Can a rookie apply 22PLE
02-22-13, 10:20 PM
#1
Can a rookie apply 22PLE
Can someone who has never done this before apply it on his brand new 2013 RX 350 without ruining the car? I don't know a local professional detailer who does it. Is it necessary to apply Opti-Coat 2.0 before 22PLE? Would I be safer just using Opti-Seal?
02-22-13, 11:07 PM
#2
I don't see how one can really ruin the paint, even if you are new to using the product. Everyone's a beginner at one point or another, but I think in the instructions it says just small amounts at a time so as to not make it difficult to take off later. I have my order coming in tomorrow and am pretty stoked about its ability to really give car paint that extra level of gloss. Best of luck, and enjoy the gloss when you finish!
02-23-13, 05:59 AM
#3
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yes anyone can apply 22ple.
its not hard at all.
the hard part of applying any coating will be the prep. make sure you apply on a swirl free finish to ensure best results.
this is extreme to show my point you don't want to apply any last step - wax, sealant, or coating on paint that looks like this.
you want your paint to look like this before your last step.
you would achieve this by using a dual action polisher and the proper pads, compounds, and polishes.
its not hard at all.
the hard part of applying any coating will be the prep. make sure you apply on a swirl free finish to ensure best results.
this is extreme to show my point you don't want to apply any last step - wax, sealant, or coating on paint that looks like this.
you want your paint to look like this before your last step.
you would achieve this by using a dual action polisher and the proper pads, compounds, and polishes.
02-23-13, 05:33 PM
#6
You must have a surface free of any waxes/sealants/oils etc in order for the 22ple to bond properly.
I understand that you just got a new car, but please understand, it is very unlikely that your car is perfect enough to apply a coating without polishing first. Dealers do more harm than good to "new" cars when they "clean" the new cars they receive. You should thoroughly wash your vehicle with citrus shampoo (or even dish soap if you have nothing else) to remove glazes or other fillers that the dealer may have used to cover up defects on your car. Only then will you be able to inspect your vehicle under proper lighting - like halogen shop lights - to see the defects in your paint.
The application of 22ple is very straight forward, but as already stated, the prep is the hard work.
I understand that you just got a new car, but please understand, it is very unlikely that your car is perfect enough to apply a coating without polishing first. Dealers do more harm than good to "new" cars when they "clean" the new cars they receive. You should thoroughly wash your vehicle with citrus shampoo (or even dish soap if you have nothing else) to remove glazes or other fillers that the dealer may have used to cover up defects on your car. Only then will you be able to inspect your vehicle under proper lighting - like halogen shop lights - to see the defects in your paint.
The application of 22ple is very straight forward, but as already stated, the prep is the hard work.
02-24-13, 01:01 PM
#7
You must have a surface free of any waxes/sealants/oils etc in order for the 22ple to bond properly.
I understand that you just got a new car, but please understand, it is very unlikely that your car is perfect enough to apply a coating without polishing first. Dealers do more harm than good to "new" cars when they "clean" the new cars they receive. You should thoroughly wash your vehicle with citrus shampoo (or even dish soap if you have nothing else) to remove glazes or other fillers that the dealer may have used to cover up defects on your car. Only then will you be able to inspect your vehicle under proper lighting - like halogen shop lights - to see the defects in your paint.
The application of 22ple is very straight forward, but as already stated, the prep is the hard work.
I understand that you just got a new car, but please understand, it is very unlikely that your car is perfect enough to apply a coating without polishing first. Dealers do more harm than good to "new" cars when they "clean" the new cars they receive. You should thoroughly wash your vehicle with citrus shampoo (or even dish soap if you have nothing else) to remove glazes or other fillers that the dealer may have used to cover up defects on your car. Only then will you be able to inspect your vehicle under proper lighting - like halogen shop lights - to see the defects in your paint.
The application of 22ple is very straight forward, but as already stated, the prep is the hard work.
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02-24-13, 01:39 PM
#8
You polish the paint with a DA polisher or a rotary (if you know how to finish hologram free). That will remove the swirls and minor RIDS in the paint. Once you've done that, you wash the car as you would normally with DAWN dish soap or regular soap with a bit of APC to remove any polishing oils that are left. As an extra precaution, do an IPA wipedown. THEN, you can apply the sealant when you have removed the polishing oils and old sealant and wax which should have come off when you were using the polisher.
