by CAAD7 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:43 pm
Hi all,
After reading through the 32 pages of this thread I went straight to Hamish via his FB page with some questions to scrub up my GTB. Rather than keep his info to myself, thought I would share with everyone, hope it's useful for some:
Q: I have the plastic rear bumper guard on the wagon that has been in the sun its whole life and faded out, plus I want to bring up the rest of the black plastics, what is the best product?
A: For the plastic the best long term product is cquartz dlux
Outcome: Haven't got there yet, but watched a youtube video of a guy who did his old car in the US, it looks amazing. I will be using on the headlights as well as per Hamish's suggestion (given I wont be Opticoating)
Q: My windows have never been looked after, covered in water marks (like your shower would be if rarely cleaned from new), engrained well and truly into the glass, what can I clean them up with?
A: Try steel wool 0000 and water for glass. If its etched badly you need cerium oxide. Glass polishing isn't fun.
Outcome: OMG this is NOT fun! Polished, steel wooled (I did both dry and wet, didnt seem to make much difference) and some of the windows STILL wont come up to clear. Cerium Oxide is next. It did however make a massive difference, and the initial polish probably could have been sufficient for some, but I still wasn't happy.
Q: What basic polishes to get my car back up to a newer looking standard (it's not got swirls, is just a bit dull)
A: Contact waxit for some advice, I like Scholl
Outcome: Waxit recommended Scholl S3 Gold as the cut with a white scholl pad, and S30+ with a black scholl pad for finish.
Q: Any other products I should get while buying online?
A: Perl for the tyres, and waffle weave drying towel.
Outcome: Got the Perl, haven't used it yet, and the waffle weave was a no brainer after every forum I have read made some form of recommendation.
I also asked waxit for some advice re hand vs DA polisher
A: While a DA will do a better job, the amount I intend on polishing after the initial clean up [like once a year, and the paint isn't that bad], they suggested I would be ok with the puck pads to do by hand.
So, now the fun part of cquartz, and then clay bar, cut, polish, and wax!
I will be doing:
Cquartz all plastics (as recommended to do first by guys waxit)
Clay bar (using Bowdens Fine Clay Bar and Bowdens Body Detail) (have used this on spots behind number plates, works fine)
S3 Gold with white puck pad
S30+ with black puck pad
Bowdens Own Auto Body Wax (two coats)
As you all know, this takes a while if you can't get to it in one day, so I will be back with some pics when I am finally done! Going to do sort of panel by panel as I get the time.