My new-to-me coupe could use some quality time with the clay bar and polisher. What's the reputation of the current model (e.g. 2012) paints and clearcoats? Do I need to exercise extra caution? Or are they easy to work with?

Thanks in advance for any info,


Rich

 

The paint and clear coat on most modern cars is usually very thin. If you are trying to remove orange peel, there is a good chance you will go through the clear coat before you eliminate the orange peel.

You really want to preserve the paint right from the start. You should clay bar the paint every time you wax the car to clean the paint, just be careful that you don't put scratches in the paint.

I have a guy in the SF Bay Area that is a wizard with paint restoration. He takes care of a lot of collector and high end cars at a pretty reasonable cost. I can send you his information if you like.

I had him detail my brand new F-Type so that I could get the paint as pristine as possible without sacrificing any clear coat or risk me putting any scratches in it and I have all my own detaining equipment, dual orbital buffers and pads.

With my paint in the best possible condition I can easily maintain it and it looks great. Good paint preparation makes maintenance MUCH easier. Let me know if you would like his contact information and I will email it to you. I don't know if I can post that kind of info on the forum.

Wayne B.

 

Thats exactly what I'm having done with mine here in Miami and possibly having Opti Coat applied to protect the freshly detailed finish. I'm still up in the air concerning the Opti Coat as I don't want it to take away from the paints shine and depth. As Wayne mentioned its really important to find the right detailer to remove swirl marks(even new cars have them) and fine scratches and you can maintain the finish with the proper procedures.

 

I called one place locally to do some paint correction on my Range Rover; they wanted a $1000 to do the job! Have to think about it... Sounds like a lot to me.

 

That is high I'm paying around 500 but that includes interior, and engine compartment cleaning and dressing. This is the company I use in Miami so you can get a better idea of pricing

Advanced Mobile Detailing Services List - South Florida

 

Keep in mind that most "detail shops" are total hacks. Do you really want a Groupon special or lowest bid touching your paint? If the place you choose uses glaze, then I would walk away because they are just hiding the flaws and not correcting them. You want the paint flaws corrected using the bare minimum correction in each area to preserve the original paint. If your shop uses glazes to cover up the flaws it looks good until you wash your car a couple times and you are back to where you started.

 

So, so true. I had my ACR (with a piano black center band) "professionally" done, and within a month the swirls were back. And I know how to properly wash & dry the car.

Wayne, would you please PM me your detailer info?

Thanks much,

Rich

 

We have a few "resident" detailers in the detailing section such as.....

Innovative detailing
Togwt
WES_R
OTD

They cover various parts of the country and have posted here several times.

Why not ask their opinions of for a recomendation?

OR

Visit detailingworld.com

May the shine be with you....lol

Good luck

Jim

 

Rich,
I sent you a PM.

Wayne

 

Jaguar paint is very workable. Plus it has very little orange peel which is great!

 

I have a great detailer in my area, but I'm way to fa raway from your place, My detailer was so happy to work on my car and he was saying the quality of the paint was amazing. He was really impressed about the quality of the paint and the clear. For him, it was a gift to work on my cat...

But real good detailer are hard to find.

Hope it'll help you.
Guy

 

To me, part of the joy and pride of ownership is detailing my XKR myself, inside and out. I do it all by hand, and don't use a machine buffer.

As for the outside, I clean, polish and wax it monthly and wash it every 3-4 days. I use only microfiber towels. Because I clean it often, tree sap and other contaminants come off very easily. When I'm finished and run my hand over the surface, it is as smooth as silk and highly reflective with no swirl marks.



I don't drive it in bad weather, so it never gets all that dirty and is a breeze to keep clean. It has never been through a commercial car wash, although I do take it every couple of weeks to my neighborhood coin-operated DIY car wash to pressure wash the brake dust off the wheels. It's quicker and easier than cleaning them in my driveway.

Who else prefers to DIY?

 

Yes I detail my xkr myself. They charge a fortune here to detail. I have little to no swirl marks. I too drive it every day in all weather conditions. It gets a polish every 3mths or 4mths followed by carnuba wax applied. Every sunday I wash it with plain water dry it then use Meguires detailer spray to keep it looking good until the next polish and carnuba. Call me mad but I find it very therapeutic detailing

 

First of all: Great photo Stuart, beautiful & stunning 2009 XKR Portfolio Edition

Personally, I don't let anyone drive my cars nor do I let anyone touch the paint. The paint on my 2009 XKR is in perfect condition and has a great Jaguar Clear Coat. The color is Shadow Grey a "special edition" paint for the 2009 XKR Portfolio Edition convertible and was only available on a production run of 200 cars. The Shadow Grey is easy to clean, unlike a Black car.

I always do my own detailing, washing by hand weekly and polishing monthly. Interior leather conditioning is completed monthly using Lexol products:

Lexol Leather Conditioner

For a quick detail I suggest Meguiars Quick Detailer Spray:

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotiv...ailerreg-16oz/

For a hand wax I use Meguiars NXT Tech Wax 2.0 in spray or paste. I have both.

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotiv...ech-waxreg-20/

I keep a good supply of buffers, microfiber towels, and chamois' available. I really like using the Californina Water Blade to help dry the car and remove 80% of the water before drying by hand.

California Jelly Blade - Jelly Blade - CaliforniaCarDusters.com

When the cars are garaged, which is 100% of non driving time, they are always covered with a car cover. It only takes 2 minutes or less to remove or put on the car cover.

I see way to many nice cars on the road that are dirty and never washed or waxed. It should be a requirement of all car owners to keep them in top shape, but few do.

Each one of my 5 vehicles are maintained the same for car care.

These products mentioned are sold in Walmart or auto parts stores. Keep in mind, just because they are sold at Walmart does not make them inferior or cheap products. These are high quality products.