02-24-13, 06:23 PM
#9
You polish the paint with a DA polisher or a rotary (if you know how to finish hologram free). That will remove the swirls and minor RIDS in the paint. Once you've done that, you wash the car as you would normally with DAWN dish soap or regular soap with a bit of APC to remove any polishing oils that are left. As an extra precaution, do an IPA wipedown. THEN, you can apply the sealant when you have removed the polishing oils and old sealant and wax which should have come off when you were using the polisher.
02-24-13, 07:16 PM
#10
Honestly, you don't even NEED to polish the paint to apply the sealant. They usually recommend to polish it so thatit's as much defect free as possible before the application, but it's not like if you just clay the car and do an alcohol wipedown that the sealant will stay on the paint any shorter period of time or suffer in durability issues down the road. It's just nice to apply a good sealant once you got the swirls and minor scratches out, but TECHNICALLY speaking, you can just wash and clay the car as you would normally, do the IPA wipedown, than apply the sealant.
It will protect the paint just as well, but you will be applying it over swirls and other defects so the end result won't look at nice, which will be especially noticeable on a dark colored car.
I would not bother hand polishing the car unless you have alot of free time, in which case almost any polish (Menzerna SIP is my favorite one stepper that works great on most paints and leaves a wax ready finish) would work. Some people will say there are hand-application specific polishes and some machine-specific due to how much effort is needed to properly break it down, but really you can do away with any polish by hand or machine.
It will protect the paint just as well, but you will be applying it over swirls and other defects so the end result won't look at nice, which will be especially noticeable on a dark colored car.
I would not bother hand polishing the car unless you have alot of free time, in which case almost any polish (Menzerna SIP is my favorite one stepper that works great on most paints and leaves a wax ready finish) would work. Some people will say there are hand-application specific polishes and some machine-specific due to how much effort is needed to properly break it down, but really you can do away with any polish by hand or machine.
02-25-13, 11:23 AM
#11
Honestly, you don't even NEED to polish the paint to apply the sealant. They usually recommend to polish it so thatit's as much defect free as possible before the application, but it's not like if you just clay the car and do an alcohol wipedown that the sealant will stay on the paint any shorter period of time or suffer in durability issues down the road. It's just nice to apply a good sealant once you got the swirls and minor scratches out, but TECHNICALLY speaking, you can just wash and clay the car as you would normally, do the IPA wipedown, than apply the sealant.
It will protect the paint just as well, but you will be applying it over swirls and other defects so the end result won't look at nice, which will be especially noticeable on a dark colored car.
I would not bother hand polishing the car unless you have alot of free time, in which case almost any polish (Menzerna SIP is my favorite one stepper that works great on most paints and leaves a wax ready finish) would work. Some people will say there are hand-application specific polishes and some machine-specific due to how much effort is needed to properly break it down, but really you can do away with any polish by hand or machine.
It will protect the paint just as well, but you will be applying it over swirls and other defects so the end result won't look at nice, which will be especially noticeable on a dark colored car.
I would not bother hand polishing the car unless you have alot of free time, in which case almost any polish (Menzerna SIP is my favorite one stepper that works great on most paints and leaves a wax ready finish) would work. Some people will say there are hand-application specific polishes and some machine-specific due to how much effort is needed to properly break it down, but really you can do away with any polish by hand or machine.
**Keep in mind - a full detail of this caliber will take even experienced professionals 6-10 hours on average (now this number may vary greatly depending on the current condition of your vehicle) so for a first timer or beginner in general, you would most likely need to set aside an entire weekend to do a proper job. Patience is key when learning to machine polish! I may have missed this, but did you mention what color your car is? That will play a part in how "perfect" your polishing job has to be - darker color cars will need to be finished down much better than say a white car. This is important when dealing with soft Lexus paint.
Last edited by zmcgovern4; 02-25-13 at 11:27 AM.
