DETAILING SECRETS

By Prentice St. Clair

One of the concerns of most car lovers is the painted surfaces of their vehicle. Professional automotive detailers need to be able to handle both basic paint care as well as advanced paint correction techniques.

For those of you who are veterans of automotive paint care, this will be a good review and includes some tips and tricks to help you improve your paint care techniques.

Basic Automotive Paint Care

We start with the basics. The vehicle must be washed in such a way as to minimize one of the most common paint problems: minor scratching of the paint surface. Let’s face it; there is no way to effectively wash a car in preparation for a detail without some contact with the vehicle surfaces. And anytime the paint is contacted, there is the potential for scratching, even if it is only microscopic wash scratches.

Washing

So to minimize scratching, we can employ certain techniques. I recommend starting the prep wash by cleaning the dirtiest parts of the car first. This means the wheels, tires, and wheel wells, the front exposure (headlamp groups, grill, bumper and spoiler), the door jambs, the lower third of the side panels (e.g., below the trim line) and the rear exposure (license plate recess, rear light groups and bumper).

Once the grit and grime is rinsed from these lower areas, the main body of the vehicle can be washed with a lamb’s wool wash mitt and a fresh bucket of car wash shampoo. Dip the mitt in the bucket several times during the wash and pull it out dripping wet (i.e., no wringing). The combination of the soft mitt, plenty of water and the shampoo will help to minimize the scratching of the paint. Moreover, the mitt never has to go on the parts of the car that are most typically the dirtiest and grittiest, because these have already been washed and rinsed. Thus the mitt is less likely to pick up grit from these areas.

It is not necessary to scrub heavily or repeatedly pass over a given area with the mitt. Instead, we are simply trying to remove loose surface dirt and debris. Anything that is left over from the wash will likely be removed while claying.

Simple preventative steps can be taken during the wash that will further help to reduce scratching. For example, keep the wash mitt separate from buckets and appliances used to clean the lower third of the vehicle. Never let the wash mitt touch the ground. Use a separate bucket for your wash mitts. Start with a fresh bucket of solution for each new car or use a grit guard at the bottom of the bucket.

For those operators using low water techniques, make sure to include in your wash and rinse water an emulsifying agent that will help to pull away the dust and grit from the paint surface before it is wiped dry.

Drying

Most professionals agree that a synthetic chamois is the easiest and most effective way to dry a washed vehicle. As with the mitt, keep the chamois from contacting the ground. Moisten the mitt before using for the first time each day.

Detailer’s Clay

Once the prep wash is complete, the car can be clayed, either with car wash shampoo or spray wax as the lubricant. With a newer car, you might want to break off a fresh piece of clay. Otherwise, clay bars can be used over and over again, assuming they have never been dropped. A dropped clay bar will pick up grit and sand from the ground, which will then rub across the surface of the next vehicle that is clayed with that contaminated bar. Throw away dropped bars! (That’s why most professionals will only use one third of a new clay bar at a time.)

Now, my opinion about the importance of claying each car has been the same for many years. It goes something like this: “Never wax a car without first claying, and never clay a car without waxing.” In other words, at least from my standpoint, the two go hand in hand. Applying wax on a painted surface that has not been clayed is like waxing the kitchen floor without first sweeping it. You are essentially waxing over grit and grime that is not removed during the washing. Does that make any sense?

Waxing

Once the car has been washed, clayed and appropriately dressed, we can apply protective product to the paint. For most, this is wax and for some, it is sealant. Regardless of which you choose, always use fresh applicators for each car. That means if you are using a random orbit machine (highly recommended) to apply the protective coating, grab a fresh bonnet or pad for each new wax job.

Wipe off the wax or sealant residue only with clean fresh towels. Whether you use microfibers or traditional terry towels is not as important as how you keep the towels. You should have a separate supply of towels, perhaps in a distinct color from your other shop towels, which are to be used only on the painted surfaces of the vehicle. Called “body panel towels,” these should be washed and stored separately from any other towel or applicator used in the shop. They should also be kept from touching the ground.

Professional Basic Paint Care and Marketing

Frequency of basic protective paint care on a vehicle is up for debate. Most quality waxes will give you between one and six months of protection, depending on the conditions to which the vehicle is subjected and how often it is washed. Likewise, most quality sealants will give you between three and twelve months of protection, with the same caveat.

In selling repeat service, a very simple way to convince the customer of the need for frequent applications of protective coatings is to suggest referring to the owner’s manual of the vehicle in order to examine the recommendations of the vehicle manufacturer. You and the customer are likely to be surprised that most manufacturers recommend regular washing and waxing of the vehicle to maintain the integrity of the paint system. I have personally seen many owners’ manuals that suggest monthly waxing!

