Detailing chat

PsychoPete

You could use a "lightweight" ceramic coating like Carpro Lite,Can Coat,Tac System Moonlight etc

rodge123

consulatory wrote: »

Go out in the dark and just put the flash light on your phone over the paintwork at different angles to see the paintwork as it *could* be seen in strong sunlight.



Forensic Detailing just posted a video about the £100 DAS8(the new DAS6): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISXKUKzm0CQ

I bought the DAS8 and apart from the included (somewhat cheap) wrench rounding off and being useless, it's pretty good. i got from in2detailing who im not a fan of but they are the main ppl for it. I use Koch Chemie pads & polish - also reccmd. by Forensic Detailing guy.

UK based youtuber who i found v. helpful and easy to watch to understand what's needed. He also has some older videos about polishing with the DAS6 etc.



I personally wouldn't do it myself(i'm just at the beginner level of using DA/have polished 2 cars so far) but it seems the stress of learning how to do it and the potential for messing it up would just end up with more correction work. Whats the price diff between a pro doing it and you buying it and doing it?

Yeah have seen a few of uk detailing guy videos, seems to know his stuff.
Must find the time to sit down and watch any ceramic coating videos he has.

A quick google is suggesting getting a professional detailer to apply ceramic coating will cost many multiples of doing it myself. Paying for labour hours it takes to get car perfect before appying it I suppose.

Here for example.
https://ceramicpro.ie/

500 yoyos for the basic package!

chalky_ie

Are there any Irish shops selling P&S products?

consulatory

consulatory wrote: »

Go out in the dark and just put the flash light on your phone over the paintwork at different angles to see the paintwork as it *could* be seen in strong sunlight.



Forensic Detailing just posted a video about the £100 DAS8(the new DAS6): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISXKUKzm0CQ

I bought the DAS8 and apart from the included (somewhat cheap) wrench rounding off and being useless, it's pretty good. i got from in2detailing who im not a fan of but they are the main ppl for it. I use Koch Chemie pads & polish - also reccmd. by Forensic Detailing guy.

UK based youtuber who i found v. helpful and easy to watch to understand what's needed. He also has some older videos about polishing with the DAS6 etc.



I personally wouldn't do it myself(i'm just at the beginner level of using DA/have polished 2 cars so far) but it seems the stress of learning how to do it and the potential for messing it up would just end up with more correction work. Whats the price diff between a pro doing it and you buying it and doing it?

By the by, just something I will add. Although the machine only cost £100, the polish & pads and panel wipe will add up.

And if I was back at square one, I would contact a local polisher and see if I could cut a deal whereby I do all decon and they come in and do final polish.
They will have all tools and experience to just do it right.

I bought 3 x 3" pads, 4 x 5" pads (mainly koch chemie yellow, with 1 each of red & purple in both sizes) and still tend to split polishing a car over multiple days as even cleaning them out inbetween polishing sets isn't going to stretch them to do multiple panels in one go).

Also, commit to x amount of sets and then just stop even if you haven't achieved perfection(as you never will).
I managed to burn some paint by getting carried away with removing all trace scratches from around door handle. It's not a nice feeling.

I went in disciplined but it's too easy to just give it another few passes.

PsychoPete

conor-w wrote: »

Are there any Irish shops selling P&S products?

Reflect auto care are stockists

bennyx_o

conor-w wrote: »

Are there any Irish shops selling P&S products?

I believe Autopia now stock them too

irishlad123456

I washed my car at the weekend and it has lots of water bubbles/spots on it now? How do I remove these and can they damage the paint?

Nigzcurran

irishlad123456 wrote: »

I washed my car at the weekend and it has lots of water bubbles/spots on it now? How do I remove these and can they damage the paint?

Just wash it again and dry it properly this time!

Sexual Chocolate

Looking very manky these days.

dastardly00

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

Looking very manky these days.

Same as mine. I was going to wash it this morning but then I read that there is a yellow warning for rain tomorrow in Connaught so I thought what's the point. I'm working from home most of the time so it's really just sitting in the driveway dirty.

BlakeS94

irishlad123456 wrote: »

I washed my car at the weekend and it has lots of water bubbles/spots on it now? How do I remove these and can they damage the paint?

