[17txcamaross]

I am looking for an affordable auto detailer in the Katy or West Houston Area.

I have priced buying a dual action polisher, polish, clay bar alternate, sealant, wash kit with a nice quality soap, microfiber towels (nicer than my Sams Club Versions), and nice waffle weave towels.

It appears the cost of all this equipment is similar to the cost of a single wash, polish and sealant from a reputable auto detailer. If this is the case it would make more sense to shell out the big bucks and buy everything I need for years of detailing (aside from wash soap) and learn this myself.

I would also like to thank Glen for his wonderful PDFs and posts regarding detailing/paint maintenance. Your assistance here would also be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps I am a bit lost and looking to spend far more than necessary on the products for myself. As a little background I have a 2017 Camaro 2SS in Black - The vehicle has plenty of swirling and small scratching. Car has never been sealed or clay bared. Car is washed in my driveway or via a handwash car wash each and everytime.

I know all Blackfire products are buy one get one right now, but I am not 100% sure what all I need.

My list so far for getting a full detail kit:

Blackfire Crystal Coat Paint Coating
BF Gloss Enhancing Polish
BF Crystal Coat Paint Prep
BF SRC Finishing Polish
BF Crystal Seal Paint Sealant (4 oz) (Not sure if this is the same as the first item listed)
Lake Country 6.5 Inch CCS Pads (6 Pack) (4 White and 2 Blue)
Griots 6 Inch Heavy Duty RO Polisher
Nanoskin Autoscrub Speedy Prep Sponge (Medium or Soft...NOT SURE HERE)


BF Leather Conditioner

For the carwash kit - looking at chemical guys. My car is a DD and I am not sure a rinseless will be a good option for me. I don't always have time on the weekend to wash the car and being in Houston it rains quite a bit.

Chemical Guys two bucket wash kit
Chemical Guys Foam Cannon or Blaster and Soap/Shampoo

[Glen e]

You are buying way too much stuff. All you need is blackfire total polish and seal and black fire Crystal seal. in the most simplistic terms. wash and clay the car at the same time per the documents, wax on the polish by hand or by orbital and buff off, and wipe on the Crystal seal. Done. Do Rinseless as a regular wash. If you want to do a regular wash your stuff is fine.

However there are two products that have come along that eclipse the blackfire stuff because Using silica as a basis as opposed to polymer, silica lasts longer and is more durable. If you look at my documents again you’ll see that there is a new document called “read this first” it outlines the difference ..here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4bwmmuu5d2...first.pdf?dl=0


Another member’s experience with the new Carpro products

http://www.camaro6.com/forums/showth...hlight=Essence

[SSport16]

Yeah keep it simple! No need for all of that.

[17txcamaross]

Thanks for the extremely quick responses gents.

To summarize quickly the process should be:

Clean car with Dawn Dish Soap to remove any waxes already on the car. While Dawn is still on the Camaro go ahead and claybar/new claybar.

Use either blackfire total polish and seal or Essence followed by either BF Crystal Seal or Carpro Reload respectively. This will remove scratches and swirls? I will be investing in an orbital as stated above.

Glen, you show using a White Pad in your writeup, however, SSport16 you show the use of a Black pad. Is this just a difference for the products or will one do a better job for removing swirls and scratches during the application of essence or blackfire polish?

Thank you both again for working with me. The multitude of products available today is extremely confusing. However, all the writeups here on the forums make a huge difference and should be able to save me hundreds over the life of my car.

[Glen e]

No real diff in white and black, both are med pads....

It depends on how scratched it is, if it is not micro scratches you might want to do meguires ultimate compound before the tpns or essence. Use same type pad...so
Dawn clay/wash
Meguires ult compound
Bf tpns or essence
Bf crystal seal or reload

I strongly recommend the carpro products over black fire.....


There is another alternative here. And that is have a detailer do all the polishing for you and get the surface perfect, then you can lay on the Crystal or reload yourself. It might be cheaper to do it that way then learning and buying an orbital. Especially with a black car..don’t think that an orbital will quickly and easily eliminate scratches, if really scratched, it’s a long tough road with a orbital to remove them, paint is hard.....

[wrankin]

Originally Posted by 17txcamaross

Glen, you show using a White Pad in your writeup, however, SSport16 you show the use of a Black pad. Is this just a difference for the products or will one do a better job for removing swirls and scratches during the application of essence or blackfire polish?

I have Hex Logix pads that I purchased from Chemical Guys. The white pads are for minor cutting and polishing and the black pads are for spreading sealants, glaze or wax.

Bill

[Glen e]

Originally Posted by wrankin

I have Hex Logix pads that I purchased from Chemical Guys. The white pads are for minor cutting and polishing and the black pads are for spreading sealants, glaze or wax.

Bill

Yup, the color is not an industry std thing, in the lake country ccs line, which is what he is referring, black and white are no diff for the weekend detailer.....

[17txcamaross]

Thanks again Glen.

I guess I am now back to my original question for Houston/Katy folks.

Please recommend a good detail shop for polishing.

I have a local Katy shop - Kingsland Car Wash - which told me they can polish and wax which would include an external wash and interior clean for about $180-200.

Any other recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Looks like the reload will be plenty easy for me to apply and keep the paint protected following a good polish.

Can reload be applied over a wax? Or does the car only need to be polished?

[Glen e]

Only polish....reload needs to go up against bare paint. Polish is a mechanical process, it does not leave anything once buffed off..


Keep wax away from your car as possible, wax is dead in my book.

[17txcamaross]

Is reload good for wheels as well?

I am looking into buying new wheels and although I just purchased some new dustless pads a little added protection can't hurt.

[KirkH]

Lake Country CCS white pads are polishing pads and have light cutting power.

Lake Country CCS black pads are finishing pads and have no cutting power.

https://www.autogeek.net/lake-country-ccs-6pack.html

I polish with the white pads and apply sealant with the black.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

If your paint is swirled up, it's going to need more than just polish, it will need compounding first.




To avoid swirling the car back up, you have to wash/dry it properly. No sense to buy a DA polisher, or pay someone else to paint correct your car if your just going to put the swirls right back in.

[Glen e]

Originally Posted by 17txcamaross

Is reload good for wheels as well?

I am looking into buying new wheels and although I just purchased some new dustless pads a little added protection can't hurt.

Reload is fine for wheels, Hydro2 better - see my document in my sig

[SSport16]

Originally Posted by 17txcamaross

Thanks for the extremely quick responses gents.

To summarize quickly the process should be:

Clean car with Dawn Dish Soap to remove any waxes already on the car. While Dawn is still on the Camaro go ahead and claybar/new claybar.

Use either blackfire total polish and seal or Essence followed by either BF Crystal Seal or Carpro Reload respectively. This will remove scratches and swirls? I will be investing in an orbital as stated above.

Glen, you show using a White Pad in your writeup, however, SSport16 you show the use of a Black pad. Is this just a difference for the products or will one do a better job for removing swirls and scratches during the application of essence or blackfire polish?

Thank you both again for working with me. The multitude of products available today is extremely confusing. However, all the writeups here on the forums make a huge difference and should be able to save me hundreds over the life of my car.

I use the black pad for a finish polishing, if there are some scratches that are a little more than just surfacr scratches, I use an orange or light cuutting pad, but that is rare and if done right should only be used the 1 time, then polish and seal, and do a proper wash and you will be good. Polish once a year or so, with a black pad you will get out some minor light surface scratches or marring when you polish.