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Motors Post your favourite detailing products, techniques and results

Discussion in 'General' started by Unicorn, 26 May 2010.

  1. Jeevus

    Jeevus Minimodder

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    I decided to get into this so bought some products today from Halfords and had a go for the first time in years. I got the following bits:

    Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo
    Autoglym Super Resin Polish
    Autoglym Fast Glass
    Wonderwheels Super Alloy wheel cleaner
    2 x drying towels
    5 x microfibre cloths
    2 x Meguiars Even Coat polish pads

    It seemed to go quite well when doing it but I didn't realise just how bad the paintwork was on this car. I've only had it a couple of months and am a little disappointed I didn't see all of it. There are quite a few small marks on the bonnet and multiple tiny rust spots. I was in need of a car urgently though as the old one was close to dying and the MOT ran out a couple of days later.
    Regardless of that, I think it went well for my first attempt. I just want to pick up something to protect/seal my alloys now. I've seen the Poorboys Wheel Sealant mentioned here but is it worth it for the basic cleaning that I'm doing?
     
  2. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    There are gift packs on some of the better detailing supplier sites like Polished Bliss and Elite Car Care - have a look at those, but to be honest, you're better off just picking the items yourself and buying them individually. Most of the starter kits seem to include most of the things you need to get your car looking better in a weekend, but never seem to include all of them.

    That's a really good start, but don't be fooled by SRP. It's not true polish, it's just putting fillers in all of the defects on your paint and will wash out in the space of a few weeks if you don't put a couple of coats of wax on top of it because the amount of sealant in the SRP product isn't robust enough to withstand regular washing. True polish corrects paint defects, SRP just fills them in.

    I'm going to have to warn you off PB Wheel Sealant. See my post on Detailing World here for why. I've since followed his advice and ordered some ArmorAll aerosol wheel sealant instead. I don't like how much effort it takes to apply PB even though it seems to be a nice enough product, but I was once again fooled by the misleadingly filtered 5* reviews from amateurs on the CleanYourCar website. Lesson learned. The hard way :rolleyes:

    You never fully comprehend how bad paintwork which hasn't been cared for by an avid detailer actually is until you get up close and personal with it. Even my own paint has suffered a lot of scores, scuffs and very fine swirls since the start of last winter. If you want to do something about it, you'll have to decide how much time and money you want to invest in it. I've invested a lot of money and over a week of holidays to get mine back into shape and keep it that way, but that's me and I'm obsessed with it being perfect. For example, I spent 5 hours today working on one door panel - claying, filling stone chips, wet sanding and 3 stages of polishing.

    I am making progress though, slowly but surely :thumb:

    [​IMG]

    I think I'm going to invest in metal halide lamps to work under. The sweat was literally blinding me under those halogens today!
     
    Last edited: 21 Jul 2013
  3. Jeevus

    Jeevus Minimodder

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    Thanks for the reply Uni. So if I bought some wax to use, should I scrap the SRP or will there still be some use for it? I believe I was quite gentle with the application so I'm not sure it actually did much. Thanks for the advice for the wheel sealant, I did actually look at that in Halfords but was unsure of how good it might be.

    As for time and money, I understand that I can probably do a much better job of protecting the paint if I do it myself (over an automated car wash) which is why I invested in the products. I think most of the faults in the paintwork can only be dealt with professionally so I will look at this in the future but want to protect it as best I can in the mean time.

    Would you be able to recommend a wax for a beginner that isn't too dear? I have seen a lot of love for Collinite and Natty's products.

    Thanks
     
  4. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    I just park my car outside and wait for it to rain. :p


    I know, I don't deserve my shiny red Honda Civic Type S GT. Next car I buy will be an ordinary workhorse.
     
  5. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    Washing a car has caused me great pain today, :D

    Was just finishing washing my aunties car, slipped on the wall because the hose had split and had been spraying a mist everywhere, my shin smashed the edge of the wall then slid and I'm sat here with a big red blood soaked bandage on my shin.

    Damn cheap hosepipes, :D
     
  6. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    The best FAQ I've found on SRP is here. It's not useless, it's actually really effective at hiding paint defects, I'm just saying don't fall into the pitfall that so many beginners do of thinking it's removing swirls from your paint. If you layer it to about 3 applications and wax over the top of it with something hard wearing like Collinite, it'll last a good 6 months with regular (LSP safe) washing.

