Make it simple!?

[jonbaker]

Ok, i've been reading a lot about detailing and from what i've gathered it's a bit like bodybuilding! Lots of different methods, lots of do's and dont's millions of products and different levels of performance :D

I know all the decent basics about bodybuilding after cutting through all the rubbish over the years about products and methods (not that i'm arnie or anything lol) and i would like the same done here in this thread about giving my car a decent clean.

Now, from what i've learnt so far i am to do this but with what product(s):

Wash and dry

clay (product ?)

paint restorer (Autoglym paint restorer) ???

polish (autoglym Super Resin Polish) ???

wax (product?)

cloths to use for wax and polish?

My car is black and has swirls and i would like the best result i can get by hand for a reasonably swirl free or reduction finish and lovely wet shine.

So, can someone make it simple for me when i go to halfords to get my products. I'm going to be spending a day on it. From what i've seen you can't go wrong with autoglym products.

Should i clay it bearing in mind i've never done it before and i'm no expert, dont want to make it worse.

Any help would be great, thanks ;)

[Malcolm44]

OK Jon
This is one of those ask a question and get about a million answers/preferences.

What I would suggest to you is this
Get a clay bay system and Meguires 3 stage pack from Halfords along with some applicator pads and microfibre cloths. Stage 1 in bacically an anti oxidant for the paint, stage 2 is a glaze which fills the mircoscopic scratches in the paint, and stage 3 is a wax. This way you wont spend too much before you get to know if it is for you

First wash the car with the two bucket method (one shampoo and one rinse for your wash mit - NO SPONGE)

Once you have done that then clay the whole car as being an 2001 its probably a bit rough! - the way to test is it should be like glass with no rough bits at all especially around the wheel arches and roof leading edge. Just read the instructions on the box as it looks like a bit of plasticene with a bottle of "Quick Detailer". The QD acts as a lubricant. Once you have done that wash the car again using the same method as before

Then using stage 1 (shake well) and an applicator pad, work into the body panels in small circular motion till you cover the area, allow to dry to a haze then buff off with a microfibre cloth. Repeat for the whole car.

Then do the same with stage 2....

Then Stage 3

You should now see a mirror like finish.

Obviously this will take some time to do, and does not even go into the wheels, engine bay, glass etc, but it will give you a flavour of what is needed (and at times will be better than a workout at the gym). To get more info look at www.detailingworld.co.uk (http://www.detailingworld.co.uk) this has all the how to's and aids to help you along

Have fun:D

[jonbaker]

OK Jon
This is one of those ask a question and get about a million answers/preferences.

What I would suggest to you is this
Get a clay bay system and Meguires 3 stage pack from Halfords along with some applicator pads and microfibre cloths. Stage 1 in bacically an anti oxidant for the paint, stage 2 is a glaze which fills the mircoscopic scratches in the paint, and stage 3 is a wax. This way you wont spend too much before you get to know if it is for you

First wash the car with the two bucket method (one shampoo and one rinse for your wash mit - NO SPONGE)

Once you have done that then clay the whole car as being an 2001 its probably a bit rough! - the way to test is it should be like glass with no rough bits at all especially around the wheel arches and roof leading edge. Just read the instructions on the box as it looks like a bit of plasticene with a bottle of "Quick Detailer". The QD acts as a lubricant. Once you have done that wash the car again using the same method as before

Then using stage 1 (shake well) and an applicator pad, work into the body panels in small circular motion till you cover the area, allow to dry to a haze then buff off with a microfibre cloth. Repeat for the whole car.

Then do the same with stage 2....

Then Stage 3

You should now see a mirror like finish.

Obviously this will take some time to do, and does not even go into the wheels, engine bay, glass etc, but it will give you a flavour of what is needed (and at times will be better than a workout at the gym). To get more info look at www.detailingworld.co.uk (http://www.detailingworld.co.uk) this has all the how to's and aids to help you along

Have fun:D

Cheers, i had noticed that 3 stage meguires product on the halfords site. Alloys i've just has refurbed so was going to just get the autoglym alloy protector stuff and clean them on a weekly basis.

with regards to this: First wash the car with the two bucket method (one shampoo and one rinse for your wash mit - NO SPONGE)

firstly, why no sponge? and secondly dont you use a hose? just wash and rinse all with the mit?

thanks for the advice

[DEBBIE.G]

A sponge will go flat to the cars paint when you apply pressure.
Which will then drag any contaminants on the paint around the car which will cause scratches and swirls. So use a wash mit.

[jonbaker]

A sponge will go flat to the cars paint when you apply pressure.
Which will then drag any contaminants on the paint around the car which will cause scratches and swirls. So use a wash mit.

