Where to start?

[mrramsey]

Greetings - I have been researching the topics of washing ad detailing over the past couple of weeks. It's been a bit overwhelming. I'll explain what I have and where I want to be and am looking for what I need to accomplish this.

 

I / We have three vehicles. 2013 Honda CRV Titanium metallic (wifes daily driver) needs some love,  2017 VW Golf Wolfsburg Edition White (Sons car), 2018 Ford F-15 4X4 Lariat Black. I also have a black 2018 Lund boat. No offense to the pros but I simply can't afford to have these professionally done. The boat gets the garage 365 since it's heated and the CRV gets the garage in the winter since my wife has a fairly long commute. The truck and VW live outside.

 

What I would like to accomplish is to do a twice a year sealant prior to winter and after winter. I definitely want a machine to apply as well as minor paint correction, polishing etc. I would like to be able to do these things with as few products as possible that will give good protection and good looks. I am adopting the two bucket method for washing already. I know I do need an iron remover as I can see some orange spots on the VW. I will likely need to clay the Honda and VW. I will want to at least do a light polish to all vehicles before applying a sealant (Adams Paint Sealer?) I will want to polish the glass as well, especially the Honda, and seal the glass (not sure what to use). Towels, how many what kind? Need suggestions in a bad way. 

 

The main focus is the exterior since we are going into winter. I am probably way overthinking this which is usually what happens to me.

[ObsessedDetailer]

6 minutes ago, mrramsey said:

Greetings - I have been researching the topics of washing ad detailing over the past couple of weeks. It's been a bit overwhelming. I'll explain what I have and where I want to be and am looking for what I need to accomplish this.

 

I / We have three vehicles. 2013 Honda CRV Titanium metallic (wifes daily driver) needs some love,  2017 VW Golf Wolfsburg Edition White (Sons car), 2018 Ford F-15 4X4 Lariat Black. I also have a black 2018 Lund boat. No offense to the pros but I simply can't afford to have these professionally done. The boat gets the garage 365 since it's heated and the CRV gets the garage in the winter since my wife has a fairly long commute. The truck and VW live outside.

 

What I would like to accomplish is to do a twice a year sealant prior to winter and after winter. I definitely want a machine to apply as well as minor paint correction, polishing etc. I would like to be able to do these things with as few products as possible that will give good protection and good looks. I am adopting the two bucket method for washing already. I know I do need an iron remover as I can see some orange spots on the VW. I will likely need to clay the Honda and VW. I will want to at least do a light polish to all vehicles before applying a sealant (Adams Paint Sealer?) I will want to polish the glass as well, especially the Honda, and seal the glass (not sure what to use). Towels, how many what kind? Need suggestions in a bad way. 

 

The main focus is the exterior since we are going into winter. I am probably way overthinking this which is usually what happens to me.

Welcome! Make sure you introduce yourself on the new member check in! Sounds like you have some nice cars man! Adam's will definitely be able to help you protect them. You definitely should clay your cars before polishing them and protecting them with anything. it will make it look better and protect better as well as level out the paint before you seal or wax. If you do polish, you could do the "one step polish" Which is basically all the steps in one. It wont give the results as it would if you did each step on its own. The adam's glass sealant is great stuff, it works very well. As far as polishing glass i am not sure. I am not familiar with that area. I bet @shane@detailedreflections  could give some good insight on this though. Let me know if theres anything else I can help with!

[moons21]

Hi.. and Welcome.  I have used the One Step on some peoples cars that didn't care or want me to spend the time/money on a two/three step correction seal.  It works pretty good.  On a white car, I used the white pad to give it just a bit more pop and a seal (note that PS gives longer protection) and on another I used an orange pad to get more correcting out of it.  Make sure your surface is clean as others have mentioned, Iron Remover and clay as needed before working.  Put on some tunes and have some fun. 

 

For the glass, not sure if anyone really has a good glass polish as glass is pretty hard to start with.  I usually clay then use the GS on them and boost throughout the winter to help keep it working.

[mrramsey]

@ObsessedDetailerThanks! As far as polishing goes I am just looking to get a good smooth surface prior to applying a sealant. None of these are show cars to say the least but I do want to keep them up better than the average Joe. Well I currently am the average Joe...LOL and need to kick it up a notch.  The glass polishing I saw was a video by Chem Guys i think. They clay bar'd the glass then polished it with a PC DA. As far as I can tell from reading and watching videos the past couple weeks  the Adams stuff seems to be pretty straight forward and simpler than others (at least to me that is).

[mrramsey]

2 minutes ago, moons21 said:

  I usually clay then use the GS on them and boost throughout the winter to help keep it working.

Boost? is that Ceramic Boost you are referring to?

[moons21]

1 minute ago, mrramsey said:

Boost? is that Ceramic Boost you are referring to?

Glass boost.. I think you can use CB2.0 on glass now, but since it's glass and you dont want streaks.. GB..

Also use Brillant Glaze on the inside of your windshield to cut out any films that may be there.

[cwp2016nd]

If you'd like the least amount of products and keep it simple, this is what I would get in your case. 

