inquiring about a product.... liquid glass or glass-plex.

i recently purchased a white truck and ive been washing it religiously once a week. ive been getting small brown spots left on the paint after washing. the spots are where any type of bug/grime/tree debris had been. the spots do not come off with a simple wash. i must sit there and rub each spot for about 20-30 seconds or use my fingernail to remove them fully. i know a good wash/clay/polish/wax will take care of the spots but what can i use to prevent them from being such a hassle to remove in the future? i asked a local detail shop about applying a sealant and i was told they can use a product called "glass-plex." any reccomendations?

 

Washing your car once a week is too much. Everytime you wash your car you add on more swirls and imperfections even if you wash it the correct way.

http://www.detailedimage.com/Auto-De...ng-and-Drying/

Rubbing it off the way you do it will damage the paint. Clay bar would be your best bet to remove those. If you come up with those brown spots after a wash than you might want to consider using a different type of car wash? Also consider what you're using to dry the car with too.

I've never heard of glass-plex, but for a sealant.. just recently I started using this
http://www.detailedimage.com/Blackfi...P205/32-oz-S2/

And it's nothing short of amazing.. cheap and works great!

For wax you can't go wrong with this

http://www.detailedimage.com/Poorboy...x-P31/8-oz-S1/

If you're willing to spend more money there're better options out there, but those have worked very nicely for me. When I ran out of Natty's or if I forget to bring it along

http://www.detailedimage.com/Meguiar...P383/18-oz-S1/

That isn't too bad either.

 

once a week is too much? but my car is filthy by the weekend. wouldnt i be doing more harm by letting debris and dirt sit on the paint and contaminate it?


i havent been rubbing the spots off for that very reason. i realize its going to hurt the paint. im looking for a solution to avoid ever having to apply uneccessary pressure to remove the spots.


as of now, im using megs auto wash. i polish with sonus products and follow with p21 wax. ive never used a sealant before but i think it may help

 

i would go with clay bar and then wax. the clay will remove the spots and any other embedded contaminents. the wax will give you a month or two of protection and make washing the car a whole lot easier. my sister has a white truck and shows the same spots that you mention and i got them all out.

 

There are alot of people washing their cars the wrong way, but I think that if using multiple mitts and buckets (even you could confess) that marring is nearly eliminated on a relatively clean car to being with. Weekly washing for year will produce swirls, but with the right method, it shouldn't be Swrilzilla. Right?

I always wondered if it was best to wash frequently to reduce the amount of dirt accumulating, since if you are like me and wait five months to wash your car, the build up gets thick and somewhat scary to go at even with the right methods and pre-wash/foam/etc.

 

If you wax/seal it than it should stay looking nice for alot longer. I usually give my car a wash and wax once a month to 2 months. It might start getting dusty, but that's okay. The wax/sealant will keep dirt and debris from contaminating your paint up to certain extent.

But I guess it would depend on how dirty your car gets by the end of the week. Pics? The majority of the imperfections that you see on cars come from washing even if you're using the correct methods. So you've got to keep that in mind too. My dad used to wash his car like once a week or once every 2 weeks or so and it looks like crap.. it's black so it shows up even more.. compare it to someone that hardly washes their car.. the other person's car looks alot better lol.

Hmm.. Meg's auto wash should be fine.. but maybe consider using something stronger? I use this.
http://www.detailedimage.com/Chemica...178/128-oz-S2/

Maybe this might help you get off those brown spots?
http://www.detailedimage.com/Chemica...P277/16-oz-S1/

If not then definitely some soft clay bar.

Sealant's last ALOT longer than waxes. I like the look you get from a wax better, but sealants give more benefits IMO.

 

Well course it won't come close to being as bad as if you were washing it the wrong way haha, but you'd still produce swirls and polishing the car is a PITA and very very time consuming. I'd like to put that off as long as possible haha.

I don't wait 5 months. For me that's way too long. The thing is, is that I'm reallly OCD about how my car looks. Like when it gets dusty I just feel the need to wash it even if like other people say it looks fine. I've gotten into the habit of washing AND sealing the car once a month. It'd probably be better if I washed it once a month to keep the dust off and then wax it once every 2 months, but im afraid that my car will lose some of it's shine when I wash it between waxes.

