I Know Bilt Hamber Had this on there Site nearly 2 Years ago But Still an Informative Piece on Preparing you vehicle paint for wax etc...:thumb:
Preparation
With an increasing number of products available to care for vehicle paintwork it can be more than just a bit confusing when trying to choose what's best for your car. Here we explain which of our products should be used for paintwork in varying states of condition.
Of course the first requirement is to clean the surfaces of any grime and for a road used vehicle a pre-wash clean, where possible, with non-caustic snow foam or pressure washer additive, such as auto-foam is a great first move in shifting the vast majority of particulate matter and road film. It's long been our philosophy not to add unwanted additives to these cleaners, such as silicones, waxes or other film former. We want the surface to be as clean as possible and depositing these on the paint work, glass and other surfaces is counter productive and superficial at best.
Once pre-cleaned a high quality shampoo again free of waxes and silicone (do you really want these on your windscreen?) that provides a gentle deep clean while offering plenty of lubrication to sponge or wash mitt is the second stage. Our highly concentrated auto-wash in conjunction with our deep pile lambskin auto-mitt is preferred. Natural skin wash mitts have deep pile that helps shift tiny particles away from your car's paintwork thus preventing them from inflicting tiny scratches. Avoiding mechanical damage is our number one priority. Rinsing with plenty of water should follow; at this stage auto-wash's free rinsing nature ensures this is achieved with relative ease.
auto-clay regular or soft?
Now we can assess the degree of embedded metallic and hot brake dust debris has entered the surface of your paint film, gently rubbing the paint with fingertips can allow you to feel the grittiness that these damaging particles impart to paint films. Using auto-clay regular or soft will effortlessly remove these leaving the paint glass-smooth, plus more discolouring road film will be gently lifted. The choice between the two bars will depend on several factors, if the vehicle is heavily contaminated, not been clayed before, or it's summertime then use regular, if its paint is in good condition or you like to clay frequently or indeed the weather is colder then soft is preferred. Claying will make a world of difference lubricated with plenty of water and hardly any pressure the bar glides like an ice hockey puck, and is pleasant and satisfying to use - you may be very surprised at the debris stuck to your paint.
Not only does the paint feel and look better once clayed the removal of these object sticking from the surface allows the next stages to progress more smoothly as cleansers, waxes and polishes glide across he surface far more easily.
Cleanse Polish or Wax?
Okay now the paint is ready for finishing and the direction to go here is a matter of how far you would like to go. If the paint is still lack lustre and rather cob-webby, or has nicks and paint chips and you would like an immediate lift then finishing with auto-balm will show a dramatic and instant improvement, so significantly that our customers have reported that some observers have thought "re-sprays" have been carried out. It's an apply and buff LSP (last stage product). It can be kept easily and effortlessly maintained with auto-qd if required in minutes. auto-balm is anti corrosive and unlike other LSP imparts corrosion protection to bare metal at for example stone-chip sites. It is also an excellent preservative for chrome, stainless steel and all other metal surfaces.
Alternatively paintwork can be physically smoothed by the use of a polish, this term is correctly applied to abrasive containing material such as our micro-fine or cleanser-polish, the latter is a resin based emulsion polish with a high "cut" than micro-fine. Cleanser-polish will dramatically improve lightly oxidized paintwork, help to remove small scratches and will provide a temporary last stage protective film - it's an all in one (AIO) product that's easy to use, effective and economical. Where the paint is in better condition it is still desirable when the paint is infrequently polished to impart a mechanical cleansing action - here micro-fine is ideal, its an AIO with microscopic soft abrasives that are present at just the right level to gently refine the paint surface, then the film imparted by it buffs to a very detergent proof deep shine.
Where paint work is in outstanding condition it has long been accepted that the gloss imparted by carnauba waxes is second to none aesthetically conferring a deep liquid-like warm finish. Unfortunately the detergent resistance of these materials has been low, but we've been able to dramatically transform the material into the ultimate LSP. Both the paste like finis-wax and faster to use liquid hydra-wax are based on this natural product, enhanced by a proprietary reaction these abrasive free products can be used to finish paint work to the highest standard. We do advocate that any other LSP or polish film is removed prior to their application. Our cleanser fluid is designed for this and primes the paintwork perfectly, even removing any last traces of hydrocarbon road film this easy wipe on wipe off liquid replaces IPA mixtures and harsh solvents. cleanser-fluid can be used to enhance durability of micro-fine too, but is unnecessary where either auto-balm or cleanser polish are selected as your LSP
Note- Paint surfaces improved with micro-fine or cleanser polish can be further sealed with finis wax or hydra wax. All of our LSP's can be maintained with auto-qd
Preparation
With an increasing number of products available to care for vehicle paintwork it can be more than just a bit confusing when trying to choose what's best for your car. Here we explain which of our products should be used for paintwork in varying states of condition.
