Ok so hopefully I'll provide some good information in here to try and get people into good habits when cleaning/detailing cars. First off I'm not going to say you all need to go and buy thousands of quids worth of kit and products, yes good kit and products help but you don't need them to get a decent shine as I'll prove with a pic or two at some point in the posting. Secondly I will go into some detail as to how to use good kit as a side note, things like machine polishers etc but the main body will focus on why things happen and how to prevent, reduce or remedy problems. I'll also try to be concise and not ramble on and keep things in the right order etc, however I am prone to mistakes so please do correct or add information I forget or just plain may not know.
I'll also ask Stan really nicely if I can copy over his detailing guides at some stage as another resource. For now I'll just get my info across and get you guys a good well protected paint finish without breaking the bank which will make cleaning in future much easier too!
Congratulations to vtecmec for winning May/June's Lude Of The Month, with his DIY Turbo BB1 build.
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Detailing Guide (I hope)
Ok so firstly we need to look at the paint and condition it's in, if you've got a milano pink lude then sorry it'll always be pink until a respray can be done, it can be improved but not back to red. For most of us the paint may have faded but it'll be even with in tact laquer, obviously if your clear coat is peeling it needs a respray. We'll assume decent enough paint although it may be marred or have slight scratches (deep scratches will need painting) or swirls it will come up nicely and look good once more.
Secondly we need to look at what is stuck to the paint, bugs, tar, tree sap, bird lime etc etc, it's all corrosive to paint so removing it ASAP is preferable but we're busy hard working chaps and chapetts so it may be some time before being removed. All of the above contaminents can be removed and assuming they've not eaten too deeply into the clear coat the marks can be reduced or removed.
Paintwork checked over and assuming there are no real issues like deep scratches going through the clear coat or sections peeling off or heavily damaged clear coat etc we can safely say it's ok to clean, polish and protect.
Starting with the cleaning, most of us don't have a foam lance and if you do have a pressure washer they are worth it as an extra, don't worry if you don't. Do not use the pressure washer to clean the car, it's too abrasive and basically blasts the dirt and crud into and over the paintwork which will cause fine scratches called swirls, the same is true of using a sponge, it traps the dirt between itself and the paint causing those fine swirls you can see in sunlight. If you have swirls we'll look at cleaning them up later.
Now for not much money you can buy a cheap wash mit or even a special "sponge" that will be nicer to paint while removing the dirt and keeping it away from the paint. I use some cheap £1 a go wash mits that have a nice fluffy deep pile and have a microfibre "noodle" sponge which is covered in microfibre "noodles" that again keep dirt away from the paint. Not expensive and will work, of course if you have a spare few quid the lambswool mits and other high end items work very well and will be a bit better but you do not need them.
Secondly the car wash you use is important, personally I wouldn't recommend the Autoglym stuff, just doesn't do it for me. Meguiars NXT or Gold Class will do nicely and easy to get from halfords and most other outlets, if you're wanting something else there are loads available from Dodo Juice, Chemical Guys, Poorboys and the like, most of the decent brands mentioned are all the same kind of stuff and work well, stay away from wash and wax type cleaners or washing up liquid and cheap nasty brands.
Third and finally we have process and technique, by far and away the most important part of cleaning your motor and the part that can either go well or make more swirls. Make sure your bucket is clean, might sound like a no brainer but a quick hose blast will remove anything that might get onto your wash mit. Don't add too little of the wash product, a little more is better than not enough, some people have grit guards in the bucket, good but agitating the wash mit surface with your free hand in the bucket will remove most of the crud from the mit. Try to keep the car cool and in the shade or start early although I've never had any real issues with it, have a large microfibre drying towel too, makes drying the car easy and don't use a squeegee/aqua blade as they can also add swirl scratches. Cleaning from the top down and the wheels last use circular motions with the mit (I find this works best) and don't leave it too long before cleaning the mit in your soapy water or too much dirt will build up. Some will like the two bucket method, cleaning off your mit in clean water so little to no dirt gets into the wash mix, again you don't need to do this but it is a better way of doing it if you can, I don't yet.
