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New Car Plan of Action (Newbie)


nvk

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Hi Everbody,

 

I am expecting my new car to arrive in about 2 weeks. So far I have planned the following based on my research on Adam's Forums :) :

 

1. Strip Wash 

2. Clay

3. Polish

4. Seal

5. Glaze

6. Wax

 

However, I am confused if it's ok to strip wash a new car. I understand that it all depends on the condition of the car rather than blindly following the above list, but I am a total newbie and I read on a thread here to check the manufacturing date to get an idea of how old the paint is, but what a recent paint job means and how a strip wash may or may not affect it is not understood by me. I read about time required for a fresh paint to cure but again haven't been able to understand it fully. Can someone shed some light on this topic for me? In case I cannot go ahead with Strip Wash then would it be ok to do a regular wash with Adam's shampoo followed by the remaining steps listed above? 

 

My car colour is similar to Nardo Grey (Audi), I have attached a pic for reference. This is not my car, it was sitting on the dealer lot. I am planning on requesting the dealer to not wash the car or remove the vinyl but a bit apprehensive about it as this is India and in case something unusual is found once I take it home then they will definitely not be interested in listening to me. Or I could ask them to remove the vinyls in front of me, we can inspect the car and if all ok then I can take it home dirty. 

 

Also, I would appreciate any input on the steps I have listed above, is the sequence ok? 

 

Products I have bought are as follows (All Adam's  :D ):

 

1. Car Shampoo

2. Strip Wash

3. Revive Hand Polish 

4. LPS

5. Wheel Cleaner

6. H2O G&G

7. All Purpose Cleaner

8. Buttery Wax

9. VRT

10. Detail Spray

11. Clay Bar

12. Picked up other still like applicators and microfibre towels but not listing them out

 

 

Thank you everybody. 

 

post-16698-0-14730300-1507185933_thumb.jpg

Edited by nvk
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Wow, you've been very thorough.

 

As a dealer, it is likely that the car has already been built and sat for a long enough period of time that the paint is 100% cured.  60-90 days is all it would need at most.  Cars put in show rooms will be washed with commercial soap and likely given a cheap wax anyways so I think Adam's Strip wash will be 100% safe for you. 

 

Your purchased list looks good.  I wouldn't worry too much about Glazes and even Wax for a daily car unless you want to shine her up, which there's nothing wrong with, just know that it's not necessary.  And I'd probably switch the order to #5 Wax and lastly #6 Glaze.  Glaze is a very short term color enhancer.  It offers probably zero "protection" that wax can.  It helps to give your paint a deep luster though, as well as being amazing on glass.  

 

Your order is great though, strip washing is going to be 100% safe for you.  Again it's not like you're cleaning your car with acid.  It's just a bit more aggressive to take off previous coatings of wax, or soap that commercial washing may have left on it. Your clay is for taking off everything else.  And then seal it up with LPS and maintain it after washes with H2O G&G.  

 

I would look at some Waterless Wash for a way to wipe it down when it's not bad enough to require a bucket wash.  

 

Also as for washing, I'm assuming you already have 2 buckets/grit guards/soft wash pads? If not, you may want those because washing with a single bucket/no grit guard and an older wash pad is a sure way to swirl and mar up your car that you painstakingly detailed.  

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I think your order is dead on. Strip wash the car, clay, polish if needed and then seal, glaze and wax in that order. The buttery wax is the shortest lasting wax adams has so maybe picking up some Americana wax might not be a bad idea. Start with your sealant, this allows the sealant to bind to the “naked” paint and gives us the best protrction. Follow that with the glaze to add shine and finish with a wax to lock everything in and add even more shine. I would say that wax is necessary for a daily driver though, you want to give as much protection as you can. It will degrade after as it is being driven daily but to want to have as much protection as you can. I prefer to add the glaze after sealant and before the wax to “lock in” the level of shine you get from the sealant and glaze, rather than after the waxing stage. The other option to look into is a ceramic coating. These usually last 1-2 years and require no wax, glaze or sealant and provides superior water beading as well as ease in cleaning

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I agree with the above. However, from my experience, both americana and buttery wax gives the car a lot more shine than brilliant glaze. Ive tried different combinations (glaze first, wax first, black car, light car, etc..) and I get a lot more shine with wax than glaze. I also prefer wax first and glaze last, but theres no wrong way. 

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Wow, you've been very thorough.

 

As a dealer, it is likely that the car has already been built and sat for a long enough period of time that the paint is 100% cured.  60-90 days is all it would need at most.  Cars put in show rooms will be washed with commercial soap and likely given a cheap wax anyways so I think Adam's Strip wash will be 100% safe for you. 

 

Your purchased list looks good.  I wouldn't worry too much about Glazes and even Wax for a daily car unless you want to shine her up, which there's nothing wrong with, just know that it's not necessary.  And I'd probably switch the order to #5 Wax and lastly #6 Glaze.  Glaze is a very short term color enhancer.  It offers probably zero "protection" that wax can.  It helps to give your paint a deep luster though, as well as being amazing on glass.  

 

Your order is great though, strip washing is going to be 100% safe for you.  Again it's not like you're cleaning your car with acid.  It's just a bit more aggressive to take off previous coatings of wax, or soap that commercial washing may have left on it. Your clay is for taking off everything else.  And then seal it up with LPS and maintain it after washes with H2O G&G.  