Of course the first requirement is to clean the surfaces of any grime and for a road used vehicle a pre-wash clean, where possible, with non-caustic snow foam or pressure washer additive, such as auto-foam is a great first move in shifting the vast majority of particulate matter and road film. It's long been our philosophy not to add unwanted additives to these cleaners, such as silicones, waxes or other film former. We want the surface to be as clean as possible and depositing these on the paint work, glass and other surfaces is counter productive and superficial at best.
Once pre-cleaned a high quality shampoo again free of waxes and silicone (do you really want these on your windscreen?) that provides a gentle deep clean while offering plenty of lubrication to sponge or wash mitt is the second stage. Our highly concentrated auto-wash in conjunction with our deep pile lambskin auto-mitt is preferred. Natural skin wash mitts have deep pile that helps shift tiny particles away from your car's paintwork thus preventing them from inflicting tiny scratches. Avoiding mechanical damage is our number one priority. Rinsing with plenty of water should follow; at this stage auto-wash's free rinsing nature ensures this is achieved with relative ease.
auto-clay regular or soft?
Now we can assess the degree of embedded metallic and hot brake dust debris has entered the surface of your paint film, gently rubbing the paint with fingertips can allow you to feel the grittiness that these damaging particles impart to paint films. Using auto-clay regular or soft will effortlessly remove these leaving the paint glass-smooth, plus more discolouring road film will be gently lifted. The choice between the two bars will depend on several factors, if the vehicle is heavily contaminated, not been clayed before, or it's summertime then use regular, if its paint is in good condition or you like to clay frequently or indeed the weather is colder then soft is preferred. Claying will make a world of difference lubricated with plenty of water and hardly any pressure the bar glides like an ice hockey puck, and is pleasant and satisfying to use - you may be very surprised at the debris stuck to your paint.
Not only does the paint feel and look better once clayed the removal of these object sticking from the surface allows the next stages to progress more smoothly as cleansers, waxes and polishes glide across he surface far more easily.
Cleanse Polish or Wax?
Okay now the paint is ready for finishing and the direction to go here is a matter of how far you would like to go. If the paint is still lack lustre and rather cob-webby, or has nicks and paint chips and you would like an immediate lift then finishing with auto-balm will show a dramatic and instant improvement, so significantly that our customers have reported that some observers have thought "re-sprays" have been carried out. It's an apply and buff LSP (last stage product). It can be kept easily and effortlessly maintained with auto-qd if required in minutes. auto-balm is anti corrosive and unlike other LSP imparts corrosion protection to bare metal at for example stone-chip sites. It is also an excellent preservative for chrome, stainless steel and all other metal surfaces.
Alternatively paintwork can be physically smoothed by the use of a polish, this term is correctly applied to abrasive containing material such as our micro-fine or cleanser-polish, the latter is a resin based emulsion polish with a high "cut" than micro-fine. Cleanser-polish will dramatically improve lightly oxidized paintwork, help to remove small scratches and will provide a temporary last stage protective film - it's an all in one (AIO) product that's easy to use, effective and economical. Where the paint is in better condition it is still desirable when the paint is infrequently polished to impart a mechanical cleansing action - here micro-fine is ideal, its an AIO with microscopic soft abrasives that are present at just the right level to gently refine the paint surface, then the film imparted by it buffs to a very detergent proof deep shine.
Where paint work is in outstanding condition it has long been accepted that the gloss imparted by carnauba waxes is second to none aesthetically conferring a deep liquid-like warm finish. Unfortunately the detergent resistance of these materials has been low, but we've been able to dramatically transform the material into the ultimate LSP. Both the paste like finis-wax and faster to use liquid hydra-wax are based on this natural product, enhanced by a proprietary reaction these abrasive free products can be used to finish paint work to the highest standard. We do advocate that any other LSP or polish film is removed prior to their application. Our cleanser fluid is designed for this and primes the paintwork perfectly, even removing any last traces of hydrocarbon road film this easy wipe on wipe off liquid replaces IPA mixtures and harsh solvents. cleanser-fluid can be used to enhance durability of micro-fine too, but is unnecessary where either auto-balm or cleanser polish are selected as your LSP
Note- Paint surfaces improved with micro-fine or cleanser polish can be further sealed with finis wax or hydra wax. All of our LSP's can be maintained with auto-qd
