Today I did some detailing...

Harcrid

I thought there was very little tar on my car until I sprayed on the tar remover and suddenly spots started appearing everywhere!

Interslice

Taylor365 wrote: »

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:

...

:pac:

Taylor365

Yea...i used it. Didn't see any tar to begin with though on the bodywork...

After a wash (wash only), there were only 2 specs of tar on the entire wheels. I see peoples wheels covered in tar and going all sorts of colours using a detarerererere. Doesn't happen on mine..?

Difference of coating on the wheels maybe?

Curran

The wheels turning purple you mean??
Thats a de-iron product they are using to remove tiny iron particles embedded in the wheels surface or the paintwork. Hot particles from brake pads would be a source of this, along with various other sources.

Taylor365

I'll take a pic the next time i do my wheels (give it 2 months say) and we can ponder at the 1 or 2 specs of tar which they accumulate.

Iron particles? Aren't these removed with a good scrub and cleaner?

Curran

[quote="Taylor365;90159164
Iron particles? Aren't these removed with a good scrub and cleaner?[/quote]

Sure, if you want the surface of your wheels destroyed.

A good scrub shouldn't be used on any part of the car, bar maybe the undercarriage

stimpson

My early birthday present to myself arrived today - a DAS6 Pro and I'm looking for some advice...

I got HexLogic Orange and White pads and Meguiars #105 and #205

As the paint on the Volvo is fairly bad with swirls, suncream marks and quite a few RDS's I'm tempted to start with Orange and 105. However, I've no idea how hard the paint on the Volvo is. When I did some research I didn't get very far except for this gem: Nobody's ever polished a Volvo before so nobody knows One piece of advice was to use the orange and 105 and don't go over speed 3 - apparently it can dry out quickly.

So what do yis think? Start off with the white and 205 and see how it goes, or go for broke with the big guns?

Ded_Zebra

stimpson wrote: »

My early birthday present to myself arrived today - a DAS6 Pro and I'm looking for some advice...

I got HexLogic Orange and White pads and Meguiars #105 and #205

As the paint on the Volvo is fairly bad with swirls, suncream marks and quire a few RDS's I'm tempted to start with Orange and 105. However, I've no idea how hard the paint on the Volvo is. When I did some research I didm;t get very far except for this gem: Nobody's ever polished a Volvo before so nobody knows One piece of advice was to use the orange and 105 and don't go over speed 3 - apparently it can dry out quickly.

So what do yis think? Start off with the white and 205 and see how it goes, or go for broke with the big guns?

in my (limited) experience, no matter what polish you use and no matter how soft the paint might be you won't do anything with the white pad in terms of correction. If you are worried about it you might invest in a green hex logic pad or something similar but TBH I would say you're fine to work away with the orange pad


Oh and happy early birthday!!!

vectra

If you are unsure,
Start with the orange pad and 205

Curran

Best plan of action is to mask out a 1ft x 1ft surface and do a few tests. Start with the least cut and work your way up is the general advice, but sometimes you just know that a combo wont have enough cut.
Remember that using a DA you cant expect to get amazing correction with just one set, so try two or three sets, inspected after each set, and remember that the polish oils will hide some of the lighter defects. If you arent getting good correction with a certain combo, move up to a more agressive one, bearing in mind you might want to start a new test area to see what effect that combo is having on the unpolished surface. When you find a combo that works, use that for the whole car. Certain areas might need a bit of extra attention, generally the near side of the car will be worse than the offside and the bonnet will be worse than the roof or boot lid.

If there's one tip: patience - don't expect miracles on your first attempt. A lot of your time using it for the first time will be spent becoming accustomed to how the pad, polish, machine, etc will react under various circumstances....pressure, duration, speed, environment, etc...perfecting your technique really. You probably wont have a good technique sorted until you are near finished the car!

stimpson

That's a good idea Curran. Half a bootlid is probably a good size do I might do some tests tomorrow evening. I've been looking at YouTube tutorials all week so I have a good idea what's required, but there's no substitute for experience.

Any suggestions on machine speed?

Curran

Have a look at Junkman on DetailingWorld...im sure you'll find him on YouTube aswell; his videos are good and light hearted.

Put on the Tea for this one - pity the pictures arent working anymore...still worth a read

Lots of info here from Mike

Speeds vary depending on the job at hand. A set would usually consists of....
Start off at 1 to spread the polish, move up to 2-3 to heat the polish, move up again to a speed that works the polish well (doesnt dry it out too quick, and can work it for a few passes) and that feels comfortable to you (so the machine is bouncing about the place, also the vibration of the DA on your hands), then back down the speed to a pass or two, buff off the polish and inspect.

Any thing else, give me a shout.

