^ same here....
I wish I had the time for a full detail now;
I just clayed & sealed the car for winter, the full treatment will have to wait for Spring.

 

I have the equipment and time but no garage to do it in .

Ian I am ordering some Wheeleax and towels from eshine, shoot me a PM if you need anything.

 

It's here, woohoo!! Looks like the weather might even hold our long enough this week to bust some swirls.

 

Before & afters S.V.P

 

Well I clayed the see-dan today, used most of a bottle of detailer in the process and -- get this -- never dropped the clay ONCE! No difference in appearance, but the paint is much smoother. (took some pics, post tomorrow mebbe) Evidently it didn't have much in the way of contaminants because I only felt a bit of scritching in certain areas of the car.

Polishing tomorrow!

 

Looking forward to your Before and After pics Swivelhips.

I am a butterfingers, I dropped my clay the first time I used one, so ff course I had to discard it

 

Way to go. Looking forward to the pics. Did you do your windows? You'll probably find they are dirty.

You can cut the detailer 50/50 with water. I've used 50/50 water/windshield cleaner and even 50/50 water/rubbing alcohol. I think some folks have used a small drop of dish soap with water too.

 

I'll probably do the glass today, yep. I took some pics but not at all sure I capture the swirls and light scratches. What I really want to eliminate is all the scratching on the hood where the previous owner appears to have removed snow with a stiff-bristled broom, making sure to produce scratches in BOTH directions.

EDIT: just went out to check the temp in the garage and looking at my hood, I am not seeing the broom scratches. Could the clay have gotten rid of some/most of them? They were def scratches, not contaminants. Weird, but I'll take it. Looking forward to the results of actual polishing!!

 

Hey swivel, Did you get your PC? How is it? I just got my car and I'm wondering if you would be willing to show me how to properly use a Porter cable? The paint on my Ivory Pearl coupe is very swirled and scratched as well as contaminated. I have a claybar and I plan on doing the whole thing in a weekend but I've never used anything but arm power to apply my wax. (never owned a car that I wanted to take care of like this before)

I'm trying to get the calgary members together before the snow hits but it's not working out too well. PM me if your willing to share the knowledge!

 

zead, I got my PC and plan on using it today for its (and my) first time. If I don't end up hacking a mirror off with it, I'll let you know how it goes.

What part of the city are you in? I'm in McKenzie Towne (deep southeast)

 

New brighton Neighbor! Wow, finally someone that lives in the SE!

 

Cool, we should definitely meet up. I'll shoot you a PM, we'll figure something out.

 

Right on. I'm eager to learn how to fix my swirlies and clearcoat.

 

Good stuff Wayne, good to hear you are coming along good with the detailing. Btw, clay bar will not get rid of scratches, only surface contamination. Do you happen to have a halogen or flourescent light? They would help you see the scratches on your hood. Direct sunlight would help as well. Have fun with your PC today, I'm sure you're gonna love the results.

 

^+1

The clay only cleans up the contaminants on the surface and doesn't do anything for the clearcoat marks. As Shane says it's strictly an issue of lighting when it comes to seeing the scratches. That's really important when it comes to using the PC. Otherwise you may risk doing the job only to find in the sunlight it isn't to your satisfaction.