When buying a used car from a dealership, discovering its history can be difficult. This was definitely the case with our Project A3. On paper, it looked great and we got a good deal because the six-speed manual had been sitting on the lot for too long, but the downside was its very poor paintwork.
Our best guess was that the previous owner lived in the desert and did high-speed freeway runs to work. The paint was peppered with chips and felt rough like it was sandblasted. It had also been repainted at some time but there seemed to be no sign of major damage.
We’d been contemplating another respray to rejuvenate the paint before we got talking to some people from Meguiar’s Car Care Products. Without ever seeing the car, they were confident the paint could be salvaged using their well-known off-the-shelf inventory.
That confidence took a dive when we arrived at the company’s HQ in Irvine, CA. “This is one of the worst examples we’ve seen,” admitted Michael Pennington, director of training and consumer relation, but he proceeded to roll up his sleeves and got to work.
Back to School
If you’re anything like me, you wash your car as little as possible with scant regard for the products you use and no understanding of how it affects the paint. Boy, was I in for an education!
Washing the car is always the first step, doing it every week will reduce long term proble
With online videos and instructions, bimonthly class and mobile exhibitions, the Meguiar’s outreach is comprehensive. And while they use their own products, the information is designed to make you understand what to do, what to use and to appreciate what’s available.
The information was presented so concisely that we’re going to attempt to give you a basic car care education in these few pages. Hold on, this could get bumpy!
It starts with the five basics of paint care: washing, cleaning, polishing, protecting and maintenance.
Washing
Frequent washing removes contaminants that otherwise start to damage your paint, such as bird droppings, acid rain, salt, etc.
Meguiar’s recommend you do this once a week with a good liquid (60% of people use dishwashing detergent that strips away protective wax), using a two-bucket method and a microfiber wash mitt that itself is cleaned after each wash. The first buckets hold suds, while the second has clean water to rinse off the dirt you’re removing. That way, the dirt from your car isn’t scratching the paint. Alternatively, you can drop a grit guard into the bucket to allows the dirt to sink below the suds and out of reach.
Never wash, clean or wax your car in direct sunlight or on hot metal – do it in the morning or evening if you don’t have a garage. The temperature of your water has little effect on anything but your hands, although waxes don’t apply well below 55˚F.
If you can’t wash your own car for any reason, check out the local car washes to see how they treat your car – do they drop cloths and re-use them, for example?
Our paint was so bad, we cleaned it with a clay bar after washing it in order to remove su
When washing your own car, Meguiar’s suggests cotton towels only for wiping down the engine, cleaning inside the wheels, etc. For cleaning windows and wiping off paint, they recommend a good microfiber towel (not cheap multi bags) because they’re more thorough, allowing you to work quicker and with less streaking.
Wash the towels after each session but don’t put cotton in with the microfiber because it attracts all the lint. Avoid bleach or fabric softener, don’t throw them in with the laundry, and dry on low heat.
Cleaning
This is about cleaning the paint itself and is done with either clay or a liquid compound, depending on your needs. In fact, if your paint looks and feels smooth, you can skip this stage and move on to protective waxes…