Okay ya'll:

There I was, feeling mighty pleased with myself for baby's first bath , and what do I get? Oughta have clayed first. Clay. Clay. CLAY!

This is how ya'll get OCD, you do realize that don't you?

Soooo...being a teacher, I get a few days off here - do I strip off the Epic, and Clay, then reapply Epic? Hmmm??

What do I get the Epic off with? And....could this just be leading to a whole new DP order?

 

Did your final product not come out as you hoped ? The paint doesn't feel smooth as a baby's butt ? You see swirls under the Epic ?

If not, I would wait until my next major detailing, six months from now and clay then.

If you're not happy with it, then yes, go ahead and start over. You get take off the Epic with PS21, or Dawn regular blue detergent, or some folks use a spray of water and alcohol.

BTW, I didn't see any mention of polish in your post. That's just as important, maybe more so, than clay, clay, clay !

 

There's polish? Whaaaat? I thought I'd got it down with Prima, now you tell me polish???

No, really, I didn't know about polish. What do you recommend?

 

Stick with the Prima line of products. There's several polishes and which you use depends on the condition of your paint.

Me, I use Prima Swirl and then Prima Finish before I put down the Epic.

BTW... got a Random Orbital buffer ?? It'll make your life soooooooo much easier and your car sooooooooooooooo much more beautiful !

I know, I know... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

only in the bedroom

But, seriously, thanks for the pointers. I'll get the Swirl and take care of this next round with Epic (probably July).

Anyone started MINI anonymous yet? "I am a MINIholic...I have ruined my marriage....I've started lying - "...just going to the garage to do another load of laundry..." (gawking at my car)..."

 

July sounds good... your paint can't be in that bad of condition, even though the dealership did get their mitts on it.

Between now and July, spend some time in this forum and read, read, read. When you're done, ask questions to fill in the blanks in your mind, and then you'll be ready to do some serious detailing.

That's how I started just 18 months ago. Of course, I do get a lot of practice.

 

I was a complete detailing newb 14 months ago... and now I'm not, thanks to Detailing 101!

Agreed - even though I may have been one of the "you shoulda clayed" people - if you like the way it looks, don't start over just to clay - but next time, clay and Prima Amigo (if you don't have may swirls) or Prima Swirl and Amigo (if you do have lotsa swirls).

Read, read, read...

 

Well, now you come to mention it...

I was intrigued by the "got that wet look" to it finish for the car. Didn't think my finish was glassy enough, when I was done. I thought I did everything the way I was supposed to, and I did read Detailing 101, and Ryephile's stuff. It does get a bit overwhelming for a noob.

Sooo...what's next? Can I apply the Swirl and Finish next car wash, or no - that's just after claying? Arghhhh.

 

Neither Swirl or Finish offer any protection, so no, don't use them until you are doing a full detail.

I have not heard you mention Hydro yet

Mark

 

You're thinking about claying your car already?

Does it harm the finish to clay is so soon after initial painting? I don't know if there'd be a huge benefit to clay so soon after being built. Believe me, I thought about doing mine...and I picked him up last Saturday

 

You can clay a new car as soon as you get it.
OEM paint is applied much diff than repair shops, which need to out-gas for about 90 days (if I remember correctly).

Some cars don't need clay when new, some do. Just do the baggie test. Put a plastic sandwich bag on your hand and lightly rub your clean paint. If it feels smooth no need to clay. If you feel some roughness you would benefit by clay.

 

Another thing along this lines. I assume that when you clay, you'll want to avoid the stripes?

 

I clay my stripes and clear-bra... they get bonded contaminants, just like the paint does... clay helps them, too.

And, yes, new cars often have TONS of bonded contaminants, based on the way they are shipped. Mine was pretty clean when I got it, but it didn't have to travel far after its VDC cleaning.

 

Thanks!!

I'll tell you this much about the MINI. After washing mine for the first time on Sunday, it's the quickest car I've ever washed but took the LONGEST to dry of any car I've owned. Tons of water in the door-wells, under the boot, and under the bonnet. Plus the grill and rear bumper honeycombs retain water like crazy.

