detailing question?

[moogle]

Using regular dawn soap to wash your car is bad right.... than why does zaino recommend you do that first???
I am pretty amateur on detailing but never used dawn, but since zaino is pretty known company on detailing... I don't know.

[Blak94GSX]

Dawn doesn't hurt the paint, just strips the wax. It is GOOD to use dawn before laying down a new wax coat.

Zaino is good stuff indeed. It isn't a wax so much as a polymer polish, so you have to remove any waxes first so it can stick to the paint nicely.

If you have Black or a dark color, Zaino is the ultimate polish. If you have White or Yellow, use whatever is cheap... :p

[Guack007]

What about Red? Hehe

What car wash soap do you guys recommend that isnt overly expensive?

[Blak94GSX]

The EVO Red is deep enough that Zaino might make a noticeable difference over "off-the-shelf" products, although the TurtleWax Extreme, and Ultra Gloss stuff is pretty good and about 1/10th the cost and easier to apply.

Mother's makes a nice gel car wash soap, and the pink meguiar's stuff is good too. Neither will strip wax, so if you use an "off-the-shelf" wax you will want to use that. Dawn is still a good idea before your base wax coat. Clay bar is almost always a good idea to do at least once on a new car to remove various contaminants.

[dlieu959]

I recently tried the new NXT wax from meguiars and it works really well. Not as good as the zaino stuff but i figured its a white car so what the hell. Should give that stuff a try and you'll be suprised by the results!

[hksevo8]

don't bother using the mr clean auto dry system. I sux ass! :banghead:

[CACalomino]

Here is a step by step I did on how to detail your evo inside and out only hting missing was a tire write up but most if not all people know how to apply tire dressing to a tire so I did not add in my right up. Also if u think I dont know what im talking about Ask BEVO I did his car u should have scene the differance. http://forums.evolutionm.net/showthread.php?t=75674


As for the dish soap on a car dont do it. NOt only will it stip off wax but if u use it over and over it will eat the finish of the car. My dad said it would not and did not belive me till he did it to his car adn after 4 years it was shot to shit even with waxing.

Zaino is a good product but like stated above its more of a polish witch will bring up the shine but over long periods of time polish can slowly strip the paint just like any other polish can. Polishing is kinda like color sanding your scrapping into the paint and clear to get to the paint that has not been damaged by the elements. In most case's u will not get damage from polishing frequently but with MITSU cheep paint I would not do it all the time just every 6 month or so and just wax in between those 6 months. To explain color sanding its just what the name says u are slightly sanding off alittle bit of the clear and paint to get ot the virgin paint below it works well but it thins the paint depth making it more sesepitble to chips cracking etc and should only be used in times when no other product can help expecily on the evo's crapy paint

Just go to your local detail supply place and talk to the experts I have been a detailer for 2 years but was detailing my owns cars way before that. IF u take car of a car with the siple steps i my link on a regular timed basis u will never have a problem.

BLACK cars need to be real carefull because if u mess up in any way shape or form on any kinda of detailing it will show. ALso when drying your car use a super soft towel or in my case I use a shammy to get the puddles off then go over the car with a Microfiber drying towel that will not scratch the clear coat at all. Thing is a regular medium soft towel with basic drying aplyed pressure can leave little swirls in the clear form the abuse over time get a microfiber drying towel for sure your paint and car will thank U. If u guys gals ever want one HIt me up before a meet I can pick up a few for those who would like one they only cost like 12 dollars.

-Chris aka dirt kid

[Blak94GSX]

That's good info.

I like the California Car squeegee to remove the bulk of the water and then use an Absorber towel to remove the remaining spots.

Black is definitely a real handful. Most towels and wash rags will scratch it noticeably, and you can NEVER take it to a car wash if you don't want scratches.

[CACalomino]

That's good info.

I like the California Car squeegee to remove the bulk of the water and then use an Absorber towel to remove the remaining spots.

Black is definitely a real handful. Most towels and wash rags will scratch it noticeably, and you can NEVER take it to a car wash if you don't want scratches.

My best advice to u since u have a black car is ditch the absorber I used to use that on my black civic and it left light swirl scratches on it the squeegee is the same my old boss we baught one of those and used it on our customers and we started to notice little imperfections. Anything that kinda sticks to the paint as your drying it gona hurt it no matter what its shitty but facts of paint.

Shammy & or microfiber finishing drying towel will keep your car in the condition its in and prevent any further slight scratches well the ones u see when the sun hits your car in certain spots.

jusy my .02 but if if works for u rock it by all means im not the detail god Ive just scene to many paint jobs go to hell or had to fix them and its a pain in the ass to do so.***** damn soccer moms *****

-Chris

[Blak94GSX]

Naw it works good. It doesn't scratch the paint like cotton towels do. I have some microfiber towels too but they aren't as absorbant and I use them mostly for wax removal.

The problem with black is that it doesn't photograph well. It looks good in person though:

http://blak94gsx.com/events/USCC_2003/fsimages/USCC%20084_med.jpg


http://blak94gsx.com/events/USCC_2003/fsimages/scot01_med.jpg

http://blak94gsx.com/pics/eclipse_malibu_sm.jpg

[Guack007]

I need to find a good place that sells microfibre towels and good wax. Any one know of aplace in South OC?

[JP98SS]

Zaino is a good product but like stated above its more of a polish witch will bring up the shine but over long periods of time polish can slowly strip the paint just like any other polish can. Polishing is kinda like color sanding your scrapping into the paint and clear to get to the paint that has not been damaged by the elements.
-Chris aka dirt kid

Zaino does not have any abrasives in it. It will not strip your paint.

[Guack007]

I need to find a good place that sells microfibre towels and good wax. Any one know of aplace in South OC?

My mom picked up a package of 20 medium sized bright neon yellow microfibre towels from costco for less then 10 bucks. I just tried them on my evo and it only took 5 to dry the whole car. almost zero water spoting and they are extemely soft. I hope they will come out of the wash in good condition. I highly recomend these. PM me if you need more info.

[Blak94GSX]

Yeah most polishes are totally abrasive free, hence the term "polish" and not "cleaner"

The downside with a polish is that the paint must already be in perfect condition or it will just make it look worse. So you need to use a cleaner first if you have anything on the paint.

[mprtklr]

I need to find a good place that sells microfibre towels and good wax. Any one know of aplace in South OC?

My mom picked up a package of 20 medium sized bright neon yellow microfibre towels from costco for less then 10 bucks. I just tried them on my evo and it only took 5 to dry the whole car. almost zero water spoting and they are extemely soft. I hope they will come out of the wash in good condition. I highly recomend these. PM me if you need more info.

walmart has packs of 5packs microfiber meguiars towels for 5 bucks. and they do wash easily, just dont drop them, otherwise throw them away, those microfibers hold dirt....