I'd be more concerned with scratches and swirl marks. All In One doesnt do much for that, and on a black car, he might just end up with some really really glossy swirl marks when he's done.

 

ahhh this is too many choices for my ignorant mind, i have no idea which direction to take i just want these spots off!

 

The glaze usually will help minor scratches, and as for swril marks, he really shouldn't get them if he either uses a randon orbit or his hands like I was talking about. He was just talking about water spots I thought. If there are swirl marks then there are other steps that should be taken for sure.

 

While I'm no expert, I've used Mother's clay bar with fantastic results. Just did my 01 and the paint was an entirely different animal afterwards. It was already in great shape, but had been parked under trees for its whole life. Two coats of Mother's carnuba wax/cleaner, she shines like the sun and looks fantastic.

Good to know about the vinegar solution for the windows. I'm going to try that this weekend. I just hope the rig doesn't smell like a douche for too long afterwards...

 

LOL. The clay does work awesome. I actually used it once to get overspray off a car when someone left the spraybooth open.

 

i don't know man, girls in college towns go crazy for douche scented cars......wait, no they don't

i'm trying it as well tomorrow.....after i get my 285/75 BFG AT's WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

 

SO I just did my truck. I used turtle wax brand polish on the hood and roof. Two coats of TR3 after that on the entire truck. Then I shined it up with some Meguiar's Gold. She looked damn good when I was done. The spots on the roof from bird turds are still visible though...

In all, it was about a three hour job with both my dad and I waxing, and my sister taking care of all the chrome polish. Well worth it.

 

Looks good!... did you do it by hand? If so, that must have been a tough job... The bird etchings might have eaten pretty deep... but then how often does anyone see the roof ?

slus... my M3 is a 1989 E30 in "diamond black"

 

I would in no means call myself a pro, but I'm an amateur in the car detailing business (my buddy and I own a mobile auto detailing company), but here are my two cents... I actually did this to my 4Runner just a week ago and the difference is utterly amazing! I got my rig just a couple months ago and it was in great shape, but a closer inspection to the paint revealed a lot of imperfections... oxidation, scratches, staining, etc. I got some Turtle Wax Polishing compound (Rubbing compound is better for harder to get out stuff), and some Meguiars NXT wax. FYI, if you have never tried microfiber towels, they are amazing. I use them for everything, and they won't scratch the paint.

So, you need to start out doing a full wash/dry to get it all clean. Make sure you are in the shade. Then if you really want to do it right, start out with a clay bar to get out all of the contaminants/ impurities in the paint. Meguiar has a package that includes two for about $15. I actually didn't use a clay bar for lack of time... I started with Turtle Wax polishing compound. I have a 10" orbital buffer ($20-$30 at car parts store or Home Depot) that works well. I used a terry cloth bonnet. If your waterspots don't come off with the clay bar, they should come out with the polish. After wiping all the residue from the polish off, I applied the NXT wax with the buffer. It'll fill in all of the minor scratches and swirl marks and such. After I wiped off the excess wax and used a little chrome polish on the bumpers, it looked brand new! I couldn't stop looking at it!

Anyways, hope this helps. My 4Runner is white, so it hides imperfections well, but black when polished and waxed looks freakin amazing. Good luck!

 

You have alot of good suggestions from these guys but if you want help from professional detailer these guys will be happy to tell you just how to take care of your problems.Mike
http://autopia.org/forum/detailing-product-discussion/

 

I'm getting ready to try that new ICE liquid clay bar and then use the ICE synthetic polymer polish and then seal it all in with a good carnuba wax.

 

as a last ditch effort before i came back to school, i went to autozone on thursday and asked the manager his advice (should have known). i made him come out and actually look at the horrible spots/stains on my hood and all over the car and he automatically said, "yup, meguiars gold class" i opened it up and all there was was a bottle of wax and an applicator pad, which i knew at the time looked hardly capable of getting rid of all that crap. anyways, since it was 10 bucks and i was running out of time at home, i bought it. put two coats on, took about two hours. it shined up pretty nice but almost illuminated all the spots that were on there haha. the only thing it did was polish up my roof. since taking off my roof lights and wind fairing, i've realized how neglected my roof has been, now she's finally getting back to normal

 

It's weird but I've been doing this same exact thing for a while, trying to get my truck as clean as possible that is. I have the water spots that you are talking about and I am about to go buy some vinegar and a scotch bright pad and see if I cant get it to work.

As this is a wax topic though, I am surprised no one has already mentioned Zaino. I've been using it for 2 years now and am amazed at how long my water beads without another application. I use Z 1 then Z 2 then another coat of Z 2 then on top of that I put a coat of their new buffless clear wax and my car shines for months without me washing her.

I had pretty bad paint back in the day but basically with upkeep and a lot of wax ive learned to live with the imperfections in the paint.

I really think your solution is gonna be buying a good polish (Zaino has a great one i'm sure but I've never used it... I do use the tuurtle wax polish by hand very lightly whenever there is a stain in my paint, but overall my paint is in decent shape... sometime in the neat future though I should be re painting the entire thing a BRIGHT brand new white and I cant wait.

 

yeah but yours is white. i have noticed it's damn shiney sometimes but you can't see all the spots and blemishes like you can on black

 

any cleaner wax....i prefer zymol

 

Anyone ever try Softscrub? Yes, the stuff they sell for cleaning marble bathtubs. I've used it with good results on my white 'runner.

Go Spurs!

 

You might need to get an orbital buffer, its one of the only tools i dont have down here in the boro, but We could split the cost and troubleshoot until we get both of the runners nice and fresh... i even have a steam cleaner for the carpet if you need it

 

I just used that new ICE liquid clay "bar" on my 4runner tonight. All i can say so far is the stuff works great! My red paint is/was heavily contaminated and fading pretty bad but that ICE liquid clay already made a big difference.

I'll probably be waxing it with Meguiar's NHT 'tech wax' since i have a lot left over from my previous wax job (last summer ). It's a really good wax but IIRC it only lasted a little over a month. I'm thinking about picking up something else too... cause like you said, "sealing it all in" should really help.

 

I'm getting ready to try ICE liquid claybar which will be followed by the new Meguires powder free NXT synthetic polish thenn it will be sealed in with Meguires carnuba wax.

 

Claybar for sure. I did it to my truck. Previous owner didn't wax the thing for 10 years. It looks great now. I just need to get a really good polish on it and then wax to protect it. THe difference is amazing though.