Alcohol and Prep Sol Wipe Downs

[DnD Auto Detailing]

Alcohol and Prep Sol wipe downs serve several purposes. The most common use is to remove any fillers, oils, etc., in the polish which may be hiding defects. Realistically, pretty much all polishes will hide defects to a certain extent. That extent depends on the polish obviously, but also the type of paint, if its original paint or repaint, the type of pad and machine being used, the actual technique you're using to polish, if there are any chemicals on the paint or pad, etc.

Here are some pictures I took while detailing a black Lexus. I used alcohol as my wipe down chemical.

Before


After SIP w/ CCS orange on the rotary- Looks much better right?


After an alcohol wipe down


As you can see, that first pass did practically nothing. Imagine if I didn't do the alcohol wipe down and returned the car. In a couple weeks or months, the paint would return to the previous condition it was in, which was obviously an amazing buffing by the dealership. :fight: :slam:

I will add that the paint must of had silicone or something in it. Again, probably left over from the dealerships wonderful work. The silicone in the paint was reacting with the abrasives in the polish causing them to not cut properly. This brings me to my next point about alcohol and Prep Sol wipe downs. If you read the description on the Prep Sol can, these paint cleaners remove silicones. Therefore, if you've got a car that has been buffed before, it is a VERY good idea to do several wipe downs to remove any possible silicones in the paint. Its a good idea to do these wipe downs prior to polishing no matter what! The cleaner you get the paint, the easier it will be to buff it out.

There are several products you can use to do this. The most popular being Prep Sol and Alcohol. But Ive used Klean Strip Prep- All too. Theres a bunch of them out there.

[Rollingrock]

Dan, thanks for this, it's great!  I made the topic a sticky....

I presume this is isopropyl alcohol, diluted 50/50 with water?

[DnD Auto Detailing]

Dan, thanks for this, it's great!  I made the topic a sticky....

I presume this is isopropyl alcohol, diluted 50/50 with water?

Yep, isopropyl alcohol, you can dilute it however you'd like.

[05_sprcrw]

Thanks a ton! I have been wanting to try it, have herd about it, knew a little about it. But now I understand it, know why it is important to do it, and most of all will be doing it from now on.

[guitarman502]

Do you do this after you clay?

[DnD Auto Detailing]

After claying, before polishing, while polishing, after polishing.

[leedriver]

is this why its a good idea to always follow up with a "pure" polish so that you don't get any fillers in the swirls? or does pretty much any product have the abilitly to fill swirl marks?

[DnD Auto Detailing]

Im not sure what you mean by "pure" polish. Yes, any product has the ability to fill whether its intentional or not.

[leedriver]

I was actually referring to this, based on its description:

http://www.specialtymotoring.com/pb-1007.html

And thats kind of what I thought about any product being able to fill, thank you for the confirm.

[DnD Auto Detailing]

I see. Im still not sure what they mean by pure polish. In my mind, that product isn't a polish at all. More of a paint cleaner. Reason I say that is because it doesn't contain any abrasives. When I think polish, I think abrasives. But thats just different terminology used by different people. Happens between the different brands too, Megs and Zaino for example.

[FireFighter]

I see. Im still not sure what they mean by pure polish. In my mind, that product isn't a polish at all. More of a paint cleaner. Reason I say that is because it doesn't contain any abrasives. When I think polish, I think abrasives. But thats just different terminology used by different people. Happens between the different brands too, Megs and Zaino for example.

I dont remember who started using the terms abrasive polish and pure polish over at F150online, but that helped out.... I know what you mean-- the terminology causes confusion when different companies give different names to a product.

I typically would say something like #7 is a pure polish (no abrasives), #9 is in between (has some, but a TON of fillers), and #80 is a glaze (hence the name), then #83 is an abrasive polish (hence its name-- DACP)  Is #7 a cleaner, too? I dunno. Maybe RP can shed light there since he is the Meguiars guru...

[leedriver]

this page probably has a better description of PB Pro Polish:

http://www.poorboysworld.com/professional-polish.htm

It does say paint cleaner, so there must be some abrasives to it?? Maybe by "pure" they mean no fillers?

RR: Does PP remove light swirls that SSR1 may leave behind?

[DnD Auto Detailing]

this page probably has a better description of PB Pro Polish:

http://www.poorboysworld.com/professional-polish.htm

It does say paint cleaner, so there must be some abrasives to it?? Maybe by "pure" they mean no fillers?

RR: Does PP remove light swirls that SSR1 may leave behind?

No, just because something cleans doesnt mean it has abrasives. Its a chemical cleaner. Something with no abrasives cannot remove swirls, scratches, etc. All it can do is hide them. It doesnt claim to be able to remove those things either. Its simply a cleaner.

[leedriver]

all makes sense, thanks for clearing those up  :thumbsiup:

as for the wipedowns, I assume you are using microfiber towels to do this?  (didn't know if the alcohol mix would have any adverse affects on my towels)

[DnD Auto Detailing]

I use some dedicated MF for the wipe downs.