Pollen Season

[JerseyM3]

Its finally warming up on the East Coast and I am itching to give the black G80 a good detailing. This includes wash, clay, 2-Step correction to get rid of the swirls and minor scratches from the nasty winter we had. Then finally do a ceramic coating. But of course the nasty green dust has started to coat everything in sight as well as trigger allergies. Should I wait to do this once the trees and grasses have finally stopped pushing out pollen or is it OK to do the coating since it gets mostly wiped off once it sets up? I don't have a garage so its gonna be outside. Helpful tips appreciated.

[fiveightandten]

If it’s outdoors, I’d say you’re going to be fighting with it. Personally, unless it’s going to be this weekend, I’d wait. It’s going to get bad pretty soon.

I have a garage and I may still wait to do one of my cars.

[JerseyM3]

Originally Posted by fiveightandten

If it’s outdoors, I’d say you’re going to be fighting with it. Personally, unless it’s going to be this weekend, I’d wait. It’s going to get bad pretty soon.

I have a garage and I may still wait to do one of my cars.

Ok. Thats what I was thinking. Maybe do the paint correction now and wait to do the coating??

[Yuille36]

Unfortunately pollen season has only begun, its best to wait or do it after a good heavy rain, or after the pollen season. I've been wanting to wash both my vehicles, but now its 90 degrees, so I have to wait until the weekend, and do it early before its get too hot. The one good thing, is that my vehicles are ceramic coated.

[John in VA]

Originally Posted by Yuille36

Unfortunately pollen season has only begun, its best to wait or do it after a good heavy rain, or after the pollen season. I've been wanting to wash both my vehicles, but now its 90 degrees, so I have to wait until the weekend, and do it early before its get too hot. The one good thing, is that my vehicles are ceramic coated.

The oak tree pollen out here in Leesburg is atrocious! We're supposed to drop into the low 60s after the rain Sunday, after potentially setting heat records today.

[JerseyM3]

Originally Posted by John in VA

The oak tree pollen out here in Leesburg is atrocious! We're supposed to drop into the low 60s after the rain Sunday, after potentially setting heat records today.

Same here. Though I am on the jersey coast we get pine and grass pollen. Salt spray and rain is common. So I will wait to coat but the scratches on the hood and trunk lid got to go!!

I think if I do that then all I will need to really do is wash and clay it again before coating it. Kinda split up the three hours or more into two sessions. Thoughts?

[Phillies8008]

At the height of (pine) pollen season here the half of the car you just washed will have a layer on it by the time you finish with the other half. I mostly just accept that my cars are going to constantly have a layer of pollen for about 1.5 months a year. Thankfully we're nearing the end of it now.

[CJ421]

As long as you apply the ceramic within a short period of the final wash, there shouldn't be any problems. It will make washing the car easier, so I would apply it as soon as possible.

I think your plan is good - wash, clay, and correct as needed. Unless the scratches are automatic carwash bad, maybe one step correction will suffice. I would definitely try one-step first just to respect your time.

A NanoSkin can save you a lot of claying time, too, if you have a buffer.

Charles

[fiveightandten]

Originally Posted by JerseyM3

Ok. Thats what I was thinking. Maybe do the paint correction now and wait to do the coating??

You could decon and correct to save some time later. Perhaps do your clay, iron remover, and compound. Then in 4 to 6 weeks you can do a quick clay and polish, which should take off what contamination has settled on the car in the interim, and finish the correction (clean /change pads often).

You’ll probably need to spot decon the rear bumper, behind the wheels etc. Best results come from just doing it all in one shot, but that’s not always feasible.

And this kind of depends on the paint color and your threshold fur correction. Eg my M40i is white and I corrected to remove ~70% of defects. If the car is black I wouldn’t get away with the same plan.

[fiveightandten]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

At the height of (pine) pollen season here the half of the car you just washed will have a layer on it by the time you finish with the other half. I mostly just accept that my cars are going to constantly have a layer of pollen for about 1.5 months a year. Thankfully we're nearing the end of it now.

Haha. This is the truth. The past few years, it looks like there’s snow on the ground in early May. And I wind up just hosing off the green / yellow stuff every other day to keep it somewhat under control, and only washing to keep it from building up. The car isn’t going to look clean for more than an hour. Haha.

[JoeyO]

What’s one step and two step correction? I’m guessing one of them is light polish.

[fiveightandten]

Originally Posted by JoeyO

What’s one step and two step correction? I’m guessing one of them is light polish.

Generally it’s a compound with more aggressive / coarse abrasive, followed by a polish with a finer less aggressive abrasive.

Sometimes polish is all that’s needed. But if the paint has scratches and macro imperfections, those are more easily removed with something more aggressive. Then the polish refines the surface to ensure there isn’t any hazing or holograms that can be left behind by a compound.

Compound removes scratches. Polish makes the paint more reflective and glossy.

[tracer bullet]

I think I'd wait until after the trees get done doing their thing. It's probable that the pollen won't affect the application but I wouldn't risk it.

I found that a gray day is best, the even light from all around really makes it easy to find any high spots you might have missed when removing the coating.

I brought my kid to swimming lessons last night, we parked and got out of the car. I realized that the air looked funny and that it was pollen actively coming from the trees nearby almost like it was snowing. We got back in the car and moved to the opposite end of the lot!