How to Clean your car (properly)

**nealer** · Monday 19th June 2006, 00:44

that looks fantastic ... great depth in the shine ... I'm sure your absolutely knackered. (i hope you spent the time to tidy up all the products and clean your towels!)

Btw Dave .. look like showers tomorrow - leave the car in the garage!
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/UKXX0018.html

**Wobbly Dave** · Monday 19th June 2006, 00:48

I am knackered. A bit disappointed I couldnt get the light to show her off. I have already washed all the applicators, M/F towels and terry towels using fairy non-bio on a 40 degree wash. All tidied away.

The car will go to work with me as usual - which is why I am either washing or rinsing every night or every other night. Hope this will not wash off the products I have applied?

Total time spent - about 12 hrs over two days

**Wobbly Dave** · Monday 19th June 2006, 01:03

Here is another one of the front. I have noticed (not that I didnt already know this) that it is incredibly hard to get good depth on light colours.

This frontal shot looks quite flat but the car actually glows (trust me)

**dreadly** · Monday 19th June 2006, 06:51

Nice... - I tried getting my black car to look something like that.

I have a few surface laquer scratches I dont know how to shift?
I can't seem to get rid of the water streaks after washing it? - Using a Halfords artificaial shamy?

**Wobbly Dave** · Monday 19th June 2006, 08:56

Ditch the chamois for anything other than just the windows. If you read detailing world you'll find this thread...

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4536

Preparation is the key and it really does depend a lot on how much time/effort you're prepared to put in. If you do a proper detail every 3 months, have good washing technique then you should be able to achieve reasonable results. BTW - Do you live in a hard water area?

As I have found the basic hand detail should include

Wash (2 bucket method - no sponges)
Dry (towel not chamois)
Clay
Paint Clean (optional)
Glaze/Polish
Wax

As it said on D/W - Bad Wash technique creates swirls - which are fine scratches in the clear coat. You need to fill'em or flat'em (machine only).
The polish layer - I used (tech wax) was designed to fill the swirl marks and seal the clayed/cleaned paintwork. I used the fingernail test to see if I could remove the heavier scratches. If I could feel my nail make contact with the scratch then I'd know that scratch X wasnt going to work and would need to be machined out. Otherwise I had reasonable results with scratch remover on a stockinette cloth.

**adriancole** · Monday 19th June 2006, 09:25

Nice detailing Wobbley......very shiney and wet looking.....

I too spent several hours on the car over several days, having to clean it each time i wanted to do the next step in the process.

Cleaning as before and i used the same as you did, that techno wax from Meg and am pretty happy with the final outcome though i did balls up hte application on the last coat and kept getting the applicator wet......in the end i just did it anyway and left it to dry before buffing it, though buffing took an age and still have the odd mark on the car from the wax which i will see to today..

NOw it looks like i will have to take the wheels off and paint the bell bits on the disks to stop them rusting....

Adrain

**Wobbly Dave** · Monday 19th June 2006, 09:50

Someone nicked yer shoes?!

Good wetness and depth in that finish as far as I can tell. I am blessed in so much as my stone chips dont show the same as yours.

Also coz I have the split rims the insides of the wheels almost cannot be seen which is not the same for the perfos so I guess you'll have to get on to that too - bummer!

Tech wax is a synthetic polymer glaze/polish, isnt it? Dont you therefore need a wax to go over the top? (as a final layer?)

**adriancole** · Monday 19th June 2006, 10:25

Originally Posted by Wobbly Dave

Someone nicked yer shoes?!

Good wetness and depth in that finish as far as I can tell. I am blessed in so much as my stone chips dont show the same as yours.

Also coz I have the split rims the insides of the wheels almost cannot be seen which is not the same for the perfos so I guess you'll have to get on to that too - bummer!

Tech wax is a synthetic polymer glaze/polish, isnt it? Dont you therefore need a wax to go over the top? (as a final layer?)

Lol, its summer now so dont wear em!!

Yes stone chips do show, so am slowly going through them all....will take a while...

So reading up on the tech wax, i believe you dont need a coat over the top, (dont quote me, may be wrong), though it makes it look much better if you do and use a carnuba jobby on it......shine goes deeper and more lustrous and adds another protective layer on top which cant be a bad thing. read that on detailing world somewhere, there are photos showing synthetic wax vs natural carnuba and then one on top of the other...on a red car it looked really noticable....will try and find that link

I am going to do all the chips and then do another two coats tech wax to get a really good shine and protective layer and then do a nice carnuba wax, probably from Zymol or Swissol..

Wheels, am activly looking for a differnt set, prefered are some Propus split jobbys which i want to make two tone....they would hide the brakes, though any other set of wheels are welcome at the moment as the other three wheels on the car in in bad shape.....took the best wheel in the photo...Titans, Volans or Propus .....whichever comes first....though do have two Propus....difficult making a set of them....

Interior is next, though mine is excellant condition, well up till yesterday when i shut the catch for the seatbelt in the door and it pierced the leather/vinly door card on the edge,

now i just keep seeing the cut......

