Does anyone know if Dodge has provided any information on the care and feeding of the low gloss decals on the Daytona? After looking through all of the stuff that came with the car, there isn't anything at all about the Daytona in particular. Previous experience and common sense says that you only wash with a mild soapy solution and never put any wax or Armorall type substance on them. Inevitably, there will be some wax on them, around the edges from waxing the car. Is there a recommended, safe cleaner that will remove this wax? I envision that you get the car washed and all dry. The decals are spotless and then you carefully wax the car. Oops, you accidentally got over the edge of the decal in a small spot while applying the wax. Short of soap and water washing again (on the freshly waxed car), what can be applied to a soft cloth to wipe off the accidental wax smudge?
FYI, don't get aggressive on the decals, like our salesman did. My wife was anxious to pick the car up, even though it was dirty. While we were signing papers, our salesman wanted to clean a few spots off of the car with the generic wax/cleaner that they use. Well, he tried to remove some bird spots off of the hood decal and rubbed pretty hard. After we washed the car and got the wax out of the decal, you can see that it was polished smooth in a couple of spots. The dealer is replacing it (hopefully, with no problems).
Thanks,
MSM
Proud maintainer of the wife's new Daytona #2303
kalbc
10-08-2005, 02:15 PM
I have not seen any information from Dodge on it. You are right, the wax does represent a problem getting on the edge of the decals. I have actually used armorall on the decals. If applied uniformly with a soft cloth, it works great. You definately have to apply it very evenly. If you hear anything different, let me know.
Chris
krcossin
12-07-2005, 10:16 AM
This is my repost from another forum:
I throughly enjoy keeping my ride clean, so I started to investigate what is the best way to maintain the decals on the Daytona. I have been using Zaino with much success and so called Sal, he advised I use Z-2 on them, it may give a slight gloss finish, only clay bar if absolutly required (check by wrapping your hand in plastic wrap and wipe, if it gets tugged on you need to clay bar) If you have to clay bar, use very light preasure and keep the clay wet. So I then called MMaloy's cell phone I saw on a post about waxing our Chargers, he has a lot of experience with some very high end vehicles and has had cars published, his advice is to use Formula 113 microbrew wax. I guess Jay Leno uses this and it sounds like another choice high end product. So I then read the above post #14 and called Ground Effects, LTD. I spoke with Pete Fox who is in charge of the applying the decals, and emailed back and forth, I found out that they are manufactured by Kay Automotive Graphics in Lake Orion, MI. I asked this:
I want to maintain these decals the best I can to preserve them. I want to keep them from fading, or getting white spots, and especially maintain the flat black look without going to a high gloss.
Any recommendations you have or can get are very much appreciated.
His response to me is:
Rob -- spoke to a rep from Kay Graphics and he suggested the following. He said to maintain the flat black look, try to avoid getting any wax on the decals. If this does happen a mixture of 50% isopropyl alcohol 50% water should take it off without damaging the graphic. The graphics have a low gloss clear coat on them and are very resistent to fading. Normal washing with a good quality auto soap should not cause any problems. It would be wax and buffing that could turn the flat into a gloss look. I asked about car washes that mix wax in with the soap spray and he did not seem to think that would be a problem as there is no buffing involved, but I think it would be safer to avoid that selection if you are using a car wash facility. Hope this helps and thanks for your positive comments on our installation of the graphics. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to call or email me.
