How to get a nice shine.

[Cablekid]

Whats the best way to get a nice shine out of your car? I clean my car with car soap and water But is their anyway to get a nice shine and maybe remove some swirls?

I dont have any special tools. just me to hands. :buttrock

[fishfeet]

Check out the detailing hall of fame threads parked at the top...

Basically you will want to clay, polish, and protect. You will be able to very very little to get swirls out by hand.

[TheodoreHendrix]

You've got a lot of reading ahead of you.

www.autopia.org

[2000mkoop]

depending on how bad your paint is (....never been clayed or waxed?) just doing stuff by hand will still make a world of difference for sure. clay + few rounds of hand-polishing + many layers of wax will surprise you !

color of car? age? miles?

[Cablekid]

It's a 1998 Bmw 328i with 101,000 miles on it. Paints in good condition. Where do i get clay from? And how to i put it on? I have red rubbing compound is that the same? and where do i get hand polish from?

[fishfeet]

Wow, you really do need to do a lot of learning before you attack your car...

You do not put on clay. You can buy it from online vendors, but you can also get good clay at WalMart. I prefer the Mothers brand. It comes with the clay lube (which is actually quick detailer), and a cleaner wax, which is OK - I used it on my sisters car before she sold it and it made a decent difference cleaning it up.


Clay removes contaminants that embed into the paint. You lube up the paint with the spray in the box and rub the clay over the surface. You do not need to use any pressure. just keep rubbing lightly over it.
DO NOT DROP YOUR CLAY!! If you drop it on the ground it will pick up little rocks, etc, and when you rub the paint it will scratch.
Best thing to do is cut up the clay into several pieces, so if you drop one you still have more unused.
A little trick: put your hand in a ziplock bag and rub your hand over the paint. You will almost certainly feel little bumps all over the place.
Now, do a section with the clay. Now, rub over it again with the hand in the bag. Most of those bumps should now be gone. You can keep rubbing that section until you feel no more. This will make a tremendous difference in the health of your paint.


Rubbing compound - what kind? Compounds are the most abrasive form of polish. If you use a compound you will have to follow it up with a less abrasive polish, and perhaps again with a finishing polish.

Your car has a very hard clear coat. You will do little to nothing trying to polish by hand.
You may see some success if you buy products with fillers - but that is not polishing, that is hiding. The swirls, etc, will come back after a few washes.


Please, become a member of autopia.org and read read read. You will learn a lot.


Remember, polishing is a mechanical process. You are actually REMOVING clear coat. So you need heat and speed to accomplish this. That is something your arm really is not going to do.

[Cablekid]

Thanks. I guess i got some reading up to do Lol.
I did read up on clay but im scared i might scratch the car Lol.

Here is my plan so far from what i read up on.

Proper Washing and Drying - I will follow those steps in the stickypost
Claying
Waxing
Glass cleaning 101 - also a stickypost


Thats so far my plan think i will see a difference?

[fishfeet]

Claying will make a big difference... but this does nothing to really correct the paint as far as swirls are concerned.. it will just take away the contaminants.
Claying can actually add some swirls / scratches. But most people who clay are following it up with a polishing, so that shouldnt matter.


If you really want to polish correctly you will need to use a machine to get any real results. The porter cable is the standard for the do-it-yourself kind of person. It does not have the power or speed that a professional needs, nor will the PC be as effective, but it will get the job done for the average person.
I spent 12 hours on my car and only polished from the middle black trim and up! I have not done below just yet. So the PC is slow, but it is a lot more effective than you could ever hope for by hand.

[Cablekid]

Dang well i don't have alot of cash right now to get a machine.

Should i skip the claying so i don't add any more swirls? and just do cleaning,waxing,and window cleaning?

[Court M3]

friend of mine used the Liquid Claybar from Turtle Wax IIRC with good results.

[2000mkoop]

Don't skip the clay-bar. It's not that big of a deal, just make sure the car is properly cleaned, don't drop the clay, and just pay attention to all the contaminents building up on the clay surface, and fold/knead to a clean side. Plenty of lube as well ;) haha

Your car will be nice and slick after the clay, and it will make hand-polishing and waxing go smoother as well. As mentioned hand-polishing will only do so much (how strong are you and how fast can you rotate your hand??haha) but it'll certainly help remove some light stuff. Now save up for a machine!

[MJFX328]

Use LOTS of lube. Otherwise you can damage your paint.

Washing the car with the proper soap will produce much shinier paint. Meguairs purple soap is the best OTC soap I've found. Otherwise, soaps you buy online are far superior to OTC.

[2000mkoop]

You may want to wash with dish-soap to help remove any crap on your paint, then clay-bar, then wash again with dish-soap to make sure there is no clay-bar / contaminant residue left. It won't damage your paint, and you won't need to use it after this initial cleanup. Find a good quality soap for future washes.

[MADetail]

You may want to wash with dish-soap to help remove any crap on your paint, then clay-bar, then wash again with dish-soap to make sure there is no clay-bar / contaminant residue left. It won't damage your paint, and you won't need to use it after this initial cleanup. Find a good quality soap for future washes.

Please do not do this since you have no other mechanical tools to work with. Using dish soap will remove ANY protection you have on your paint. Using it a second time only asks for trouble. Since you will be using elbow grease you wont be putting back into the paint what you just took out. I suggest you read up first before you touch a car. Maybe go to a junk yard and find a panal to practice on.

[Cablekid]

Sweet deal. I thought using dish soap was bad.. I was just going to go to auto zone and see if i can get some car soap or something.

Maybe i should stick with just using car soap and washing and waxing lol?

[Roth21]

Use the claybar. It's simple, and very effective.

[MJFX328]

Dish soap is silly. I dont think it will eat the paint (unless it has bleach or sumthin in it), but its just plain dumb considering you can buy quality soap for $3.99.

[2000mkoop]

dish-soap will not harm your paint whatsoever. Cost is not the reason to use dish-soap. the point of it is that it contains chemicals that will remove any previous protection / wax on your car, and help remove contaminants. Blank canvas. It's a one-time deal. After this initial cleanup, you'll use a good car-wash soap.

[NeoRoundel]

^ i agree.

Using clay when washing your car is a pretty effective tool too.