Today I did some detailing...

Mister Jingles

Gave the car a good was and clay today. Claying is very tedious I find. I applaud anyone who does it on a regular basis.

Curran

A throughout de-tar and de-iron prior to claying, makes the chore a whole lot easier. And it becomes a little easier with experience....can do a good claying, with a claybar, in about 20-30 minutes on an average family sized car.

ianobrien

I finally got off my rear and gave me car a spring clean
Yesterday I tackled the clean. It was a good day for it as it was cloudy enough, but dry. I found a handy work bench out the front....



I started with the usual two bucket wash with AG shampoo, detar with Carpro TarX (God that's good stuff, the tar flowed off). The detar was repeated (thanks to a stupid amount of tar on the car). Next was another wash followed with it being clayed with a claycloth and home made lube (water, APC and a good squirt of Fairy washing up liquid). It was washed again, dried with a Dry-me-Crazy and two coats of Collinite 845. Buffed by hand.

Wheels were Bilt Hamber Autowheels, detarred, rewashed, dried, AG SRP and two coats of AG extra gloss protection. Tyres was Orchard Tyre Care (I can't think of the right name right now). Wheel arches were AG Engine & Machine cleaner, and old pot scrubber then washed (hence the black bucket above).

Interior was Bilt Hamber Surfix (geez that's great tack!) and AG Fast Glass. It was also hoovered.

The results





Next on the list was a wash of my motorhome. That was the usual 2BM, dry, wheels & tyres and interior (I was away for a few days in it). After that was a brand new motorhome for a detail. We have found at home that a coat or two of Collinite makes it so much easier to wash later, especially the black streaks that plague coachbuilt motorhomes from water marks. It was the usual 2BM wash AG Shampoo, claycloth as above, washed again and a very thin coat of Collinite 845 applied. It was buffed to finish.







Wheels, tyres, glass will all follow. The interior was done already with furniture polish.

Next on the list is an old Citroen AX GT door to learn machine polishing. That's the plan for tomorrow when it's supposed to be raining.

MetzgerMeister

That's a fair amount of work Ian, fair play. Lovely finished products!

The OAC Tyre stuff is called Glitz.

ianobrien

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

That's a fair amount of work Ian, fair play. Lovely finished products!

The OAC Tyre stuff is called Glitz.

Thanks. I'm sitting on me arse here and I'm too lazy to go to the shed to check the bottle.

Edit, the second motorhome was finished today. The day isnt ong enough to do one car and two motorhomes!

weekaizer

Started to wash the Avensis yesterday and finished today! snow foam and wash with fairy liquid to remove all protection.
Detared and clayed followed by polish with medium pad and fast gloss menzerna Polish using a d/a.
Today I finished by applying collinite 845.
Tyres dressed, Windows cleaned with rainox and black trim treated with a chemical guys product. Forget the name but the car turned out like new!

Curran

Good work lads - all vehicles looking very well!

Mister Jingles

Curran wrote: »

A throughout de-tar and de-iron prior to claying, makes the chore a whole lot easier. And it becomes a little easier with experience....can do a good claying, with a claybar, in about 20-30 minutes on an average family sized car.

Done both, I ran out of tar x so had to use a different brand, so thats something I'll need to pick up soon. It was my first time to properly clay a car so hopefully next time I'm faster. I reckon it took me about 45 mins.

Tried to also use the Bilt Hamber finis wax that I got from you but I couldn't get the nack of it so I switched over to a spray on wax. To be fair waxing is the thing I looked into the least so maybe a bit more learning is required before I do it again.

Curran

Secret to waxing or sealant is to apply it in thin layers. Its easier to buff off then. Two thin layers is better than one layer that has been lashed on. Though what is hard to define, is what is and what isnt thin! There should be little effort to buff a thin layer....if you are having to work at it, then you need to go thinner the next time!
Sometimes it can be a bit hard to get the wax to spread nicely, and the slightest spritz of water, a misting at best, on the applicator, will help it transfer from the pot to applicator and from there to the paintwork.

tech

Today the A5 got a little clean up

everlast75

tech wrote: »

fantastic stuff.

have you any tips for cleaning the chrome exhaust please?

Curran

Fine Grade Steel Wool (0000 grade) and a metal polish if it heavily contaminated with carbon deposits. Followed by bringing up the final shine with metal polish on a microfiber.

