Taking possession of a brand new car, truck or SUV is a fun and exciting time. You’ve got a beautiful, untouched vehicle ready for you to enjoy… or so you think. We all assume that being brand new, everything is perfect. It’s sad to say this is usually not the case.
It’s possible, even likely, that when your brand new vehicle popped out of the assembly line, everything was perfect. It’s what takes place after it leaves the assembly line that you have to be mindful of. Between the factory and your driveway, there are countless ways your new vehicle can suffer aesthetic damage.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the most common defects seen on new vehicles and how to detail a brand new car so you can eliminate the defects and restore your new vehicle to its original factory fresh glory.
Always Inspect a New Car Before Leaving the Dealership
Keep in mind, it’s much better to identify and point out to the sales staff at the dealership, any defects or questions about workmanship BEFORE you sign on the dotted line versus bringing the vehicle back AFTER you’ve signed on the dotted line.
Once you drive off the dealership car lot with your new vehicle, the dealership can always say the vehicle was perfect before you bought it and any damage discovered after leaving the dealership must have happened under your supervision.
What to Look For When Inspecting a New Vehicle’s Paint (CHECKLIST)
Inspect the paint visually in bright, overhead sunlight. This is an important step and requires that the sun is outside and high overhead so that it shines down onto the horizontal panels of your vehicle. For example, the hood, roof, and trunk lid. If good sunlight is not available, for example it’s winter in Chicago, then another way to visually inspect your vehicle’s finish is to use a strong hand-held light.
- Swirls – Swirls are millions of shallow random scratches in the paint. They look like they are circular in form, but this is an illusion.
The majority of scratches are in straight lines, but when you look at them using bright overhead sunlight or with a strong hand-held light source, like a swirl finder light, the straight scratches reflect back at the point of light in the paint, and this makes the scratches appear to be circular in direction.
Swirls are typically the result of poor washing and drying technique, such as using contaminated towels or wash pads. - Random, isolated deeper scratches (RIDS) – Besides all the shallow scratches that appear as swirls, you also want to look for deeper, random isolated scratches.
These deeper scratches will tend to stick out like a sore thumb compared to the thousands of shallow scratches surrounding them. If they are not too deep, they can be safely removed via machine polishing.
If your fingernail catches into the scratch, then they are too deep to safely remove via polishing and you’ll have to fill them in with touch-up paint or have the affected area repainted.
If the vehicle you’ve purchased has been washed over and over again at the dealership, it’s normal to have light swirls and scratches. These can easily be removed via a simple machine polishing process. - Water Spots – There are actually 4 types of water spots, but the most common for new vehicles are Type I or Type 2.
- Type 1 – Hard Water Spots – These are the kind of water spots that appear to be crusty particles on the paint. These crusty water spots happen anytime contaminated water lands on the paint finish and then evaporates over time. Any dissolved minerals in the water, or any dirt on the vehicle, will form around the water drops, usually in a circular appearance, after the water evaporates. These types of crusty water spots will tend to wash off during the washing step.
- Type 2 – Imprint Ring Water Spots – These types of water spots look like an actual CIRCULAR IMPRINT RING – IN the paint. This happens anytime the water contains some corrosive substance that etches into the paint as the water dwells on the surface and later evaporates. These types of water spots will need to be removed via machine polishing.
- Holograms – Holograms are a unique scratch pattern in the paint caused by someone improperly using a rotary polisher on your vehicle’s paint. They’re commonly instilled by inexperienced dealership detailers — so much so they’re also known in the detailing world as “DISO” or the “Dealer Installed Swirl Option”.
You can identify hologram scratches from normal swirls and scratches by the tell-tell pattern they leave in the paint. Hologram scratches will mimic the direction the polisher was moved over the paint and in the right light will have a hologram type appearance, as though the holograms are floating in the paint.
Normal swirls and scratches do not show a unique pattern but tend to be uniform in appearance over all body panels. While we talk about DISO in the car detailing industry tongue-in-cheek, it’s a real problem.