Yeah, thanks, i've been on thatdetailing site and learnt alot off that dave geezers write ups. Just found a big can of mer i bought last time that i forgot i had also some megs scratch x. Gonna try the clay after wash then the scratch x or mer or i want to try the autoglym srp, spoilt for choice now:D

1 last question, is it essential i wash the car againa fter the megs clay? if so would a simple rinse be efficent?

[DEBBIE.G]

Yes you have to wash again to get all the contaminates off before you polish.

[squinty]

personally, with a car of that age, i would go along the botom 1/3 of the car with a tar and glue remover BEFORE claybar. i have found the autoglym intensive tar remover to be absolutely fantastic.

ideally, transfer it into a spray bottle and mist over the bottom 1/3 of the whole car. by the time you have gone round the car, the tar where you started should of started dissolving already. dampen a cloth with a bit of the tar remover and wipe off what you sprayed on. (dont forget the 'lip' of the wheel arch ;))

if you want a reason, this is where a lot of crap builds up on the car, doing this will prevent you getting huge lumps of tar in your claybar. there is a chance they could scratch the car.

as said the megs stage 2 has fillers in it, which will greatly reduce the appearance of scratches and swirl marks. autoglym super resin polish does much the same job (and would be my preference of the two).

yes, definately wash the car again after you have clayed it. even though you wipe/dry the area off after you have clayed it, there is still a residue left behind, sometime loose particles and contaminants that have been renoved from the clearcoat, but not stuck to the claybar.

[jonbaker]

Thanks for all the advice people. I done the job yesterday, 9 hours all in!!! Must say i enjoyed every minute, it's the first 'real' valet i've ever done. So glad i found out about claying, my paint is like glass now. Here's what i di and what i used:

1). Wash (2 bucket method using meg's mit) was a nightmare as i dont have a hose so had to keep throwing water from fresh buckets on it and was struggling for shade, not ideal so bad start)

2). Dried using meg's 'water magnet' cloth which is superb btw.

3). I have a lot of really bad stuck on sap stuff from a sticky tree near me and the only thing getting those spots off was holts bug and tar wipes that i had. That took a good hour and half and was painstaking, i went over every inch of roof, bonnet and boot.

4). Removing the sap left strange marks in the paint but a good coat of meg's scratch x sorted that lot out.

5). Clay using meg's 'qd' and clay and meg's microfibre cloth

6). Now i know you advised to wash again but i wasn't gonna go through all that agro without a hose again so i skipped it:Blush2:. Autoglym SRP coat.

7). Meg's wax

8). Merr on all chrome/Alloys & dressed tyres

9). Merr windscreen and window cleaner

10). Interior clean/dust with turtle wax dash shine

Today:

11). Hoover

12). Clean leather seats with DFS 'cherish' leather cleaner!!! then treat with Autoglym leather care cream.

13). Get drunk :beerchug:

Really pleased with results, although this morning found that the local cat had slept on my bonnet again, this keeps happening, short of killing it (i have 2 of my own so i'm not that evil) i don't know what to do? any suggestions?

Loved all the products i used and was pretty proud of my first detailing attempt :D:approve:

See pics:

[tootricky]

Looks good :) What was the approximate cost for all the products you used? I am thinking about doing my vRS this weekend.

Cheers/Nic

[jonbaker]

Looks good :) What was the approximate cost for all the products you used? I am thinking about doing my vRS this weekend.

Cheers/Nic

Well, dont tell the mrs and i had a bit of a shock at the till in halfords.. £80 ouch. But, i picked the best products (mainly meg's). The clay kit including cloth , clay, wax sample (enough for 1 or 2 coats) and qd spray was £22, err.. 2 buckets £6, shampoo £3 (used halfords own brand), meg's drying magnet cloth £12, autoglym polishing cloths £6, autoglym srp £12, tyre dressing £5 a few other bits etc etc i already had the meg's scratch x at £9 and merr around £10 and merr windscreen £?? leather cleaner around £6

It all adds up, but all the cloths are washable and i have loads of the products left for next time, well worth it ;)

The claying was amazing, you can reallyfeel the difference afterwards and it's great knowing your paint has had a 'thorough' clean and is protected with the wax etc.

[bora(ing) nick]

Looks really clean.....

I should really give mine a good proper clean...

Got a few mechanical issues to sort out first though... plus service, plus MOT, plus ......

Not looking forward to the bill!

[jonbaker]

Looks really clean.....

I should really give mine a good proper clean...

Got a few mechanical issues to sort out first though... plus service, plus MOT, plus ......