Ogogo

If I can be bold enough to ask a noob question ??? for a white car (golf) whats the best option for finish, one of the high tech coatings or a wax with repeat application on a regular basis?

Any recommendations for a specific product?

Foxhole Norman

I too did an A5 in the lovely rain today, foamed, washed, de-tared, de-ironed, clayed and waxed.

MetzgerMeister

How the hell did you wax it in the rain? :P

Landsail tyres..................

Foxhole Norman

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

How the hell did you wax it in the rain? :P

Landsail tyres..................

Let's just say there was some odd looks in the Tesco multistorey :pac:

vintagevrs

Did you remove the rear diffuser thing to clean the exhaust?

tech

ya!!!

Curran

Ogogo wrote: »

If I can be bold enough to ask a noob question ??? for a white car (golf) whats the best option for finish, one of the high tech coatings or a wax with repeat application on a regular basis?

Any recommendations for a specific product?

Both options you mentioned are vastly different.
The nano coating will be a lot more critical to the prep work done right or it won't perform as well as it should. Given that it's so durable, you need to be sure that you are 100% happy with the paintwork condition, because if you realise afterwards that there is defects, say swirls, the only way to remove the coating is by machine polishin. You'll have to get through the coating before you can get to correct the defect.

With a traditional wax or sealant while the prep is important, if it's not done quite right, it will perform quite well or its easy to remove to re-try if something didn't work out right.

Anything applied on a the paintwork after a decent decontamination / prep will look great. The de-iron step makes a really noticeable difference on white, as when the paint is fully cleansed, the white really pops.

There are so many factors when choosing what to go for; durability, appearance, easy of application and removal, price, etc. Waxes generally look best on darker colours. Sealants give a sharper or glassy look which is usually suited to lighter colours. Then would you rather something very simple to apply such as a spray sealant, spray on, buff off, walk away.

Specific products?
Collinite 845 is a great all rounder for the price.
Bilt Hamber Double Speed Wax if you want something durable from a traditional wax
CarPro Cquartz CQUK or Gtecniq if you wanted to go for the nano route
CarPro Reload for a spray sealant

There are so many options!

MetzgerMeister

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Let's just say there was some odd looks in the Tesco multistorey :pac:

Fair play to you. Never give a crap who or what gives you weird looks. IMO it shows dedication and supplying a good service.

I did a rather lazy job today but the car only really had dust on it, no dirt or grit. I snowfoamed it and gave it a wipe-dowm with a mitt using the snowfoam as shampoo, rinsed it, removed the excess water with a Dry Me Crazy and applied a light coat of Gtechniq C2v3.

Having the Fusso on it made it a lot easier. Also did the wheels separately with Bilt Hamber AutoWheel first.

ianobrien

I think I finally tried DA polishing, after annoying people here with loads of questions. I used the Argos one that was discussed on the forum earlier. I did swap the plate to a 5" one I got from Detailing Shed. Practice was on a spare Citroen AX GT door I had in the back of the shed.

I tried the top rear of the door first (nearest to the door lock) with a Hex-Logic Green pad and 3 blobs of Chemical Guys V36. Spreading the polish was at speed 2 and worked in at speed 5 with 3 to 4 passes of the machine. The residue was wiped off and then repeated with a Hex-Logic Black pad and Chemical Guys V38. I divided the door at the quarter window.

The top front of the door (nearest to the door hinge) was done with the same combo, but with 4 bigger blobs of polish and 4 to 5 passes of the machine, with more pressure on it. The verdict is the later method gave a better, deeper shine.

The bottom of the door wasn't done so a comparison could be made. The result is that Da wants his (black) car done that way.







I cleaned the pads with rinsing them with washing up liquid and I'll be throwing them into the washing machine along with the rest of the cleaning cloths (no fabric softener will be used)

What I learned is that it's easier than I thought, use more polish initially to "wet" the pad and another backing plate might be got as its probably easier to swap backing plates rather than pads on the plate. Da wants to use the DA to buff waxes now.

Foxhole Norman

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Fair play to you. Never give a crap who or what gives you weird looks. IMO it shows dedication and supplying a good service.

I did a rather lazy job today but the car only really had dust on it, no dirt or grit. I snowfoamed it and gave it a wipe-dowm with a mitt using the snowfoam as shampoo, rinsed it, removed the excess water with a Dry Me Crazy and applied a light coat of Gtechniq C2v3.

