Hey guys,


Few questions I m looking to have my car detailed .Few swirls on the paint and two small scratches drive me crazy.

I have previously detailed the interior and engine of my classic cars (Mercedes , Corvettes , etc ) and I'm actually pretty good at it. But I have never done the paint using a machine only by hand .

Few Questions:

Would you recommend that I let a pro detail the car or do you think the swirls can be eliminated using lots of Elbow Grease? Still have to fix those 2 scratches though and have seen some videos on Youtube.

Can anyone recommend a good Auto Detailer near me 91602 .I m a bit reluctant in using a machine because i don't want to damage the paint or create more swirls

Last what products would you recommend for the paint ?

Comments?

 

I manage a top end body shop and since your '96 is black I highly recommend that you have a professional detailer take care of your polishing needs.

What you are seeing when it comes to swirls are very fine scratches on the surface of your clear coat finish. The darker the paint the easier it is to see these. Very difficult to polish out black paint correctly and requires experience, correct materials and equipment.

What I recommend is to call a few of you top notch body shops in your area-ask to speak to the manager and ask them who they would recommend to polish out your black XJS. They may have someone who is qualified at their shop to do this or they will know who in your area is best to get the job done correctly.

The reason I would go this route and not just call detail shops first is because all detail shops will say they can handle this but not everyone is capable of doing this correctly.

As a side note be very careful spraying down your engine compartment to detail it-very easy to short something out in the AJ16 engine compartment.

 

Thank you for the reply .Lots of Body Shops here in LA/San Fernando Valley to choose from....

 

There are some good videos of the process on this website. Car Care Products, Detailing Supplies, Auto Accessories - Griot's Garage 800-345-5789


One really important step is to claybar the car first, and I am sure a professional detailer would do that.

 

Terry, I know this local fellow (Long Beach area) who did the wet sanding on my '94 BRG. As far as I know, he paints cars and he specializes in show car paint, but he actually did this work on my brand new paint job, so no repairs or preparations or paint were necessary. However, as a paint and body shop, I'm pretty sure that he'll know exactly what your car needs and he'll do one heck of a job, only that I wouldn't know how expensive what you need would be from him, given his level of expertise, even if it doesn't include a wet sanding job, which is still obviously different from an otherwise "detailer".

Just FYI, his wet sanding would give you that phenomenal mirror finish that you see only at car shows but, being a tedious and long labor procedure, of course is not cheap.

Contact info:
Hot Paint
Kirk Kubik
2040 West 16th Street
Long Beach, CA 90813
562-209-1234 (Mobile)
562-427-1234
Hot Paint - HOME

Cheers,

 

What about Dave at Innovative detailing?
He's based in Orange County and has been on this board many many times offering advice and sharing his detailing work and his secrets.....
Might be worth checking out?

 

Thank you guys
I ll see if I can locate Dave at Innovative detailing and I will also contact Kirk Kubik .
I need to educate my self a bit. I thought wet sanding job was part of the detailing job( color sanding and buffing )
Was I wrong?

 

Wet sanding is usually only required with deeper scratches I believe and in more extreme cases, usually a da polisher, use of correct compounds / polishes etc combined with a good detailer with knowledge will be enough


Dave at Innovative has posts you can look at here in the detailing section


Good luck
Jim

 

My knowledge on this subject is limited and whatever I can say about it is only from comparing my own car's pre and aft wet sanded paint. What I do know is that there's a big difference between the concepts of "how shiny" a paint job looks vs. what degree of resolution or definition it presents. The basic difference being the presence -and degree- of fine or course orange peel. If you've seen those special, mirror like, paint works at car shows you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

Wet sanding is a painstaking, tedious and labor intensive job that is not cheap, so it is not a part of your typical detailing job, otherwise the latter would be known to be an expensive route to a detailed car.

Cheers,

 

Here is a pretty good discussion on "wet sanding" with some interesting history of paint finishes. Something I would certainly leave to the pros !


Wet Sanding Articles - Auto Detailing Business | Car Detailing Training | Mobile Detailing Equipment

 

Reinaldo,

If I understood correctly you had your car repainted and then had it wet sanded and polished out. This is a common practice after a car has been repainted.

Let me explain why wet sanding is often needed after a car is repainted but usually not on the original factory paint. When a car is painted at the factory the paint can be heated at very high temps because at the factory the car has no trim, rubber, interior etc. attached to the car.

By being able to heat the original finishes to such high temps the factory is able to get a very good flow out on the clear coat thus eliminating the need to wet sand ( flatten out the surface of the clear coat ). This is also why you seldom see dirt nips in factory paint.

When a vehicle is repainted you have rubber, trim, interior etc. attached to the vehicle so you are limited on the temp you can bake the paint. This is why it is more common to see orange peel on repaints along with dirt nips etc.

Since Terry007 purchased a very low mileage XJS chances are he has original paint so most likely will not need to have all or possibly any of the car wet sanded. What he will be looking to accomplish is the removal of any surface contaminants and light marks and scratches which typically can be accomplished with a three process polishing that will start with a medium compound and working out with a micro fine polishing to remove any swirls and imperfections on the surface of the clear coat.

As a side note I have seen some factory paints that are quite heavy in orange peel in the last five years or so. Most noticeable have been the Dodge Ram pickups. From what I understand many of the newer clears are high in solids which can limit flow out in the factory bake cycles. Most manufacturers have gotten a pretty good handle on this issue now but I do see some pretty heavy factory orange peel issues at times.

Sorry for the long winded post but I hope this helps to explain some of the differences between factory paint work and non factory re paint work. Keep in mind every vehicle is different when it comes to colors, contaminants, scratches etc. so it is very important to have an experienced person handle your vehicles polishing needs. If a car is white or light in color it is very hard to see swirls on the surface but the darker the paint color the easier to see imperfections etc. so very important on darker colors to have a qualified person polish them out correctly.

 

LuvmyXJS

Thank you for a great explanation. Today I had the car hand washed ,then I realized that I can't stand someone else touching the interior of the car ! Took me three years to find that XJS !

I for sure can do a great detailing the inside of a car and its engine bay, did it many times to my 454 Vette... but the paint? Nah I'm scared of damaging it unless I was being supervised by a pro!
So I'm going to look around and find someone to detail the exterior only.

 

Totally makes sense. In fact, one thing I've noticed is that the majority of the XJS cars that I see that look nice and well taken care of, do show an almost perfect surface, which is probably because of that process that you've explained. However, this factory process doesn't seem to always be the norm because I just happen to see too many newer cars with horrible orange peel. Many times when I stop right behind a new car or truck, I can see how immensely smoother my paint surface is and this finding does include some rather expensive cars with -to me- totally unacceptable orange peel. Go figure.

Thanks for that great piece of info!

Cheers,

 

When I bought my XJS 5 years ago the paint had some typical swirls and scratches but still in very good condition. I found a local professional detailer with a very good reputation and had him machine polish it. I don't have the skill or equipment to do it myself.

It made an incredible difference, no swirls or water spots left and got rid of just about all but the deepest scratches. A deep reflection and shine.

It wasn't cheap but was well worth it at the beginning of XJS ownership and I'm the only one that has washed it since then.

 

Thank you Noah , I'm going to look for that pro detailer near me .Just to be clear the car already looks wonderful, I just wants amazing! ahah because the car deserves to be...