I think that covers it for the cleaning stage really, just make sure to rinse the car well and dry well too, the microfibre cloths are cheap and reduce scratching if anything is left on the paint. You'll now have nice relatively clean paint, good enough to polish at least. Polishing will be my next post and will include info on paint cleansers and clay but just polish will do fine too as that is what I usually do.
Chris
Secondly we need to look at what is stuck to the paint, bugs, tar, tree sap, bird lime etc etc, it's all corrosive to paint so removing it ASAP is preferable but we're busy hard working chaps and chapetts so it may be some time before being removed. All of the above contaminents can be removed and assuming they've not eaten too deeply into the clear coat the marks can be reduced or removed.
Paintwork checked over and assuming there are no real issues like deep scratches going through the clear coat or sections peeling off or heavily damaged clear coat etc we can safely say it's ok to clean, polish and protect.
Starting with the cleaning, most of us don't have a foam lance and if you do have a pressure washer they are worth it as an extra, don't worry if you don't. Do not use the pressure washer to clean the car, it's too abrasive and basically blasts the dirt and crud into and over the paintwork which will cause fine scratches called swirls, the same is true of using a sponge, it traps the dirt between itself and the paint causing those fine swirls you can see in sunlight. If you have swirls we'll look at cleaning them up later.
Now for not much money you can buy a cheap wash mit or even a special "sponge" that will be nicer to paint while removing the dirt and keeping it away from the paint. I use some cheap £1 a go wash mits that have a nice fluffy deep pile and have a microfibre "noodle" sponge which is covered in microfibre "noodles" that again keep dirt away from the paint. Not expensive and will work, of course if you have a spare few quid the lambswool mits and other high end items work very well and will be a bit better but you do not need them.
Secondly the car wash you use is important, personally I wouldn't recommend the Autoglym stuff, just doesn't do it for me. Meguiars NXT or Gold Class will do nicely and easy to get from halfords and most other outlets, if you're wanting something else there are loads available from Dodo Juice, Chemical Guys, Poorboys and the like, most of the decent brands mentioned are all the same kind of stuff and work well, stay away from wash and wax type cleaners or washing up liquid and cheap nasty brands.
Third and finally we have process and technique, by far and away the most important part of cleaning your motor and the part that can either go well or make more swirls. Make sure your bucket is clean, might sound like a no brainer but a quick hose blast will remove anything that might get onto your wash mit. Don't add too little of the wash product, a little more is better than not enough, some people have grit guards in the bucket, good but agitating the wash mit surface with your free hand in the bucket will remove most of the crud from the mit. Try to keep the car cool and in the shade or start early although I've never had any real issues with it, have a large microfibre drying towel too, makes drying the car easy and don't use a squeegee/aqua blade as they can also add swirl scratches. Cleaning from the top down and the wheels last use circular motions with the mit (I find this works best) and don't leave it too long before cleaning the mit in your soapy water or too much dirt will build up. Some will like the two bucket method, cleaning off your mit in clean water so little to no dirt gets into the wash mix, again you don't need to do this but it is a better way of doing it if you can, I don't yet.
I think that covers it for the cleaning stage really, just make sure to rinse the car well and dry well too, the microfibre cloths are cheap and reduce scratching if anything is left on the paint. You'll now have nice relatively clean paint, good enough to polish at least. Polishing will be my next post and will include info on paint cleansers and clay but just polish will do fine too as that is what I usually do.
Chris
Ok so I've been lazy/busy/ill and am finally back to being kind of active on the net, so now seems like a good time to get some more done here. So second stage, here we can differ a bit, some people use clays/cleansers etc and they all do the same basic thing, anything engrained in the paint will stick and not get washed off, like road tar for example.
Clay
Comes in different types from coarse to fine and they are all pretty much the same, just remember the coarse one can marr paint work. The technique is the same for all is the same, use some purpose made lube, quick detailer or some fresh water with a dcent amount of your wash soap in it to act as lubricant. Keep the clay and the surface wet, the lubricant will not stop the clay working, it's also a good idea to split the clay in two and knead the half you're using before flattening it out ready to use. Once the clay goes a bit grey fold it in half and flatten it out, once it's all grey bin it! It's best to have a clay storage pot too, keeps it moist, anything that seals will do and you get one for free in the Meguiars Smooth Surface clay kit.
