White Chevrolet Aveo

This car is quite new, it is only about 6 months old and the owner wants to maintain his ride. He was referred by his friend to utilize my grooming service and i recommend him to take up my CNY grooming package.

The Premier Grooming Package is a comprehensive exterior detailing session which encompasses the interior detailing as well. This grooming package is only available at AMK Depot for the festive seasons. The car was shampoo washed, clayed and the wheels were thoroughly cleaned.



The car was then shifted to the polishing site for a closer inspection on the paint conditions. Both MH and Halogen lighting were used as the white colour is masking most of the superficial swirl marks making it look perfect under normal light conditions.


There were some random deep scratches as well but those are beyond polishing means, hence i did not take those photos. Light swirl marks and light scuffs were found on the entire car and i was surprised to see that there were also alot of pinning on the bonnet/ hood of this new car. The car was given a mild paint correction to rectify most of the swirl marks found on the car body panels less the rear spoiler area.


The spoiler was given a medium paint correction as there were some fine scratches. The car was burnished for LSP and sealant was chosen. Interior of the car was cleaned, dusted and vacuumed. The leathers and vinyl were conditioned and moisturised as well. All windows panels were cleaned and the exterior vinyl were dressed as well.


Some of the pictures taken after buffing out the sealant. The total time taken to restore the car to pristine condition again was about 4 hours.







This will be the last car that i have groomed in 2009, thank you for viewing this detailing session. Here's wishing all friends out there a very happy 2010, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Different Lightings Make A Difference

I mentioned in my earlier post on the usage of proper lighting to identify the fine defects on the car's paintwork. Some paint defects like superficial swirl marks, buffer swirl and halogram ... etc requires very strong intensity lighting to see. If you cannot see the defects clearly, you cannot proceed with proper paint correction and preparation to achieve a concourse finishing.

This was the short simple lighting test that was conducted recently. I would call it the "MH vs Fluoro lightings test"... lolz. I retrofitted a lighting source with 1 x conventional fluorescent light tube and 2 x new LED light tube. The test subject was a black Lexus RX350 with superficial swirl marks and light buffer swirl. Both lighting were directed to the front right panel on the hood at different timings.

The retrofitted light box was placed at various distance from far to near and each time, i found it very hard to identify the fine defects on the car's paintwork, the car's paint work look perfect with no defects under these lightings.

Take a look at the test subject again with MH lighting, the light swirl marks and buffer swirl were revealed. The car was almost perfect under the fluorescent and LED lighting source, but that was not the actual condition of the car's paintwork. Lighting is a very important factor in proper car grooming/ detailing task. Hope you have enjoy the session here, thank you for viewing this test.

The Maintenance Of A Car Paint Work

The moment when we received our new cars, we will be thrill and excited by it. Many will have agendas to soup up their cars' exterior and interior and maintenance of the car's engine and transmission will be left to the relevant authorize agents/ workshops to sort out since it's under warranty period. Some owners will send their cars for special "coating" for the paint work, many will overlook this as they are either not aware or not inform of the need to protect the car's paint work. Ignorance is not a bliss in this case.

Before the new cars are handover to the new owners, they will be polish and groom up to tip-top conditions. In most of the cases, the conditions of the paint work will be flawless like a mirror with shine and gloss (unless the process got screw up by their appointed groomers) as the LSP (wax/ sealant) is fresh and the hydrophobic effects are strong. The conditions of the paint work will deteriorate as time goes by owning to wear and tear of the wax/ sealant protection, this is normal as alot of other things behave in that manner as well.

Periodic maintenance by car grooming company/ specialist is a need to rejuvenate and replenish the lost wax/ sealant, you can also DIY as well. A regularly maintain car will exhibit the following characteristics.

Surface hydrophobic effect cause water to beads

High gloss & shine + Better clarity - HD wax... lolz

During the monsoon period, many car owners will stop doing their regular washing as it is very frustrating when it rains the moment after washing. Many will probably think that what's the point of washing when it gets dirty again the next moment? Regular washing is a very important step in maintaining the car's paintwork as it will remove most of the stains, dirt and grime accumulated from the past few days.

A typical commercial carwash use high pressure water to rinse the whole car throughly to remove all the dirt and fine particles that are stuck on the car especially along the crevices. This rinsing process is very important as any fine particles left on the car will scratch the paintwork when the washing commence. The car will be spray with car shampoo foam and then follow by the washing. The car shampoo will act as a mild cleaner solvent to clean the car and also as a lubricant to minimise any scratching.

Many may have neglected the part on proper rinsing when they DIY as i had witnessed some owners using scoop/ hose to splash water to "wet" the car surfaces before the washing. This is one of the main source for swirl marks found on the paint work, the other source is from carpark carwash group who provide the cleaning service by wiping the car in the night. This damage is much more severe than the DIY method as the wiping is actually done on the car's surface which is full of dirt and fine particles.

