Today I did some detailing...

JAMES VTI S

Spike Witwicky wrote: »

Amazing.
How do you get the exhaust n chrome so shiny???

Thanks, I washed, de-tarred and polished them by hand.

vectra

georgefalls wrote: »

Try it now

Ah,
Demonstrating the new Lance Cam

Nice foam there

Curran

What foam was used there? Looks like a decent coating....have you tried spreading the fan of the spray a bit more...you'd do the whole car a bit quicker if you did.....but maybe you are having too much fun! :P

georgefalls

Curran wrote: »

What foam was used there? Looks like a decent coating....have you tried spreading the fan of the spray a bit more...you'd do the whole car a bit quicker if you did.....but maybe you are having too much fun! :P

Its www.cleancar.ie their own brand stuff. I find keeping the spray tighter gives thicker foam, and yes, WAY more fun

vectra

georgefalls wrote: »

Its www.cleancar.ie their own brand stuff. I find keeping the spray tighter gives thicker foam, and yes, WAY more fun

I actually found their foam great when I first used a foam lance,

georgefalls

For the price, you can't really knock it, and it does work rather well.

vectra

georgefalls wrote: »

For the price, you can't really knock it, and it does work rather well.

Yes.
I found it really gave my white car a good clean in winter with no rubbing.

MetzgerMeister

So I recently got some product samples from DetailingShed and was asked to review them. They are the 50 Cal products that are all available on the site!

Berry Bomb Air Freshener - This was the first thing I used because the smell was awesome! It smells like those strawberry Push Pops and the smell brings me right back to my childhood. It's probably the nicest air freshener I've ever used and knocks CG stripper scent out of my no. 1 place. I gave one spray to each of my floor mats and it has lasted about 2 weeks.

Precision Interior Trim Dressing - This smells very like the berry bomb. A few sprays onto an applicator pad and it goes on smoothly and leaves a very very nice finish, not shiny and not messy. It also smells unreal.

Cammo - This is the tyre dressing. After using Meguiars Endurance Gel for a while, I gave the tyres a clean with a mix of Megs Super degreaser and IPA (don't try that at home) to get rid of any previous products. I then gave each tyre a few sprays and let it sit for 5 minutes. After a quick buff to remove any excess (this causes sling) the tyres were as black as the ace of spades. I only applied one coat as I didn't want them shiny but it has lasted since last Monday (you'd hope it would wouldn't you? :P )

Retaliate Wheel Cleaner - To be honest, it's like a lot of wheel cleaners I have used. It goes on, you agitate, it comes off. I didn't find anything especially unique about it. I suppose it's good that 50 Cal have it in their range. It does its job but nothing out of the ordinary.

Fortress Liquid Polish - I used this on my sister's red Polo. It's not a correction polish, but one applied by hand to deepen the lustre of the paint. This polo is covered in swirls and the polish made a huge difference. It didn't get rid of the swirls obviously but lessened their appearance.

Penta Wax - I applied this after the polish. Again, it smells good and goes on very smoothly. I'm not a fan of paste waxes which this is as I find it's easy enough to rub too much onto the pad. It provides very good beading. Durability is something I will have to investigate.

20:20 Glass Cleaner - Like I said about the wheel cleaner, it goes on, does its job and comes off again. Nothing special about it but it's good to have it.

And one that's not in the 50 Cal Range;

Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel - I really really liked this. I've long been looking for a wheel cleaner that you spray on, let it do its job and wash off. Not only does it save time scrubbing but it also saves your alloys from scratches if you use a wheel brush (I use a separate mitt). This stuff also has a fallout remover in the mix which works very well. It smells good but you also get the eggy aftersmell but not as bad as the likes of iron cleanse. I sprayed it on, left it for 5 minutes as per the instructions and hosed off. It left the alloys spotless. I even went over one of them like I would normally clean them and the water was as clean as if I hadn't used it. Auto Wheel is also Ph neutral so it won't remove any wax or wheel guard you have on it.

I can't say much about the price of the 50 Cal stuff as I only got samples but when it comes to the Auto Wheel, it may seem expensive but the one bottle lasts ages even if you apply it generously like I do.

Is there anywhere that's quick and easy (and not madly expensive) to pick up some Meguiar's Ultra Cut Compound (M105)? I think it's effective at removing up to 1200 grit sandpaper marks (not that i have used sandpaper of that level on the car or anything, but i just want something that's equally or more aggressive).