    Collinite is just about the only wax I'll use on my paint now, although I have only tried three in the past three years. Two coats of Meguiars Gold Plus Carnauba Plus spent all of a month on my car before it stopped beading, so no matter what anyone says, I don't rate the durability of it at all.

    I used to apply two coats of Meguiars NXT Tech wax 2.0 on my 2007 Dynamique S, twice or three times per year, but I wasn't all that into detailing back then, so I hesitate to comment on the effectiveness or durability of it because I haven't used that for more than 3 years now.

    The first coat of Collinite 476s paste wax I put on was enough to tell me that I'd probably never use another wax again. For value, durability, ease of application and removal I don't think it can be beaten. Two coats of Colly will easily last 8+ months as long as you use LSP safe shampoo.

    My shampoo of choice after all these years is still Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo & Conditioner but I also occasionally use Zaino Z-7 Show Car Wash which is a little more expensive for the amount of concentrate you get, but also brilliant.

    How shiny is it though if you do never wash it? Funny story; One of the cleaners in school drives a 2009 MK3 Clio in the same colour as mine but a basic 1.2 petrol model. We worked out that his is about 14 months older than mine and yet, parked in direct sunlight beside mine a few weeks ago, his looked shinier than mine. Upon closer inspection, there are some heavy scores on two or three panels, but importantly, almost no swirl marks at all, not even the light ones like mine has. You know why? Because he never washes it and it hardly gets driven 10 miles per week. He lives within walking distance of both his full time and part time jobs, but drives to them every day. His car is 4 years old and has a grand total of 16500 miles on the clock. Mine has almost four times that, is washed once a week eight months of the year, once a fortnight the other four and I do my best to keep it protected with sealant and wax, and yet his still looks like a newer car.

    One last thing to note, and this is entirely up to you, but I'd stay away from CYC if you value being treated with good CS from online retailers. They have been absolutely dire for my past three orders and made the mistake of denying they'd done anything wrong when I emailed them about their blatant errors, so after three years of ordering from them I've turned my back. There are so many detailing retailers in the UK that we're spoiled for choice, and none of the rest filter their product reviews so every product on the site looks like it has five stars...
     
    Last edited: 21 Jul 2013
  7. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    I was more on about the fact of the salt in it, which on a metal car isn't great. :D

    Sent from my Orange Monte Carlo using Tapatalk 2
     
  8. Jeevus

    Jeevus Minimodder

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    Thanks for another detailed reply Uni (no pun intended). I haven't read too much on detailing yet but I had come across that SRP FAQ already. I might have to sign up to Detailing World to get some more tips and advice.
    As you use Collinite, what product do you use to wash that is LSP safe? Although I want to detail my car myself, I don't plan on doing it as often as every 2 weeks (unless it is required) so the longer the wax lasts the better.
     
  9. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    Both shampoos that I mentioned, Meguiars and Zaino, are LSP safe. At the moment I'm applying two coats of Collinite once every 6 months and this time I'm putting two coats of Wolf's Nano Hard Body on first. I'm driving 400+ miles per week now and I've realised that the past 10 months of high mileage have really taken their toll on the paint, so I'm stepping up the protection a bit with synthetic sealant.
     
  10. Modsbywoz

    Modsbywoz Multimodder

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    Okay, washed the car this weekend, a total of 8 hours.

    Wheels - Turtle Wax Ice ( works a treat )
    Body
    1. Rinse down with jetwash.
    2. 2BM shampoo with Zymol ( i forget the exact name, it's dark blue concentrate )
    3. Dry off with Microfibre cloths.
    4. Clay with Maguires Quick Clay ( oooo, smooth )
    5. 2BM Shampoo with Zymol again + Dry
    6. Polished with AG SRP.
    7. Black sections protected ( carcare stuff )
    8. Tyres ( Maguires Wheel Gel )
    9. Insides cleaned with Carpet Cleaner + Rinsed + Leather Cleaner.
    10. Done.

