On the Gilmour Foam master 2, what would be the appropriate setting on the dial to use for paint prep and maintenance wash? Also, what ratio of product to water should we use in the foam container for paint prep and maintenance wash assuming we're using something like CG Citrus Wash?

What're your thoughts on using the California water blade to assist in drying vehicles? I've seen the youtube videos on them, but I still seem a bit skeptical about them.

 

Here`s a guy on youtube with great tutorials on detailing. He`s pushing a specific brand but the level of detail in his videos is great.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Junkman2000

 

Unfortunately it's difficult to finish without marring or hologram by hand sometimes because it's hard to wear down the abrasive particles fine enough for a hologram / mar free finish. Using a buffer can certainly help, but it's important to remember that proper technique plays a major roll in how well your results are going to turn out.

Let us know how it goes with the buffer. If there's anything else we can help with let us know.

For the Gilmour Foam Gun, what you are looking for is the same ratio's that the bottle recommends but using water passing through the foam gun. For example, the E setting pulls 12 oz of product from the tank for every gallon that passes through. So if you want a 2oz / gallon stripping ratio, you'd need to have 2oz of product and 10oz of water and use the E setting to achieve that ratio. For a maintenance ratio, if it's roughly .5 oz of product / gallon of water. This means you'd want .5 oz product / 11.5 oz water on the E setting. Now 1 gallon won't be enough to wash your whole car and the canister holds 32 oz so you can multiply it roughly by 3 and fill the tank up completely.

Never use a California Water Blade, especially on soft Infiniti paint. You'll be left with marring over time that needs to be polished out to correct. Your best bet is to have your paint always protected with a sealant or wax, use the sheeting method prior to using a microfiber waffle weave drying towel to blot dry a majority of the water pools remaining, then go over with a quick detailer and plush microfiber towel for mar free and fast and effective drying.

Hope this helps

George

 

Hi George,

I'm a long time user of all your supplies. You've helped me multiple times in the past with incredible advice. I just had a quick question. Wondering which window cleaner you would recommend:

Stoner Invisible Glass vs Chemical Guys Window Clean

Thanks!

- Jin

 

Hey Jin,

Both glass cleaners work very well. Lately, I've been using the CG Window Clean. It's a little easier to work with than Stoner's I feel as you can more accurately dispense the CG product vs the aerosol Stoner IG. With both products, less is more and both are safe on tint and able to achieve a streak free finish. Can't really go wrong with either, I think it boils down to a preference of the aerosol foam vs. liquid.

 

Thanks for the advise George. I've been a long time user of Stoner's, but I think this time I'll try CG Window Clean. Thanks again!

- Jin

 

I'm sure you've answered this before but I'm at a loss here and could really use some help. I have an 06 black g 35. The guy it from put way to much weight on a direct drive polisher and i have a few burn marks, basically foggy looking clear coat in spots. I have no idea how to deal with them. Should I treat them just like swirl marks and polish them out using a fine polish? I've learned from you how to deal with the swirls and greatly appreciate the help.

 

My wheels have a machined lip that used to be super shiny before this winter. Basically, my wheels look like they have "baked in" brake dust on the machined lips. After some reading on the forum, I bought some P21s Gel Wheel Cleaner, thinking it was going to save my wheels....it didn't. They look just the same as before. 20 something dollars down the drain (yes, I let it sit on there for 2 hours). So, do you have any other recommendations for some hard core wheels cleaners? I was going to try some Mother's aluminum polish to see if that works. What do you think? Or, do you have a better recommendation? P21s did NOTHING! We did have alot more snow this year than usual, so maybe salt is an issue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm disgusted every time I look at my wheels. Please help!

 

Hey Jin, sounds good. Let me know what you think of the CG Window Clean when you get a chance to use it.

It depends on what was really done to the paint and if it's even correctable. The approach would be to use a fine polish to restore the finish, but if he pushed down way too hard, he may have burned through part of the clear coat. Do you have any pictures of the damage? Unfortunately, Infiniti has pretty soft paint so it doesn't take much to screw it up. Go with a very fine finishing polish and see if it starts restoring your clear coat. Keep use posted on how you make out.

P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner is simply a cleaner, it won't restore a finish. It sounds like you either are experiencing oxidation on your wheels from the salt from the winter or perhaps some really bad embedded brake dust that may have already done some damage on your finished wheels. Did you ever take your car through an automatic car wash during the winter? If so they typically use harsh cleaners which can easily oxidize or even damage the finish of high polished wheels.

To restore the finish, you're going to need to polish them out. You could try the Mothers polish or another metal polish. I personally use the Optimum Metal Polish. It will take some time and some elbow grease, but you should be able to make some progress on the wheels.

In the future, I'd highly recommend protecting your wheels with something like Poorboy's World Wheel Sealant. Keep in mind, wheel cleaners or harsh shampoos will remove the protection so you want to make sure you are using a pH balanced shampoo that will keep the protection in tact.

Good luck on restoring your wheels.

 

I noticed yesterday that my all season rubber floor mats are starting to dry out. What do you recommend to restore those properly? I don't want it to be slick since they are under foot if possible.

 

Guess i got lucky again. The fine polish pulled it right up. Thanks again

 

Something like Meguiar's APC+ does a good job cleaning and prepping rubber floor mats. It has a nice look left behind without looking dressed or feeling greasy. Some detailers will apply Meguiar's M40 after (or in general) to clean and condition rubber mats. Either of those should work for you.

Glad to hear it

 

hey guys it was semi decent here in newburgh ny today, so i decided to pull my car outa the backyard now ive had it coverd up, i washed it with a mf mitt and megs car soap. now after i wash it and dry it i see like hazing marks from the car cover siting on the paint all winter i buffed them out with a white lc pad and pinnacle ultrafine swirl remover 1, then i moved to the back of the car theres white marks on the lid of the truck as well as on the backside where the infiniti logo was. i tryed to buff it with the pinnacle one didint work then moved to pinnacle swirl remover #3 orange pad didnt work now i clayed the whole car before buffing. so what do i do do i get 2000grit sandpaper and wetsand which i do know how to do. heres pix its on both sides on the trunk lil spots that lookwhite. i only made one pass with the orange pad with xmt swirl remover number 3 what should i do please helpp [IMG][/IMG]

 

Personally, I'd use a more aggressive polish before turning to wet sanding. Something like Meguiar's M105 would be what I'd turn to first. If you aren't familiar with that product, here's a how-to on using M105, it's different than most compounds / polishes. Here's an article on selecting the proper pad for M105 as well. You have the right idea though, keep moving up in terms of aggressiveness until you can remove the white marks.

Keep us posted on how you make out.

 

well today i went to autozone and got the 2000grit sandpaper let it soak for 15 mins the sprayed the area it didnt do to much so what im thinking about doing instead of spending money on the m105 with shipping and geting a diff pad ima take it to my local auto detailer see how much hell charger me just for the trunk deck