Noccy_Mondy

Well I didn't do any detailing YET, but I got myself a bottle of AutoGlym Instant tyre shine. Slowly building my collection I'll give it a try anyway, and if that fails, i'll try something else.......

SeaFields

Having been lurking in the forum for some time i finally got down to attempting a detailing of the exterior of the car yesterday and today.

Washed with two bucket method and wash mitt
Clayed (although it being my first time it probably could have been done better, took an hour and a half for the whole car - autoglym detailing clay kit)
Washed the wheels with an all purpose cleaner
Polished/waxed with autoglym ultra deep shine
Finished wheels with autoglym tyre dresser

Happy out with the result.

However....

I didnt have a detarring product and reviews of using petrol as a subsitute were mixed so didnt chance it

I saw that the inside of the alloys were covered in tar /breakdust /general sh!te so a job for another day will be to take them off and try to reveal the colour underneath.

And while the ultra deep shine doesnt require seperate wax or polish to be used with it according to autoglym, Id like to try polishing and waxing next time separately with some extra products (as if i buy any more things for the car at the mo i will be divorced)

Curran

Any pics SeaFields?

SeaFields

Curran wrote: »

Any pics SeaFields?

Sorry no, didnt occur to me actually. The car is going on a 300km round trip tomorrow so if i think of it before i set off ill take on in the morning.

mfergus

Any idea where online I could buy collinite 845?
On amazon its saying UK delivery only and on eBay its asking for approx 20euro shipping cost !

Cheers

BillJ

mfergus wrote: »

Any idea where online I could buy collinite 845?
On amazon its saying UK delivery only and on eBay its asking for approx 20euro shipping cost !

Cheers

http://www.detailingshed.com/

Curran on here runs it. PM himand he's very helpful for giving advice on what and how to use products.

mfergus

BillJ wrote: »

http://www.detailingshed.com/

Curran on here runs it. PM himand he's very helpful for giving advice on what and how to use products.

Cheers for the fast reply . I had a look on that site earlier but it says its not in stock with them options but available with other options. But I cant find other !
I'll pm him!

challengemaster

mfergus wrote: »

Any idea where online I could buy collinite 845?
On amazon its saying UK delivery only and on eBay its asking for approx 20euro shipping cost !

Cheers

http://parcelmotel.com/

You get a "UK address" in NI, the parcel gets moved to your nearest storage locker for easy collection, and all it costs is €3.50. Works for almost everything that says UK delivery only

mfergus

challengemaster wrote: »

http://parcelmotel.com/

You get a "UK address" in NI, the parcel gets moved to your nearest storage locker for easy collection, and all it costs is €3.50. Works for almost everything that says UK delivery only

I must look into this .thanks!

stimpson

If DS have 476s in stock it's practically the same product, just not quite as easy to apply (apparently).

Think of it as a mans wax as opposed to 845 which is a bit more girly

Apply it very thinly and it's a piece of piss to use.

Curran

mfergus wrote: »

Cheers for the fast reply . I had a look on that site earlier but it says its not in stock with them options but available with other options. But I cant find other !
I'll pm him!

The must have received more - back in stock, it seems!! :P

vectra

mfergus wrote: »

Cheers for the fast reply . I had a look on that site earlier but it says its not in stock with them options but available with other options. But I cant find other !
I'll pm him!

Yup.
In stock

http://www.detailingshed.com/waxes/243-collinite-845-liquid-insulator-wax.html

The_Pretender

What do you guys recommend for the interior? I've got fabric seats and plastics on the dash.

I'm checking out:

-Chemical Guy Fabric Guard Interior Protection Shield
-CG Lightning Fast Stain Extractor and Cleaner
-CG Vintage Shine dressing

Any of you experience with the CG interior products and do you find it good?

Curran

I've not used any of those products.
I have used CG's Fabric Clean and its a very good stain remover. For the dash I've used CG's Natural Shine and its very nice - leaves a nice matt finish...anything with a shiny finish will attract dust and is generally a sticky finish so a nightmare to wipe down. With Natural Shine, as its matt, it the dash just needs a light wipe during your weekly hoover and re-application every few months.

Are the seats brand new and you are looking to protect them? If so, Id probably look into gtechniq's Fabric Gurard.

wersal gummage

wersal gummage

Did wheels too

MetzgerMeister

wersal gummage wrote: »

Did wheels too

Emmm...no you didn't :pac:

wersal gummage

wersal gummage

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Emmm...no you didn't :pac:

Before and after, you got here before the after!

wersal gummage

That was wash, clay (probably not really necessary as was done about two months ago but I did pick some stuff up). Some minor paint correction, full polish with mezerna, two coats of chemical guys 'black'. This is unusual stuff, like a paste going on. Was expensive but definitely an improvement on the dodo juice carnauba wax I've been using till now.