I have CG's Pro Polish 3N (effective to 2000 grit) but Ultra Cut Compound is a world away - significantly better (or at least on the Rav, it was, anyway).


CleanYourCar.co.uk seem to be the only ones selling it? And don't really want to pay postage from the UK for a bottle of polish if I can avoid it.

Also, does anyone here use a glaze? And if so, do you think it's worth your while?

I was using it after machine polishing the Rav. And I found that regardless of whether i applied it like polish (machining it into the paintwork) or like wax (wax on, let sit, buff off), it made little to no difference whatsoever?

I only did one or two panels on the Rav that time, and then gave up and moved onto waxing. But when I was finished, you'd never, ever, have known which panels got glazed.

I don't know if I was just using it incorrectly, or..?

Mc Love

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel - I really really liked this. I've long been looking for a wheel cleaner that you spray on, let it do its job and wash off. Not only does it save time scrubbing but it also saves your alloys from scratches if you use a wheel brush (I use a separate mitt). This stuff also has a fallout remover in the mix which works very well. It smells good but you also get the eggy aftersmell but not as bad as the likes of iron cleanse. I sprayed it on, left it for 5 minutes as per the instructions and hosed off. It left the alloys spotless. I even went over one of them like I would normally clean them and the water was as clean as if I hadn't used it. Auto Wheel is also Ph neutral so it won't remove any wax or wheel guard you have on it.

Its my number one product for cleaning wheels - its so good. Smell is horrible though.

Curran

Deleted User wrote: »

Also, does anyone here use a glaze? And if so, do you think it's worth your while?
I don't know if I was just using it incorrectly, or..?

There are a few different types of glazes that fall within the glaze category.....and the category can get a bit confusing at times, in a similar way to how people can confuse polish as protection.
There is the type that are filler glazes; which help hide defects in the paint work and boost shine. And then there is oily glaze which is purely to achieve the ultimate wet look. Then there's others that combine both.

The thing is, after machine polishing, applying a glaze to reasonably fresh paintwork, will be fairly difficult to notice a dramatic difference, but they do improve shine and clarity; although often at the expense of durability of your wax/sealant.

Curran

Curran wrote: »

There are a few different types of glazes that fall within the glaze category.....and the category can get a bit confusing at times, in a similar way to how people can confuse polish as protection.
There is the type that are filler glazes; which help hide defects in the paint work and boost shine. And then there is oily glaze which is purely to achieve the ultimate wet look. Then there's others that combine both.

The thing is, after machine polishing, applying a glaze to reasonably fresh paintwork, will be fairly difficult to notice a dramatic difference, but they do improve shine and clarity; although often at the expense of durability of your wax/sealant.

Which of those categories would CG's Glossworkz glaze fall into?

And what's the most aggressive polish you stock, Curran?

Curran

Deleted User wrote: »

Which of those categories would CG's Glossworkz glaze fall into?

And what's the most aggressive polish you stock, Curran?

CG's call it a glaze and self leveler - so it falls into the combo product!

Wolf's Chemicals "The Equalizer" or CG's V34 are the two most aggressive polishes! Combo V34 with a Microfiber Pad and that will be an aggressive set up!
Not sure about the Wolf's polish on a MF pad, as they supply foam pads to combo with their polishes....will shoot Wolf's an email about that!

toastedpickles

Howdy lads, need a bit of help, I'm at a cleaning stage on my 900 project and the rear of the engine bay is a state, this metal heat shield (i don't actually know what it is) is supposed to be nice and shiny, however you can see mine is rather stained with rust from the coolant and the dirt is fairly bet into it, I've tried tar remover to no avail, and a good new other things, the only thing that came close to shifting anything was a pot scrubber

So any ideas how to make it pretty?

punisher5112

I used the machine and compound polish to try and remove the swirls on the VRs but didn't seem to do much would I be doing something wrong as I followed instructions on the bottle and done small sections at a time.

I am going to give it another go and see will it make any difference hopefully during the week.