Having the Fusso on it made it a lot easier. Also did the wheels separately with Bilt Hamber AutoWheel first.

Sound there's really no point being in this business if the end result isn't decent or what was specified!

Curran

Very good Ian....I like your systematic approach to your practice! And it's good that you took learns away from it too; priming the pad before hand is important, and the value of having the options of various pad sizes, etc! Would rate that as a very successful dipping the toe in the water!

cena

ianobrien wrote: »

I think I finally tried DA polishing, after annoying people here with loads of questions. I used the Argos one that was discussed on the forum earlier. I did swap the plate to a 5" one I got from Detailing Shed. Practice was on a spare Citroen AX GT door I had in the back of the shed.

I tried the top rear of the door first (nearest to the door lock) with a Hex-Logic Green pad and 3 blobs of Chemical Guys V36. Spreading the polish was at speed 2 and worked in at speed 5 with 3 to 4 passes of the machine. The residue was wiped off and then repeated with a Hex-Logic Black pad and Chemical Guys V38. I divided the door at the quarter window.

The top front of the door (nearest to the door hinge) was done with the same combo, but with 4 bigger blobs of polish and 4 to 5 passes of the machine, with more pressure on it. The verdict is the later method gave a better, deeper shine.

The bottom of the door wasn't done so a comparison could be made. The result is that Da wants his (black) car done that way.


I cleaned the pads with rinsing them with washing up liquid and I'll be throwing them into the washing machine along with the rest of the cleaning cloths (no fabric softener will be used)

What I learned is that it's easier than I thought, use more polish initially to "wet" the pad and another backing plate might be got as its probably easier to swap backing plates rather than pads on the plate. Da wants to use the DA to buff waxes now.

It is a good da for the price. Used mine again on friday to do one side of the car. Rain got in the way today. Have about ten hrs on the car a;ready

ianobrien

Thanks lads. I'm busy for the foreseeable future so the cars won't be attacked with the DA for a while. Now, does anybody want a half polished black left hand door for a Citroen AX GT? I've got one going here on a first come first served basis......

I see there are pad conditioners available to prime the pad before use. Does anybody use them?

Noccy_Mondy

I need to find a panel to get the feel for the polisher.

Might help if I had some pads and stuff too. Ye might draw me up an essentials list sometime so I can place an order!

Foxhole Norman

The main things really that I would be getting are a 5" backing plate, 3 pads, compounding, polishing and fine polish(jewelling). I'd go for Chemical Guys Orange, White and Black or Green, White and Black. Polish wise, Chemical Guys V32/34/36 range is excellent as is Menzerna's various compounds/polishes.

Can anyone recommend a reasonable paint depth gauge? Was looking at the Sealey TA091 as it's not too pricey.

Noccy_Mondy

I take it the hand stuff I bought recently isn't any good - P40 polish and Butterwax. Rats.

Foxhole Norman

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

I take it the hand stuff I bought recently isn't any good - P40 polish and Butterwax. Rats.

P40 can be used on the Machine too, I just have no personal experience with it myself. I love Butterwax though, great shine and lasts a good while!

Noccy_Mondy

Foxhole Norman wrote:

P40 can be used on the Machine too, I just have no personal experience with it myself. I love Butterwax though, great shine and lasts a good while!

Thats good so!

Yep did mine at Easter, still looking fresh!

Curran

P40 can be used but it's not as effective.

YbFocus

So I got my last order from detailingshed.com on Friday, on Foxhole's recommendation. It was .50 cal's glaze and their pentawax.

The finish is quite a lot better than before I must say, the beading from the pentawax is crazy, lets see how it lasts in the coming months!

Curran

Looking very well indeed!

YbFocus

Curran wrote: »

Looking very well indeed!

Thanks mostly to yourselves

Hal1

Nice job and garden by the looks of it too :P.

MarkN

Pentawax beads for many many months. I've used it for around a year now and it's a great all rounder.

YbFocus

Hal1 wrote: »

Nice job and garden by the looks of it too :P.

Tell that to my parents

vintagevrs

Some garden! Is it 9 holes or 18? car looks class yb.

I remember watching a clip years ago about the most expensive car wash in the world before detailing was as mainstream as it is now. The guy did full detail jobs on all sorts of exotics, I think it was 5th gear.

