[SPARTAN sui]

If you don't care about the condition of your paint, go for it. If it touches your paint it's going to leave swirls. 90% of vehicles have them, so it's cool if you're into that type of thing.

[Glen e]

This is The neighbor's car from a couple years ago, that frequented the lousy car wash we had at the end of our neighborhood. This is after about two years of their super wash and wax deal , for 18 bucks…


And yeah, some people don't give a shit about this stuff. When I pointed this out to her, she couldn't even see that in this picture there were real problems , mostly because that's the way they see all cars, owned by non enthusiasts....

[Nor Cal ZL1]

Originally Posted by Glen e

This is The neighbor's car from a couple years ago, that frequented the lousy car wash we had at the end of our neighborhood. This is after about two years of their super wash and wax deal , for 18 bucks…


And yeah, some people don't give a shit about this stuff. When I pointed this out to her, she couldn't even see that in this picture there were real problems , mostly because that's the way they see all cars, owned by non enthusiasts....

LOL wow. Some people pay to have swirls removed, while others pay to have them installed. If you want to pay 18 bucks a week for your paint to look like that...... well that's insane.
Thats some crazy stuff Glen, I bet you wanted to test some polishes on that one. Good test paint.....maybe.

[pjz1082]

I love cars...but I HATE washing them. I don't think that discredits me from being a car enthusiast but whatever. My paint looks like crap because before I joined this forum and learned about washing habits, I had my car through multiple car washes. It's swirl city at this point. And of course my paint is black and the most noticeable. I used to spend the 2 hours washing my car by hand but I just don't have the time anymore. I also live in the desert and within 2 hours of washing the car, it's covered in dust again. I will probably start using a mobile detailer but it all comes down to personal preference. I have always been more performance over appearance so swirls aren't the end of the world. All that said, if you don't mind the swirls, you can go through just about any wash.

[Nor Cal ZL1]

If you hate washing cars your in the wrong area of the forum, anyhow 2 hours is crazy, takes me about 20 minutes if I take my time to do a wash.

[SPARTAN sui]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal ZL1

If you hate washing cars your in the wrong area of the forum, anyhow 2 hours is crazy, takes me about 20 minutes if I take my time to do a wash.

A lot of it will come down to how much you wash your car and what you're washing.

I typically wash my car twice a week and if I do a full wash it can take me an hour and a half to two hours. But that's washing the wheel wells (apc + brush), wheel barrels and faces, tires, two bucket wash on paint (and two mitts), follow up with blowing out the crevices with an air blower and following up with drying with waffle weave microfiber and detail spray. Finally drying the door jambs, trunk jamb, and under the hood. Then I move my car into the garage and hit the grill and crevices again with an air blower. Shoot, I use five brushes for the wheels and wells. Lug nut brush, boars hair brush for the faces, a wheel woolie for the barrels, a tire brush, and a well brush. I'm pretty meticulous.

A quick wash where I only get the wheels (face & barrels) and paint will take about 45 minutes. But that's including prep, which is filling up three buckets with water, setting up a table, and rounding up all my brushes, blower, etc. And again using a blower to get the crevices and grills. Hard water is a bitch.

I will be switching from the Brembo semi-metallic pads to a ceramic pad, so that should help with the horrible brake dust at least. Should make detailing my wheels much easier and less time consuming. Also I don't have to worry about using awful smelling wheel cleaner.

[Nor Cal ZL1]

Originally Posted by SPARTAN sui

A lot of it will come down to how much you wash your car and what you're washing.

I typically wash my car twice a week and if I do a full wash it can take me an hour and a half to two hours. But that's washing the wheel wells (apc + brush), wheel barrels and faces, tires, two bucket wash on paint (and two mitts), follow up with blowing out the crevices with an air blower and following up with drying with waffle weave microfiber and detail spray. Finally drying the door jambs, trunk jamb, and under the hood. Then I move my car into the garage and hit the grill and crevices again with an air blower. Shoot, I use five brushes for the wheels and wells. Lug nut brush, boars hair brush for the faces, a wheel woolie for the barrels, a tire brush, and a well brush. I'm pretty meticulous.

A quick wash where I only get the wheels (face & barrels) and paint will take about 45 minutes. But that's including prep, which is filling up three buckets with water, setting up a table, and rounding up all my brushes, blower, etc. And again using a blower to get the crevices and grills. Hard water is a bitch.

I will be switching from the Brembo semi-metallic pads to a ceramic pad, so that should help with the horrible brake dust at least. Should make detailing my wheels much easier and less time consuming. Also I don't have to worry about using awful smelling wheel cleaner.

Nothing wrong with taking your time, esp if you enjoy it. I went coated on all our cars to save time. Everthing is coated, paint, wheels , trim. I do enjoy it but have very little spare time.

[SPARTAN sui]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal ZL1

Nothing wrong with taking your time, esp if you enjoy it. I went coated on all our cars to save time. Everthing is coated, paint, wheels , trim. I do enjoy it but have very little spare time.

