It seems a few people now and again ask about how to cut a car's paintwork back. Not only does it give the paint of hopefully lasting a while longer it also makes a car look alot more pleasing to the eye. As a bonus, it becomes alot easier to clean the car as a result of the dirt not sticking so readily to the bodywork. It's nice to have a method to work from.
It would be nice to have an FAQ with a basic(esque) way of how to tackle things.
What I shall say is that my method is far from perfect. I can give the cars a durable shine, but that is about it. If you want a detailer shine I am sure there are better methods. I'm not a detailer (damn, did I have to use the D word?) by a long shot, but I do like making life easy. We probably all have a few techniques, but from liasing with a few detailers, painters over the years etc. I reckon I have finally found a process that seems to work well. Shall we say I can go first, and others can carry on with what they do and potential adjustments to procedures? I'm not after slagging match or anything, but simply a decent foolproof way to getting a car looking decent and protecting it. That's what most of us want right?
Anyway, let's get to it. Of course I am assuming for the below the car has been washed at a minimum.
If the car has never seen a polish, has flat paintwork or is in a worse state , or if I am machine polishing the car I do the below in this order. I'll go through the process in a step by step process so as give you an idea of how intense it can get:
flat paintwork rough to the touch of the hand
-Get a bottle of T-Cut, a rag and basically run it over the paintwork, just to get the edge of the paint off. You don't have to go mad with it either. That will take time and that will come later. If you MOP at this stage all you will do is create additional swirls, not really cut the paint back, and clog up your MOP head with curse word.
Flat but smooth paintwork
-If I am lazy I use 3M Fast Cut Plus as a "One does it all" compound, as it can break down nicely in a polish like finish if you keep working it. This will be on a rotary polish, with the matching Green head (Fast Cut Plus comes in a green topped bottle.
Paintwork needing a little revival, but still very presentable
-If I can be bothered I will clay bar the car. It gives less swirls, and with something like Bilt Hamber's clay, it's an easy
-I'll still use 3M Fast Cut Plus, it is a brilliant compound! If that doesn't work, I'll use Meguiar's #105, which leaves far less dust, this can be worked with a rotary or a DA.
-At this stage I will start to use a polish. This could be something like Meguiars #205 which IMO is a great polish with a rotary or DA. Some people will just use this on its own to liven up an old car but I like to do more
.
If you wanted you could use Autoglym Super Resin Polish by hand to get a similar effect, but of course it would take a little more time.
-Finally, I'll use a wax. I'll leave this one up to you. As much as I like a super detailed finish I also use my cars daily and like some protection, but also having a car that is far easier to clean. Instead of taking 30 odd minutes to wash a car, you can now do it in 10 with the dirt just falling off.
Anyway, time for some shots of the work.
A Mondeo with 310k, and it had never seen a polish; it lived a hard life as a company car early on its it life as well It was OK though. I ended up using 3M Fast Cut Plus and Collinite 476S to bring it up. I was surprised TBH!
Clio 172. IMO this had previously been detailed but I did not polish it for over a year. With this I went over with Megs #105 and then #205 and came back with this, again with Collinte 476S. I also waxed the wheels which made them WAY easier to clean ; why did I struggle for years cleaning wheels?:
Midget : I got this with pinkish paint. I suspect it had been cut back, but not waxed. It was beginning to go flat. Just 3M Fast Cut Plus and Collinite did the trick here. I would have gone over with Megs #205 afterwards but I broke the bottle to the point none was left in it!:
The result? A nice shiny car and one that is a doddle to clean ; to the extent that washing the car is not quite the chore it can be.
It would be nice to have an FAQ with a basic(esque) way of how to tackle things.
What I shall say is that my method is far from perfect. I can give the cars a durable shine, but that is about it. If you want a detailer shine I am sure there are better methods. I'm not a detailer (damn, did I have to use the D word?) by a long shot, but I do like making life easy. We probably all have a few techniques, but from liasing with a few detailers, painters over the years etc. I reckon I have finally found a process that seems to work well. Shall we say I can go first, and others can carry on with what they do and potential adjustments to procedures? I'm not after slagging match or anything, but simply a decent foolproof way to getting a car looking decent and protecting it. That's what most of us want right?
Anyway, let's get to it. Of course I am assuming for the below the car has been washed at a minimum.
If the car has never seen a polish, has flat paintwork or is in a worse state , or if I am machine polishing the car I do the below in this order. I'll go through the process in a step by step process so as give you an idea of how intense it can get:
flat paintwork rough to the touch of the hand
-Get a bottle of T-Cut, a rag and basically run it over the paintwork, just to get the edge of the paint off. You don't have to go mad with it either. That will take time and that will come later. If you MOP at this stage all you will do is create additional swirls, not really cut the paint back, and clog up your MOP head with curse word.
Flat but smooth paintwork
-If I am lazy I use 3M Fast Cut Plus as a "One does it all" compound, as it can break down nicely in a polish like finish if you keep working it. This will be on a rotary polish, with the matching Green head (Fast Cut Plus comes in a green topped bottle.
Paintwork needing a little revival, but still very presentable
-If I can be bothered I will clay bar the car. It gives less swirls, and with something like Bilt Hamber's clay, it's an easy
-I'll still use 3M Fast Cut Plus, it is a brilliant compound! If that doesn't work, I'll use Meguiar's #105, which leaves far less dust, this can be worked with a rotary or a DA.
-At this stage I will start to use a polish. This could be something like Meguiars #205 which IMO is a great polish with a rotary or DA. Some people will just use this on its own to liven up an old car but I like to do more
.If you wanted you could use Autoglym Super Resin Polish by hand to get a similar effect, but of course it would take a little more time
.-Finally, I'll use a wax. I'll leave this one up to you. As much as I like a super detailed finish I also use my cars daily and like some protection, but also having a car that is far easier to clean. Instead of taking 30 odd minutes to wash a car, you can now do it in 10 with the dirt just falling off
.Anyway, time for some shots of the work
.A Mondeo with 310k, and it had never seen a polish; it lived a hard life as a company car early on its it life as well It was OK though. I ended up using 3M Fast Cut Plus and Collinite 476S to bring it up. I was surprised TBH!
Clio 172. IMO this had previously been detailed but I did not polish it for over a year. With this I went over with Megs #105 and then #205 and came back with this, again with Collinte 476S. I also waxed the wheels which made them WAY easier to clean ; why did I struggle for years cleaning wheels?:
Midget : I got this with pinkish paint. I suspect it had been cut back, but not waxed. It was beginning to go flat. Just 3M Fast Cut Plus and Collinite did the trick here. I would have gone over with Megs #205 afterwards but I broke the bottle to the point none was left in it!:
The result? A nice shiny car and one that is a doddle to clean ; to the extent that washing the car is not quite the chore it can be.
