No auto detailing job is ever complete without taking care of your car's metal trim. This is especially important for those who want to enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of their vehicle. Below, you will find a comprehensive guide into detailing these often neglected components of your vehicle.
Cleaning the Trim
In addition to the regular washing and maintenance that you perform on your vehicle's metal and trim, you need proper detailing to ensure that you can preserve and protect its natural shine. You can use a car wash shampoo to throughly clean it combined with a powerful scrubbing action from an old toothbrush or other soft detailing brush. Avoid using stiff bristle brush if you do not want to catch scratches or damage on the black trim.
You can also apply a protectant on a regular basis, such as 6 to 8 times in a year. Whatever brand of protectant you choose to buy, make sure it is equipped with UV protection to avoid effects of sun fading. Since maintaining a black trim can be quite difficult, you need to be patient and dedicate yourself to ensuring your car is in top shape.
Detailing Moldings and Rubber Seals
You can find moldings and rubber seals around various areas of your vehicle such as the doors, windows, hood, bumpers, trunk, among other places. If you neglect caring for them, then they will become brittle and start to soften up making them vulnerable to cracks and tears. There are three common elements from which you need to protect your rubber seals and moldings from: wind, water, and dirt.
Make sure you clean them out at least twice in a year. Use a water-based rubber and vinyl dressing then leave them for 10-15 minutes to allow enough time for them to fully penetrate into the material. When it dries, you can protect such parts from cracking or tearing caused by friction and exposure to various elements.
Maintaining Car Badges
The badges is very important for displaying the manufacturer name for your specific vehicle. If you have invested on a luxury car, then you want to display that with utmost pride and ensure it is well detailed. You can simply use soapy water and soft bristle toothbrush to thoroughly clean out your car badges. If there is a presence of dirt, then opt for the more powerful cleaning solutions and make sure it is thoroughly rinsed off to avoid residues that could damage it. For additional protection, you can apply wax sealant or coating.
Polishing Metal and Chrome
These aspects of detailing your car's metal and trim are all designed as finishing touches to enhance your vehicle's overall appearance. Car fanatics will especially be pleased with the bright and shiny appearance of their vehicle if you can perform this aspect of the detailing quite well.
However, this task can be quite a challenge. So make sure you have the tools you need for the job. Chrome is a lot easier to deal with in terms of polishing although it is most vulnerable to rust. Hence, you must opt for the higher quality chrome plating to ensure it is protected against rust. If you fail to do that, then you can either opt to polish or rechrome.
For any of the above detailing jobs on your car's black trim and metal, the key information to keep in mind would be to choose the right cleaning materials and follow instructions for an effective maintenance procedure. After all, maintenance is much easier to keep your vehicle in tip top shape as compared to restoring it.
Since your car paint is the initial most evident feature of your car, then you need to invest enough time caring and maintaining for it to keep it looking as if it is brand new. Sadly though, a lot of car owners have fell victim to faulty paint jobs that make your car end up looking cheap and wasted. To remedy that, there are auto detailing services that specialize on removing and correcting imperfections in your car paint.
Whether you are hiring a professional service for it or doing the fix yourself, below are some key information you need to know.
Use of Fine Compound
The use of fine compound is often the default remedy for poor paint jobs. But before you proceed further, there are some scenarios wherein it is not allowed unless absolutely necessary. These include the following:
• wet spots and swirl marks
• micro marring
• paint repair blending
• excessive sun exposure
• pitting from hard stones and sand
• poor paint surface finish
Careful Detailing for Car Paint
When detailing your car, the use of the right tools and products make a huge difference with the quality of results. But aside from the basic detailing materials, your hand is one of your best tools. Some automated detailing jobs can be too harsh as to cause damage on your car, more than you initially came in with.
Make sure you take proper notes when preparing your compound. This is especially useful in removing scratches and faulty paint jobs. Avoid masking off the trim for it will only increase your job significantly. Make sure to use compounds in the same way as you would a sandpaper and avoid applying more than 2' by 2' in a given area. But if you would like to stick with spot treatment for scratches or uneven paint, then try to focus application of compound within that given area.
Tips for Improved Compounding Results
If you want to enhance the overall quality of your car paint, you need to consider applying the following tips for better compounding results:
• Apply a slight brush of detailing spray onto the polishing pad since it will make applying the compound a lot easier and more precise. Just keep it damp (not wet) using one quick shot.
• When applying paint on sharp edges of your car, make sure to apply it thinly. Avoid using compound on these areas.
• Use a dense foam applicator for the compound since it is much safer and easier to handle with better results.
• Avoid trying to lessen the appearance of any imperfection on the paint job, say a scratch. If it is not that noticeable, it would be better to leave it alone instead of ruining the entire paint job.
Fine Polish and Finish
To completely eliminate any imperfections and give your car a new shine on its paint for a brand-new look, then you can add polish as the finishing touch. You need to understand though that this is done only for enhancement purposes, but will not fix any imperfections on your car paint.
There are some basic hand car polishing techniques you need to learn to effectively perform this job. The main point behind car polishing is to create a finer texture on the paint surface prior to glazing. You won't need a sealant or wax to reveal the natural gloss of the paint. The secret tool here is a high quality foam applicator, which is very effective in buffing polish residue for a nearly perfect look. You will soon find out that it delivers a far more superior auto detailing result in the end.
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