02-25-13, 06:15 PM
#12
^While part of the prep includes stripping the surface of existing chemicals, you will want to remove the surface of any and all defects prior to coating with 22ple. The reason behind this is if there are swirls and scratches in your paint - they will be much harder to correct once you apply a permanent coating on top of them. In theory, when a person is buffing a car to correct the paint, they are removing very small amounts of clear coat to create a perfectly flat surface - ie eliminating the fine scratches and swirls. So if you add an additional layer on top of these defects, you will need to buff all the way through the 22ple coating and then through part of the clear coat as well in order to remove the defects. So hopefully you can understand that it just makes sense to make the paint perfect before applying the coating. Also - the best way to guarantee the surface is completely free of any and all remaining chemicals is to polish it, so you might as well spend the time to remove the defects.
^Yes, but you will regret it after about 20 minutes. A DA polisher will cost you less than $150 - I would estimate a complete kit - meaning the polisher, the pads, the compound, and the polish will run you less than $300 if you are budget oriented. You could easily spend much, much more if you have a larger budget. DA machines will give you better results than polishing by hand, they will take immensely less time!, and then you can use the polisher on your other vehicles or future vehicles as well - they are also great for applying sealants/waxes, etc if you were not going to coat your vehicle with permanent protection.
^I would HIGHLY advise you polish the paint before applying the coating - it would make absolutely no sense in my mind to permanently trap scratches and swirls in your paint. Plus, the coating will bond much, much better to a surgically clean surface such as the one you are left with after polishing.
**Keep in mind - a full detail of this caliber will take even experienced professionals 6-10 hours on average (now this number may vary greatly depending on the current condition of your vehicle) so for a first timer or beginner in general, you would most likely need to set aside an entire weekend to do a proper job. Patience is key when learning to machine polish! I may have missed this, but did you mention what color your car is? That will play a part in how "perfect" your polishing job has to be - darker color cars will need to be finished down much better than say a white car. This is important when dealing with soft Lexus paint.
^Yes, but you will regret it after about 20 minutes. A DA polisher will cost you less than $150 - I would estimate a complete kit - meaning the polisher, the pads, the compound, and the polish will run you less than $300 if you are budget oriented. You could easily spend much, much more if you have a larger budget. DA machines will give you better results than polishing by hand, they will take immensely less time!, and then you can use the polisher on your other vehicles or future vehicles as well - they are also great for applying sealants/waxes, etc if you were not going to coat your vehicle with permanent protection.
^I would HIGHLY advise you polish the paint before applying the coating - it would make absolutely no sense in my mind to permanently trap scratches and swirls in your paint. Plus, the coating will bond much, much better to a surgically clean surface such as the one you are left with after polishing.
**Keep in mind - a full detail of this caliber will take even experienced professionals 6-10 hours on average (now this number may vary greatly depending on the current condition of your vehicle) so for a first timer or beginner in general, you would most likely need to set aside an entire weekend to do a proper job. Patience is key when learning to machine polish! I may have missed this, but did you mention what color your car is? That will play a part in how "perfect" your polishing job has to be - darker color cars will need to be finished down much better than say a white car. This is important when dealing with soft Lexus paint.
02-25-13, 07:02 PM
#13
The car color is Claret Mica. I appreciate these detailed comments, but they kinda confirm to me that I am not qualified to undertake this 22ple project. I can handle a washing and IPA wipe down, of course, but the polishing with a DA polisher and then the claying are things I have no experience with and don't feel comfortable doing in my backyard garage under ordinary lighting.
With that being said, if you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself, please seek the help of a professional. It may be difficult to locate a detailer that uses the proper tools and products (many of them use way too aggressive of methods and end up leaving your vehicle in worse shape than when you brought it... this is the rep. that dealer detailers have). With that being said, simply ask around - you may want to register on Autogeekonline.net forums and simply post a "Help Wanted" ad. I'm sure you will get someone willing to help you out. Either way, talk to the detailer and understand what tools (DA machine, rotary machine, etc) they use, what products they use, ask for some samples of their work if it is not readily available to you on a website for instance, and if you don't feel comfortable - take some notes and post them up on this site... you will get some honest opinions from us as to whether or not we feel that person knows what they are doing. Any professional who is familiar with modern products will know of Opti-Coat and 22ple, so that should help to narrow down your options as well. If the person isn't willing to give that sort of info or if they simply do not sound like they know what they are talking about - just walk away, it is not worth someone messing up your brand new car.
Good luck! Let us know if you've got any more questions!
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