Brian GorsethExterior Auto Detailing in Eagle, Idaho
Why You Shouldn’t Go Through an Automated Car Wash
Hey guys, Brian with Limelight Detailing here in Eagle, Idaho. And today we are polishing a Lexus sedan, and this particular vehicle has gone through the carwash. We have some amazing automated car washes here in Southern Idaho, but unfortunately you sacrifice protection for convenience when you take your car through car washes. Yes, it’s going to get a lot of the topical dirt off by running it through there, but one of the difficult things about automated car washes is that they’re not properly cleaned all the time. All of the brushes that are used on the 30 or 40 cars that go ahead of you, those are also going to be used on your car, so a lot of the dirt that’s been on other vehicles will get transferred to your vehicle.
Polish Car Exterior | Tools Limelight Detailing Uses
This particular car has gone through the carwash a lot, so there’s a lot of spiderwebs and swirl marks all over the hood of the paint. We’re going to do our very best to try to polish some of these out today, so I’m going to do a demonstration on how we polish paint on vehicles. Today I’m working with:
- Makita Dual Action polisher. This is a cordless buffer and is pretty much our workhorse everyday. You’ve seen this in a lot of my other videos.
- Meguiar’s Microfiber Cutting Pad.
- Rupes UNO Protect. This is an awesome polish. It has the protective properties of a sealant, but it’s going to clean the paint really well.
Getting Prepped to Polish an Auto’s Paint | Limelight Detailing
What I do is:
Step 1: Dab five dots of Rupes UNO Protect, maybe six for good luck on a pad.
Exterior Detail Tip #1: Whenever we’re polishing, I like to spread it out a little bit on the pad. You don’t want it to be goopy and you don’t want to glob it all over.
Exterior Detail Tip #2: Whenever we’re doing corrections on paint, you want to work in a two foot by two foot section. You don’t want to try to spread it. It’s not like painting a house or something where you’re trying to spread product all over.
Step 2: I’m using the Makita Dual Action Polisher on what’s called a force drive setting. That means I’m going to be agitating the paint, working at pretty high speeds in order to try to get some of the swirl marks out.
At what stage of the detail process are we polishing?
So this particular car we’re doing our Limelight detail on entails:
- Washing the entire vehicle.
- Iron remover applied on all of the paint to pull particles out of the paint and clean it properly.
- Mild acid applied due to the car sitting in the sun and irrigation, water spots and chemical runoff dried on the paint. The acid leaves a very clean surface to work with.
After that is all completed the only thing left is a lot of swirls in the paint, so we’re going to do our best to get those out in step 4 of the Limelight detail. It’s really important before you ever polish a car that you go through that entire process. You want to wash it. You want to:
- Do an acid rinse if there’s water spots present.
- Use an iron remover.
- Clay bar to get any kind of topical things off the paint to make it nice and smooth before we polish.
Polishing the Exterior Auto Paint | How Long to Leave Polish On
We’ve done a quick two foot by two foot section right here, and anytime that you’re working with:
- Polish
- Compound
You’re trying to remove:
- Swirl Marks
- Correct the Paint
You want to be sure that you don’t leave the polish on very long, so I’m going to wipe this right off. It doesn’t need any time. It’s not like a wax where you allow it to sit on the paint. You want to get it off as soon as you can.
How to Get Your Car Paint Polished in Eagle, Idaho
We have a nice finish here. This is an eight year old vehicle, so there’s going to still be some rock chips and things on the paint. But a lot of those spiderwebs have been removed that were caused at the carwash. So you can see the difference. So anyway, that is a quick demonstration of how we polish your vehicle, and this is found in all of our exterior details as well as our Limelight Package.
Contact Limelight Detailing Today!
So if that’s something you need done, if you’ve got swirl marks in your paint, give us a call. We’d love to get rid of those for you. Call us at (208) 391-3455, or book now on our website.
View "5 Tips for Interior Auto Detailing" for More Information!
5 Tips for Interior Auto Detailing
In these 5 tips you will see how to demonstrations and quick tips for:
- Cleaning Carpets with a Carpet Extractor
- Removing Stains from the Interior Door Panels
- Steam Cleaning the Interior Liner
- Steam Cleaning the Interior of a Vehicle
- Applying Dressing to the Interior of a Vehicle
We Clean Dirty Cars, Trucks & RV's
