clay bar

[zach]

Mine may be too far gone. Assuming I keep the M3, I'll get the LTWs refinished when I get the car painted.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by zach

Mine may be too far gone. Assuming I keep the M3, I'll get the LTWs refinished when I get the car painted.

If the finish is intact, muriatic acid is amazing. Rinse the hell out of them afterwards.

[Nick M3]

Carpro Iron-X and then straight to compound on the polisher is my usual route, honestly. Clay is a lot of work on badly contaminated paint.

[kognito]

I should have added, the cleaner I tried did remove a lot of the three year crud. It sprays on, wiped with one microfiber towel, finished off wiping with a second towel (as per the directions) The first towel really showed that a lot of dirt/crud was removed, but I could see a few oil spots that it did not completely remove. Something like this is the only power buffer I have. I used it for RV's that have almost all flat surfaces. Autos I have always done by hand

[Nick M3]

Iron-X is the best surface prep by a huge margin. It’s not worth using anything else. The value is in pulling out the iron contamination in the paint.

Claybars work. They just only clean. If the paint looks like crap and needs polishing, you end up doing an extra step for very little benefit.

[kognito]

Nick, is the Iron X ok on plastic panels and trim pieces?

[kognito]

Originally Posted by kognito

Nick, is the Iron X ok on plastic panels and trim pieces?

Nick, what say you on this. The Porsche must have a bit of outer plastic bits. My trim level on the GMC has a lot of chrome plated plastic around the windows, and most of the front end.

Some interweb reviews say plastic can turn "white-ish" drawing stuff out of the base plastic quicker than paint on metal

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by kognito

Nick, what say you on this. The Porsche must have a bit of outer plastic bits. My trim level on the GMC has a lot of chrome plated plastic around the windows, and most of the front end.

Some interweb reviews say plastic can turn "white-ish" drawing stuff out of the base plastic quicker than paint on metal

I haven't had that issue, but my cars don't have that much plastic on them.

[kognito]

That stuff smells so good!

NOT!


Does work very good though! One of the worst spots for me is the painted rear view mirrors. And other than the chrome bumper, everything up from on the GMC is plastic.

Next thing on my wish list is a water de-ionizer. My tap water starts life in the lake we live next to, and is hard.

[FC]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Iron-X is the best surface prep by a huge margin. It’s not worth using anything else. The value is in pulling out the iron contamination in the paint.

Claybars work. They just only clean. If the paint looks like crap and needs polishing, you end up doing an extra step for very little benefit.

Iron-X has been on my wish list for a while but I wasn't sure if it was worth buying yet another product. I ran into it when reading about wheel cleaners.