Anyway, the wax he used was the most expensive wax, it was like the ear wax from a Brazilian dung Beatle or something. Anyway, he used to apply the wax by hand (no applicator or cloth)

Long story short, I did that tonight with the 845 and found it worked really well. Is this a done thing?:o

YbFocus

vintagevrs wrote: »

Some garden! Is it 9 holes or 18? car looks class yb.

I remember watching a clip years ago about the most expensive car wash in the world before detailing was as mainstream as it is now. The guy did full detail jobs on all sorts of exotics, I think it was 5th gear.

Anyway, the wax he used was the most expensive wax, it was like the ear wax from a Brazilian dung Beatle or something. Anyway, he used to apply the wax by hand (no applocator or cloth)

Long story short, I did that tonight with the 845 and found it worked really well. Is this a done thing?:o

Thanks man

Did your layer not go on very thick?
Never heard of doing that

vintagevrs

No it went on nice and thin, the heat from my hands kept it nice and runny. Came off a breeze. In fairness last time I did it, it was nearly freezing. It was a complete ball ache getting it off.

vectra

vintagevrs wrote: »

Some garden! Is it 9 holes or 18? car looks class yb.

I remember watching a clip years ago about the most expensive car wash in the world before detailing was as mainstream as it is now. The guy did full detail jobs on all sorts of exotics, I think it was 5th gear.

Anyway, the wax he used was the most expensive wax, it was like the ear wax from a Brazilian dung Beatle or something. Anyway, he used to apply the wax by hand (no applocator or cloth)

Long story short, I did that tonight with the 845 and found it worked really well. Is this a done thing?:o

That was Brazilian carnauba wax.
Comes from trees and is hard.
Hence the reason of application by hand to warm and soften it
I think he used to charge 5 grand at the time.

As for 845.
If I were to get technical about applying that, I would heat it up until it is like pure water and put a spray head on the bottle to apply a very light misting of it.

vintagevrs

Danger781

And he uses a sponge on the car...

conzy

This paint correction on the passat is some saga

The car is used a lot so when its parked up for a few hours I have to wash, detar, clay, dry the panel I want to do. Then I DA that panel, which is taking serious work as its never been done and the passat paintwork is like glass. My e46 was a lot easier to DA from what I remember.

Anyway its enjoyable and the panels are coming up lovely. I'm getting more confident, I dont want to damage a panel but from what I've experienced unless I sat on the DA and left it in the same spot for 5 minutes it wont do any damage

Curran

Your E46 was likely to have been in better condition - the swirls wouldnt have been as deep, thus correction was quicker!

Ogogo

Curran wrote: »

Both options you mentioned are vastly different.
The nano coating will be a lot more critical to the prep work done right or it won't perform as well as it should. Given that it's so durable, you need to be sure that you are 100% happy with the paintwork condition, because if you realise afterwards that there is defects, say swirls, the only way to remove the coating is by machine polishin. You'll have to get through the coating before you can get to correct the defect.

With a traditional wax or sealant while the prep is important, if it's not done quite right, it will perform quite well or its easy to remove to re-try if something didn't work out right.

Anything applied on a the paintwork after a decent decontamination / prep will look great. The de-iron step makes a really noticeable difference on white, as when the paint is fully cleansed, the white really pops.

There are so many factors when choosing what to go for; durability, appearance, easy of application and removal, price, etc. Waxes generally look best on darker colours. Sealants give a sharper or glassy look which is usually suited to lighter colours. Then would you rather something very simple to apply such as a spray sealant, spray on, buff off, walk away.

Specific products?
Collinite 845 is a great all rounder for the price.
Bilt Hamber Double Speed Wax if you want something durable from a traditional wax
CarPro Cquartz CQUK or Gtecniq if you wanted to go for the nano route
CarPro Reload for a spray sealant

There are so many options!

Thanks Curran, I just ordered some Collinite and iron-x etc there so I will give it a whirl and see how I get on.

vintagevrs

Metallic black is near impossible for a weekender to get right. The paint would scratch if you looked at it the wrong way. The sun today shows any swirls. Still looks well but just will never be 100.

vintagevrs

And.......relax

Curran

WOOOOOWWWW!!! Thats a fine looking cup of coffee!!

Meh, the car aint bad either!

keano25

Long overdue detail for this tomorrow hopefully..