Today I did some detailing...

Cheers for that, Discombobulate. I'll heed your advice.

To be honest, I'm only planning to take them off cos I know they were never really given any love before, and the insides of them are filthy. I know they'll get dirty again rapidly fast, but I'd like to just ultimately reduce the amount of dirt on them, if I can.

I have some Armourall wheel shield. Great product.

Is it worth using if I'm gonna wax the wheels, though (As a final step, post-wax)?

stimpson

Deleted User wrote: »

4) Repeat again with a wheel cleaner (probably not let it sit for so long. Thinking of OAC's Wheel Cleanse or Wonder Wheels Alloy Cleaner).

Wonder Wheels is dilute Hydrochloric acid. They will destroy your wheels - my old man used to swear by it on his Land Criuser. The wheels ended up so pitted he just left the brake dust on them. He had to pick up a set of reconditioned alloys recently.

Newtown90

Finally got to use my DA Polisher this evening!

Changing jobs and have a week off to get the two cars glittering!

Started on my own this evening.

Cleaned the Engine bay which was mank from parking in a limestone car park at work!!

Snowfoamed the car.

Rinsed

Sprayed on Tar Remover that I got off Brian in Spirit Detailing! Was a citrus based one and worked brilliantly!

Rubbed in and washed off.

Washed with Shampoo and dried!

Clay the roof. Rinsed off and dried!

And cranked up the DA

I have a lot of cat clay marks on the roof of the car from the past owner. The polish filled in the paint work lovely leaving it nice and smooth! Used the roof as a test and hopefully I'll get the full car clayed, polished and waxed tomorrow!

Just a stupid question for the experts. When your applying the Wax? Do you use the DA or just do it by hand?

BillJ

I'm no expert but for what it's worth I apply by hand with a foam applicator.

It doesn't take long by hand so no huge advantage to doing it by machine in my eyes.

randy hickey

Believe it or not it's quicker and easier to apply wax by hand.

Cantona's Collars

Eventually got to fully de-tar the car after a trip along a road that had just been tarred & chipped.I have industrial strength tar remover which works wonders,the rep told me it's ok to use on paintwork but I washed it off asap just in case.
I was getting stuck into an impromptu detailing session when the kids interrupted.Anyhow I'm happy enough with having removed enough tar to fill a pothole from my car.

Feckin' wheels!


Before:





After:






The other dirt just would not budge! I used every product under the sun!


I then polished it, waxed it etc. and it looked like this:







Impressive, yeah? This is the back wheel from the same side, too:







Both pretty nice, I'm sure you'd agree... but I didn't touch the back wheel! :mad: and I spent an hour and a half on the front one.. and they're identical!!!

Lesson learned. But I'll still take off the front one on the passenger side and do the back of that anyway. Now that the driver side one is so clean behind the spokes, the passenger front wheel looks filthy.


As an aside, I applied a coating of AG's Instant Tyre Dressing (or Shine.. not sure which it's called). Let it sit for a minute and then wiped off with a microfibre. It gave me similar results to a dose of glitz on the wheel. So I figured maybe it's just my tyres not taking to it too well (as the Glitz did a great job to that VW Golf from last week).


However, I then applied a coat of AG's tyre dressing, again, to each wheel and just let it sit (used a microfibre to wipe it off the alloys). I then got into the car and reversed back a bit to turn the wheels 180 degrees, and reapplied another a coat.

I let it sit (this time i actually read the instructions which says to let it dry off itself) and I went off and had a cup of tea. I came back and the tyres were feckin' brilliant looking. A great, great shine off them (but not a plasticky type of shine, either). Absolutely unreal the difference.

The finish is a bit patchy in some spots as it runs a bit (though doesn't 'sling' when you drive) so you've to apply a decent bit of it, but it's a very impressive finish, I have to say. I haven't any photos (as the camera phone didnt pick it up properly) but I'll get some tomorrow with the DSLR (or in the bright daylight with the phone, as it was getting dark when i had it on properly).

I probably over-applied it, but still - night and day difference. My new favourite product.