Leather feed is a must though...

Adrian

**Wobbly Dave** · Tuesday 27th June 2006, 11:10

In the process of buying one of these....

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-sfxpol-kit.html

and getting my shine on!

arbee · Tuesday 27th June 2006, 11:55

that seems quite a good deal Dave - is that who youre buying from? whats the shipping like?

**Wobbly Dave** · Tuesday 27th June 2006, 12:12

Yeah - autopia works out best.

You apply to one of the Mods on DW for a discount code. 60$ shipping IIRC - he is gonna send me the details

Best to read the Import a P/C thread on DW for all the details. Gonna get the extension, transformer and plug from a mate in the building trade. Shouldnt be too much. Gonna order some 4" sonus pads at the same time

**adriancole** · Tuesday 27th June 2006, 20:59

excellent, be interesting to see how the buffer/polisher comes along Wobbley, must admit bit to scared of ballsing it up myself to try one of them, though i bet once the technique is mastered the results are going to be fab.....

Do you plan on using an old wing or something from a scrapyard to test out your new machine and get some practise or are you going to just dive in..?

**Wobbly Dave** · Wednesday 28th June 2006, 10:38

I have a few panels left over from the black C70 to test out on first.

**S40xs** · Friday 30th June 2006, 16:20

For all those that has a Costco card, they are doing 4 turtlewax wash mitts (all sheepskin) 2 of which are plain, 1 has a bug remover on one side and the other is a applicator all for £10. They also have 20 microfibre towels for a tenner or 50 terrytowels for £20.

I picked up the 20microfibre towels & 4 wash mitts for £20......Bargin or what!!
Also picked up some Maguiers stuff from Halfords, didnt have much in tho, no clay......
Heres what i bought in one day!

**Wobbly Dave** · Saturday 1st July 2006, 01:05

David G, one of the detailing suppliers on DW (members only) - carwashnwax has an offer on Sonus Grey claybar for 6 quid Inc P&P - which is cheaper & better than megs clay kits and for 12.95 he does a bottle of superior sonus QD/clay lube. yet to try mine (already did it with the megs clay and that was great!!)
Was very pleased with the Megs GC applicators - very nice to use! Have to admit to being a bit snobby about the MF cloths and only bought megs/sonus ones so far.

See my new friends... (Chemical Guys)

**Wobbly Dave** · Saturday 1st July 2006, 01:06

and the boot tidy (I know - I really have lost the plot now!!!)
Good to see your collection growing though!

Think I need help?

**adriancole** · Saturday 1st July 2006, 01:13

Snap...I have the same boot tidy......

What are the new friends like?

Why you choose them?

Do you prefer using chemical petrolium based products rather than the natural organic plant based ones and why Wobbly?

**Wobbly Dave** · Saturday 1st July 2006, 01:28

What are the new friends like?

TBH honest Adrian - I dont know yet - only time and effort will tell (only got them today - 30th June)

Why you choose them?

chose the spider - coz I still have swirls (and loss of job means no PC for a bit) - and that product seemed the best by hand.
I have done tonnes of reading on DW and I wanted to stick with one/two ranges of producer. Megs and CG seem to be ok, again only time will tell. I wanted to do the full monty. Wash>>clay>>polish>>glaze>>seal>>wax.
Dont know too much about the glaze and seal but the CG stuff seemed to be well regarded.

Do you prefer using chemical petrolium based products rather than the natural organic plant based ones and why Wobbly?

CG by name does not mean Chem by nature. The carnuba is Brazilian ivory/white AFAIK - but I am no expert.
Spent a lot of time with Megs DC1 as a filler/cleaner and I can still see the swirls, so ultimately I was disappointed - Wondering if I will ever get rid of'em without a P/C (which is still on the shopping list).
Ultimately I wanna have the best detailed Volvo in the group going to Trax

**adriancole** · Saturday 1st July 2006, 10:26

Great, thanks for the answers, i asked myself whether to go down the petrochemical route or natural a la Zymol and a few others.....esp being a bit of an eco nerd myself.

DO i really want to be outting petrochemicals on my hand to be absorbed into me??....still asking it too....

funny you should mention the swirls, after washing my car, the swirls have now come back, weird as after the polish it looked fantastic and swirl free....so the meg tech wax seems not up to washing.....it filled to swirls, what were left after the cleanse, now all back.....now want to try sometihng that will really get rid of them....by one hand....so interesting to see your results with the Chemical Dudes

Commiserations about job, I too am out work at the moment, though due to injury and cash is def tight, so all hand products are for me the way forward, esp as i do have time on my one good arm/hand...so expect my motor to be shining too in time for Trax.....at least i have the lux of spending time on it!!

Adrian

**dan_burdock** · Saturday 1st July 2006, 21:23

Being a car valeter, detailer its hard work although the 855t5r is the experimental vehicle, I have found autosmart mirror image is good for a quick shine for the average joe, but zymol Vintage Glaze has got to be the ultimate finish, if used correctly. I have just started using Pimp Stixxx for the nasty areas on cars and they are spot on.
Dan

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