Good morning,

I hope this is okay to post here. Just looking for a bit of direction.

I recently bought an M4 in tanzanite blue and the bodywork had a lot of swirls, scratches and hologramming etc, which is sad because it’s such a gorgeous colour. I took it to my local detailers and was quoted £1200 to sort it out, I decided I’d rather give this a go at home first. I spoke to a couple people who just said “just pay the £1200 love, you’ll burn through your paint” love being a woman 😂 (also, I didn’t burn through my paint… winner).

This is the process I went through:

1. Citrus prewash
   
2. Snow foamed
   
3. Shampooed
   
4. Autoglym Magma as fallout remover
   
5. Clay barred
   
6. Cut with Meguiars ultimate compound
   
7. Polished with Stjarna Gloss’s Skära
   
8. Wax with Meguiars Carnauba.

I’ve posted my results (I don’t have a garage/unit so apologies for the reflections in the photos), and also a comparison video of the swirls in the door compared to the rear quarter during the process (one video in comments)

I’ve got some deeper scratches that I don’t think are going to come out with the compound and polish I have - should I be looking into something harsher?

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the results, it looks 10x better than it did, but it’s not perfect.

Basically I’m just asking for any tips to make the finish even better (at home), or anything you’d change in the prep etc!

Like header says, these are the chemicals I use to wash my cars. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes when it comes to chemicals, but I want some thoughts. I now have money and a little time so I enjoy washing my car. I am not loyal to any brand, I just want to have a large variety and see what works and what doesn't for me. Is it a bit overkill? Probably. Repetitive? Probably. Good way to pass time and get away from work? Yes.

Let me know your thoughts on the products listed down below.

My setup consist of:
KC Active Foam
KC GSF
KC Reactivation Shampoo
ADS Amplify
ADS Wheel Cleaner
ADS Tire cleaner
ADS interior cleaner

Thinking of adding:
CarPro Reset
CarPro Perl
CarPro Descale
Bilt Hamber Touchless
Bilt Hamber Traceless
KC Green Star
CarPro Eraser
P&S Rags To Riches
Obsessed Garage Drying Aid
Obsessed Garage Tire Dressing

Which one do yall like better or use in your own set ups? Comfort is my personal priority.

Reddit fam, need some serious advice from you guys. Professionals especially. I have a now almost 6 year old full front PPF which is supposed to be Stek USA DYNOshield (this is a story in of itself… owner of shop that installed my PPF admitted to me that he contracted out the work and does not know whether they actually used Stek or not… said owner no longer does detailing work as he’s closed shop more than a year ago). The PPF has completely lost all of its clarity and just looks dull and hazy and it’s a massive eyesore for me.

I have seen people polish PPF on YouTube and all of them have gotten some phenomenal results bringing back clarity. Not necessarily defect removal, I don’t care about removing swirls or light scratches, no, I just want the clarity back. So they say use little to no pressure and use a finishing or light cutting pad with some finishing polish (no compound).

Ok great, I went and got myself some Gyeon PPF Renewal polish for this exact job and am planning on using a white polishing pad with it and my Griot’s G8 polisher on a speed setting of 2 so I don’t generate any heat whatsoever. I was gonna buy Sonax PPF polish and actually reached out to Sonax and they said they recommend applying by hand but can do a machine just make sure I’m not going aggressive and not generating heat.

Tonight I decided, before I go testing with my Griots G8, let me put a little bit of that polish on a microfiber applicator pad and went ahead and applied it with light pressure in a very small area on my hood near the fender.

Not only did it yield absolutely zero result, removing the polish itself during the buff was quite sticky and I needed to use a 50/50 IPA mixture to fully buff it off.

I’ve seen a YouTube short of a Sonax rep polishing a PPF’d rear quarter panel with an orange medium cutting pad! And got insane results (using their Sonax product of course).

So what course of action would you recommend here? I took such amazing care of this car/PPF meticulously maintained it, annual ceramic coat maintenances, two different times full ceramic applied, toppers, biweekly washes the correct way using the highest quality products. And yet even after all that, this is what life with PPF is like - mind you my car was a garage queen for 4 out of the now almost 6 years of the PPF’s life which adds greater insult to injury.

I’m doing this in hopes of being able to avoid taking it off considering all the horror stories I hear of people taking PPF off their cars. So I’m trying the most reasonable avenue available to me before I go potentially stripping paint or clearcoat (it’s original paint btw).

Sorry for the long post guys & thanks a gazillion for reading. Any direction provided is seriously appreciated.

🙏🏼

Got into the detailing hobby and read a lot of posts here about Costcos 12 piece adams detailing kit. I went to Costco that had it in stock by my job, cypress CA, and i found it for $39.99,! Hope to put these to good use!

I posted before, attrocious well water(crazy hard and high sodium). Quotes came in a 32k to move my well due to depth of our area(coal mines nearby), RO system for our home run 30-45k and will take half of my garage up. So for now I am considering a DI water cart to fully wash(every step with DI water). So if you have one, how do you like it? Is yours filter built in resin like ispring or just resin? I realize this will be pricey but I have to drive 20 mins to use a self wash and 20 miles back home each wash on my cars.

Any cart users?

Made a post about my terrible well water(extremely hard, high in sodium), HOA says no way I can have a rain water tank outside, RO costs 30-45k to install and would run another 1k every 6 months for service. Moving the well location runs 32k. So yeah, not there financially yet since I just moved into this home. Looking at DI water carts. I see 2 styles, 1 has filters with resin inside the filter(isprings) the other is a just add resin style. Sounds like theyll do the job and it still will be cheaper than the 40 miles round trip to pay for a self wash.

What DI water cart do you use if you have one, do you like it?

Going to switch from ceramic spray sealants to cancoat (got it for 50% off so might as well give it a go).

My day time temperature is within the application temperature range of 15-25C, however it will go under 10C overnight during the curing period. Is that still ok or should I wait till it is warmer to apply the coating?

Also, any tips and tricks for apply coating to the roof of a large SUV?

Is headlight restoration a typical service of an auto detailer? I didn’t see it listed in the list of services of some local guys. When I called them they referred me to Walmart, specifically a woman that works there, they both said she was the best, and indeed I’m extremely happy with the results, and the price ($40). Perhaps it’s not profitable? I try to spend my money with small businesses as much as possible but it just seemed like they didn’t want the work in this case.