I hear ya, it's a labor of love. I don't absolutely love cleaning my car twice a week, but I'm driven to by my desire to have my car look the cleanest day in and day out. I can't count how many times I've washed my car in near freezing conditions. I've had to haul my water hose down to my basement to thaw out on a few occasions.

I'd love to have my car coated, anything that makes keeping her clean better is a win. What coating did you go with?

[Nor Cal ZL1]

Originally Posted by SPARTAN sui

I hear ya, it's a labor of love. I don't absolutely love cleaning my car twice a week, but I'm driven to by my desire to have my car look the cleanest day in and day out. I can't count how many times I've washed my car in near freezing conditions. I've had to haul my water hose down to my basement to thaw out on a few occasions.

I'd love to have my car coated, anything that makes keeping her clean better is a win. What coating did you go with?

Lol I have a test fleet..... sort of. The ZL1 has KamikazeMiyabi coat, topped with Kamikaze Infintiy wax.

http://www.esotericcarcare.com/kamikaze-miyabi-coat/

http://www.esotericcarcare.com/kamikaze-infinity-wax/

The wifes car has Blackfire crystal coat. Good product with an extremly short shelf life. If your going to use this it has to be used all at once.

Truck has Gtechniq C1, Exo, Gtechniq has new formulas so I have no experience with the new version. The old one is a great product so I would imagine the new is even better. My company rig has Polish Angel Viking coat. This is the easiest coating to install by a long shot. Right now for me its a tie between Kamikaze, and Polish Angel.

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/polis...l#.WMvqWMtlCBY

I have stream lined my product line down to...
Menzerna FG 400 for heavy polish.

Car Pro Essence for medimum polish, and coating prep.

Kamikaze, or Polish Angel coating.

After care Car Pro Ech20 waterless, rinseless, detail spray, this stuff is fantastic.
https://www.carpro-us.com/latest-pro...te-17oz-500ml/

The rare bucket wash I use Gyeon Bathe+
http://www.autogeek.net/gyeon-bathe-plus.html

For any light repairs that may be needed, or to freshen up a coating.

http://www.autogeek.net/carpro-essence-plus.html

All of the coatings I have used respond very well with the Car Pro rinseless, or waterless. I buy it by the gallon. And of course a bunch of Korean top quality microfibers properly cared for.

[SPARTAN sui]

Dude, thanks for the info! I like the sounds of the Polish Angel Viking coat. Sounds easy to apply. I might have to look at picking one of those up to apply right after I polish my paint.

ZL1 looks sick!

[greg72982]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal ZL1

If you hate washing cars your in the wrong area of the forum, anyhow 2 hours is crazy, takes me about 20 minutes if I take my time to do a wash.

Whew I'm jealous. Like Spartan, it's usually about an hour and a half for me, that's about a half hour for the wheels and an hour for the body including drying and prepping buckets and such.

Originally Posted by Nor Cal ZL1

Nothing wrong with taking your time, esp if you enjoy it. I went coated on all our cars to save time. Everthing is coated, paint, wheels , trim. I do enjoy it but have very little spare time.

I used to enjoy it more but now it's more like another chore. I want to have my cake and eat it too though. By that I mean I still want a clean car but not have to spend the time to do it lol.

I'd like to do the coating but I don't have the time or patience to apply it myself, moreso the prep aspect. I may bite the bullet and pay someone. I did email a local detailer with high ratings about CQuartz finest but it was too much for my taste. He said they do Cquartz Classic starting at $550 but that's starting so who knows what it'd be. I might consider that though as my car is garage kept anyway and not a DD.

[Nor Cal ZL1]

Originally Posted by greg72982

Whew I'm jealous. Like Spartan, it's usually about an hour and a half for me, that's about a half hour for the wheels and an hour for the body including drying and prepping buckets and such.



I used to enjoy it more but now it's more like another chore. I want to have my cake and eat it too though. By that I mean I still want a clean car but not have to spend the time to do it lol.

I'd like to do the coating but I don't have the time or patience to apply it myself, moreso the prep aspect. I may bite the bullet and pay someone. I did email a local detailer with high ratings about CQuartz finest but it was too much for my taste. He said they do Cquartz Classic starting at $550 but that's starting so who knows what it'd be. I might consider that though as my car is garage kept anyway and not a DD.

The wheels are a challenge for sure. I have mine coated with Gyeon Rim and it makes it a breeze to clean. The 5th gen ZL1 has mad brake dust.

As far as the coating goes the prep is greatly simplified if you use Car Pro essence as the polish. It also serves as the primer, so once wiped off the car is ready to coat. Polish Angel Viking coat can go right over the top of it. Apply just like a wax, cure 45 minutes and wipe off, super simple.

Maintain with coating specified waterless/rinseless, or traditional wash like Gyeon Bathe +. Top off every few months with either Polish Angel cosmic or viking spritz, or Car Pro reload. I use Car Pro Ech2o mixed with a little reload, so its always topped off every wash.

Here is some of a write up I did. Will do more later, but got sidetracked developing a 5th gen antitheft device. Here is a link if you want to check it out.

http://www.camaro6.com/forums/showth...=481986&page=6