NXT Glass Cleaner

Do you like to keep your windscreen clean all the time? If yes, this is the product for you. I have a habbit of keeping my windscreen as clean as possible. Before I drive my car out from home, I'll give it a wipe using a piece of damp microfiber cloth with NXT Glass Cleaner. I used to use EagleOne 20/20 Glass Cleaner. It does its job well except that it strips off my Rain-X quickly. NXT Glass Cleaner is the other way round - It beads up the water. Needless to say much as I'm now very happy with this product and it shall be in my trunk whenver I go for outstation.

Tips #6: Is Drying That Important?

Long time ago while I was still driving a metallic silver 1992 Honda Accord, I wasn't that particular in detailing. One fine day, I had my car washed and drove out for a spin. Unfortunately the weather turned bad while I was on my way back home and my car was soaking wet. Right after I reached home, I hose it down with pipe water hoping that the dirt will not stick on the surface before the rain water dries up. I did a big mistake by not drying up the car and let it air dried!

The next morning, I noticed that there are lots of white water mark rings on the paintwork. It was very hard, not even my nails could scratch it away. I then took out a bottle of Autoglym Paint Renovator and start rubbing the paint down. This aggresive polish contains aluminium oxide which is able to cut a fine layer of paintwork. And after 10 hours of hardwork, only I managed to remove all of the water marks.

This incident had taught me a lesson of not letting pipe water to dry on the paintwork. The reason being pipe water contains minerals and it will leave traces of elements as it dries up naturally. These elements will then etch into the surface (be it paintwork, plastic or glass) and leave ugly marks.

So, be wise! Spending 45 mins drying up the car or don't wash it at all! The choice is yours...

Detailer Brand

My Gold Class Shampoo & Conditioner (1 gallon) is almost finishing so this time I've chosen the Shampoo Plus (1 gallon) from the Detailer Brand of Meguiar's. The dilution ratio is the same as Gold Class and NXT Shampoo, 1oz per 1 gallon of water. According to the label, it contains conditioning agents to boost gloss and the rich lubricating formula will reduce scratches while washing. I will write a review on this product after I start to use it.



Another cool product for quick detailing which I got recently is the Last Touch. It performs just like the Final Inspection for removing loose contaminants. If you think Final Inspection is too expensive to be used for claying, try this. It can be diluted at a ratio of 1:1 for lubrication. Also, I yet to finish up my bottle of Final Inspection before I can start using this.

Long Live The King!

I know this post has got nothing to do with detailing, but at least this new baby (Canon SpeedLite 580EX Flash Gun) aids me in taking detailing photos =D. During my recent trip to Bangkok, the Thais were celebrating King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 60th anniversary on the throne. At the top of this flash gun is the Sto-Fen OmniBounce and I placed the yellow rubber wrist band around it. On this wrist band, it's written "Long Live The King" both in English and Thai language. Thais are very patriotic and I could see almost everyone is wearing this wrist band. It can be obtained at any 7-Eleven store in Bangkok city at 100 Baht.

Scuff

Got a few scuff marks on the right rear passenger door on the Iswara, all appeared on the same day. Well, sh*t happens.

This is how bad it looks like after a wash...


As usual, the steps I've taken to correct the paintwork minimally...

Clay
M83/W8006/RB
M82/W9006/RB
M21

This is the result I get without sacrificing much clearcoat...In fact it is not that obvious in real life.


Worklamp...


Makita 9227c...


IKEA food tray...

To Buff or Not to Buff?

The last wash for Accord was dated 3 weeks ago, it was in horrible condition with additional scratches done by the cats, bird dropping etches and other craps. After washing and drying that car, I inspected the paintwork and found out mild acid rain etches start to show up. I was tempted to pull out my Makita and start removing the new scratches and etches. But in the end, I took out my 6 years old tube of Scratch-X and did spot repair by hand. It was good enough to reduce the visibility of the etches but unable to remove effectively.

Keeping our car in flawless condition is our wish. Unfortunately, our car is used daily and it's subjected to all sorts of attack. Keeping it flawless by continually rotary buffing will reduce the clearcoat in no time. So this left us two choices...

1) Keep the car at home for display

2) Live with the condition and wash/wax regularly

Perhaps it's good enough to compound your car once every 2 years and polish once a year and not forgetting to wash it weekly and wax it monthly. With this rule of thumb, you should be able to preserve your clearcoat for the next few years before changing a new car or refinishing with high quality paintwork.