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05-04-2026LAST POST
I have a garage and I may still wait to do one of my cars.
fiveightandten wroteOk. Thats what I was thinking. Maybe do the paint correction now and wait to do the coating??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.
Yuille36 wroteThe 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.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 wroteSame 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!!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.
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?
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
JerseyM3 wroteYou 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).Ok. Thats what I was thinking. Maybe do the paint correction now and wait to do the coating??
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.
Phillies8008 wroteHaha. 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.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.
JoeyO wroteGenerally it’s a compound with more aggressive / coarse abrasive, followed by a polish with a finer less aggressive abrasive.What’s one step and two step correction? I’m guessing one of them is light polish.
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.
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!
This time of year, I often blow the cars off with a leaf blower to keep the pollen somewhat under control. It’s important to do this to clean out the windshield cowl area. Junk can build up in there and clog the drains. It’s also the area where the cabin air is introduced so good to keep it clean. You can pop off the covers easily with the 1/4 turn thumb screws for full access.
Washing the car is an exercise in futility. As it’s filthy with pollen again almost immediately. But I’ve added a DI water filter to my setup, and that allows me to just rinse with the pressure washer and leave the car to dry without touching it. No spots, no residue.
Between the leaf blower and spotless rinse, I can keep things looking ok with minimal contact washes until the pollen subsides.
With my M3 being Mineral White Metallic and the X5M Donnington Grey their both more "forgiving" colors. They tend to mask that light dusting and road film remarkably well, though once the pollen really builds up, even those metallic flakes can’t hide the green tint.