 

Iron Remover

Visco Clay bar or Clay Mitt

Finishing Polish

White polishing pads

Paint Sealant

Use paint sealant on the side windows as well

Good all around towel is Adam's borderless grey - can use for polish removal, spot drying, quick detailers etc. Get the bundles on Amazon, they're cheaper over there. Since you have three cars I would start with at least 20 of them (just my opinion). 

 

For the windshield I use Rain-X but many use the glass sealant and love it. 

 

If you need to polish scratches out of glass get some Lake Country Rayon polishing pads and Carpro Ceriglass polish. If you're simply removing waterspots an orange pad and some correcting polish does the trick. 

 

 

[mrramsey]

1 minute ago, cwp2016nd said:

If you'd like the least amount of products and keep it simple, this is what I would get in your case. 

 

Iron Remover

Visco Clay bar or Clay Mitt

Finishing Polish

White polishing pads

Paint Sealant

Use paint sealant on the side windows as well

Good all around towel is Adam's borderless grey - can use for polish removal, spot drying, quick detailers etc. Get the bundles on Amazon, they're cheaper over there. Since you have three cars I would start with at least 20 of them (just my opinion). 

 

For the windshield I use Rain-X but many use the glass sealant and love it. 

 

If you need to polish scratches out of glass get some Lake Country Rayon polishing pads and Carpro Ceriglass polish. If you're simply removing waterspots an orange pad and some correcting polish does the trick. 

 

 

Good Stuff! Thanks!

[shane@detailedreflections]

So here’s your process...then we will get to glass. 

 

- wash

- iron

- clay

- polish (as many steps as needed. Start least to most aggressive)

- sealant

- glaze (optional)

- wax of your choice (we use two thin coats of a different wax). Also on wax, they say you can skip sealant and use ceramic wax. We haven’t tried it and I won’t vouch for durability.

 

For pads and towels...you need way more than you think or realize. We go through pads and towels like crazy. Especially if the vehicle is bad to begin with. Clay and iron remover only do so much. Sometimes you’ll just smoke a pad and that’s the way it is. Same with towels. 

 

On to glass...you can polish glass. A finishing polish over glass is a decent cleaner to scrub it. We also use a white scotch brite and a cream cleaner when we need to. 

 

Glass can be polished. CarPro makes a product called ceriglass and you’ll want a glass polishing pad. Glass is MUCH harder than paint. Plan to be there a while to get improvement. What are you trying to polish out of the glass?  Water spots?  0000 steel wool may get them with some glass cleaner. Hope you have patience if you go the polishing route. 

 

Glass sealant is a great product. A step up from Rain-X. We use it as a base product for those clients who don’t want better. We offer a product called Glassparency which has a three year warranty and is probably the best we’ve worked with. It may be worthwhile to find an installer in your area if you want to have minimal maintenance and the hydrophobic effect. 

 

And thanks @ObsessedDetailer for the mention!

[mc2hill]

@mrramsey Excellent information above!  Shane recommended getting more pads and towels than you think you need, which is true, but primarily if you are on a schedule.  If you can work when you want and are not in a rush, you can polish a few panels at a time, clean the pads & towels, and work again when they are dry (pads can take 2-3 days to dry completely).  Once you are finished you would add the protection to the entire vehicle.  

And Welcome to Adam's Forums!

[DF24]

On 10/23/2018 at 2:17 PM, cwp2016nd said:

If you'd like the least amount of products and keep it simple, this is what I would get in your case. 

 

Iron Remover

Visco Clay bar or Clay Mitt

Finishing Polish

White polishing pads

Paint Sealant

Use paint sealant on the side windows as well

Good all around towel is Adam's borderless grey - can use for polish removal, spot drying, quick detailers etc. Get the bundles on Amazon, they're cheaper over there. Since you have three cars I would start with at least 20 of them (just my opinion). 

 

For the windshield I use Rain-X but many use the glass sealant and love it. 

 

If you need to polish scratches out of glass get some Lake Country Rayon polishing pads and Carpro Ceriglass polish. If you're simply removing waterspots an orange pad and some correcting polish does the trick. 

 

 

Liquid Paint sealant info on glass is what I’ve been looking for, how do you like it on the glass? I’ve used chemical guys jetseal on glass few years back and loved it and seemed to have lasted for ever. Now I have Adam’s paint sealant but haven’t gotten a chance to use it yet and was wondering if it can be applied on the windshield 

[cwp2016nd]

5 hours ago, DF24 said:

Liquid Paint sealant info on glass is what I’ve been looking for, how do you like it on the glass? I’ve used chemical guys jetseal on glass few years back and loved it and seemed to have lasted for ever. Now I have Adam’s paint sealant but haven’t gotten a chance to use it yet and was wondering if it can be applied on the windshield 

You can apply it on the windshield, but there's better products out there for it. I've tested many products on windows and paint sealant holds up pretty well on side and rear windows. On the windshield because there is more abrasion (wind pushing water/dirt against it at high speeds) it doesn't last as long as I'd like. 

 

I use rain-x because I still have half a bottle left and get a couple months from one use, but many people use glass sealant and love it. It's claimed to be stronger and last longer than rain-x. It's a non issue for me as it takes all of 10 minutes to apply a fresh coat of rain-x and I still have some left.