Also another thing that annoys me is that it's really difficult to find out exactly if you've got a good amount of protection left on your paint. You can KIND OF tell when you rinse off the car. Like if the water pools up on your paint then there is probably little or no protection. If it beads/sheets off there's probably some.


EDIT:

Was detailing a car today and noticed something.. if your car still has some protection left on it than it should be similar to how the water reacts when it hits your windows. Not sure if that's a good comparison, but it seemed similar.

 

well being on the east coast, my car takes a little more beating from contaminants than if i were out on the west coast like you. we see snow/salt/ice usually about 6-8 months out of the year, pollen/ragweed for about 2 months and then lots of rain during the summer months. the numerous areas of road construction do not help any either.

im the same way, hence my reason for the meticulous upkeep. friends and family always tell me how clean my vehicles look all the time but i see the dust/dirt/grime and it bothers me.

ill give the wash/clay/polish/sealant a try and also try out some of the products you suggested. considering ive never used a sealant before so i dont know its effects, mabye ill be happy with the protection it provides

 

Ahhh yeah I see where you're coming from. In that case.. you can either do what I'm doing right now with the wash and wax once a month or you can wax/seal it once a month, but like between then if your car seems to get pretty dirty than you can always just rinse it off with water and dry it off. This is because when you wash it with the cleaner no matter how dilute it is you might strip off some of the protection. Then at the end of the month when you plan on waxing/sealing it again. Make sure you use a good amount of wash so that you can strip off the old layer and apply a new one on.

There're probably better products out there that might give more protection or a better shine, but the ones that I listed are the best bang for you buck. Plus with the better products the difference is probably very minimal.

Hope it all works out nicely!

 

When washing those areas I'd suggest the Poorboy's World Bug Squash before washing to help break it up. If it's not removed spray it again and agitate with a sponge. If you want something stronger the Stoner Tarminator is a great choice. If that doesn't work you'll have to use a clay bar as previously suggested.

Good luck!

Greg @ DI

 

Greg, With the kit I am giong to buy, you had also mentioned the rejex sealant. WIll that work with this kit. should i put it on before i put on The final step? Will it work with the micro fibre pads in the kit, Or do i need other pads? What would be the benefit of using the rejex vs the wax in the kit?

 

Brian it was nice to chat with you on the phone. I'll still answer your questions briefly here in case others have similar questions. If you want to use a sealant you can replace the Finishing Wax with it. However if you get a little bit of haze from the Correction Compound before hand you may have to use a lighter polish and combo, however the vast majority of detailers have not had this issue. The Rejex sealant should be applied with a black or blue pad imo. The Rejex will last a bit longer but it's not going to have the polishing power the Finishing Wax/Finishing Pad will provide. Neither one is best just more personal preference and most people prefer the durability. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Greg @ DI

 

I have some glass questions. Well, more plastic. My head lights don't really looked fogged or worn, but I figure they could prob use a good cleaning to look brand new again. More of a worn look on them right now. What products can I use to clean them. I don't want to wet sand and do all that.

2nd, related question. My radio in the car, the plastic screen over the display, has streaks in it. It looks like somebody used a cleaner and did not clean it off all the way. So I just used some simple car window cleaner to try and wash off the residue. Well, it is not residue, it won't wash off. What can I do to try and salvage it. Seems like what ever you do to headlight glass should work for this little bit of glass/plastic on the radio?

 

So today I went to detail my car. I used the two bucket system and washed VERY thoroughly. After blotting dry, I took a claybar to it.

This was bad times. The cars surface is very rough. The amount of crap the claybar was picking up was endless. I went through two bars full of grime. Mind you, I washed the car VERY thoroughly.

I did the best I could with what I had and it made some difference and smoothed out the paint a bit, but I could probably spend another full day with just claybars to smooth it out. I don't think this will be the best route. Upon closer inspection, the surface is pitted, and the imperfections are quite obvious. Its like the car went through a sand storm. Huge amounts of yellow stuff was coming off the paint. I'm assuming this is quartz and sand that is embedded in the car.

Any advice on what I should do next? Does it sound to far gone for claybars? Would taking a PC to it and some compound really do any good with how bad it is? Or would a pro have to get down and restore the paint and clear coat.

Also I have many scratches and chips all over the hood, font bumper and fenders.

Thanks!

 

Pics would help~! ^