The water spots are due to washing your car in direct sunlight. The soap solution dries much faster in the sunlight (whether it's warm or not) leaving the water residue after you've cleaned your car, it doesn't do damage provided it's not left to bake on the car for a very long time in more sunlight, next time you are washing it make sure you're in the shade, an overcast day with no rain is ideal car washing weather. Or if you want to try fix it right away just wash your car panel by panel using these steps.

1)Rinse the driver side door (as an example,start wherever you want)
2)Get your soapy wash mitt and clean the door panel
3)Rinse the driver door panel once again
4)Dry it off immediately, then move onto the next panel.

doing this all around the car is a good way to make sure you don't have water spots if you're washing in direct sunlight.
Hope this helps!

BlakeS94

Cleaned the car today after many months, spent two hours and she got the TLC she's been waiting for lol

chalky_ie

Anyone else think the postage costs from the Irish shops is a bit much in some cases? I wanted to buy 1 or 2 small things, and multiple places were looking for around 8 quid postage, when I'm in the same county as them. Feels like that's a lot for 15 quid worth of stuff, maybe there is no cheaper way for them to do it.

crasy dash

conor-w wrote: »

Anyone else think the postage costs from the Irish shops is a bit much in some cases? I wanted to buy 1 or 2 small things, and multiple places were looking for around 8 quid postage, when I'm in the same county as them. Feels like that's a lot for 15 quid worth of stuff, maybe there is no cheaper way for them to do it.

It can be alright so now I just generally make a list of items I use regularly stock like those and purchase those along side what ever item I require in a hurry .
Balances itself out in the end I think.
Black Friday is coming so expect deals on delivery prices soon.

PsychoPete

In fairness €8 isn't much for postage, the stores are probably open to collect stuff

championc

An Post postage is damn expensive

CIP4

Whats the best approach for dealing with this the seats in my car were clean then in the last week or so all these white marks started to appear on passenger seat and slightly on passenger rear rest are ok. Car was parked up a long time before I bought it in August so possibly to do with that. Is it worth trying a seat cleaner detergent or do I need to take it somewhere the get the interior wet washed and vacuumed ?

chalky_ie

What are people's thoughts on buying a DA polisher that does not have a swappable backing plate? Would you get a whole car done with only a 5" backing plate available?

frozenfrozen

CIP4 wrote: »

Whats the best approach for dealing with this the seats in my car were clean then in the last week or so all these white marks started to appear on passenger seat and slightly on passenger rear rest are ok. Car was parked up a long time before I bought it in August so possibly to do with that. Is it worth trying a seat cleaner detergent or do I need to take it somewhere the get the interior wet washed and vacuumed ?

that is the foam in your seats is dirty (or rather than dirty maybe had too much cleaner applied and wasn't removed fully) and some moisture on the seat wicks it out over time you get the stains.

if you have access a carpet extractor like a bissel spot clean (think they are going to be 100 sterling at some point today for black friday down from 150) you could give it a few passes and either get the dirt out of the foam or get the excess cleaning product out if that's what it is

@4.30 https://youtu.be/AaNiHFW11yA?t=260

PsychoPete

conor-w wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on buying a DA polisher that does not have a swappable backing plate? Would you get a whole car done with only a 5" backing plate available?

Depends on the car but parts like pillars,boot, bumpers etc can be awkward and you'd be better off swapping to the likes of a 75mm or smaller backing plate. There is so many polishers out there now to choose from

Stallingrad

conor-w wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on buying a DA polisher that does not have a swappable backing plate? Would you get a whole car done with only a 5" backing plate available?

You'll definitely need a smaller plate if you want to do a proper job. DAS6 is a great entry level machine.

chalky_ie

Cheers lads, I live in an apt and I've no access to a socket in the carpark, so I was really hoping to get a cordless one, had my eye on the new DeWalt DA, as it can be had for a decent price with no battery. I might leave it if it won't do the job.

CIP4

frozenfrozen wrote: »

that is the foam in your seats is dirty (or rather than dirty maybe had too much cleaner applied and wasn't removed fully) and some moisture on the seat wicks it out over time you get the stains.

if you have access a carpet extractor like a bissel spot clean (think they are going to be 100 sterling at some point today for black friday down from 150) you could give it a few passes and either get the dirt out of the foam or get the excess cleaning product out if that's what it is

Thanks for the advice. I don’t have any kind of carpet extractor and it wouldn’t really be worth buying one so if it’s a case of it needing that kind of a wet vacuum treatment I’m as well to take it somewhere and get a deep interior clean.

