in the Center of the hood. i waxed my car this weekend. they appear to be under the clearcoat. they would not rub out. any idea's. they were not visable prior to the waxing.

 

To make sure it doesn't come back you have to find the source and eliminate it. If it's mold growing on carpets, perhaps you should have them professionally extracted. There may have been something already there and the storage facility may have been ideal for mold growth... There are some products sold in most local stores that are designed to kill mold and bacteria for carpets, I think Lysol makes it, that's another route you can go. You'll want to clean it, scrub it to work it into the carpet with a brush, then use the Lysol stuff or something similar. Those are the approaches I'd take.

Your best bet is to get yourself some dedicated wheel cleaning products and simply use automotive shampoo and water. The less you rely on harsh cleaners the less chance of oxidizing and fading the polished lip. Also be sure to avoid going through automatic car washes as they tend to use harsh cleaners that can easily oxidize after market wheel finishes.

Your best bet would be to pick up this wheel care kit, use a dedicated wash mitt for your wheels, protect them with wheel sealant and keep up with the maintenance regularly. I'd make sure you dilute the wheel cleaner if it's needed and avoid using it on your polished lips if possible. The product is safe when diluted properly, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Sounds great, if you have any questions along the way, please do not hesitate to ask

You could do it in the trunk since that's where the problem area is but you may want to crack your seats and run the recirculation so that it still gets in all of your car. Who knows how far the smell or problem has traveled, but at least this way a majority of it would be in the trunk. Keep us posted how it works for you.

Unfortunately, as you get more into detailing, you start to see more and more of the imperfections. It could be the chance that it's just excess wax that you didn't fully remove, in which you could go over it again with some quick detailer or some ice cold water to try to get off. If they are scratches, perhaps your applicator pad was contaminated or your towel was when you were removing it... there are lots of possibilities. If they are indeed scratches, then you'll need to polish them to remove them if they are in the clear coat. If they are under the clear coat, there's no possible way waxing caused it and they were there in the first place, you just never noticed them.

 

I detailed my car with M105/205. It came out great, but the next day, after i washed it again, and waxed it, i found some hazy spots. I think these are the remains of the M105, as I did have problems removing all of it the first time. Any advice on how to remove it?

 

When I clay a car.. is it possible to just keep using water as a lubricant or maybe like a mix of water and car wash instead of using an instant detailer?

 

i would use a clay lubricant. water is not as slick as the lube and then you will most likely end up marring/scratching your paint. i'm not sure about the car wash mixture, although it will get pretty messy. after washing, i put the car in the garage to perform the detail, so having so much water/car wash is not really an option.

 

Okay Detailed Image, you are my last hope before I take this problem to my local body shop. I used a blowdryer to remove pin stripping from my car. But, as you can see in the photos, the adhesive remained (steadfast!).

The first photo is a picture of the adhesive still on the car. The second picture shows hard rubbing with Goo Gone. And the third photo (It hurts to even look at it!) shows the damage I did when I used a clay bar.

Is there anything I can try, or should I just get out my checkbook and write a check to a body or detail shop and have them fix the damage?

For what it's worth, I forgot to mention that I do own a Porter Cable buffer.

 

Yeah I'm just wondering about that because clay lubribrant isn't very cheap and you go through it pretty fast.. any cheaper alternative would be nice if there were any

 

Best way to remove excess polish residue is to re-wash the car post polishing with a shampoo that strips everything off the paint and start fresh. This will provide the best base for your next steps. My post-polishing shampoo of choice is Chemical Guys Citrus Wash.

Another option is to go over the paint with some isopropyl alcohol and water (50/50 mix in a spray bottle) after polishing. This will help remove any oils and provide a fresh surface too.

Keep in mind any of these steps will strip off any sealant or wax layers you applied, so you'll have to reapply them after.

I wouldn't use just water as a clay lube, chances are you'd mar the paint or the clay could potentially start to fall apart since there's more friction. You can use shampoo + water mix, Optimum No Rinse is a great option for this. Another good idea is a concentrated QD, such as Optimum Instant Detailer or Dodo Juice Born Slippy. A lot more cost effective than the ready to use QD's or clay lubes.

Your almost there if the pin stripe is removed like the third picture, the next steps are to just polish the paint to remove the marring / scratches / swirls around the pin stripes to blend it altogether.

If you already have the PC, then I'd pick up the appropriate pads / backing plate and go with the Meguiar's M105 / M205 combo. If you polish properly, that paint should be blended pretty evenly. I'd suggest 5.5" pads or smaller...

Let me know how it turns out or what you end up doing to fix it.

 

If you already have the PC, then I'd pick up the appropriate pads / backing plate and go with the Meguiar's M105 / M205 combo. If you polish properly, that paint should be blended pretty evenly. I'd suggest 5.5" pads or smaller...

Detailed Image: Dude, you kick-***! What pads/backing plate would you suggest? I'd like to order all this stuff from you. How soon can you get it to 54904?

Thanks again! You have been a huge help!

 

Thanks, looks like your 3 business days away but with the holiday, the package probably wouldn't ship until Tuesday, which means you'd see it next Friday in time for next weekend to detail.

I'd suggest the following:
Meguiar's W67DA backing plate
2 - 3x Orange cutting pads or Cyan HydroTech Pads
2 - 3x White polishing pads or Tangerine HydroTech Pads

The HydroTech pads often will cut and correct a little more than traditional pads while finishing down just as fine if not finer but the durability of the pads isn't quite as good as the traditional pads.

Let me know if you need anything else

 

Thanks for the reply! I'll most like buy a gallon of Optimum No Rinse in the near future

 

Probably asked before but I can't search it narrow enough to find the answer...

I just got my car detailed this morning, what can/should I do to make it last as long as possible?

It was washed/clayed/polished/waxed if that helps.

 

Did you just go to one of those car wash places along the road and all for that?

 

No, I had it professionally done, but I usually use one of those car wash places that give you the hose and rinse/soap/etc options to give it a quick wash once a week.

 

Ohhhh then that's good. And well there's a detailing guide on the front page of detailingimage.com. Doing a decent wash and wax every couple weeks to a few months depending on if it's garaged and how often it's used would probably be all you need to keep your car in good condition.