Motors Post your favourite detailing products, techniques and results

Nope, it's the other way around for me, usually people asking for advice rather than trying to give it

+1 for AutoBrite Direct. I've got their snow foam, Meguiars Hyper Wash and Auto Finesse Avalanche, and have found that AB's is by far the best in both the quality of foam it produces and value for money.

 

Hello car heads!

So, I have a shiny brand new car arriving in a week or so, and I want to know how to take care of it properly. As such, is there an idiot's guide to keeping it sparkling, and a list of the items needed to do so?

 

The quickest advice I can give you without typing a wall of text is to watch every episode of 'Drive Clean' and every video on the AMMO NYC channel on YouTube, and read the 'guides' section on Detailing World. There's a silly amount of useful info in all three of those locations

The one piece of advice I will give you is this: skip the waxes and polishes and once you have it completely clean and decontaminated (they're not clean the day you pick them up from the dealer, no matter how it may look at first glance, remember that) put a synthetic sealant on it. I am a synthetic convert. I should have done it 2 years ago but I was naive and uneducated.

By the way what're you getting?

 

I'm digging sonax products recently.

 

Very nice Keir! Someone's been making excellent use of the sunshine! Shamefully I haven't I need to get a weekend of decent weather in about 2 weeks time. I have no free time before then to do anything other than keep it washed

 

I finally finished my winter prep this weekend - it's taken a couple of weeks...

 

Winter prep for me will be happening in 2-3 weekends time all being well. I'll have to lock myself in the garage and turn my phone off to get it done but I am determined to get it fully sealed up before the really cold and wet weather sets in.

Keeping the interior clean in the winter is a massive PITA too

 

That reminds me, i need to invest in a sealant. Was going to give the Auto Finesse Tough Coat a run to see how it works. If there are any other suggestions, my ears are open. I'll post some pics later on some polishing.

 

I absolutely love Wolf's Nano at the moment. I have never seen anything repel water and dirt like it. If only I had the whole car done and not just a couple of panels

 

Thanks! I'll try and find time to plough through as much as I can. What would a synthetic sealant do?

The car is a red Fiat 500.

 

Just sealed mine for winter started 9 this morning just finished.

 

Not bad.

I started 3 weekends ago

1st weekend: Pre-wash, two washes, clay, 3 levels of compound, polish, glaze, seal
2nd weekend: Pre-wash, wash, interior detail (leather shampooed twice, carpets shampooed, trim treated)
3rd weekend: Pre-wash, two washes, engine bay wash, remove all trim and treat, glaze, wax, wax

All the compounding/polishing was done by hand.

 

What colour is your car? I went with Poorboys White Diamond Glaze and Poorboys EX-P sealant...supposed to be pretty good on white cars and I'm impressed with the results.

 

Synthetic sealants are the modern LSP of choice, they are made up of compounds and chemicals which bond to the paintwork and give it a layer of protection against foreign contaminants such as dirt and fallout, and also gives the same water beading (hydrophobic) effect of a carnauba wax. As I said above, I'm using Wolf's Chemicals Nano Hard Body at the moment and the couple of panels which I have coated with it - not the best way to do it but I was just testing - are extremely easy to clean compared to the rest of the untreated car.

White as well!

It looks black/navy/dark green underneath

 

Its a gunmetal grey colour. Apart from the usual stone chips from 40k miles the paintworks great. Will be machine polishing the roof and rear of the car this weekend, there's a few marks where some cats wanted a bed for the night. I'll take some pictures of the car finished if the weather holds out. It's like having a new car again.

 

Seldom right and wrong again

 

Have some Sonax NPT to do my winter detail this weekend. It get's good reviews, i'll be giving my car a once over this weekend and trying it out.

 

I really need to get the poorboys black hole on the RS, but this weekend I'll have perhaps four hours.. Not really long enough to do it properly!

 

roof was machine polished Saturday and most of the cat scratches came out. I don't want to attack the roof any further without knowing how much clearcoat i have left. I think next years main purchases will be a sun gun and paint depth gauge.

Car now sealed with Sonax NPT will give it a wash sometime this week before going over it with DoDo Juice Blue Velvet.

The lotus effect with the Sonax NPT is absolutely immense. It's unusual to work with too.

Cars paintwork is better now then when I bought it. Had to laugh when I parked my car next to a new Jaguar today and the difference between the paintwork was immense. Unfortunately I find it hard now to walk through a car park without looking for swirl marks on the cars as I walk past.

 

This 1000%