    Though i wish i had some DoDo Juice Blue Velvet Pro to give an added layer. My biggest gripe is i took the effort of taking a wheel off the car to get at the back of it. Unfortunately there were some black marks that i just couldn't shift. Spent over an hour on it with no luck at all. If anyone has any ideas on these i would be glad of the help.
     
  11. Jeevus

    Jeevus Minimodder

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    @Warren - was it the Turtle Wax Ice that you also used on the inside of the wheels? Although my wheels weren't that bad, I have found the Wonder Wheels Super Alloy wheel cleaner I've got works well. I haven't tried it on the inside yet but it managed to shift some caked on dust from my calipers with a brush over.

    I washed and waxed my car today using the Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo and Conditioner and Collinite 476 recommended by Unicorn. The shampoo lathered up a lot better than the Autoglym I used last time and my right arm is now dead from just one application of the wax. I'm struggling to type this! We shall see over the next few weeks/months just how good it is and if I should have applied a second coat.
     
  12. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    Two coats of Colly is always better than one :thumb: It can be a PITA(rm) at first, especially if you've never done it before, but you do get used to it :)

    That's a great routine, some nice pampering going on there! I know exactly how you feel about having to take wheels off and not get the result you want. If it makes you feel any better, there is nobody who has the wheels off their car more often than I do. I bet there are rally cars in the country which don't get their wheels taken off as often as mine :worried: Anyway, the black stuff you couldn't shift was probably one of two things; caked on brake dust or tar.

    If it's tar, you need some AutoSmart Tardis, Auto Finesse ObliTARate, Concept Tar & Glue Remover or whatever other brand of tar remover you feel like using (I've personally used all three that I listed and they are all brilliant). It's best to stick with solvent based products for wheels, citrus based tar removers are great for paint but I find they're not quite strong enough for the sheer amount of tar often found on wheels and wheel arches.

    Mist it on with a spray bottle, then watch the tar begin to dissolve - you'll notice brownish yellow streaks coming from the spots of tar - then wipe it away with a rag or old microfibre cloth. You might need to use a good bit of elbow grease on large chunks of tar. Do not use a good cloth for this, because whatever you use will be destroyed and will only be good for wiping tar off your wheels in future, so choose wisely.

    If it was baked on brake dust, at worst you'll need to scrape at it with something plastic to loosen it up, at best a spray of CarPro IronX or Auto Finesse Iron Out with good scrubbing action from a wheel brush or the rough side of a sponge household scouring pad should do the trick.

    Another warning here - do not use the rough side of a scouring pad on the outside of your painted or powder coated wheels, anywhere on chromed or polished metal wheels or on the inside of painted wheels with large spoke gaps that allow you to see the inside of the wheel when they're on the car. It will scratch them. It doesn't matter if you lightly scuff the finish on the inside of a painted wheel which isn't visible through the spoke, and if it's a toss up between letting baked on brake dust stay there and lightly scuffing it, I'll take the latter option every day of the week, but be fair warned. IronX and a scouring pad is an effective combination, but you have to be careful with it and never use it on visible areas or polished finishes.

    When I begin to post the progress log from my massive detailing project in a couple of days I'll be starting with the wheels, so you'll see both of these methods being used to remove tar and hard brake dust from my wheels, so you should be able to identify your own contamination fairly easily and arm yourself appropriately for the next time you have your wheels off.
     
    Last edited: 28 Jul 2013
  13. Modsbywoz

    Modsbywoz Multimodder

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    yeah, i have iron x, didn't work. I'll try tar remover next time i get chance. Though i may send them to be refurbed next year as some of them have scuff marks on them. ( was on the car when i bought it )

    Bought some DoDo Juice Blue Velvet and tried it on my bonnet ( didn't get chance for a full clean. ) Will do the rest of the car when i get a chance though it will be interesting to see how long it lasts. Want to try some Collinite (sp?) at some point also, apparently it lasts a little longer. Want to give Zymol Carbon a go at some point as well as i've heard good reviews for it as a mid to high end wax.

    Uni i see you have a Dual Action Polisher. I've thought about picking one up they easy enough to get used to?
     