 

Since you have not mentioned it ..... When you clay you must use a lubricant such as Griot's Speed Shine, detailing spray, or just a few drops of wash soap in a water spray bottle. Keep the clay moving and the surface wet, and NEVER let the clay sit on the surface. The clay should not hurt your stripes .... but take care when rubbing near the stripe edges. You should run the clay in the direction of the stripes edge when in that area.

My favorite clay is the Zainobros.com clay. My least favorite is the Griot's clay. You use small pieces of the clay .... say silly putty size. If you drop it .... throw it out!

 

And you've discovered the reasons why I use compressed air to blow the water out of all those places.... I blow them out, knock off most of the water on the roof and bonnet with a jelly blade, and then hydro and towel dry - much faster!

 

Thanks for the advise. I ordered some Zaino a few weeks before my MCS arrived. Been dying to try it out. Maybe in a couple of weeks when it's a bit warmer...still hovering around the 40s here.

 

Using clay will do nothing but help any steps you do after to detail your car. As long as you use a lubricant, either QD, Prima Glide, or soapy water(my choice, cheap+effective) claying is a good thing

Mark

 

I agree with ChiliPepJet...

Unless you just really want to anyway, I would just wait until the next big detail to clay. Although it does help quite a bit to clay, it's not the end of the world if you didn't this time.

*If you do want to clay after you've already used Epic, just go ahead and clay. Although ChiliPepJet is right in that you can clean off Epic with water and alcohol (although it will not come off with just Dawn detergent- sorry!), clay will also remove much of the Epic that's on there as well as remove all the gunk you're going after anyway. Much of the gunk that clay removes actually protrudes "out of the Epic" (well sort of... that's the best way to describe it) anyway so you'll be removing the gunk with or without removing some of the Epic too.

Although there are times when it is beneficial to remove whatever synthetic wax you have on the car (Epic or others), in many cases another step will remove it for you anyway (clay, abrasive polishing, etc).

I also agree that a pre-wax step (usually a polish of some sort) will always boost the final results of your wax, in both functional (i.e. durability) and ascetic ways.

I agree with BC except to add that abrasive polishing by hand (sans PC or similar style polisher) is very labor-intensive in order to get any really noticeable change in the condition of your paint. It can be done if you're up to it but it will take several hours of arm-work and it's nearly impossible to achieve perfection. Then again, sometimes we don't need 100% perfection (in other words, sometimes 80-90% plus a filler/concealer product will do!).

Quick Polish 101:

Although some manufacturers like to do their own thing with naming products, traditionally speaking, a polish refers to your pre-wax prep step. It is the step that prepares, by improving, the paint for wax.

Sometimes this preparation entails very simply a deep paint cleansing which will not only improve the final look but will also help your wax bond better to your paint (read: improved durability). This step can also include some filling and concealing of minor paint imperfections. Other times, this preparation entails improving the paint by physically abrading away (removing) paint imperfections. Most commonly, abrading removes those nasty swirls we see in our paint when the sun hits it. It also removes other imperfections like scratches, burn marks (burn marks are caused by high-speed rotary style polishers) and others.

For this pre-wax prep step then, there are several sub-categories of polishes.

First are non-abrasive polishes. Sometimes these are also called paint cleansers, due to cleansing being their primary purpose in most cases. In the Prima examples given so far in this thread, Prima Amigo is considered a non-abrasive polish. Other examples include P21S Paintwork Cleanser, Zymol HD-Cleanse, Klasse All-In-One, Four Star Pre-Wax Cleanser. All of these examples contain paint cleansers which clean far beyond what your soap can do, including things like environmental fallout, tar and others. (note that claying can overlap some areas of what a non-abrasive paint cleanser polish will cover but not all) In addition, some non-abrasive polishes contain "bonus" features such as fillers and concealers. Fillers and concealers help smooth the surface to visually and temporarily hide minor paint imperfections. Prima Amigo contains fillers and concealers and so do a few others.