Use a circular motion and the paint should feel smooth like glass when it's clean, always use circularr motions, they work best.
Cleanser
Much like a polish, can be applied by hand or machine and it acts like the clay bar, lifting contaminants but unlike clay it will break down tree sap and tar, well some claim to. Simple enough to do though, just think wax on, wax off and use a decent micrfibre to remove and a nice clean lint free cotton cloth to apply.
Ok so assuming the paint is clean (even if it's not my polish of choice tends to remove bonded contaminents) we are ready to polish, now polish isn't always polish, confused? I'll explain
Polish
So there are two types of polish, real polish is slightly abrasive like G3 compound and will remove light swirls, the other kind is not abrasive or limited like AG super resin polish. Most polishes have some kind of filler in them, AG SRP has a lot of fillers in, this means it fills swirls instead of removing them but I have always found it works well. The same lint free cotton cloth to apply and MF to remove, always new clean cloths for each stage!!!!!!! Circular motions again
wax on wax off style.
My next installment will cover some mild paint correction and the next possible step, glaze hopefully will be quicker at posting up the next installment too hehe
Clay
Comes in different types from coarse to fine and they are all pretty much the same, just remember the coarse one can marr paint work. The technique is the same for all is the same, use some purpose made lube, quick detailer or some fresh water with a dcent amount of your wash soap in it to act as lubricant. Keep the clay and the surface wet, the lubricant will not stop the clay working, it's also a good idea to split the clay in two and knead the half you're using before flattening it out ready to use. Once the clay goes a bit grey fold it in half and flatten it out, once it's all grey bin it! It's best to have a clay storage pot too, keeps it moist, anything that seals will do and you get one for free in the Meguiars Smooth Surface clay kit.
Use a circular motion and the paint should feel smooth like glass when it's clean, always use circularr motions, they work best.
Cleanser
Much like a polish, can be applied by hand or machine and it acts like the clay bar, lifting contaminants but unlike clay it will break down tree sap and tar, well some claim to. Simple enough to do though, just think wax on, wax off and use a decent micrfibre to remove and a nice clean lint free cotton cloth to apply.
Ok so assuming the paint is clean (even if it's not my polish of choice tends to remove bonded contaminents) we are ready to polish, now polish isn't always polish, confused? I'll explain
Polish
So there are two types of polish, real polish is slightly abrasive like G3 compound and will remove light swirls, the other kind is not abrasive or limited like AG super resin polish. Most polishes have some kind of filler in them, AG SRP has a lot of fillers in, this means it fills swirls instead of removing them but I have always found it works well. The same lint free cotton cloth to apply and MF to remove, always new clean cloths for each stage!!!!!!! Circular motions again
wax on wax off style.My next installment will cover some mild paint correction and the next possible step, glaze
hopefully will be quicker at posting up the next installment too heheSo on to the next stage, if you need to correct some scuffs you can do a lot at home. Most people don't recomment T-Cut but I know plenty of people who use it and get good results. Personally I prefer Scratch-X from Megs or a polishing compound a bit like G3, not massively abrasive and easy to use and get good results. Firstly we need to look at the damage to be repaired, if you have a scratch through the clear coat it's ok, can be repaired, if it's all the way through the clear and a little into the paint it's more complex and new clear will need to be applied and worked back etc. However, if it's through the paint it's best to get a pro to touch it in, thats not to say you can't have a go yourself and add paint and clear coat before polishing smooth but it's hard to do.