- Micro-marring – Micro-marring scratches, are very tiny scratches that can be caused by using an orbital polisher with poor quality polishes and/or too aggressive buffing pads or both. Micro-marring will have a uniform appearance in the paint and can also mimic the direction a polisher was moved over the paint.
- Wheel Rash – Wheel rash can be any type of damage caused to the finish of the rim. Things like scratches and/or gouges caused by running the rim into concrete curbs. You can also find scratches and gouges in the rubber sidewall if the rim was driven into a sidewalk concrete curb.
- Above surface bonded contaminants (overspray, bird droppings, etc) – Inspect for above surface bonded contamination using the Baggie Test (wrapping your hand in a plastic baggie and touching the paint).
Before inspecting, be sure to wipe the area to be inspected using clean, microfiber towels and a quality spray detailer to remove any loose dirt or dust. The thin film of plastic between your hand and the paint will intensify your sense of touch and enable you to feel if the paint or glass is contaminated.
If you discover bonded contaminants this is a sign the vehicle will need to be clayed. And just to note, if you discover bonded contaminants on the paint, it’s likely on the glass and actually all of the exterior surfaces.
- Stained plastic trim – Check all exterior plastic trim for whitish looking polish stains. If something has happened to the vehicle that has caused a technician to do any type of machine polishing to the paint and the technician did not tape-off and protect any plastic trim in the area, it’s likely they stained the trim with polish.
Once plastic trim is stained from a compound, polish, or wax, it can be very difficult to remove the staining 100%. This means the entire time you own the vehicle you’ll have to look at the stained plastic trim. - Wax Residue (AKA TOGW – The Other Guy’s Wax) – TOGW is the acronym that stands for “The Other Guy’s Wax”. Like polish stains, this is wax residue oftentimes left around emblems, door handles, rearview mirrors, etc. It’s also a sign that some type of polishing likely took place, and this could be a sign of trouble. Dried wax or polish around emblems can often be removed using a soft bristle brush. But dried wax and/or polish on plastic trim can leave permanent stains.
- Greasy looking tires – Inspect tires for greasy, slimy silicone tire dressings. Not only are these messy and oftentimes the dressing will sling onto lower body panels, these types of tire dressings can also be incredibly difficult to remove. I would strongly recommend that you tell the dealership NOT to apply tire dressing to the tires and that you will take vehicle of this after you take delivery of the vehicle.
- Ceramic coating high spots – A ceramic coating high spot is simply excess ceramic coating that was not completely wiped-off the paint during the application and removal process. Once the coating has dried and fully cured, no amount of wiping will remove it. You must polish the affected area to remove it and then re-ceramic coat this area. High spots come from the staff not having quality hand-held inspection lights, poor shop lighting, poor training, or it’s simply shoddy work.
- Greasy looking engine compartment – Inspect the engine compartment. Just like when inspecting the tires, you’re looking for a film or layer of greasy, slimy silicone sprayed all over the engine and engine compartment. Like greasy tire dressings, greasy engine dressings can be incredibly difficult and time-consuming to remove 100%. And just as bad, once a greasy engine dressing has been applied to the engine compartment it turns your engine compartment into a DUST MAGNET. This means your engine and engine compartment will become dirty much faster than if the dealership would have just left it alone.
- Greasy looking plastic trim – In the same way the dealership will apply a greasy, slimy tire dressing to the tires, they will also apply a similar greasy dressing to all the exterior plastic trim. This can look good in-the-moment, but never lasts and it’s messy. And like greasy tire and engine dressings, these trim dressings can be very difficult to remove 100% after application.
- Excess mileage on the odometer – While counting on the honor system to make sure no one at the dealership took your brand new vehicle on a joy ride, it’s a good idea to check to avoid any “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” scenarios.
How to Detail Your Brand New Vehicle — Step by Step Instructions
Hopefully, you didn’t find any of the above listed defects caused by the dealership. If you did find any of the above defects and pointed them out to the staff at the dealership, then hopefully the dealership addressed these issues before you took possession of the vehicle. Assuming all is good, and you finalized the purchase, below I’ll share the order of steps to detail your brand new vehicle.
