Motors Post your favourite detailing products, techniques and results

Just finished a 6 hour clay + synthetic seal on my Mini, for a 10 year old car it didn't turn out too badly at all! Pics to follow!

 

Today's detailing is brought to by a big 'orrible file & some medium grit wet & dry;

filthy, corroded and pitted;



Clean, semi shine semi matt finish.
No need to break the polishing mops and compounds out as it's a lower engine mount that'll never see the light of day again, but I couldn't put it back as it was.

 

can i ask why the hell have you sanded and cleaned and engine mount?

 

It was mucky.
I don't clean my car more than twice a year, but give me a piece of tarnished, pitted, corroded metal and it'll get sorted no matter where it goes.

As a practical answer, fitting the bushing into it is a sod of a job and I didn't want to drag any of the crap into the fitting which may lead to early breakdown of the polyurethane.

 

Mister_Tad: Pay someone - It's their problem then! And they'll have the skills to remove it without cacking on your paint work.

I've been having a bit of a car cleaning trip lately, disguising some shitheads attempt at scratching my mates new (To him) 3 Series coupe. Got most of them disguised, but a couple are too deep for my skills and his back, soo. Off to a professional for that sadly.

However, I do now have a stock of Autoglym products that've (so far) kicked the pants off anything else I've used for the same job.



AG Shampoo, AG polish, poorboys black hole, AG-HD wax. About two hours all by hand, and aside from the stone chips (Which are WAY too everywhere..), I can shave using my car as a mirror. I'm happy with it!

 

So I gave my TTS a clean on Sunday and sealed her ready for this summer's trips. Here's what I ended up with:









The paintwork is far from perfect - the passenger door and rear quarter on the driver need wet sanding to get rid of some strange effects in the lacquer, and there are still a few swirls and scratches that will only come out with a DA polisher. I also need to get both doors reseated as the panel gaps aren't quite right. I don't have the space or access to electricity to do much more than I have on my own, but it's getting there.

 

Not nearly as good as Tim's fine work, but for a 10 year old car which hasn't been loved much I think it's looking alright...

 

What's the best way to restore faded black plastics and chromed metal and plastic finishes? Trim on my Beemer in desperate need of attention and I want to neaten up my bike a bit.

 

There's a product by some company whose name escapes me at the moment named simply 'Trim' but failing my recollection of that, GTechniq C4 is brilliant. I use it on the Clio's large amount of very high maintenance plastic and rubber exterior trim. Other than being a tad expensive for what you get (a tiny bottle of product which isn't enough to do the whole car) it's pretty much the best thing for both restoration of faded trim and UV protection. For chromed metal there's AutoSol, Autoglym or Mags metal polish. You need to be gentle on the Chrome though, as too much polishing can wear the coating thin or remove it completely if you're too vigorous.

 

GTechniq C4 is brilliant. For a quick fix you can also use Aerospace 303 Protectant. Spray and and forget.

 

New least favourite product: Bilt Hamber Surfex HD.

Used this as a snow foam on the basis of numerous glowing reviews and it left an awful residue all over the car that didn't come out with three subsequent washes. To add insult to injury, some managed to get on to the garage floor and I didn't notice for a couple days - bubbled the paint right up, heavy duty garage floor paint/sealant. I'm just glad it didn't do the same to the car - I was initially concerned that the residue was in fact clouding/damage to the paintwork, but fortunately not so.

Eventually bit the bullet and clayed (which got some of the residue off) followed by AG HD Cleanser (which made easy work of the rest) and AG HD Wax - not sure it's ever been quite this shiny.

Have the remainder of a 5L bottle now if anyone fancies their luck. Might give it a go as a patio cleaner.

AG HD Cleanser is my saviour and my new favourite detailing product.

If you mean the "shadow line" glossy black trim then I've used AutoGlym HD Cleanser followed by Super Resin Polish to great effect. For the chromed bits just one pass of the HD Cleanser gets it looking like new.

 

What dilution ratio did you use? I would report it to them in case it's a faulty batch. BH Surfex has always received rave reviews on Detailing World!

 

I can't recall precisely, but it was in line with what others had recommended on detailing world. The instructions on the jug itself don't specify ratios for foam. I've fired off a mail to BH, will see what they say.

I popped in the car today and realised I had done my usual trick of totally neglecting the sills, which stood out like a sore thumb against the rest of the immaculately clean car, so I took some time today to finish that off and give the interior the full treatment whilst I was at it.