I also used the AG leather cleaner and care balm products on my front seats, and it could be placebo, but they actually feel a bit softer under my gigantic ass, and they look a lot better too. Lovely, crisp, matte finish. Look really expensive.

AutoGlym have yet to fail me (I think). Loving them at the moment.

bazery

impressive work kkv, i'd love to see more pics of the paintwork after your machine polishing, but up close!
I envy the amount of time you get to work on your car!

Chimaera

The Autoglym leather care products are quite good - I've used them on the leather sofas inside and been pleased with the results.

discombobulate

Wheels look great KKV. Need to do the same myself and remove them one of these days.

Did a bit of work on the car last weekend. Had some Muc-off products I got an an Amazon special so gave them a go along with other bits I had.

Washed the wheels with Muc-off Frequent Wheel Wash, Autoglym Tar remover and Iron Cleanse. Put Chemical Guys New Look trim gel on the tyres which I find looks and lasts well.

May end up getting a refurb done if I decide to keep the car for a good while as there have always been a few kerbing marks that have annoyed me.



I'd been away from where all my cleaning products were since the Saharan sand so car was caked in the stuff. On my last wash I had clayed, polished with SRP and sealed with EGP. Gave the car a good powerhosing first and then washed down with Muc-Off Ubershine Shampoo.

Went over the black trim with Chemical Guys New Look trim gel and then applied a layer of Muc-Off Uber Wax as I didn't have time the last day. Easy to apply the product but buffing was tough enough likely due to the car being outside and the panels getting some sunlight on them.

Overall was very impressed with the results from it though. Only took a couple of pictures from distance. Should have taken more as they don't do it complete justice. Looked better in the sun too. Haven't had any water on the car since to see how it beads.





Interior this week hopefully which doesn't need too much work.

Curran

Nice motor - great work; she looks very well indeed!

bazery

bazery wrote: »

impressive work kkv, i'd love to see more pics of the paintwork after your machine polishing, but up close!
I envy the amount of time you get to work on your car!

I'll get some close ups and general all-round photos sorted out today hopefully.

Maybe it's because I'm a photographer, but taking photos, even though I'm very proud of the car, is a bit of a chore at times Kinda have to be 'in the mood'.

But I've a few hours free today, so I'll get something done. Have to scout a location for a portrait session so will hopefully get somewhere scenic (always helps :P ).

Sorry, I know I said i'd get photos ages ago, but i will tomorrow. I super duper promise. (my last few days were fairly empty, but then filled up very quickly! )

Taylor365

Did the works yesterday:

Wash
Detar
Clay
Polish
Wax

5 hours in total, got a sun tan too

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


The sun was a nightmare when waxing. Wax on then wax off immediately or end up scraping it off and turning it into chalk.

Now to tackle the wheels today....or tomorrow :P

Harcrid

So with today being the lovely day that it was it was time for my first proper clean of a car. Washed, de-tarred (twice!) clay bar, washed again and then polished and sealed.

5 hours in total and my arms are about to fall off but very happy with the end result. Now to park it up and never drive it again for fear of ruining all the hard work.

Noccy_Mondy

Missed the exhausts

Chimaera

So I spent yesterday evening and today cleaning the interior of the car.

Thorough vacuuming yesterday evening.

Today, I shampooed the two front seats before taking them out of the car. The sun helped them dry faster, and I wanted to clean the carpets underneath them. Next stage was a thorough shampooing of the carpets - the water I tipped out of the vacuum cleaner after this was a sight to behold.

The final job was a thorough cleaning of the interior plastics with APC. Once again, by the time I was done the water was a rather special shade of brown. I've got some pics that I'll post later in the weekend.

Harcrid

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Missed the exhausts

I knew someone would mention that. :-). Enough work done for one day The last thing I wanted to do was scrub exhaust tips for ages.

nd

Is it odd that one or two watermarks on the outside drives me mad, while inside rubbish doesn't bother me?

toastedpickles

nd wrote: »

Is it odd that one or two watermarks on the outside drives me mad, while inside rubbish doesn't bother me?

