New car protection?

I'm just starting to get into detailing "seriously". My plan is to use my current dd to work on technique before getting the FiST.

I picked up a da from griots garage, a few bottles from Adams Polishes (various compounds and wax), and a sealant from Ammo NYC. The next product I'll get will probably be Sonax full effect wheel cleaner.

I've been looking at the GTechnique product line a lot and am very interested, mostly in the sealants for their extreme water beading (although I hate the way they name their products). It's not available locally, and I'd only buy 1-2 products at a time (due to cost) and would end up taking a bath on shipping fees!

What other products would you recommend, or would stay clear of? The Fiesta ST will be my daily driver, parked outside most of its life, in Ohio near the snow belt (salt belt).

Thanks!

brian said:

I'm just starting to get into detailing "seriously". My plan is to use my current dd to work on technique before getting the FiST.

I picked up a da from griots garage, a few bottles from Adams Polishes (various compounds and wax), and a sealant from Ammo NYC. The next product I'll get will probably be Sonax full effect wheel cleaner.

I've been looking at the GTechnique product line a lot and am very interested, mostly in the sealants for their extreme water beading (although I hate the way they name their products). It's not available locally, and I'd only buy 1-2 products at a time (due to cost) and would end up taking a bath on shipping fees!

What other products would you recommend, or would stay clear of? The Fiesta ST will be my daily driver, parked outside most of its life, in Ohio near the snow belt (salt belt).

Thanks!

Click to expand...

The best combination I have found with the Griot's is to use the W67DA backing plate from Meguiar's with Meguiar's 5.5" Microfiber cutting discs for heavy correction and the Lake Country Low Profile Hydrotech pads for finishing. The Low Profile is very important as it makes work with the DA much easier and more controllable.

There are many other coating brands besides Gtechniq. I personally think of the 7h SiO coatings, 22ple is the easiest to use & looks the best. Other coating brands include POLISHANGEL®, Max Protect, CarPro Cquartz, Wolf's Chemicals & Optimum.

Many have probably seen my video of Gtechniq's EXOv2, however I will be replacing EXOv2 on my ST with Polishangel's Color-Matched Cosmic 9h coating:
While polishangel products are expensive, they are all hand made to order and shipped straight from Germany.


If you are really looking to protect your vehicle from weather related damage like salt & such, coatings are the way to go, sealants just don't hold up. While not available in the US (yet) Max Protect's UNC-R looks to be a very good product which I will be testing soon:

As I have stated before, I am going to do the clear bra thing.
Personally I need the support.
I have decided to use Xpel Film.
After seeing the damage to my current car and to a friend's brand new 2014 Fiesta.
I am doing their complete front package.
This includes:
Complete Bumper
Complete Hood
Partial fenders
Headlights
Mirrors

I am also having the rear bumper top done.

I will have all this professionally installed but it is not cheep.
It should be about $1K.

Dave

D1JL said:

As I have stated before, I am going to do the clear bra thing.
Personally I need the support.
I have decided to use Xpel Film.
After seeing the damage to my current car and to a friend's brand new 2014 Fiesta.
I am doing their complete front package.
This includes:
Complete Bumper
Complete Hood
Partial fenders
Headlights
Mirrors

I am also having the rear bumper top done.

I will have all this professionally installed but it is not cheep.
It should be about $1K.

Dave

Click to expand...

I went that route with my white Focus ST but it is already taking a beating at 10k miles. White seems to show easy and it may even be starting to yellow.
With my wife's black Focus ST I sprayed the complete hood, bumper and 1 door mirror with the 3M Paint defender spray on clear film. It looked horrible while spraying and as it was drying it had a blue tint to it. Now it has dried it looks very good. I sprayed the mirror first and that looks best. The bumper I sprayed in 2 sections the left then the right. This did not turn out so good. It could have been a mixture of overspray or not enough paint as it looks quite orange peelie. The hood was next but I overdid it with paint on the far edges of the hood and got runs.
I also sprayed the hood lengthways, much better.
Overall pretty impressed and used maybe 1.5 cans. The kit and 2 cans came to about $70. Only supposed to last a year or so but clear bras look shabby after a while anyway.