After bringing your brand new vehicle home, here’s the basic steps you want to take and the order to do them. I’ll keep this as simple as possible so no matter what your skill level, you can do this yourself and save hundreds, even thousands of dollars versus if you were to hire a professional detailer to do this for you.
- Wash and dry the vehicle.
- Inspect the paint visually in bright, overhead sunlight.
- Inspect your vehicle’s paint with your sense of touch using the Baggie Test.
- Use detailing clay to remove any above surface bonded contamination.
- Polish the paint if you discover swirls and scratches.
- Seal and protect the paint.
Here’s detailed information for each step.
1.) Wash and Dry the Vehicle
While this can seem pretty basic for long-time vehicle owners, here’s some tips to help you wash your new vehicle in the correct order for where to start and where to end.
Start by washing the highest body panel first, this is normally the roof. Wash one side of the roof and then wash the other side of the roof followed by a thorough rinse.
Next, wash the lower horizontal panels like the hood and trunk lid. After washing, thoroughly rinse the hood and/or trunk lid to remove any loosened dirt. Repeat the above steps working around and down the vehicle until you’ve washed the entire outside of your vehicle..
After giving the vehicle a final rinse, next dry the vehicle using your favorite drying towel or chamois. As an option, you can also use compressed air from a tool like a car dryer or leaf blower, to blow-off any standing water.
2.) Visually Inspect Paint in Bright, Overhead Sunlight for Swirls and Scratches
You probably already did this while still at the dealership, but the best time is immediately after washing and drying the vehicle using bright overhead sunlight or using a strong hand-held light. If you discover swirls and scratches, you will need to machine polish the paint to remove these types of defects.
3.) Tactically Inspect Paint with Baggie Test
You may have done this at the dealership, but like inspecting the paint after washing, the best time to do the baggie test is immediately after washing and drying the vehicle.
The baggie test is a real eye-opener. While it can be hard to believe how it works, believe me – it works! The first time most people do this to their own vehicle’s paint you can see their eyes open wide with a shocked expression on their face.
Place your clean hand into a clean sandwich baggie and then using your sense of touch lightly feel the paint. Oftentimes the baggie test will reveal tiny little bumps all over the surface. These tiny bumps are some form of contamination.
If washing and drying the vehicle did NOT remove this contamination, this is a sign there is a strong bond between the contaminants and the paint that a mechanical means will be needed to remove the contamination. The most effective way to remove above surface bonded contaminants is by using either detailing clay or some form of clay substitute like a clay towel, clay mitt or clay disc.
If you discovered some form of contamination like overspray paint or industrial fallout, here’s how you remove this bonded contamination.
Step 1: Form the detailing clay bar into a patty about the size of a pancake.
Step 2: Mist some spray detailer onto a body panel and onto the face of the clay patty.
Step 3: Rub the clay patty over the paint until you feel the clay patty go from catching on the paint to gliding over the paint.
Step 4: Wipe off the spray detailer residue using a clean, inspected microfiber towel and then move onto the next body panel.
4.) Polish Paint to Remove Any Swirls & Scratches Identified
If you discover swirls, scratches, water spots or holograms in the finish of your new vehicle, the most effective way to remove these is to machine polish the paint using a foam pad on a dual action orbital polisher. If you are only going to be machine polishing your own vehicle, I would recommend an entry level polisher like the Bauer 6” DA available at any local Harbor Freight hardware store.
Here’s the basics for how to machine polish the exterior of a brand new vehicle. For this example, we’ll be using Dr. Beasley’s Z1, which is a Ceramic AIO or All-in-One. What this product will do is 3 things in 1-step.
It will remove swirls and scratches, polish the paint to a high gloss, leave behind a layer of ceramic protection that’s good up to one year, depending upon how the vehicle is used and stored when not in use.
For example, there can be a noticeable difference as to how long any AIO or wax will last when the vehicle is parked and stored inside a garage or carport versus if the vehicle is always being parked and stored outside, exposed to the elements when not in use.
Step 1: Place 3-4 dime sized drops of Z1 onto the face of the foam polishing pad.
Step 2: Place the face of the pad against the section of paint to be polished.
