Simple Products & Steps To Get Good Results

I've been asked by many people again and again on how to keep their rides' paintwork looking good for as long as possible before the next "meet the groomer" session. Here's the method which i recommend after taking time and cost into consideration.

Let's assume the conditions of the car paintwork is new/ just groomed.

1. Keep your car clean

When you get caught in the rain, wash it whenever the rain stop or at 2/3/4/5/6/7 days interval depending on your time/ commitments. Use a wax safe car shampoo or you can even don't use any car shampoo if the interval of cleaning is very close, key thing to note before washing is proper rinsing to loose/ clear as much dirt and grime. You can use a water hose with decent pressure for the rinsing and if you have a high pressurize water jet machine, it will come in very handy.

Use a car wash sponge/ sheep skin mitten to clean the surface, do not use brute strength during the washing as any loose dirt trapped in the sponge/ mitten will cause scratching. Ignore stains/ blemish that cannot be remove during this stage of the washing. Rinse down the car thoroughly and use a quality chamois/ MF/ Waffle weave cloth/ towel to dry the car. Use the dabbing method vs the wiping method to further minimise any possible scratching. (You can try the 2 Bucket Wash Method for a safer method, more time is require)

2. Wax your car

Stains and blemish are impossible to avoid (the issue is very prone to white colour car due to the colour contrast). Use an AIO/ Cleaner wax to gently massage the affected area or you can even wax the entire car to regain a better shine. (Follow up with a sealant/ final wax for better protection, more time is require)

Where to get AIO/ Cleaner wax?
- Giant/ NTUC/ Homefix/ Petrol service station/ Autobacs... etc, alot of places in SG sell it.

Examples of an AIO/ Cleaner wax
"Money not enough " the famous comedy show in SG years back featuring Autoglym brand when J and gang were doing car grooming biz. (Autoglym SRP - UK product)
This is Meguiar's, another favourite brand amongst grooming business operators. (Meguiars Cleaner Wax - US product)
This is type JDM - Soft99 brand and it's quite a budget and good product. (Soff99 MetaClean - Japan product)

There are so many other brand of products that can do the job as well, do a check with your respective grooming company. It can be a spray and wipe on/ off type or in a liquid/ paste form (polish or wax), if it's not easy/ effective to use, high chance it will not be use after the few initial usage and probably it will be chuck away at some place and forgotten. Buy a product that you will use regularly to maintain your ride. Cheers.

Blemish Turn Out To Be Deep Etched Marks (Nissan Sunny's Correction)

As the owner handed the ride to me, i stood there and looked at it and ponder why it was being sent. My initial quick assessment on this aged Sunny's condition was good and very well maintained from the looks of the paint condition. It seemed like it was just groomed days before. Before the owner left, he pointed to the roof line area and told me to do something about it, i took a quick glance and told him that it should be fine, stains and blemishes... should be no problem at all.
The car was washed and clayed and i turned on the working lights to further inspect the defects on the roof line area. I was quite shock as the blemish spots turned out to be dark etched markings. The etched marks were deep and paint correction is a must.

Here comes the icing of the grooming session when i took the paint coating health for this aged ride. The paint coating thickness on the roof line area is not promising for correction work.

The rest of the panels gave readings beyond the normal OEM paint coating level. I finally see the picture clearer now, this car looked good because it has been resprayed before and the panel that was not resprayed was the roof line panel as the paint coating readings matched the age of the car. The defects noted up there matched the age as well.Taking into consideration of the remaining thin paint coating, a total of more than 6 hits were delivered as the conditions were very bad. This was the corrected work (below).

Most of the deep etching were minimised, marring was eliminated. Paint coating level have dropped alot as well.
Another typical before (above) and after (below) taken after close to 3 hours working on the roof line panel.
The rest of the body panels were cleaned, polished and sealed together with the corrected roof line area. Another 6 hours of hard work spent to bring back the life to this aged ride.
It's rest time for me over here in SG, thank you for viewing.