which from my understanding is supposed to have a fully automated spray booth.

Was leagues better than my Snugtop canopy though. That was painted by an idiot, compounded by a moron, and polished by someone with a brillo pad. I am so thoroughly unimpressed with the workmanship of this thing. Holes drilled off center, leaked like a sieve when I first got it, and now that I've finally corrected the paint, shit paint quality. Sigh.

 

I asked this on the Polisher recommendations thread but wanted to ask here for more feedback:

Is this a good entry kit? . I've seen recommendations here for the G9. I've got a crapton of swirls and scratches from my moronic and lazy cleaning job almost a year ago and what looks like orange peel. I was going to get a 6-pad 6" choose-your-own kit with 2 orange, 2 yellow, 1 white, and 1 microfiber, along with their pad brush and cleaning solution. As that all comes out to $275, I wanted to make sure it was going to work for my issues and skills (or lack thereof).

 

I don’t know much about polishing. I’m sure someone with much more experience will chime in. But I don’t think you’d need 2 yellow pads unless your paint is super phucked. Maybe go with another white or even a finishing (black?) pad.

There’s tons of videos on how to polish, wax, correct ect. I watched a ton of videos on YouTube. Then went to a local detail garage and picked the guys brain a bit and bought some pads there off his recommendation. Took my truck up there also so he could see the paint. In talking to him he mentioned Toyota does a thick clear coat and that causes the orange peel. Not sure how true that is.

I haven’t started on my truck yet. I’ve been practicing on my 04 civic and my wife’s Nissan Rogue. If you’re scared to start on your truck maybe go to a junk yard and get an old hood or something to practice on? Not sure the cost of that but probably cheaper than paying someone to correct your paint

good luck!

 

Fight me lol

I've neglected to wash my truck for at least 8 months. Washed it yesterday and discovered a stupid amount of rail dust, iron specs/buildup, industrial fallout, whatever, all over the back half of the bedsides and tail. Fairly easy removal of it with normal wash method and a bit more pressure from me, on the rest of truck. But these sections, holy balls boys! It's on there good!

I don't want to go straight to clay barring because it feels like sandpaper on the tail, and I know that would just instantly contaminate the clay and ruin it (scratch the rest of my scratched paint).
Do I get Iron-X, Griot's Iron and Fallout, or something else? Prefer to just get it locally vs the Zon or similar, if possible.

 

Do you have any Evaporust laying around? That will work too.

 

How hard is it to fix oxidation on a stage 1 super white Tacoma? I have a 2004 Tacoma I need to do some work on. The truck isn’t a show stopper by any means but I want to keep the paint protected and keep the paint from failing.

 

No, nothing like that on hand. Maybe some CLR though.
Rather use something known to be safe for the fragile super white paint.

 

I generally buy online so not sure if iron removers are available locally. I don't think there is too much if a difference of one being that much better than another so if you can find the Griots one get it. I know there used to be an Eagle One wheel cleaner that was a very cost effective buy but not sure if they pulled it or just came out with a different product and changed the name. I think some of the local shops are starting to carry the Meguiars "detailer" line they have one made for wheels and paint, Iron Decon I believe it's called.

 

White Tacomas are single stage so they show the oxidation worse than the ones with clear coats. Could be as simple as a medium to fine polish and corresponding pad. Start with the lesser aggressive pad and go from there. Once you figure out which pad is good, get a handful more (more pads than less is always better) and go to work. Can't recommend enough NOT to try to attempt this by hand.

 

I mentioned Griot's specifically because I saw their products at Autozone last time I was in there. Don't remember seeing their iron remover, but I will look for it, or try a wheel cleaner. I would have to think something good enough to remove heavy brake dust (metallic particles in pad materials) should be safe enough for what I need to do.

I wheel, and I know I'll get scratches and dents, I just don't want it to look like a total shitbox until it's time to cage lol