Not looking forward to the bill!


Yeah, that was the thing with mine. Got through all that, refurbed the alloys now done the clean so everything is cool... for now!

[tootricky]

Well, dont tell the mrs and i had a bit of a shock at the till in halfords.. £80 ouch. But, i picked the best products (mainly meg's). The clay kit including cloth , clay, wax sample (enough for 1 or 2 coats) and qd spray was £22, err.. 2 buckets £6, shampoo £3 (used halfords own brand), meg's drying magnet cloth £12, autoglym polishing cloths £6, autoglym srp £12, tyre dressing £5 a few other bits etc etc i already had the meg's scratch x at £9 and merr around £10 and merr windscreen £?? leather cleaner around £6

It all adds up, but all the cloths are washable and i have loads of the products left for next time, well worth it ;)

The claying was amazing, you can reallyfeel the difference afterwards and it's great knowing your paint has had a 'thorough' clean and is protected with the wax etc.
Thanks Jon. Like you say after the initial outlay you have product you can use again so not all bad news :)

[ssc1986]

found this a really helpful post.
I just bought my first car - 2003 Passat, and once i finish my exams i would like to give it a real good clean, sort of make it my own if u want!

my previous experience of washing cars is very very basic - hose, bucket of soapy water and then hose again!! So to go to this level of cleaning expertise will be some step up lol!!

so any tips or advice for a complete novice on what to buy, where to buy and how to do it all would be greatly appreciated!!

[squinty]

found this a really helpful post.
I just bought my first car - 2003 Passat, and once i finish my exams i would like to give it a real good clean, sort of make it my own if u want!

my previous experience of washing cars is very very basic - hose, bucket of soapy water and then hose again!! So to go to this level of cleaning expertise will be some step up lol!!

so any tips or advice for a complete novice on what to buy, where to buy and how to do it all would be greatly appreciated!!

basic washing items would be;
2 buckets
washmitt
microfibre waffle weave drying towel
wax safe shampoo

that will get the car clean and dry, then;
autoglym SRP is a good polish for 'covering up' scratches temporarily.
some decent wax, there are loads to choose from. ive found meguiars carnauba wax to last quite well, not too expensive either.

now it will be lovely and shiny aswell :D

glass polish/cleaner, interior trim cleaner/wipe around etc... if you want. depends how good you want the car to look, and how much time you are willing to spend doing it really.

you will be able to get everything you need from halfords, recently ive been using cleanyourcar.co.uk (http://cleanyourcar.co.uk)

[ssc1986]

cheers for that!!
My shopping list is growing all the time! Think i will enoy giving it a good clean.

[squinty]

cheers for that!!
My shopping list is growing all the time! Think i will enoy giving it a good clean.

and so it begins...you are now beginning your journey down a LONG road into the world of detailing! :D

i reckon i have some sort of addiction to it. i cannot go a month without buying something to wash/wax... the car with. reckon i must of spent a good £500 already :yikes:

[DEBBIE.G]

Thanks Jon. Like you say after the initial outlay you have product you can use again so not all bad news :)
I would try to stay away from HAL-FRAUDS they are the most expensive place to buy products. Have a look on here.
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php

[squinty]

I would try to stay away from HAL-FRAUDS they are the most expensive place to buy products. Have a look on here.
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php

true, BUT...they are open 7 days a week, and have a reasonable stock of most basic ingredients. also fairly local to the majority of people. so always good when you realise you forgot to order something, and you are 1/2 way through cleaning your car on a sunday afternoon ;)

also have to take into account, if you are only buying a couple of things and postage would be, say, £6. even though the 3 items are all £1 more expensive, you are still better off for spending more on the product as you havent had to pay the postage.

EDIT: oh, and last summer they had 3 for 2 on ALL car care products. ran for about 4 months!

[DEBBIE.G]

true, BUT...they are open 7 days a week, and have a reasonable stock of most basic ingredients. also fairly local to the majority of people. so always good when you realise you forgot to order something, and you are 1/2 way through cleaning your car on a sunday afternoon ;)

also have to take into account, if you are only buying a couple of things and postage would be, say, £6. even though the 3 items are all £1 more expensive, you are still better off for spending more on the product as you havent had to pay the postage.

EDIT: oh, and last summer they had 3 for 2 on ALL car care products. ran for about 4 months!
It does depend on what you want if you are buy AG stuff or Megs basic thats fine.If you want something higher end your stuffed.

[Dangerousmouse]

they are open 7 days a week, and have a reasonable stock of most basic ingredients.