Normally you divide larger panels into smaller sections and then buff out the panel, section by section.
Turn the polisher on to a slow to medium speed and using the polisher, spread the product out over the section to be buffed. After spreading the product out, bring the speed up to a higher speed setting and begin making overlapping passes over this section of paint.
Overlap by 50% and move the polisher slowly with about 5-10 pounds of downward pressure on the head of the polisher. Run the polisher over this section side-to-side followed by front-to-back anywhere from 4-8 times or 4-8 section passes.
A single section pass is when you’ve moved the polisher over a section with enough overlapping passes to have covered the entire section. Then change the direction you move the polisher, opposite of the direction you moved the polisher for the first section pass and repeat the overlapping passes. After each section is buffed, use a clean, microfiber towel to wipe off any excess residue.
Step 3: After buffing out one section of a panel, move onto the next section and repeat the above process and be sure to overlap a little into the previous section.
Continue this process until all body panels have been polished. Because Z1 contains a built-in ceramic coating, there’s no need to do any other steps.
5.) Protect Paint with a Ceramic Coating
If you didn’t use an AIO to remove the swirls and scratches in step 4, you’ll need to protect the newly corrected paint with a ceramic coating. Before applying, ensure the surface is completely free of polishing oils if you didn’t use a ceramic coating primer polish like the Nano Surface Primers. This will establish the most durable bond possible between the coating and the paint.
Can You Remove Swirls & Scratches With Hand Polishing?
While yes it is possible, the amount of time to rub-out the entire finish on any vehicle will be too time-consuming and also too physically demanding for most people. Besides the time factor, the skill level required is beyond the abilities of the majority of vehicle owners. I teach automotive and marine detailing classes for a living and I’m telling you straight-up, while it may seem an easy thing to do, it’s actually incredibly difficult to remove swirls and scratches out of a modern clearcoat paint finish by hand.
Should I Just Take My Vehicle Back to the Dealership?
If you find swirls and scratches in the paint of your brand new vehicle it might seem like a good idea to simply take the vehicle back to the dealership and demand they fix the problem. After all, they sold you the car — this is on them! The thing is, most dealerships do not have trained technicians that are skilled at paint correction, and in all likelihood they will make the problem worse through poor technique.
Another reason why the dealership cannot fix the problem is because they don’t normally have quality compounds and polishes for use at their facility. And like mentioned above under the section on holograms and DISO, most dealerships will have a rotary polisher, but no orbital polisher and this leads to holograms.
This means if you take your vehicle back to the dealership, they will likely have untrained staff using antiquated techniques, using a rotary polisher with poor quality products to attempt to fix the problem. And in most cases not only will they not fix the problems, but they’ll also make them worse.
And keep in mind, each time some unqualified technicians use the wrong tool, pad, and product on your vehicle’s incredibly thin clearcoat, they will be removing a portion of the clearcoat paint leaving the already thin paint even thinner. Now you risk the paint suffering from premature clearcoat failure.
And as discussed at the beginning of this article, if you discover any defective workmanship you should point this out and address it before signing on the dotted line. Once you drive off the dealership’s vehicle lot, the dealership can always say the defects or problems happened on your watch and therefore they are no longer responsible to repair any defects or damage.
How to Maintain Your Brand New Vehicle After Detailing
Moving forward, remember, the thing most of us do the most for our vehicles is wash them. Before washing and drying your vehicle, take a few moments to inspect your wash mitts, drying towels and microfiber wiping towels to make sure they are clean and uncontaminated.
It takes hours to detail a vehicle and only seconds to put swirls and scratches back into the paint and even plastic and glass because the things that “touch it” are contaminated. Like the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
If you have any questions, need help or guidance, I always make myself personally available to assist.
At Dr. Beasley’s Future of Detailing automotive and boat detailing classes, we cover many of the tools, techniques and products shared in this how-to article. If you are interested in taking your knowledge and skills to a higher level, check out the dates and locations for upcoming classes here:
Dr. Beasley’s Future of Detailing Classes Schedule
Mike Phillips
Chief Education Officer for Dr. Beasley’s
Mike@drbeasleys.com
760-515-0444
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