Before we continue, with polish and scratch repair compounds you need to know if it's designed to be applied by hand or machine, if it's a machine compound you can work it in by hand but it'll be a lot harder to do and take a long time to break down to smaller particles for a finer polish. Hand products break down quickly from coarse to fine particles, this gives a fairly quick gloss but may not take out deeper scratches in one go. Machine polishing gives the best results and most recommend the Zenith method (eg, 3 passes on 300rpm, 3 passes on 600rpm, 3 passes on 900rpm, 3 passes on 600rpm, 3 passes on 300rpm) speeds can vary by machine and size of buffer (remember at 300rpm the outer edge of a 6" pad will be moving a lot slower than the outer edge of a 12" pad ) it's a fairly safe method to use but if you're trying it our for the first time ot are a little unsure use a test panel to work on your technique, you can also scratch the panel and try out various removal methods.
As with most of the products here follow the instructions on your scratch remover, most hand based ones are the same as polishes etc, use a clean lint free cloth or applicator pad to put it on and work it in followed by a clean soft microfibre cloth to remove the residue and buff, still nice circular motions, frequently turn the cloths to clean sides too. If you ever drop a MF cloth, don't use it, get another clean one, they're cheap enough so buy a stack
Glaze comes in many forms and adds a deeper shine to your paintwork, this works particularly well with darker colours. AG Extra Gloss Protection is realistically a glaze as it adds shine but does not protect like a wax, there are specific glazes out threre from Meguiars, Poorboys, Chemical Guys, Dodo Juice, Zaino an others. There are no hard and fast rules for any detailing product so try a few out, a lot of places do small trial size bottles so grab a few and see what works best for you and your technique. The glaze is more like wax in it's application, it does not clean the paint! Glaze will only add shine and some extra protection to a freshly polished surface, for long lasting protection always use a wax after the polish or glaze depending on what you're doing, glaze is not something you have to do to get a good shine but it all helps and multi layer protection is a better option to keep that nasty road crud at bay. Again it's the lint free cloth or applicator and mf cloth to buff, clean ones as always and circular motions as always but with glaze and wax you need to let them dry to a haze before buffing, polish dries a bit but if you let it over dry it powders and is hard to remove, this can happen with glaze and wax but takes much longer to happen.
I'll post a couple of pics next and explain what I use to get the result, after that my last section will be about waxes and quick detailer. There are a few gaps in this guide but the main info is there and you guys can ask any questions you like too, even now I can think of one more section for plastic/rubber care and glass cleaning and protection. Hopefully some of you may find this information useful and if you're confused just ask, I'm sure there are other detailers on here too
Before we continue, with polish and scratch repair compounds you need to know if it's designed to be applied by hand or machine, if it's a machine compound you can work it in by hand but it'll be a lot harder to do and take a long time to break down to smaller particles for a finer polish. Hand products break down quickly from coarse to fine particles, this gives a fairly quick gloss but may not take out deeper scratches in one go. Machine polishing gives the best results and most recommend the Zenith method (eg, 3 passes on 300rpm, 3 passes on 600rpm, 3 passes on 900rpm, 3 passes on 600rpm, 3 passes on 300rpm) speeds can vary by machine and size of buffer (remember at 300rpm the outer edge of a 6" pad will be moving a lot slower than the outer edge of a 12" pad
) it's a fairly safe method to use but if you're trying it our for the first time ot are a little unsure use a test panel to work on your technique, you can also scratch the panel and try out various removal methods.As with most of the products here follow the instructions on your scratch remover, most hand based ones are the same as polishes etc, use a clean lint free cloth or applicator pad to put it on and work it in followed by a clean soft microfibre cloth to remove the residue and buff, still nice circular motions, frequently turn the cloths to clean sides too. If you ever drop a MF cloth, don't use it, get another clean one, they're cheap enough so buy a stack
Glaze comes in many forms and adds a deeper shine to your paintwork, this works particularly well with darker colours. AG Extra Gloss Protection is realistically a glaze as it adds shine but does not protect like a wax, there are specific glazes out threre from Meguiars, Poorboys, Chemical Guys, Dodo Juice, Zaino an others. There are no hard and fast rules for any detailing product so try a few out, a lot of places do small trial size bottles so grab a few and see what works best for you and your technique. The glaze is more like wax in it's application, it does not clean the paint! Glaze will only add shine and some extra protection to a freshly polished surface, for long lasting protection always use a wax after the polish or glaze depending on what you're doing, glaze is not something you have to do to get a good shine but it all helps and multi layer protection is a better option to keep that nasty road crud at bay. Again it's the lint free cloth or applicator and mf cloth to buff, clean ones as always and circular motions as always but with glaze and wax you need to let them dry to a haze before buffing, polish dries a bit but if you let it over dry it powders and is hard to remove, this can happen with glaze and wax but takes much longer to happen.