 

I would look at some Waterless Wash for a way to wipe it down when it's not bad enough to require a bucket wash.  

 

Also as for washing, I'm assuming you already have 2 buckets/grit guards/soft wash pads? If not, you may want those because washing with a single bucket/no grit guard and an older wash pad is a sure way to swirl and mar up your car that you painstakingly detailed.  

 

Thanks, James! Actually the forum has been very thorough :D  and it hasn't hurt me to keep in touch wth detailing forums here and there. Plus I have done the basics on my Dad's car couple of times. 

 

I guess it all comes down to checking the date of manufacture and as long as it's been a sufficiently long time I am ready to go with strip wash. I definitely want her to shine a lot so gonna go ahead with the wax and glaze. Thanks for the tip on the sequence, I have seen mixed views about this on the forum so I guess I will do a coin toss on the day of but will surely keep your advice in mind. 

 

And that would be a double yes for two buckets/grit guards/wash pads! There is no other way  :2thumbs:

 

Oh I forgot to mention in my list that I picked up a gallon of Rinseless Wash. Planning to dilute it to Waterless for quick spot cleaning and of course rinseless wash method when required. 

 

I think your order is dead on. Strip wash the car, clay, polish if needed and then seal, glaze and wax in that order. The buttery wax is the shortest lasting wax adams has so maybe picking up some Americana wax might not be a bad idea. Start with your sealant, this allows the sealant to bind to the “naked” paint and gives us the best protrction. Follow that with the glaze to add shine and finish with a wax to lock everything in and add even more shine. I would say that wax is necessary for a daily driver though, you want to give as much protection as you can. It will degrade after as it is being driven daily but to want to have as much protection as you can. I prefer to add the glaze after sealant and before the wax to “lock in” the level of shine you get from the sealant and glaze, rather than after the waxing stage. The other option to look into is a ceramic coating. These usually last 1-2 years and require no wax, glaze or sealant and provides superior water beading as well as ease in cleaning

 

Thanks, Wyatt. Americana wax is surely in my wishlist. For now I just wanted to start with the basics and work my way up. 

 

I wasn't feeling too confident with ceramic coating right now, however seems fairly doable. My next purchase is probably going to include some ceramic coatings. 

 

I agree with the above. However, from my experience, both americana and buttery wax gives the car a lot more shine than brilliant glaze. Ive tried different combinations (glaze first, wax first, black car, light car, etc..) and I get a lot more shine with wax than glaze. I also prefer wax first and glaze last, but theres no wrong way. 

 

Thanks! That makes 2 out of 3 people recommending wax first then glaze. I might just go this route. 

Edited by nvk
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Hi Guys, 

Took me a while to get around to doing this but posting some pics for you. Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures during the process, I don't have a closed garage and the lighting was very poor where I detailed the car. Not exactly poor, but definitely not sufficient. I need to invest in some lights as I kept coming across product residue at various stages. 

All in all, I am extremely happy with the results, I definitely made some mistakes, thankfully nothing major. But for my very first detail it was a fantastic experience and I got a sense of how I can be better next time around. Since the detail I have done a waterless wash as well, it's way too dusty here. 

Enough talking, onto the pics. Below is delivery day condition, car had been sitting in a dusty lot. Despite its condition the pain was in really good condition. No swirls or scratches. Obviously it was difficult to inspect it in this condition but I was willing to risk it as I didn't want the dealer to wash it. 

IMG_20171021_145003.thumb.jpg.9a68e7bda95a8930c590a5c20a63c28e.jpg

 

Delivery miles.. actually odd read 6kms when I picked it up. IMG_20171021_171217.thumb.jpg.c9b18720cf5f2137a7800085ebbec092.jpg

 

IMG_20171029_132041.thumb.jpg.e56c090553e7eadaf78ebd34dff0e01a.jpg

 

IMG_20171029_132049.thumb.jpg.74cc1b2b4e168869ea2b1585fcaec431.jpg

 

IMG_20171029_132053.thumb.jpg.8c7866529f3355b403b4985016e2afe3.jpg

 

IMG_20171029_132103.thumb.jpg.dcc92399660dc9537d42d39d1491e029.jpg

 

IMG_20171029_145308.thumb.jpg.9c04e3113147eb815319bea82679d819.jpg

 

IMG_20171029_145337.thumb.jpg.598430878aa692ed7e18eab7ddf3360f.jpg

 

Let me know what you guys think!! 

 

Cheers,

 

Nikhil 

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On 11/3/2017 at 8:25 PM, mc2hill said:

Nice car Nikhil!  But you will have to let us Americans know what kind of car this is!  (Skoda maybe?)  That does not look a brand we get in over here.

Thank you Michael! its a 2017 Skoda Octavia vRS 230. 

 

On 11/3/2017 at 11:31 PM, avimore said:

Turned out great, nice work!

Yep, Skoda Octavia I believe @mc2hill

 

Thanks Ed! 

On 11/5/2017 at 5:20 AM, ZMAN024 said:

Nice work Nikhil !  :2thumbs:

Thanks Oz! 

On 11/5/2017 at 7:02 AM, LSX Maestro said:

Very interesting paint color, I like it alot! Kind of like the color GT350/Rs get.  

Ya I really like the colour, its similar to Audi's Nardo Grey. Thanks James! 

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