Clay Bar and Hand Wax

[Kman1971]

Trying to get 613 ready for the summer and trying to do it myself and so far not very happy with the results. I clay barred and hand waxed the car yesterday and going to keep on working on it today. I not sold on the clay bar as of yet, it did get very dirty from start to finish on the car, I guess I just don't see or feel a noticeable difference on the car, or maybe it was not that bad to begin with. This car was bought used and has a few blemishes on the paint, so I took it to be pro detailed last spring when I got it. They clay barred and buffed it then.

Afer the clay bar, I then used Armour All's new Extreme Shield was by hand. I got this because it sounded like the high end products offered at Auto Zone and it had a $10 mail in rebate, so worth the try. I did the whole car and then went back and tried to buff it out with mircro fiber cloths. That was a mistake, I should have did one section at a time. I didn't think I put a lot on, but you can see residue on the car and I just can't seem to wipe it off with the cloths. It is almost sticky, not real smooth like usual after a wax. I did the same thing on the vette, no clay bar just wax, but this time I did a section at a time and it wiped right off, very smooth finish, very easy to wipe off.

I am going to buy a buffer today and go at the car again. But I am looking for some advice on a few blemishes on the car and if they can be covered or waxed to look better. I have one dark area on the hood. A couple of spots on the top, some spider cracking on the front by the fog lights, and the worst is the rear bumper. It has some darks spots, cracking, and just looks chaulky. Can anything be done, or is it time to repaint. One minute I think the car looks great and shines good for the age and then you wash and work on it and you notice more and more blemishes and miss that new look of factory paint, especially next to the C5.

Here are some pics.

Thanks for the help and advice in advance.

The blemish is on the left center of the hood, hard to see in the pics.

This one you can see that the front right corner has been painted before as the color is not a perfect match.

The roof has a few nicks and scratches, I am guess from rocks.

The BSM right under the 9 has a dark smudge mark. Can this be fixed?

Hard to tell again in the pics, but all the dark areas look way worse up close. :wall:

 

[TTA984]

I use jax wax with great results.

Jaxwax.com

 

[tta299]

Poor boys world . Com

 

[kymmee]

I use Zenwax. Its aerosol and goes on and comes off very easy. The car feels extremely smooth after use. A business contact is a distributor and gives me a couple cans every year. I dont know if you can buy it retail anywhere.

http://www.zenexint.com/pds/494755.pdf

 

[8289ta]

I used Finesse from Jaxwax and a Flex orbital polisher and white pad after I clay barred the car. It took most of the junk out of the paint. I followed that up with Jaxwax carnauba wax. You can try using a heavier compound on those spots, but every car has its sins. Don't go too crazy, and burn through the paint.
If you are buying a polisher, the Flex is great, and worth the money.

 

[Jan Larsson]

I use mothers claybar kit on mine and my other cars, and works like a charm just make sure you use enough lubrication on there so it does not run dry on the paint.

Good wax job afterwards and it feels and looks like a new car again!

 

[Kman1971]

Thanks for the input everyone. Jan, I used the Mother's clay bar too with almost a bottle of quick detailer that came with it..... LOL.

Today I cleaned the trouble area with simply green. Then I bought a small buffer 6" Turtle Wax Orbital Buffer and applied Meguiar's ulitmate compound with it to the effected area's. The buffer is small but so easy to use, one hand and you just guide it along the car. Wiped it down with microfiber towels, came off easy and already looked better. After that, I used Meguiar's ultimate wax with the buffer and wiped it clean again with microfiber towels. It came off so easy and it has a mirror like super smooth finish. I can still see all the blemishes, but that is because I obsess over them, I am sure most here know that feeling. But from a couple feet away, it is very very shiny, like it should be. I was hoping I could just wax it and it would be like a new paint job, no luck with that. I for sure need to get my front and rear bumper repainted, hopefully I can hold off and do it the whole car at the same time. It is driving me nuts. Here are some pics of the results today. I am feeling much better. BADCARR and CARRVTE are prepared for flight and ready for take off. Thanks again for all the help, tips, and advice.

 

[ttanotchback]

I think your car looks very good, I know what you mean about obsessing over it. I would hold off and paint it all at once...

 

[jarredsoon]

Lambo door vette! AWESOME!!!!!!

 

[k9flip]

Cars look great... Awesome...Picts...

 

[k9flip]

I use Meguiars NXT generation on all my cars. I just put a coat of wax on my TTA the other day. It goes on and off really easy.. I have used it for years and love the way it last.

 

[ChrisK]

Kman, where do you live? I have 2 buffers to help you out if you want to try it out.
I have a Milwaukee that will burn paint if your not careful. And I have the meguiars G series that is easy to use.

 

[Kman1971]

I'm in New Lenox, about an hour south on 355 till it ends.

Do you think it is possible to get the work out the spider cracking in the front spoiler and on the rear bumper? Or is a complete re-paint of the affected areas the only way to fix it? These camera phones are amazing today. You can actually see the cracking and dark areas in the pics above on the rear bumper.

 

[1tufam]

Sadly, the spider webbing will not buff or polish out. The proper fix would be to remove the offending panels, then have them stripped and prepared for paint by a bumper refinishing company. Someone like Keystone. Then they can be refinished using a quality paint system with a flex agent as needed. Most likely the match from the fender to the panel will be slightly off. Despite having the best paint match and system, the color will not dead on. The plastic takes the color differently. Look on a new car lot on a cloudy day and you will see the difference. I have seen these two different panels sprayed in the same booth during the same session using the same material, gun and environment with a slight difference at the match line. Good luck.

 

[Kman1971]

I tried my best to make it look better. The car does shine and looks good from a distance, but certainly not show quality. I am so tempted to just get the front and back refinished....but the rest of the outside of the car needs some work too, so until I can get it all done at once, I will just wash and wax it myself and curse the blemishes...lol

I'm OK with that since I love to drive it, so it will be cruise nights for me this year and I will be a spectator at the shows, but drive up in a very very nice TTA and that is OK with me.

You just don't see third gen cars anymore, especially a TTA and everywhere I go, I get a lot of comments on the car. Let's face it, the 80's rocked but the cars were not so great... except for this one..... or maybe it is one of those nostalgic memories that we are helping live on.
ttarider

 

[TTA984]

I just waxed my TTA with Jax wax cherry wax. This is good stuff, you can apply it by hand or by machine. I applied it by machine with a foam pad and removed it with a microfiber cloth. It give the car a wet look, showroom shine. Did not need clay bar, since surface was smooth to feel.

 

[TTA976]

I bought a few bottles of 3M Finesse-it and 3M Swirl Remover when the local Carquest went out of business a while back.

Those are the best I've tried.

Lucas spray mist in the best spray on wax I've tried.


Joe