Chimaera

toastedpickles wrote: »

Howdy lads, need a bit of help, I'm at a cleaning stage on my 900 project and the rear of the engine bay is a state, this metal heat shield (i don't actually know what it is) is supposed to be nice and shiny, however you can see mine is rather stained with rust from the coolant and the dirt is fairly bet into it, I've tried tar remover to no avail, and a good new other things, the only thing that came close to shifting anything was a pot scrubber

So any ideas how to make it pretty?

Is it supposed to be a bare metal finish, or painted?

If it's bare metal, then maybe a bumper can of Peek and lots of elbow grease. A lot of that grime and dirt can be bound up in oxidation on metal surfaces making them hard to clean.

If it's paint, then maybe a soak in paraffin or kerosene might do the job - it'd loosen off anything that's oil/grease based at least and give you something to work with.

toastedpickles

Yeah it's a bare metal finish, where can i get this peak stuff?

Chimaera

It's a common enough metal polish so it's not difficult to find. Halfords would be the most convenient place I think. Cleancar.ie carry it too. (It's spelled Peek if you're googling it too.)

toastedpickles

Chimaera wrote: »

It's a common enough metal polish so it's not difficult to find. Halfords would be the most convenient place I think. Cleancar.ie carry it too. (It's spelled Peek if you're googling it too.)

Grand! That'l do me

Noccy_Mondy

Any hardware shop will have the stuff that comes in a tube, and you go to town on it with a cloth. Never heard of it coming in a can.

dredg

Deleted User wrote: »

Also, does anyone here use a glaze? And if so, do you think it's worth your while?

I was using it after machine polishing the Rav. And I found that regardless of whether i applied it like polish (machining it into the paintwork) or like wax (wax on, let sit, buff off), it made little to no difference whatsoever?

I only did one or two panels on the Rav that time, and then gave up and moved onto waxing. But when I was finished, you'd never, ever, have known which panels got glazed.

I don't know if I was just using it incorrectly, or..?

I use poor boys white diamond on my car and it looks great. The thing could really do with a good machine polish but I lack the patience and the time to do so (not to mention the equipment).

Chimaera

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Any hardware shop will have the stuff that comes in a tube, and you go to town on it with a cloth. Never heard of it coming in a can.

vectra

Curran wrote: »

CG's call it a glaze and self leveler - so it falls into the combo product!

Wolf's Chemicals "The Correctional Utility" or CG's V34 are the two most aggressive polishes! Combo V34 with a Microfiber Pad and that will be an aggressive set up!
Not sure about the Wolf's polish on a MF pad, as they supply foam pads to combo with their polishes....will shoot Wolf's an email about that!

I would have thought Wolf's Chemicals "The Equalizer" would be more agrgessive than the Correctional Utility?

Curran

vectra wrote: »

I would have thought Wolf's Chemicals "The Equalizer" would be more agrgessive than the Correctional Utility?

You are right....I was thinking of them off the top of my head, and had a feeling I was forgetting one!

Yeah, 'The Equalizer' is more aggressive!

Want a job! :P Pay's rubbish though!

MetzgerMeister

Curran wrote: »

Want a job! :P Pay's rubbish though!

...and the boss is an asshole :pac:

vectra

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

...and the boss is an asshole :pac:

Bosses are like Nappies.
Always hanging around your Ar$e and full of $hit.

Noccy_Mondy

Chimaera wrote: »

Thought you meant an aerosol can for some reason.

vectra

vectra wrote: »

I would have thought Wolf's Chemicals "The Equalizer" would be more agrgessive than the Correctional Utility?

Curran wrote: »

Yeah, 'The Equalizer' is more aggressive!

Want a job! Pay's rubbish though!

A job? What's that? Surely you mean an internship?


On a more serious note, this 'equaliser'.. to what degree with it actually 'equalise'? Is it on par with M105 or is it the kinda product you buy and use thinking 'should've just used the CG's Pro Polish 3N' (which i have a near-full bottle of, already)?

Would i be just as well to stick with the 3N?


I have a friend's car in with me next week. It's a 2004 Santa Fe. Has a rake of scratches all over it, only one of which can actually be felt (the rest are visible but not physical).

Is it worth my while actually buying The Equaliser, or would I be just as handy getting stuck in with Pro Polish 3N?

Also, can anyone tell me the best product/s I need for fabric interiors?

Do I want a wet-vac? Or a steam cleaner? or both?

I would love to be able to bring fabrics to as-new condition. and although I do have some fabric cleaner and foam upholstery cleaners, I find they're pretty ineffective.