Then there are abrasive polishes. Although as a by-product effect these polishes also deep-cleanse the paint, their primary purpose is to physically abrade the paint to permanently remove imperfections. There are various grit-levels of abrasive polishes. Some abrasives also contain fillers/concealers and some also contain wax. I personally don't like products that combine these chemicals with the abrasives simply because when you're fixing your paint you want to see what's really going on... not yet trick your eyes! Of the examples in this thread, both Prima Finish (light) and Prima Swirl (medium) are abrasive polishes. As a general rule, I only recommend Swirl by hand as an abrasive. Finish by hand functions well as a paint cleanser but does not have enough power by hand to do much, if any, true abrading.

Although Ryephile's sticky post has tons of great information, some of the product information is a little outdated, as the chemical industry has advanced a great deal already! (thanks to the demands of lots of OCDers like the ones here on NAM! ) It is also very long and can thus be overwhelming. Yes, in fact, this whole forum can be overwhelming for the newbie!

My advice: read as much as you can to get familiar with some of the terminology and the general concepts and then call or email one of the NAM detailing-related vendors (Richard, aka Octane Guy, and myself are happy to help!) to discuss your specific situation and goals. It's just really difficult to get a personalized "prescription" for what techniques, concepts and products are best for YOU. Plus, it's easier to make sense of all this when talking directly to someone about it.

You can use polishes, like Finish or Swirl, anytime your paint is clean. In other words, as long as you've just handwashed it. You don't need to clay first in order to use a polish.

^+1 I agree... you can clay anytime! There are other rules for wax (I'm already making my post too long so I'll save that for another time... ) but clay is fairly rule-free in terms of when and where you can use it. As long as the surface is clean (handwashed) then you can clay away.

New cars often do need to be clayed although sometimes they do not...

I also wholeheartedly agree that to determine if you need to clay you should do the "baggie test" just as thulchatt described. If it sounds weird, well, it is! Just do it though and you'll see exactly what we mean.

^+1 I agree... Just be careful to avoid the edges of your stripes and clear-bra only because clay can sometimes become stuck in the edges and then can be a pain to remove.


Shwoo! Sorry for being long-winded but I couldn't help it. Lots of great questions!

Welcome to the insanity.

Finally, please do feel free to give me a call or email (or Richard, OctaneGuy, or Nick here at DP) for specific advice. We're happy to help you navigate all this!

-Heather

 

^ What she said ^ All of it!

 

Yeah, you put just as much effort into that post as Heather put into hers !

 

+1

(that's even less effort)

 

It's all about effort. Oh and content and perhaps the appropriate use of smiley faces.

 

Phew! Who knew there was so much to detailing (the name itself should have given me an inkling!). MINI's should come with a warning label: "seriously addictive" - or I should say that NAM deserves the label.

Heather (DP): thanks for the Quick Polish 101 - it was very helpful and gave me a much better understanding of what's going on with the polish step. (I've only ever polished my nails - and that usually chips right off. I don't want the same to to happen to MINI )

Also, thanks to Nick (DP), whom I did call last weekend for some help going through the box of supplies from DP - I got the supreme bundle, or something like it. He gave me the courage to go forward. Who'd have thought car washing would be so intimidating. Laundry stains, pre/post treatments, fabric care and garment pressing techniques I know very well - preserving the paint on my car, not so much.

It sounds like I'm going to do the "feel the paint" test and see if it feels gritty-ish. Then, maybe I'll tackle removing the Epic (using clay - right?), then I'll go about applying some Prima Amigo and Finish. Then, try again with the Epic and on from there. Of course I'll do all this the week hubby's out of town so he doesn't tease me about my rapidly developing case of chronic OCD.

You guys are awesome - I feel like my MINI's in good hands here

 

You keep listening to Heather and someday you'll take your three year old MINI to the dealership for service and someone will point to it and say, "wow, is that a brand new MINI?".

That's what happened to me recently.

Takes a little work but it's worth it. Your MINI will retain more value. But more importantly, you'll feel even better when driving it.