Paint Job Maintenance and Car Care - Welcome To The Machine

A leaking roof left a deposit of mysterious black goo dots on the surface of the '56's orange paint.

Mothers ammonia free glass cleaner easily washed the black goo dots off. Do not use ammoniated household window cleaners on your truck, they can strip the paint off of interior knobs and soften plastic pieces.

Full gloss was returned to the orange paint with Mothers Showtime instant detailer. Meguiar's Quik Detailer would have worked equally well.

Buffing dry with a microfiber towel finished the job.

Here we have made a selection from Mothers' lineup. Mothers and Meguiar's each offer numerous products that can be combined within their respective line to provide spectacular results. Naturally the two companies don't recommend mixing brands, but the fact is, many professional detailers experiment and "cocktail" products to get the results they prefer-you didn't read that here.

For our toe-to-toe comparison of the two machine-based systems this is the selection we chose to represent Mothers.

We poured a sufficient amount of step one Mothers pre-wax cleaner onto the crown of the Powerball 4Paint as recommended. It is also advised to work from the crown as much as possible.

Andy then tapped the drill trigger a few times while spreading the pre-wax cleaner evenly on the left fender's area he intended to work.

Once Andy was satisfied enough pre-wax cleaner was spread from the Powerball 4Paint to the fender he brought the drill up to a speed that he felt was right and let her rip. Andy said this was something beginners would have to develop a "touch" for.

Step one is great for using the Powerball 4Paint to remove light oxidation, as well as initiate the polishing process. Step two using Mothers sealer & glaze filled and hid surface imperfections and helped to make swirl marks disappear.

The Powerball 4Paint was cleaned up after use by washing with dish soap and wringing dry. If the Powerball 4Paint begins to show wear, it can be flipped over and used on the other side.

Step three was to apply Mothers pure carnauba wax by hand with the applicator included in the can.