Nope I'm the same

dredg

Some crap photos after giving the car a wash




And the exhausts



There's still some corrosion which I'll tackle when I get my hands on heavier duty steel wool, 0000 is too fine.

mad m

@harcrid

Nice job, great you have a metal drain off in ground.

Northern Monkey

The car got is first proper clean of the year yesterday.

Mc Love

Am jealous of all the people washing their cars - I'll want to do it tomorrow and it'll be raining probably

MetzgerMeister

Northern Monkey - is she a 325i or 335i??

Northern Monkey

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Northern Monkey - is she a 325i or 335i??

Sadly just a 320d Dave. The next one will hopefully have a bit more poke, but this one has served me well in almost 5 years of owning it. That's my first time using Blacklight. I'm really impressed with how wet it leaves the paint looking.

vectra

Started at 10 A.M yesterday Morning and finished at 6 P.M

Washed.
Dried.
Nothing else needed as was de tarred & clayed last week.

Few touch up's I did last week were sanded and good to go.

Straight on to the DA pro.

CG MF Pads
Cutting pad first combined with Wolfs "The Correctional Utility"

This combo definitely moved the process on in terms of speed of cut and finish.

Was delighted with the finish and gloss after this session.

Continued on with MF Polishing pad and wolfs chemicals " The Jeweler" as I felt there was not any need for "The Medium" stage of the wolfs product.

Washed and dried after this

One coat of Britemax Blackmax applied via the D.A.

buffedd off

One light coat of Britemax Extreme elements

Buffed again.
LSP used was Britemax Vantage.

Have to admit the car was transformed after todays work.

Here she stands. :cool:

deaglan169

currently in process of cleaning car, having cuppa so quick observation for first time i used orchard iron cleanse, used approx 1/3 in a spray bottle to 2/3rds water sprayed it on boy it stinks and it dried to dust almost immediately now car was in sunlight but panels didnt seem that hot, i took a picture and will upload later, did i get the ratio wrong, it worked fine on the alloys they turned to red as expected

MetzgerMeister

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Sadly just a 320d Dave. The next one will hopefully have a bit more poke, but this one has served me well in almost 5 years of owning it. That's my first time using Blacklight. I'm really impressed with how wet it leaves the paint looking.

The rear exhaust looks familar so I thought it may have been the 335

M-Sport model yeah? The paint looks incredibly deep! A coat of Collinite 845 on top of that would make it unreal!

Taylor365

Did the wheels today.

Wash with wheel cleaner
Detar and scrub
APC and rinse.
2 coats of FK 1000.
Tyre dressing.

Done before the rain

Before:


After:


And the whole lot:

toastedpickles

Looking good!

deaglan169

spent today detailing the car, i apologise for the pics there crap its only on laptop i realise how bad camera on phone is:rolleyes:

Snow foamed with Kleenfreaks sf
2bm using chemical guys wax safe shampoo
detarred using autosmart tardis
rinsed
orchard autocar iron cleanse (it didnt go to plan dried on contact)
rinsed
clayed with chemical guys supre fine clay (didnt lift too much?)
washed again 2bm
polished with autofinesse tripple all in one
waxed using dodo juice diamond white hard wax
glass cleaned using autogylm glass polish
trim used autofinesse trim restorer
(wheels were just power washed job for tomorrow)
trying to upload pics once i figure it out ill have them up:mad:
[IMG][/img]IMG_20140420_120316974 by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]IMG_20140420_181305759_HDR by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]IMG_20140420_181311691 by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]IMG_20140420_190630976_HDR by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]IMG_20140420_190751067 by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

wandererz

Spent a few hours removing the EGR & Inlet Manifold on the XTYPE Jag and cleaning. Dirty job but had to be done.

Eventually, it did end up being detailed - although i forgot to take the last pics!

Same as a Mondeo TDCI 2.0D.

http://imgur.com/a/0hfsr

Black_Knight

Gave it a good clean yesterday, then it rained, and brought with the rain, dust. Dirty again.