Noccy_Mondy

Deleted User wrote: »

Also, can anyone tell me the best product/s I need for fabric interiors?

Do I want a wet-vac? Or a steam cleaner? or both?

I would love to be able to bring fabrics to as-new condition. and although I do have some fabric cleaner and foam upholstery cleaners, I find they're pretty ineffective.

Them things are crap, have them myself and they only do a patchy job - make it look worse than it was before If it's bad then I'd be doing a vet vac, unless someone else has a better idea.

If i was to buy something like this:

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4060716/Trail/searchtext%3ESTEAM.htm

or this

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/catalogId/14551/partNumber/4060967.htm#tabrev


Would that be a cheap and cheerful way of getting interiors sorted out and getting my head around what works for me?

Or just money down the drain?

Noccy_Mondy

Don't know if them yokes would be powerful enough to suck all the crap out. Afaik the way that the proper people do it is the foam stuff is sprayed out onto the seats and sucked back into the machine with the dirt. Someone would be able to tell you definitively, if they would work, I'd get one myself, can't really justify the cost of buying a proper wet vac, given the little usage it'd be given.

Hmm.. it does seem that fabric interiors are the 'mystery' of the detailing world. Can never seem to just get a straight forward "buy this and this and use them like this and the seats will be as new" kind of an answer at all

Noccy_Mondy

You were spoiled with the leather :P

Which is exactly why I made sure I stuck with it. The 407 has a leather interior, too. :P

But I hate not being able to clean fabric seats properly. I told a friend of mine I'd clean his car next week, while he's off on a weeks holiday. So I'll be able to work on the car in small doses here and there, and his has a fabric interior. I want it to look like the car has just waltzed out of the showroom. And I know it can be done, but I just don't know how.

randy hickey

The only show in town when it comes to cleaning upholstery seats and carpets (and I mean properly clean here) is a spray-extraction machine.
There is a very recent thread here where I've gone into a bit more detail on the topic, but if you don't want to invest in one, then a simple solution is to hire out one of the Rug Doctor machines from B&Q or Woodies, and these have a spray-extraction hand tool that can be used in cars.

The only issue with that is the expense required. Puts it a little out of the reach of the hobbyist detailer.

If I were detailing (and getting paid properly) for a car or two every week, then it'd probably be a worthwhile investment, but as things are it's a tough one to justify.

What strikes me though, is that there are hobbyist lads across the net getting great results on fabric seats. It just seems that they are very light on details when it comes to answering 'how'. I'd not imagine m/any hobbyists owning such equipment? (maybe I'm wrong?).

vectra

Deleted User wrote: »

Also, can anyone tell me the best product/s I need for fabric interiors?

Do I want a wet-vac? Or a steam cleaner? or both?

I would love to be able to bring fabrics to as-new condition. and although I do have some fabric cleaner and foam upholstery cleaners, I find they're pretty ineffective.

I have a feeling that I read on here a while back that MetzgerMeister has one for sale.
PM him

quadrifoglio verde

vectra wrote: »

I have a feeling that I read on here a while back that MetzgerMeister has one for sale.
PM him

I thought he had a steam cleaner?

vectra

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

I thought he had a steam cleaner?

Not too sure.
I remember him saying he had something for sale.

Chimaera

Deleted User wrote: »

Which is exactly why I made sure I stuck with it. The 407 has a leather interior, too. :P

But I hate not being able to clean fabric seats properly. I told a friend of mine I'd clean his car next week, while he's off on a weeks holiday. So I'll be able to work on the car in small doses here and there, and his has a fabric interior. I want it to look like the car has just waltzed out of the showroom. And I know it can be done, but I just don't know how.

I've had pretty good results with a wet vacuum cleaner.

