chuhsi

My detailing goodies have been sitting in my garage for two weeks crying for use...so in a couple weekends, I'll tackle my first detail with a PC!

How long do you think it'll take me to do an old prius exterior that has crappy paint?

I need to:
- wash
- clay
- polish 1
- polish 2
- polish 3
- wax car
- wax wheels
- protect tires and black trim

Thanks

SpecC

i work slow but that's at least 2 days of work to me

slanguage

it depends. any where from 10-20 hours depending on the actual condition of the paint.

RavynX

It took me all of Saturday and a good bit of Sunday this past weekend to...

Wash
Clay
Polish
Final Polish
Wax
Interior Detail

I'm glad it's all done now b/c she's gorgeousssss!

wanabe

are you sure that you need 3 polishes?
am guessing that you can cut at least one out unless the paint is really bad...
how do you define crappy paint?

if you really do need 3 polishes it is probably a two day job... if you can get it down to 1 then i think you could do this in one day... and add a bit if you are doing interior work.

chuhsi

WOW. This is going to take way longer than I thought.

I bought 3 polishes as part of a kit from DD.

Crappy paint with this car means LOTS of swirls and scratches. Certain areas are have dull clear coat. It's an 02 and maybe been waxed 3 times by the previous owner.

I'm just doing exterior for now.

TWEEDERTWEEK

wanabe

if lotsa swirls and scratches it really could be a two day job...

another choice is to do the car in sections - in other words take more than one weekend ...

if you are new at polishing this might be a good idea anyway-
you could just do the top surfaces the first time-
advantage = much less time (should be a one day job)
disadvantage = overall will take a bit more time. there are advantages to doing one polish on the entire car... but again it takes a very long time.

also remember that after your "heavy cut" process the car will likely look dull. that is fixed when you step down with lighter polishes.

another thought- sometimes a car's paint is worse on the top surfaces (stuff settles here). if this is the case with your car, you could do the sides first... meaning for the first full job. then you will have experience to tackle the top surfaces the next time.

most of us would just do the whole thing, but again if this is your first go at it, it really could make sense to make it a two step process.

or maybe a 4 step process, if you count the drinking beer at the end a separate process... often i just integrate that step in with the detail !

it will be worth all the hard work- this car will be new again - cant wait to see the pics (get some before and afters if you can).

wanabe

just had another thought... if you are going to all that trouble, i would use a synthetic instead of wax first.
while it is curing, do the wheels.

coupla coats - at your first detail.
then next time you can put wax over the synthetic.

(btw, nothing wrong with wax- my suggestion is cause the car went for so long before it got a good detail. synethics last longer at protecting the car than wax)

chuhsi

all very helpful. thanks!

if i split the polishing/waxing into two weekends, what do I need to do to the car before starting round 2? just another wash?