I'm really annoyed with my camera right now, its taking really grainy *** photos and I don't know why. Considering the exact same camera took this picture 6 months ago:


So my paints a little less than a year old at this point and I'm wondering what to do now.

After I got it painted I waited a few months and waxed the car prior to winter.

Now, I noticed the paint on hood has a slight roughness to it. Some kind of build up. Will a pre-wax cleaner the way to get rid of this? Theres also slight swirl marks (I think this is the term). Basically, white "scratch" marks on the clear coat but its perfectly smooth to the touch. Would pre-wax cleaner take care of that as well?

I'm basically getting ready to put on a coat of wax now that its warm again and I wanna make sure I'm going about it right.

Theres also some kind of tar/sap high up on my rear quarter panel. I have no idea what it is. At first I thought it was rust or something but its rubbery and stuck to the paint. I can pick it off with my finger nail but I don't know how to completely remove it and its residue.

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On a side note, I've got like half a dozen stone chips in my passenger side fender directly behind the front wheel. Stone chips are begininning to drive me absolutely insane. I'm going to give http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-p...sh-clinic.html a try. I'd glady take any advice on the subject.

 

i apologize for this being unrelated...but damn those tires are bone dry!

car looks nice otherwise

 

If the car is a daily driver, there's always going to be little imperfections with time. Rock chips, scratches, probably even dings. Try not to let it get to you. If you go on long trips, buy a front nose mask (bra) for the car and put it on for the trip only. Just good preventive maintenance.

When you say the hood has a roughness to it, has it lost the smooth touch it had when the paint was new? You're probably feeling contaminants on the paint. If so, pick up a Meguiar's clay kit from the store, and then try it on the hood in a little area. If the bottom of the clay is now brown or even black, and the area you clayed is now smooth again, you now know what to do. Just take your time and go over the whole car carefully, in little sections. Then follow with a cleaner wax, polish, and then a nice paste wax.

 

I just bought a 2nd car so the IROC is no longer a daily driver so I'm trying to get to car to as near as perfect as I can without losing my sanity.

As for the hood, its not perfectly smooth in some place. It looks perfectly clean and you can't see anything. I waxed the car once about 4 months ago. I'm not sure if I'm feeling leftover wax or whatever.

I picked up some mother's pre-wax cleaner, which is supposed to take car of minor contaminants and so forth. I wasn't sure if I needed to clay bar or if the pre-wax cleaner would do the trick. I just want to find out what I need to do before I wax the car again.

rwdtech: Yea, I really slacked and didn't put on a nice coat of tire shine, I was ashamed of myself.

 

I recently used the Meguiars Clay Bar Kit on my daily driver (06 Maxima, flame on) and that thing worked wonders. I was amazed at how much crud came off the paint. Its easy to use. First wash the car with dish soap, thats right Dawn dish soap. You want to remove as much wax as possible so the clay can get to the debris. Dry the car then use the clay bar, just follow the directions on the box. Next I used Meguiars paint cleaner, then a coat of polish, then two coats of Meguiars carnuba wax. Paint is slick as snot now. Remember with waxing, two light coats are better than one heavy one.

 

clay bars work wonders. oh, and the "contaminants" that the clay bar will remove you can't see. You'll be able to feel it tho.

 

Clay bar it is then.

Does it have to be dawn or will any generic liquid dish detergent do the trick?

thanks

 

Any grease cutting dish-soap should work, I've only used dawn the couple times I did this, but any dish soap should work. FYI, dish soap is great for cleaning tires. Also, bug and tar remover will take care of that tree sap

 

Don't bother with the Dawn. The clay bar will strip the wax and a good car wash shampoo is far more mild on not only the paint but the plastic and rubber trim as well. The whole Dawn thing came about with the crazy over hyped Zaino mentality and with regular use is just not a good thing to do to a car.

Use the clay, as has been mentioned. Clay is designed to remove bonded surface contaminants but will do nothing for scratches and swirl marks. You need a decent polish or paint cleaner for that, and if you're attacking the car by hand be prepared to work, and work hard. You can't expect to just wipe something on and wipe it off, and the swirls are magically gone. You need to put some elbow grease into it, and remove the polish before it dries. Don't treat it like wax because it isn't. Take your time, and you'll end up with a beautiful finish. Then fix your camera and take some pictures to show off.