Products used:
AutoGlym pressure wash shampoo
AutoGlym active insect remover
Meguiars water magnet drying towels
AutoGlym surface detailing clay
AutoGlym rapid detailer
AutoGylm High definition cleanser
AutoGlym High Definition Wax
A whole bunch of AG high tech finishing cloths

Apparently I have a lot of AG stuff.

Its dirty sister is getting the full works in the next couple weeks as well I'm so chuffed, it's definitely long overdue on that one though - it's far dirtier than it looks from what you can tell in the first photo, loads of road tar embedded in the paintwork along the flanks and some pretty heavy swirling from the times I foolishly let someone else wash it.

Still, can't be any worse than this one that was at a BMW event yesterday...

 

7 Series is looking good now! Like brand new

1) That child is on a leash!
2) WHY would you do that to any car?!

I know what you mean about long overdue detailing and tar contamination though, there has been active roadworks on a couple of my regularly driven routes recently and they, along with a lack of time on my part, have done a number on my wheels (still steelies at the moment, thankfully), arches, paintwork and flanks. I took the liners out of one wheel arch a few days ago (to get the bumper off and change a headlight bulb ) and cleaned one set of them whilst they were off. The rest will be getting done once my Polished Bliss order arrives next week. It's been delayed until Wednesday because DPD are still a bunch of useless monkeys.





Meguiars APC, Auto Finesse Oblitarate and Aerospace 303 protectant, which was all I had to hand at the time. I've ordered Carpro DLUX Silane sealant to treat all the plastic trim, including wheel arches and engine bay, to prepare it for the winter.

 

1) Correct. She is faster than a speeding bullet when she sees something shiny, and there were lots and lots of shiny things there.
2) It was "only" a 335d. What got me is that directly across from it was a white M4 Convertible, seemed a dangerous move.



I wouldn't have thought that was even the same part in your pics, cracking job.

 

my car needs some serious TLC to bring its paintjob back to life, its previous owners were less then careful with it and thre are a load of surface scratches around the door handles and theres even a dullspot on the bonnet where someone has done a poor buff on it.

short of paying £lol for it I lack the knowledge to do a full blown restoration job on it. there seems to be a lot of random guides out there but i cant seem to find anything definitive.

:/

 

You're right, there are lots of guides out there and nothing definitive. That's not really because nobody can write anything definitive though, more because each vehicle and each correction is different. I would advise reading and watching the widest range of tutorials possible and stringing together your own technique for your particular car from the combined knowledge you glean, which is pretty much what I did and am still doing.



I bought some new Meguiars Microfiber dual action pads recently and corrected the tail light lenses on my van using them on my Meguiars G220 V2 Dual Action polisher, with Meguiars PlastX as the cutting compound/polish. Very happy with the result, all but the few deepest scratches are now gone and both lenses look as much like new as anyone will ever notice. When it's parked in the garage next week I'm going to remove the headlights and give them the same treatment.



Here are some 50/50 shots achieved by taping off an area and polishing over the tape line. The "before" area was caused by three years of fleet vehicle washing, probably a road side hand car wash once every couple of weeks on average.





Canon 60D f/4 1/13 ISO100 @ 21mm





Canon 60D f/5 1/13 ISO100 @ 43mm





Canon 60D f/5.6 1/13 ISO100 @ 55mm



Delighted with the results, and have protected my work with a coat of CarPro DLUX* silane plastic sealant which is now setting on the tail light lenses. Total time to remove and correct each lens then apply the DLUX coating was less than 30 minutes! Well worth an hour of work to have lights which look brand new!



Lots more updates on the van to come!



*Caveat of using DLUX is that it requires 24 hours dry in a stable temperature to cure properly and produce maximum longevity and protection.



Photography setup: Shot in my garage on Canon 60D with Velbon DV7000 tripod under four recently installed 5' T8 fluorescent fittings.

 

Do this count ?

 

Thought I would bump this thread up.

Bought a Nanolex Glass Sealant Set to clean my cars windows and give more visibility out of the windows. As car is a coupe version and has no rear window wiper I wanted a glass sealant that would be exceptionally hydrophobic.

Unicorn - you said the Gtechniq sealant doesn't last on the front window screen. I have spoken to several people on this and they have confirmed that the Gtechniq nano-sealant is susceptible to harsh window wash liquids and can be broken down. The Nanolex sealant is the only one that is silicone based and is unaffected.

P.s. i'll post a review on the sealant over the bank holiday as long as we get a dry day.

 

Have you applied the Nanolex yet? I placed a Polished Bliss order at the weekend and forgot to add a bottle of Nanolex to it! :/ I'll have to wait until my next splurge to get some now, it's not really worth paying postage on one bottle of product.