Ask a Professional Detailer...
 

As a new G35Driver member and sponsor, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Greg Pautler, owner of Detailed Image. We specialize in high end automotive detailing. Our goal is to help other members raise their standards in automotive car care, while maximizing their detailing objectives.

We started a thread, "Ask a Professional Detailer" on some other forums with great success and wanted to start a thread on G35Driver to ask me any questions you might have on auto detailing. On e46fanatics, our Ask a Pro Detailer thread is still one of the top threads in their detailing section since July '05, with over 1400 posts and 60k thread views. We'd like to build up a great reference tool here on G35Driver, specifically for Infiniti G35's.

I know this is a great forum already, I see a lot of familiar faces on here, and a wealth of information from Picus and other members. I hope to help contribute to the forum and answer as many questions as I can in a detailed and timely manner. I would also like to extend a 10% discount to G35Driver members on any purchase from Detailed Image. To do so, just enter in 10offG35 during checkout to receive your discount.

I look forward to taking part in some great conversation.

Greg

Yayyyyy!!!!!!!!

Well
U just stoled another customer of Autogeek.net
Ill be needing some new pads soon.
Ill put that 10% discount to good use
wHeee

George, welcome to the forum and thanks for the 10% discount offer. It's nice to have two resident detailing professionals now on the forum. :)

Thanks for the warm welcome thus far, I'm excited to be a part of G35Driver.

Spring is knocking on our doors here in upstate New York, I'm excited to see the snow almost completely melted from my yard. :)

Greg @ Detailed Image

If you ever make up to the "Big Smoke", please let us( the Toronto Chapter) know your coming. It would be great to meet you.

Bill

would you suggesttopping FMJ with pinnacle sovereign or ps1s?

I've had great luck with both products over FMJ, ideally after you've let the FMJ cure for a day or so. On lighter colored vehicles I use P21s Concours Carnauba Wax and on darker colored vehicles I use Pinnacle Souveran. Another wax that looks great on darker colored vehicles, if you don't want to spring for Pinnacle is Poorboy's Natty's Blue Paste Wax. Pinnacle does look the deepest and wettest in my eyes, but lacks in the durability department. All 3 waxes mentioned are very easy to use and very easy to work with and will work great on any colored vehicle, but those are my preferences on which ones I use on what colored vehicles.

What color vehicle would this be going on?

George @ Detailed Image

[QUOTE=Detailed Image]I've had great luck with both products over FMJ, ideally after you've let the FMJ cure for a day or so. On lighter colored vehicles I use P21s Concours Carnauba Wax and on darker colored vehicles I use Pinnacle Souveran. Another wax that looks great on darker colored vehicles, if you don't want to spring for Pinnacle is Poorboy's Natty's Blue Paste Wax. Pinnacle does look the deepest and wettest in my eyes, but lacks in the durability department. All 3 waxes mentioned are very easy to use and very easy to work with and will work great on any colored vehicle, but those are my preferences on which ones I use on what colored vehicles.

george =)

with the above 3 waxes mentioned i assume these are more so for protection for the finish :) correct me if im wrong ?? im interested in a "polish" that i can apply after the wax to add that shiney "pop" :) im pretty vain so i like looking at a car's finish to make sure my makeup looks "nice" :rolleyes: j/k. something thats also easy on and easy would be great pleaseee. tyia

Sometimes the words in detailing get thrown around a lot so they might have different meanings to different people. I'll briefly explain the differences between some of the terms. Pure polishes can use micro cutting particles to actually remove a micro thin layer of clear coat (buffs out swirls, oxidation, etc) or cleaning chemicals to clean the paint, but don't add protection. This step adds a lot of shine and is known as the prep work. Pure sealants are really meant to protect the paint for months and add a reflective shine. Waxes (carnauba waxes) offer less protection than a sealant (generally speaking) but offer more depth and gloss in the shine. The ideal combination is to layer a carnauba wax on top of a sealant so you get the underlying strong protection of a sealant and the deep gloss of a carnauba wax on top. Polishes generally would not go on top of a wax or sealant. The correct order for using products is usually wash/dry - clay bar - polish - glaze - sealant - wax.

If you only want to do just one step I'd recommend the sealant because they have such strong protection and a great shine. The FMJ mentioned above is probably one of the easiest products to apply and remove. I'd follow the previous recommendations I outlined for selecting a carnauba wax if you prefer their deeper shine. All three are pretty easy to apply with the Natty's Blue being slightly harder to work with. The Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax and the P21S Carnauba Wax are extremely easy to work with and both come with applicator pads (Pinnacle also comes with a microfiber towel).

In summary if you want protection and shine go with a sealant like the FMJ. If you want the deeper gloss and a little less protection get a carnauba wax. If you want even better results use both or add more steps to the detail. Let me know if I can provide any more information or a more clear recommendation for you. Good luck with the detail and let us know how you make out!

George @ Detailed Image

welcome to the board!
no questions for the moment but i'm sure i'll have some soon.
nice offer also, sucks i JUST ordered Poorboys wheel sealant :(

welcome to the forum george,i've followed your advice on fresh alloy for quite a while.

Okay, I'll bite on this one! I have a 2004 Obsidian Black coupe that could use some TLC. She has the infamous "swirl" marks that I just can't seem to get out myself. I don't mind laying out some dough for a quality product, because she is worth it! So, with that, what are the steps that you recommend to start getting my baby back on the right track!? Also, what type of buffer do you recommend?

I know this George guy, real smarmy character. Always taking my money and sending me chemicals in the mail... sneaky. Watch out for him.. :D

Welcome to the boards! Thanks for the 10% discount for all of the members here, im sure you will be recieving alot of orders from all of us.

-sean