Picking up new Roadster Sat
 

Hey guys, this sat i pick up my new roadster from the dealer. Just want to know what i should put on the car as a paint protection sealant first up?

Im not going to pay the exorbent price of paint protect, i'd rather do it myself, but whats the best to put on when its new? some good wax perhaps??

cheers!! :)

first thing i did was removed all contaminants with clay and the proceeded to remove swirls from the dealer-installed "washing" and put some wax on it.

since my Z is a hobby car i use wax (Griot's), but if yours is a dd i recommend you use polymer sealants as they last longer in the baking sun and weather. for off the shelf stuff, NXT TechWax works very well for beginners.

Did you find claying your car actually put in some swirls in itself? I clayed my car after I got it from the dealer.... I saw that the paint was perfect in terms of swirls .... still had SOME contaminants on the paint, but it was swirl free. After I clayed, i found a ton of swirls on it. Luckily Adam's swirl remover took most of my clay-swirls out, but still have some deeper lines in the clearcoat that just dont seem to want to come out with the orange pad (2nd strongest cutting pad).

It's a black car so you see EVERYTHING on it when its out in direct sunlight.

don't let them detail it. Take it to a good shop to have it detailed for the first time. Apparently our cars paint go through the ringer and letting anyone else besides you (if you know what you are doing) or a professional (NOT THE DEALER) will leave you with tons of swirls and grief.

which clay did you use? the meguiar's blue (soft) was too coarse for my Z's paint so used Griot's yellow clay (super soft) and no issue. :)

also the towels you use can incluce swirls if you're not careful.

Not this kind:
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/pottery-2.jpg

I think i am becoming a fan of Liquid Glass. so i will recommend it to you.

Liquid Glass Car Care Products, Auto Polish Finish, paint sealant, paint protection, car wax, nautical liquid glass, wash concentrate, protectant

I used Mothers yellow clay. It was super soft... easy to stretch etc etc.

I used a foam gun using DP super foaming formula as lubricant. Also to dry, used Adam's microfiber towels to dry. But, looking at how the swirls/scratches appeared, i think it came from my claying because i went up and down, not side to side and thats how the scratches were.

I obviously did something wrong to get the swirls. Maybe i'll use the detail spray next time that came with the claying kit. I just know that someone else on here (a professional detailer) said that the detail spray is fairly expensive to use just for claying and that using car wash shampoo and water would do just fine.

Anyhow, alittle more work to get those swirls out, just not happy that i had to go through that extra proccess and not be able to remove 100% of the swirls at that.

hummm.... i use the generic Meguair's Quick Detailer in the maroon colored spray bottle as my lube. there's really no need to use expensive QD for clay... and yes, using mild shampoo and water does work.

ive used Mother's clay in the past with good results on other cars but not sure if that is still too coarse on the Z's paint or not. the Griot's clay is very soft. i actually call it Griot's mud in the other car forum as it's so soft you need to wear disposable gloves.

and they advertise that their clay is so soft it will not remove wax. (that part im not too sure).

Im not so sure about not removing the wax lol.... if it cant remove wax, how is it going to remove the contaminants? Logic tells me that it's not possible.

In any case, whats done is done. I'll hopefully finish polishing tonight.

if you scratch your car from claying your doing it wrong. But for a new car if it is swirl free (make sure dealer doesn't wash it!) wash the car, clay then seal. I really like Wolfgangs sealant, and menzerna's new sealant Power lock, these hold up very well and last a long time. I highly recommend them. If you want pm AND I'll send you some.

i suppose their thinking is that the contaminat is on top of the wax not under it so it wont remove wax... :icon14: but typically contaminants have some sort of oils or corrosives in it so it eats away at the wax. even if you remove the contaminant you still need to wax imho.

good luck with the polishing. takes some effort but it's well worth it at the end. :p

you should use the detail spray. it says it on the directions for most clay bars.

I finished using Adam's Fine Machine Polish with the PC earlier this afternoon. Very happy with the results. Smooth as glass and near scratch free... swirls are 100% gone. I have some slightly deeper clearcoat scratches about 3 on the hood and 3 by the trunk emblem.... i'll order some focus pads to get those completely removed, but fairly happy considering the amount of time i've put into this thing so far.

Still needs wax which i'll be using Adam's Machine Super Wax? Or whatever it's called. Should go much faster than the other 2 procedures (swirl remover and fine machine polish).

Stealth: Sure I dont mind trying new stuff. I'll see how it compares to Adam's and Zaino since that's what i've used previously. I'll send you a PM :)

Jeff: Will definitely use detail spray next time I clay! I worked on the X6 to practice with the PC and Adam's polishes. It turned out REALLY well! I shoulda stuck with that method since claying with detail spray produced no swirls! For the X6, however, i used Zaino's claybar and detail spray.

Cool, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, I'll be standing by for the PM.