I'll post a couple of pics next and explain what I use to get the result, after that my last section will be about waxes and quick detailer. There are a few gaps in this guide but the main info is there and you guys can ask any questions you like too, even now I can think of one more section for plastic/rubber care and glass cleaning and protection. Hopefully some of you may find this information useful and if you're confused just ask, I'm sure there are other detailers on here too
Silver Stagea Bonnet and Glass
Silver Stagea Bonnet Reflection
White Stagea Reflection Close Up
White Stagea Full Front
Deep Dark Shiny Lude
Reflection Shot in the Lude
My Collection
All of the above shine was created by hand using Meguiars and Auto Glym products mostly with the exception of the wax which is Collinite 915. It's a lot of hard work by hand but put in the time and you can get results like this too, I'm no super expert or anything, just a guy who likes a shiny car and knows a bit about the black art of detailing. With this guide and a little experimenting you too will have shiny shiny motors
I thought I had a shot of the water beading you get with wax but seems I don't or it's in the PC somewhere, if I can't find one I'll get one done once the weather pics up and I can go clean the car and not freeze
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nitin_s1
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I didn't want to start another thread so I'll ask the newbie questions here. 
My car has a lot of swirl marks etc and I admit that I've never washed it since I got it (I think)
I want to make the car look aesthetically pleasing for South Mimms meet which is this Sunday. I have absolutely no idea what to use or had any experience. I'm a detailing virgin.
Can someone recommend me some polish for my car, something I can buy from Halfords (I don't want to buy from the Internet as it may not come within this meet time) and also if something that comes with some cloths etc would be good. I already have some Meguiars wax, which smells nice (see that's the ony thing I know about detailing lol)
So first I'll wash the car, then polish and wax? I've been told to do it when the weather is cool and not hot.
Thanks for any helps chaps.
My car has a lot of swirl marks etc and I admit that I've never washed it since I got it (I think)
I want to make the car look aesthetically pleasing for South Mimms meet which is this Sunday. I have absolutely no idea what to use or had any experience. I'm a detailing virgin.
Can someone recommend me some polish for my car, something I can buy from Halfords (I don't want to buy from the Internet as it may not come within this meet time) and also if something that comes with some cloths etc would be good. I already have some Meguiars wax, which smells nice
(see that's the ony thing I know about detailing lol) So first I'll wash the car, then polish and wax? I've been told to do it when the weather is cool and not hot.
Thanks for any helps chaps.
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Gayno
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All polish is neutral, doesn't have a colour.
Any "coloured" products you find will be the waxes or sealants.
Normally for wax, you apply and leave it until its dry enough that when you swipe your finger through it leave a completely clean line. Just remeber though, that "less is more" when it comes to polish and wax.
Any "coloured" products you find will be the waxes or sealants.
Normally for wax, you apply and leave it until its dry enough that when you swipe your finger through it leave a completely clean line. Just remeber though, that "less is more" when it comes to polish and wax.
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nitin_s1
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There are some deals on Halfords at the moment, Autoglym with Super Resin polish, I will get that and they come with a cloth so that should be ok.
I'll report back to see if I made the car look any better or not.
I was going to get the clay bar and machine polisher but for someone like me who doesn't know how to use it, it would be a waste of money. If I get good I'll invest in one later on.
my budget is limited when it comes to cleaning. If you see my car right now you would give me a sucker punch.
I'll report back to see if I made the car look any better or not.
I was going to get the clay bar and machine polisher but for someone like me who doesn't know how to use it, it would be a waste of money. If I get good I'll invest in one later on.
my budget is limited when it comes to cleaning. If you see my car right now you would give me a sucker punch.
Last edited by nitin_s1 on Tue Apr 03, 2012 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.