It does depend on what you want if you are buy AG stuff or Megs basic thats fine.If you want something higher end your stuffed.

totally agreed, the point i was making though is that they are good for getting something in an emergency; due to stock levels, and relative location to the majority of the population.

although, i am quite a fan of a couple of AG products. intensive tar remover for one. awesome stuff, better than what we use at work ;) also use a couple of megs polishes, well, not the ones that you can pick up in halfords. still megs at the end of the day though. oh, and my dual action is megs. they arent all that bad :p :D

[jonbaker]

I don't know, black cars, who'd have them? 10 hours detailing last Thursday, 5 days later its filthy again, full of dust and the like :zx11:

Still, at least all it will need next time is a simple wash.

[Dangerousmouse]

yeah, there has been loads of rape seed pollen floating around.

washed the forecourt yesterday. 30mins later, every car was covered! :aargh4:

it is a little disheartening to see your last X amount hours of hard work effectively 'ruined' in such a short space of time. at least its only dust though, and not bird crap! :biglaugh:

[jonbaker]

yeah, there has been loads of rape seed pollen floating around.

washed the forecourt yesterday. 30mins later, every car was covered! :aargh4:

it is a little disheartening to see your last X amount hours of hard work effectively 'ruined' in such a short space of time. at least its only dust though, and not bird crap! :biglaugh:

Nope, got some of that bird crap too :mad: and cat paw prints:mad:

[tootricky]

Nope, got some of that bird crap too :mad: and cat paw prints:mad:
Washed and polished mine on Sunday - didn't have time to do a full job :o It looked good but highlighted the need to do a proper job on it.

I had a bird <droppings> on it before I had the chance to buff the polish off :mad:

One thing I noticed that really annoyed me was bugs on the windscreen. I'd only gone a couple of miles and it was covered. I guess it is the one thing you can't fail to notice whilst driving. Can anyone recommend a glass/screen cleaner that can be used between washes?

Cheers

Nic

[jonbaker]

Washed and polished mine on Sunday - didn't have time to do a full job :o It looked good but highlighted the need to do a proper job on it.

I had a bird <droppings> on it before I had the chance to buff the polish off :mad:

One thing I noticed that really annoyed me was bugs on the windscreen. I'd only gone a couple of miles and it was covered. I guess it is the one thing you can't fail to notice whilst driving. Can anyone recommend a glass/screen cleaner that can be used between washes?

Cheers

Nic

Merr do a windscreen/glass cleaner, i used it on mine but then when i was putting all my products away it has dissapeared into thin air!! i think i may have left it out in the street and some low life has nicked it!

Also, for bugs, use holts bug & tar remover tissues. Very handy to have in the gloveblox;) can be used on paint and glass

[tootricky]

Merr do a windscreen/glass cleaner, i used it on mine but then when i was putting all my products away it has dissapeared into thin air!! i think i may have left it out in the street and some low life has nicked it!

Also, for bugs, use holts bug & tar remover tissues. Very handy to have in the gloveblox;) can be used on paint and glass
I used the Mer stuff, my dad had picked up a range of Mer stuff from the local market for a good price - in fact, all the prodcuts I used were his :D - but the Holt's stuff sounds like a good option :)

Cheers/Nic

[sdk778]

Remember, there are so many different stages during a detailing job, the most important is the cup of tea and fag stage.
This way you can always stand back and give it a couple of coats of looking at, see where you need to go over again and also enjoy what you have done, it doesn't have to be a tedious chore.
You can always stop for a bit of afternoon delight too.
:biglaugh:

It's always worth it, no matter what you do or what you use you are always going to get the dirt and grime off and improve the look of your pride and joy.

Come on, get em cleaned up. The sun is out, time to shiiiiine!!!!!

[Dangerousmouse]

Washed and polished mine on Sunday - didn't have time to do a full job :o It looked good but highlighted the need to do a proper job on it.

I had a bird <droppings> on it before I had the chance to buff the polish off :mad:

One thing I noticed that really annoyed me was bugs on the windscreen. I'd only gone a couple of miles and it was covered. I guess it is the one thing you can't fail to notice whilst driving. Can anyone recommend a glass/screen cleaner that can be used between washes?

Cheers

Nic

have you tried a 'bug sponge' they are small sponges, with a mesh like fabric wrapped around the sponge. somehow, a bit technical/science(y) it lifts the bug splat off the window with very little effort.

[tootricky]

have you tried a 'bug sponge' they are small sponges, with a mesh like fabric wrapped around the sponge. somehow, a bit technical/science(y) it lifts the bug splat off the window with very little effort.
I will have a look in to that. I just think it would be nice to be able to clean the screen regularly, say after a long journey or every couple of days, without needing to do the whole car :)