With this kind of statement from the company that made the customer’s precious car, your sales pitch is fairly simple. You don’t have to be the high-pressure sales guy just trying to get the customer to buy more wash-and-wax packages. You can simply align yourself with the original equipment manufacturer’s recommendations by saying something like, “I agree with the manufacturer that frequent application of wax will help your car to look new for years to come and I would love to be the person that helps you fulfill the manufacturer’s recommendations for maintaining your vehicle’s paint surface.”

If you don’t have the manual handy, try this statement, originally crafted by John Hughes of Ford Motor Company: “You have a choice. Either the paint can be the sacrificial layer against the environment, or the wax can be the sacrificial layer.” Guess which one is going to help the paint look great for years to come?

Advanced Paint Care Techniques

Even with the most frequent basic maintenance schedule and the greatest care taken during the basic detailing procedures, the painted surface of the vehicle is likely to be exposed to one or more of the following problems that require more advanced techniques to solve. As a head’s-up, all of the following problems and solutions are to be followed by application of wax or sealant.

Overspray

Anytime paint spraying equipment is used outside, there is a chance that vehicles parked nearby can be exposed to the inevitable paint dust that floats around in the air during such painting activity. The small droplets of atomized paint can travel dozens of feet, despite care or lack thereof of the painter in adjusting the spray equipment.

Overspray is generally removed from the vehicle using a heavy duty clay bar during the prep wash with car shampoo as the lubricant or after the prep wash with spray wax as the lubricant. When removing overspray, work a small area of the painted surface at a time, carefully inspecting each worked area for any leftover paint spots.

Water Spots

These are typically caused when the vehicle paint surface is sprinkled with water that is then allowed to dry on the surface before being wiped off. Typically causes are errant sprinklers in parking lot, the customer’s own lawn irrigation system, or a light rain followed by sunshine. Water spots are simply deposits of the minerals that are in most municipal water systems. They can usually be removed with detailer’s clay. Occasionally, a light polish using a finishing pad will be necessary.

Etching

The most common source of etching comes from a situation similar to that which causes water spots. In the case of etching, however, there is something in the water or the environment that causes the water droplet to attack the paint, actually “burning” into it. Sometimes this is simply caused by the heat of the sun as the water dries on the paint surface. Acid rain is another source of etching.

You can quickly tell if the paint has etching by trying to remove the “water spot” from the paint surface with detailer’s clay. If the “water spot” does not go away completely, then you probably have etching instead. More intense etching may require conducting an acid bath followed by polishing of the paint surface. Less intense etching can be removed or improved by simply polishing the paint surface with a mild polish and finishing pad.

Environmental Fallout

Every vehicle receives its share of environmental fallout, which is simply all of the airborne small particles that settle out of the air onto the paint surface. These particles account for the rough feel of the painted surface, even after washing and waxing. Thus, my recommendation is to clay every car before waxing. This will typically remove standard fallout in most situations.

However, one form of fallout can be particularly cumbersome, and that is ferrous oxide deposits. These are small particles of iron that are launched into the air by railroad operations and other industrial operations that involve iron work (like shipyards). The iron particles land on the paint, and with any moisture, like morning dew, can rust themselves into the paint. On lighter cars, they look like little brown rust dots no larger than a millimeter in diameter.

Light ferrous oxide deposits can be removed with detailer’s clay. Heavier deposits may require an acid bath before using the clay. Check with your favorite chemical manufacturer regarding their acid bath kits and recommended use before attempting.

Oxidation

This is the drying out or chemical breakdown of the paint, often caused by exposure to heat and sunlight (ultraviolet rays) with no paint protection applied. Single stage paint systems evidence oxidation with a dullness or chalkiness on the surface of the paint. Clearcoat paint systems can also oxidize, and it is usually apparent by a dull, cloudy or milky appearance.

Light oxidation will come off with a one-step polish-wax. Heavier oxidation may require one or more polishing or compounding steps to remove the “dead” paint and bring back the shine.

An example of single stage oxidation. The panel at the bottom of the photo has already been polished to original shine.

Bugs, Tar and Sap

In general, these items are simply resting on the surface of the paint, but they will not come off with normal washing or claying. There are many “bug and tar” removing chemicals available on the market that will assist in removing these pesky deposits without chemically damaging the paint. Never use lacquer thinner or gasoline on any vehicle paint surface.

This will damage the vehicle’s paint, and such damage sometimes does not appear for many months.

Scratches

Minor scratches can be filled temporarily with wax or glaze, but this does not solve the problem permanently, which requires minor polishing to bring the level of the paint surface below the bottom of the scratch. Moderate scratches can be mellowed with polishing. Deeper scratched may require compounding and even wet-sanding. However, in most cases, these scratches are not completely removed, just mellowed so that they are not as noticeable. In fact, complete removal or moderate to heavy scratches is not necessarily recommended because doing so requires removal of too much of the paint surface which can result in premature failure of the paint system in that area.

Prentice St. Clair is the president of San Diego-based Detail in Progress, Inc. which offers consulting and training in the automotive detailing and reconditioning industries. He can be reached directly at 619.701.1100 or by email at prentice@detailinprogress.com.