    Last edited: 28 Jul 2013
  14. Hack'n'Slash

    Hack'n'Slash Minimodder

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    It's quite common with Collinite to apply too much the 1st few times you use it, making it quite difficult to remove, especially in hot weather/full sun. Less is more with this stuff, you really only need to apply the thinnest layer. I apply it (the 915 variety) to 1 panel with a dampened terry applicator (I spray the pad with Meg's Last Touch) then apply it to another panel, back to the 1st panel and buff off (which should be effortless) with a deep pile mf then apply to a 3rd panel, then buff off the 2nd panel, then apply to a 4th panel, etc, etc.

    Ideally you'll want at least 2 coats applied about 24hrs apart, I try to get 3 on and maybe a 4th a couple of weeks later. If you use a carnauba based detail spray as a drying aid after each wash it will top up the Colly & it will easily last from Autumn until Spring.

    P.S. I wouldn't use the Wonder Wheels too often, iirc it's pretty acidic and prone to stripping laquer. It'd be ok for an initial clean to get the wheels really clean but I'd suggest the non-acidic Billberry or Very Chery, et al for regular use.
     
    Last edited: 29 Jul 2013
  15. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    This is almost exactly the same technique I use to apply wax, except that I use a Meguiars yellow foam applicator misted with Meguiars Quik Detail spray. I've been meaning to get a bottle of Last Touch and use it for claying, misting pads etc for a while. I've been working my way through a supply of Quik Detail spray that's almost done now, so I must add Last Touch to my next order.

    Also, trying to wax a car in direct sunlight or on panels that are warm to the touch is like trying to carve wood against the grain. You'll manage it, but it'll be far more effort than it should be and the result won't be as good as it should be.
     
  16. Modsbywoz

    Modsbywoz Multimodder

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    Spent 9 hours on Saturday cleaning my mothers people carrier that's over 15 years old. It's scratched, it has rust almost everywhere ( Vauxhall Sintra 2.2 ) but it's come out okay.

    Interior:
    1. Light wipe down of everything with MF cloth and Zymol shampoo.
    2. Scrubbed at soiled plastics with sponge and scouring pad.
    3. Rinsed with wet MF cloth.
    4. Dampened carpet with Autoglym Interior Shampoo
    5. Damn hard scrub of all carpet and all marks removed (loooks new)
    6. Interor of Windows with AutoGlym Fast Glass.
    7. Seat cleaned with AutoGlym Interior Shampoo ( none left now )

    Exterior

    1. Rinsed down with Jet Wash
    2. Washed Zymol (2BM)
    3. Rinsed + Dried
    4. Clayed ( Maguires) My god it was filthy.
    5. Rinsed and Washed with Zymol again + Dried.
    5. Wheels ( Turtle Wax Ice )
    6. Polish with AG SRP + Buffed.
    7. Waxed with DoDo Blue Velvet + Buffed.
    8. Black trim treated.
    9. Exterior of windows - AG Fast Glass and Glass Polished + Buffed.
    10. RAIN!!!!!
     
  17. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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    I was gifted a nice 6 to 9 inch scratch down the passenger door while in Oxford this weekend. I don't park like a c**t so I was a little annoyed to find it. :grr:

    I've got no pictures at the moment (only spotted this morning when I dropped the car off for its service), but it wasn't there when the car was given a thorough clean on Friday. It should hopefully polish out as it seems to be a surface scratch rather than a key through the lacquer.

    We'll see if the stealer has a go at removing it when they (probably) wash it with their gritty sponge - I asked them not to wash it, but not holding out hope. :(
     
  18. Krikkit

    Krikkit All glory to the hypnotoad! Super Moderator

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    Chances are someone saw a nice car and decided to key it. If it was caked in filth and swirlies they probably wouldn't bother, but because you dare to have something nice you should be punished.
     
  19. Archtronics

    Archtronics Minimodder

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    Bought some Autoglym tar remover, don't rate it at all!
     
  20. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    It makes me see red just hearing about things like this :grr: :(

    You need to join DW and get in on this group buy to dissuade the stealers from going near it with their gritty sponges. I tore the service manager at my stealer a new one when my old car went in for a minor warranty repair a week after being polished and waxed, having "no vehicle wash please" written on the top of the work order and it still came back having been washed, stripping it of all wax and covering it in swirls.


    Neither do I, it's pretty rubbish. See:

     

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