Gave the tyres a good scrub though:


Thanks detailingshed!

Then I googled the type of tyres that came with the car when I got it. Ugh. Tyrereview.co.uk lists them under "Budget Brand Tyres". Time to buy some 18s and proper rubber.

vectra

Black_Knight wrote: »

Time to buy some 18s and proper rubber.

Hankooks,

Black_Knight

vectra wrote: »

Hankooks,

Was looking at alloy-wheels.ie. They have a bundle on the alloys I want, with a set of fulda sport control tyres for a touch over 1k. Though it would be nice to get genuine VW alloys, rather than replicas

Slattsy

Black_Knight wrote: »

Was looking at alloy-wheels.ie. They have a bundle on the alloys I want, with a set of fulda sport control tyres for a touch over 1k. Though it would be nice to get genuine VW alloys, rather than replicas

Some of those replicas out there are very very good.

fletch

Decided to give the wheels on the Clio a quick clean before the bank holiday weekend.
Jacked the car up and popped two wheels off at a time.


While the wheels were off, I decided to give the brakes a quick clean
Before

After



Then on to the wheels, some before pictures


After a quick rinse with some AutoGlym Car Shampoo (pretty badly marked with tar)


Then used Wonder Wheels to shift the tar


Then after a quick polish with Chemical Guys - Wheel Guard Wax - Wheel & Rim Gloss Protection below are the finished results




Applied some copper grease before putting the wheels back on....fairly happy with the results

fletch

Gave the car a quick polish with Chemical Guys Black Light

MetzgerMeister

That is a deadly little car fletch! Lovely job on the alloys too

stimpson

Did a fair few miles over the weekend so I waited until this evening and a snow foam and bug shifter left the car lovely and clean after last weeks polishing session. I did another layer of EGP using a tip from detailingworld - trigger head in the bottle:



2 sprays onto a MF is just perfect for a panel. It gets distributed evenly over the cloth and only leaves a tiny layer. It's like using a quick detailer. Oh, if you do this then be sure to wash out the head afterwards as apparently EGP will kill it. This gives you an idea of the coverage:



Leaving it on while I put the kids to bed and have some dinner. After pictures to follow if there is any light left

Edit: quick snap after buffing:

cena

A friend put up a picture of two BMWs in the house. The boyfriend using a sponge on a red 06. I told her he was running the paint using a sponge , told her to what to use and do the two bucket method.

She didn't want to hear of it and the red beemer is hers.

deaglan169

looks like every one was cleaning alloys today:D

[IMG][/img]IMG_20140421_131645225 by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]IMG_20140421_131636821 by Rigger-EI-2GFB, on Flickr

Noccy_Mondy

No offence to you or anything deaglan, but IMO them alloys never did anything for the A4's of that vintage.

deaglan169

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

No offence to you or anything deaglan, but IMO them alloys never did anything for the A4's of that vintage.

im in too minds about them, they came on the car and have really fresh vredestians on with loads of thread, so ill prob wear them out id love some s4 avus rims, then at time i really like them:cool:

Mc Love

The AG quick detailer is very good

Curran

fletch wrote: »

Gave the car a quick polish with Chemical Guys Black Light

Dont want to sound like an ass, but you didnt polish the car using Black Light.

Also, the protection offered by Blacklight wouldnt be fantastic, and its best to use a wax or sealant over it. It will give protection for a short period though.

Cracking motor...would love an auld test drive of one! Looks very tidy!

fletch

Curran wrote: »

Dont want to sound like an ass, but you didnt polish the car using Black Light.

Also, the protection offered by Blacklight wouldnt be fantastic, and its best to use a wax or sealant over it. It will give protection for a short period though.

Cracking motor...would love an auld test drive of one! Looks very tidy!

Ha thanks. I used a Chemical Guys sealant too (that I got as part of a bundle on cleancar.ie) on top of the black light.

Curran

Good man - no issues so!! Carry on! :P

JetSeal109? If so, that'll have you sorted for a few months!