I have the DA polisher, not the plus one. I'm convinced serious paint correction is not possible. Have tried the most abrasive pads (yellow) and most abrasive compound (menzerna, chemical guys extreme compound and a gtecniq stuff - not all together) and no matter how long I work the areas, there is no YouTube type results. Convinced the machine I have isn't up to it. Definitely a bit improvement, and great for polishing, but not up to major paint correction on bmw paint.

SeaFields

SeaFields wrote: »

Having been lurking in the forum for some time i finally got down to attempting a detailing of the exterior of the car yesterday and today.

My first attempt at detailing as posted above last week didnt last long.....Car was hit while parked today by a foreign driver in rented car. Paintwork on one side ruined :(:(

vectra

wersal gummage wrote: »

That was wash, clay (probably not really necessary as was done about two months ago but I did pick some stuff up). Some minor paint correction, full polish with mezerna, two coats of chemical guys 'black'. This is unusual stuff, like a paste going on. Was expensive but definitely an improvement on the dodo juice carnauba wax I've been using till now.

I have the DA polisher, not the plus one. I'm convinced serious paint correction is not possible. Have tried the most abrasive pads (yellow) and most abrasive compound (menzerna, chemical guys extreme compound and a gtecniq stuff - not all together) and no matter how long I work the areas, there is no YouTube type results. Convinced the machine I have isn't up to it. Definitely a bit improvement, and great for polishing, but not up to major paint correction on bmw paint.

You can indeed.
I have used one on a couple of VAG cars.
I know the BMW paint can be harder but perseverance is the key

wersal gummage

I've done a vag car as a favour for a friend and one of the yellow pads was the colour of the car by the time I was finished paint correction.

The bmw is different. I spent over twenty minutes this morning in one small area, one foot by one foot, and the machine simply does not leave a flawless finish. It's 90% better than it was, and with the two coats of wax you can no longer see any imperfection, but it is still there under the wax!

I made three attempts, about 7 to 8 minutes at a time, just doing constant passes. Then wiped down the area and started again.... Just isn't like the videos on YouTube where these huge marks come flying out!

Curran

Just a quick point - perhaps you are applying too much pressure. If too much pressure is applied then the DA wont spin as its not forced drive, there is a clutch in them to limit the risk of damaging the paint.

On BMW paint, even with a rotary polisher, aggressive pad and polish combo, rarely is one or two passes enough to correct a car with heavy swirling.
You cant expect for one pass on the compounding stage to be enough to remove defects...on areas such as the roof, perhaps, but certainly not on panels that take the brunt, for example the near side of the car being drive up close to ditches and as a result bushes etc. With a DA (without forced drive) its going to take even longer! Results are achievable, but not if you dont have any patience - you offset the risk of damage for slower results.

Curran

wersal gummage wrote: »

I've done a vag car as a favour for a friend and one of the yellow pads was the colour of the car by the time I was finished paint correction.

In that case the car is either older, and was single stage paint (no clear coat) or the car had been painted at some point.

On your car, I would expect to see absolutely no colour transfer to the pads, as there is clear coat on the car.

Curran

Here is a quick example.....

This was 3 sets with a heavy cut pad/polish, and a rotary polisher!

Nothing done


1st pass

2nd pass

3rd pass


Not much improvement on the 2nd and 3rd set; but the car had been machined before and readings were low so safer to leave it at that and refine it, than to go chasing the defects and risking striking through the clear coat. This shows that even sometimes its not possible to get it 100%....you have to hope that the wax or sealant that you apply will fill in the remaining defects. Also, they would have been hardly visible if the light wasnt so harsh.

vectra

wersal gummage wrote: »

I've done a vag car as a favour for a friend and one of the yellow pads was the colour of the car by the time I was finished paint correction.

The bmw is different. I spent over twenty minutes this morning in one small area, one foot by one foot, and the machine simply does not leave a flawless finish. It's 90% better than it was, and with the two coats of wax you can no longer see any imperfection, but it is still there under the wax!

I made three attempts, about 7 to 8 minutes at a time, just doing constant passes. Then wiped down the area and started again.... Just isn't like the videos on YouTube where these huge marks come flying out!

I personally would never go for 100% correction.

Have you tried any mf pads on that machine?

I used MF pads on my sons e46 recently and it did some job on it.

MetzgerMeister

Did the MF's work faster than the Hexlogic pads?

vectra

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Did the MF's work faster than the Hexlogic pads?

They did indeed.