Materials/Equipment:
2 Buckets
Microfibre or terry cloth
Stiff bristled brush
or Nylon kitchen sponge (with the stiff green bit on one side)
Hot water
Carpet shampoo (the Rug Doctor stuff is pretty good)
or Foaming upholstery cleaner
Wet vacuum cleaner

Method 1: Using Foaming Upholstery Cleaner
1. Spray on the cleaner according to manufacturer's instructions
2. Agitate towards the end of the dwell time with the sponge or brush
3. Using the cloth and a bucket of clean water, rinse the fabric well
4. Vacuum out the water and dirt with the wet vacuum cleaner
5. Repeat 1-4 as necessary

Method 2: Using Carpet Shampoo
1. Mix up the carpet cleaner in a bucket of warm water according to manufacturer's instructions
2. Using the sponge (green side) scrub the carpet cleaner into the fabrics; use the brush for stubborn stains
3. Leave it to dwell for a minute or two
4. Vacuum out the shampoo and dirty water
5. Rinse with clean water
6. Vacuum out again

Notes:

Be sure to change the rinse water regularly, especially if you're working on light coloured fabrics as you can end up with tide lines otherwise. On very heavily soiled fabrics, headlining especially, you might find yourself going over it a few times.

Don't be shy with the rinse water. Once your wet vacuum has good suction it'll pull it back out. Pre-soaking big stains can make life a lot easier too. My car had a large coffee spill on the carpets when I got it (not very visible on a black carpet if you weren't looking closely). Dousing it in lots of water and vacuuming out got most of it before I needed to get in there with the shampoo.

Be careful with electrics. Electric seats, heated seats, controllers under the carpet. Find out if any of this stuff is fitted in your car before going in there with water. You might have to be somewhat circumspect with the rinsing.

This is best done on a warm day. If that's not possible, try and get your hands on a dehumidifier and be prepared for a day or two of damp seats. Leaving water too long in the fabrics is going to cause mould and mildew and a generally nasty interior.

For a deep clean, it can be useful to remove the front seats from the car to gain access to the little corners of the carpets that are usually covered up. I normally do this after I've shampooed them so they can spend time drying out in the sun.

MetzgerMeister

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

I thought he had a steam cleaner?

Yep, it's a Karcher steam cleaner I have.

Curran

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it worth my while actually buying The Equaliser, or would I be just as handy getting stuck in with Pro Polish 3N?

CGs Pro Polish 3n isnt really considered a machine polishing polish. Yes it will say that it can be applied by machine, and it will give a certain amount of improvement, but its certainly not a cutting compound like The Equalizer is.

I'll get the Equaliser so. With an MF pad it better work it's ass off for me. :mad:

Chimaera

Chimaera wrote: »

I've had pretty good results with a wet vacuum cleaner.

Cheers for the post, but quick question - are you using a €20 argos job, or an industrial strength wet vac?

Chimaera

I have a Kaercher A2206 - it's not bad, but I'd probably buy a different brand next time around. It's got decent suction, but the fact that you need to swap bags in and out for wet/dry vacuuming is a bit of a pain.

vectra

Deleted User wrote: »

I'll get the Equaliser so. With an MF pad it better work it's ass off for me. :mad:

I never used the Equailzer, but I have used the Correctional Utility on my sons E46 and we know how hard that paint is.
I was surprised at how it cut the paint with ease.
Be careful with that combo, I have no idea how quick it would cut and also have no idea how hard/soft the paint is on a Santa Fe.

vectra

vectra wrote: »

I never used the Equailzer, but I have used the Correctional Utility on my sons E46 and we know how hard that paint is.
I was surprised at how it cut the paint with ease.
Be careful with that combo, I have no idea how quick it would cut and also have no idea how hard/soft the paint is on a Santa Fe.

Ah, I find a lot of the 'be careful you'll do damage' warnings are nonsense when it comes to machine polishing (with a DA, anyway).

Apparently the Rav4 had 'soft' paint, and the work I had to put into that fecker, using the most aggressive polish and MF pads I could get, was ridiculous. It literally took sandpaper to do any damage to that paintwork, and even then, it took a fair out sandpaper beating to do fairly minimal damage.

I am not concerned about doing any damage to it.


(but then again, it could well just be a case that I was expecting unrealistically good results from machine polishing and just wasn't happy with what I got out of it, and that's why i kept upping the aggressiveness of the gear i used. Still never really did any damage, though).

I've PM'ed Curran and asked him to throw aside a bottle of the Equalizer and some MF pads for me, so I'll give the Santa Fe a shot and see how I get on. Then try my own car after that.


Dunno how you still have the patience to do so much detailing, though, Vectra. Do you never get a little tired?

vectra

Deleted User wrote: »

Dunno how you still have the patience to do so much detailing, though, Vectra. Do you never get a little tired?

I do find the enthusiasm is lessening lately