Some owners may have spent alot to do up the car's paint work with "special" coating but by not maintaining it regularly, all efforts will be to no avail. The real problem starts when you stop the routine wash as more and more dirt and grime will be accumulated (> 8 days) on the surface. The constant rain and shine conditions behaves like a catalyst to damage the protective coating (wax/ sealant). This will lead to major paint work correction issue subsequently. Do you know how water etched marks are form on the paint's surface? Without the wax/ sealant protection, these defects are form on the clear coat (lacquer) of the car's paint work. Don't turn a blind eye to these issues as the paint work can be damage.

Very poorly maintain paint work

Periodic car grooming goes hand in hand with regular routine wash to upkeep the paint work in tip-top conditions. What are the defects that can be found on the cars? These are some of the common ones like swirls, scratches, buffer trails, halogram, pinning, acidic/ water etched marks and stains. Some of these are caused by our atmospheric conditions, others are man made. Are these avoidable? IMO, not likely because the car is constantly being used but some of which can be minimise.

Swirls/ Cobweb marring

Swirls and water etched marks


Overlapping water etched marks (fish scales?)


Bird poo etched marks after washing off the poo

Stains by leaves/ twigs/ saps

Always use proper lighting to identify the defects (swirls/ light scuff/ buffer trail/ halogram... etc) on the car's paint work. The light intensity plays an important role in car grooming industry, poor lighting will mast most of the fine defects and when you cannot see the defects clearly, how do you know what you are doing? These are actually powerful MH lighting found at Shell service station which give a daylight effect and they can get quite hot at close proximity!

These are fluorescent tubes found almost everywhere in SG as it is relatively cheaper as compare to MH lighting. This cannot be use for effective car polishing as the light intensity is not enough to reveal the defects, it will in fact mast some of the defects as they can't be seen. Do your own verification/ test during your next visit to Shell service station.

We have spent alot to drive the car we want, don't let your ride turn ugly due to ignorance. Do you know that every paint correction session may remove 5 to 10 microns of the paint? Serious paint correction may remove up to 15 microns or more depending on the defects on the paint work. It is at the cost of the car's paint work integrity, how much paint correction can the paint work take?

87 microns

116 microns

A typical 3 stage OEM paint of an average Japanese or Korean cars paint thickness may range from 85 microns to 130+ microns, some of the better continental rides may range from 130 microns to 200+ microns. 1000 microns is 1mm, do your math for paint correction.

To preserve the car's paint work in pristine conditions, regular routine washing is a must and periodic maintenance like waxing will help you to reduce the option of a need of a severe paint correction session. Hope you have enjoy reading the session here, thank you for viewing this post. Cheers.

Hand Waxing On A Bad Condition SLK

I was doing a budget $20 hand waxing promotion at one of my outlet in AMK and i happened to chance upon this SLK. The paint condition of the SLK was quite bad. The surface was covered with lots of swirl mark and water etched mark and that made the paint look dull. This car needed a serious paint correction in order to restore it's glory back again but i wanted to confirm how much can a hand waxing do to it.

The hand waxing test was done on the boot and i had the boot taped up in half. These were the pictures taken prior waxing.

The two products that i used during the test were AutoGlym Super Resin Polish & AutoGlym Ultra Deep Shine. (The product used for the hand waxing promotion was AG SRP and the reason that AG UDS came into the picture was solely for personal test purpose.)

These were the pictures taken after one round of hand waxing, the superficial swirl mark was significantly reduced on both sides.

I was not pleased with the test and continued for round two. Left was AG SRP & right was AG UDS. The boot was waxed again and left to cure for awhile.

I began to buff out the wax and hopefully the result will be even much more positive.

The left side of the boot was not very encouraging after 2 rounds of AG SRP slapped on it. With the aid of the strong MH lighting, the deeper swirl mark was still quite evident.

The right side of the test was quite positive as the 2 rounds of AG UDS did made a difference! Most of the surface marring were taken care of.

This was the 50/ 50 picture .

The initial defects noted were significantly reduced after the first round of hand waxing but AG SRP didn't really made an impact after the second test as compared to AG UDS. Conclusion gathered from this waxing test... both products worked but AG UDS worked better for dark colour ride (probably it contained higher amount of fillers) and in this case, hand waxing could only do so much to restore the condition as this SLK needed a serious paint correction session.

This is a link which showed another SLK which was done in the first quarter of 2009, this car had received paint correction work using hand held detailing tool/ machine and note the difference in the finishing.

http://smcgoldenwax.blogspot.com/2009/10/black-mercedes-slk.html

Want to know the exact condition of your car's paintwork, do it the next time when you visit a Shell service station, the strong lightings will show you "the way". Forget about the fluorescent tube lightings in MSCP, you can't see the real defects. Hope you have enjoy reading it, thank you for viewing this posting. Cheers.