Reduced the cutting time quite a lot.
On that finish in the picture I actually did not spend enough time in the final stage of polishing as I ran out of time.
I hope to get more gloss as time goes.

stimpson

I got rid of the wife and kids for a couple of hours this afternoon so I got a chance to pop my DA cherry. I took loads of photos, but tbh, you really can't pick up the defects on them. The one thing that's really annoyed me about the car is the sun cream marks. They're all over the doors and boot. I decided to start off on a third of the boot with a white HexLogic and Megs 205. It was clear after the first pass that it wasn't going to be sufficient. The area was shiny, but I could still see swirls and the bloody sun cream marks were still there.

I took the orange pad and the 105 to the middle third and after the first pass it was noticeably better. I did 2 goes in all, starting at speed 1 to spread the polish, up to 3 for 2 passes. 5 for 2 passes, back to 3 for a pass and finishing on speed 1. It worked really well. Here's the smudgey before pic:



And the same spot after:



There was a couple of deep scratches that I improved, but I didn't have the balls to keep going on them. I may have to revisit at some stage. You can just see them in the centre left of this pic:



I finished with a pass of the 205 on the white pad and a quick lick of Colly 476s. Practically swirl free. The oxidisation is gone too as is the sun cream marks. It looks a different colour to the rest of the car.



Hopefully I'll get a chance to do the bonnet and wings tomorrow.

wersal gummage

Curran wrote: »

Just a quick point - perhaps you are applying too much pressure. If too much pressure is applied then the DA wont spin as its not forced drive, there is a clutch in them to limit the risk of damaging the paint.

On BMW paint, even with a rotary polisher, aggressive pad and polish combo, rarely is one or two passes enough to correct a car with heavy swirling.
You cant expect for one pass on the compounding stage to be enough to remove defects...on areas such as the roof, perhaps, but certainly not on panels that take the brunt, for example the near side of the car being drive up close to ditches and as a result bushes etc. With a DA (without forced drive) its going to take even longer! Results are achievable, but not if you dont have any patience - you offset the risk of damage for slower results.

No, I've stuck a big white mark on the backing plate and make sure I'm not bogging it down.

Maybe I'm expecting too much.

Maybe I just need to spend even longer at it (as vectra mentioned already).

As for the vw car, it was around ten years old.

wersal gummage

vectra wrote: »

I personally would never go for 100% correction.

Have you tried any mf pads on that machine?

No. Might give them a shot next time, thanks.

punisher5112

Hi all,
I done some wotk on the VRs this week so started off a jet wash over and under.
Washed with AG shampoo and forgot to use lance which I need snow foam for only thought of that now.
Done wheels but didn't have time to take them off which will be done hopefully next weekend.
De Tared the car.
Washed.
Clayed the car top to bottom and had done this last september and it made some difference.(very happy with results this time round also)
Got all the stuff I was looking for off detailing shed and wow the de iron stinks was having a quick sniff of all the stuff and that nearly knocked me out:pac:.
I have a feeling that the pad holder may not fit my polisher machine I will have to look at it better as I plan on doing a bit of correction on the swirl marks which honestly aren't that bad but would love that extra shine.
So have to do proper job on alloys, machine polish paintwork and glass, and then after a quick wash apply the newly aquired collinite845:cool:.

I completely forgot to take any before pics but will put up finished ones when do get round to finishing.

I also noticed the green callipers are peeling badly and colour fading bad. Any tips on how to do a decent diy job on these?

Curran

Yeah, Iron Cleanse stinks - though they have a new one released that has a menthol smell, which is supposed to be slightly better on the nostrils
It's great catching people out, as 90% of detailing products smell good, so you hand them different things that smell great and they take a sniff, the more you give them the bigger sniff they take; then hand them the Iron Cleanse!

Wonder is the backing plate you require for a rotary polisher.
DA's screw into the machine, rotary's screw onto the machine

DA


Rotary

punisher5112

Curran wrote: »

Yeah, Iron Cleanse stinks - though they have a new one released that has a menthol smell, which is supposed to be slightly better on the nostrils
It's great catching people out, as 90% of detailing products smell good, so you hand them different things that smell great and they take a sniff, the more you give them the bigger sniff they take; then hand them the Iron Cleanse!

Wonder is the backing plate you require for a rotary polisher.
DA's screw into the machine, rotary's screw onto the machine

DA


Rotary

Rotary it is.



This is the one I have.

Any problem changing the connection for the right one Dave?

vectra

punisher5112 wrote: »

I also noticed the green callipers are peeling badly and colour fading bad. Any tips on how to do a decent diy job on these?

Keep an eye out on Briskoda
From time to time members sell this green, I think it was an old Hammerite color.

punisher5112

vectra wrote: »

Keep an eye out on Briskoda
From time to time members sell this green, I think it was an old Hammerite color.

Thanks vectra. How's your motor going.

vectra

punisher5112 wrote: »

Thanks vectra. How's your motor going.

Going grand thanks.
though I should hope it was. only turned 5,200kms last week