Northern Monkey

conor-w wrote: »

Cheers lads, I live in an apt and I've no access to a socket in the carpark, so I was really hoping to get a cordless one, had my eye on the new DeWalt DA, as it can be had for a decent price with no battery. I might leave it if it won't do the job.

Shinemate do a few cordless machines that seem to be well reviewed and are a good bit cheaper than the flex versions

https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/shinemate-12mm-cordless-random-orbital-polisher

Bandito909

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Shinemate do a few cordless machines that seem to be well reviewed and are a good bit cheaper than the flex versions

https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/shinemate-12mm-cordless-random-orbital-polisher

A tone here have any experience of these cordless ones?

frozenfrozen

Do I have to be careful cleaning factory tinted windows or will they hold up the same as normal clear glass? I know with aftermarket tint you have to not scratch the inside. But is factory tint the same for being careful not to scratch it?

vectra

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Do I have to be careful cleaning factory tinted windows or will they hold up the same as normal clear glass? I know with aftermarket tint you have to not scratch the inside. But is factory tint the same for being careful not to scratch it?

Never had a problem with any of mine, just cleaned as normal.

chalky_ie

What are people's thoughts on washing + decontaminating a car in one location, then driving it 30 mins to another location to polish it? Is there something that could easily remove what little dirt would be picked up during that journey, if I had absolutely no access to water in the second location?

frozenfrozen

conor-w wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on washing + decontaminating a car in one location, then driving it 30 mins to another location to polish it? Is there something that could easily remove what little dirt would be picked up during that journey, if I had absolutely no access to water in the second location?

Could you bring enough water to do a rinseless wipe with optimum no rinse when you get there? Never used it myself but it looks pretty good from videos

PsychoPete

You could use a self service car wash and just bring your buckets,mitt etc if there was one close. 30 minutes isn't far but this time of year you could pick up a lot more dirt, you could use onr but personally don't like the idea of a "waterless wash" type product

chalky_ie

Yeah I won't be doing it until the weather is decent again I would say, so it would hopefully not pick up too much stuff. I wouldn't be mad on those products either really, at a stretch I could probably fill a bucket or 2 from my kitchen sink.

vectra

conor-w wrote: »

Yeah I won't be doing it until the weather is decent again I would say, so it would hopefully not pick up too much stuff. I wouldn't be mad on those products either really, at a stretch I could probably fill a bucket or 2 from my kitchen sink.

Could you not connect a hose the the tap in the kitchen?

chalky_ie

vectra wrote: »

Could you not connect a hose the the tap in the kitchen?

I live in an apartment, I would be doing the polishing in the underground carpark. Seems like it would be very handy if I wanted to do a 2 step polish and coating as it would be covered all the time, which is why I'm thinking of it, but I would have to go back to my parent's house to get the car ready for polishing.

vectra

conor-w wrote: »

I live in an apartment, I would be doing the polishing in the underground carpark. Seems like it would be very handy if I wanted to do a 2 step polish and coating as it would be covered all the time, which is why I'm thinking of it, but I would have to go back to my parent's house to get the car ready for polishing.

watering can and a bucket of warm water to wash and rinse providing it is not covered in Sh17e.

Hebegeebee

Why not pick up some 5L bottles of water in Aldi/Lidl/wherever and stick it in the boot of the car. You have water then if/when you need it to rinse down.

chalky_ie

Does anyone know of an Irish shop that stocks Koch Chemie? Interested in trying GSF, seems to get a lot of great reviews.

dastardly00

Potentially a stupid question... what is the alcohol concentration of commercially available IPA Panel Wipe? For example, I have CleanerCar Panel Wipe but nowhere on the packaging/label does it state the alcohol concentration - https://dnddetailing.ie/product/cleaner-car-i-p-a-1l/

I've looked at a few other brands but I can't see it mentioned either, for example Gtechniq - https://www.gtechniq.co.uk/shop/auto/wash-decon-polish/pw-panel-wipe/

frozenfrozen

Not answering the question but forensic detailing guy on YouTube has a video making his own panel wipe. Probably not far off what the commercial ones are. https://youtu.be/IhgOHVmkV_I

Theres a guy on ebay who ive bought 99% ipa from and I am pretty sure it ships from inside Ireland so no issues

dastardly00

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Not answering the question but forensic detailing guy on YouTube has a video making his own panel wipe. Probably not far off what the commercial ones are. https://youtu.be/IhgOHVmkV_I

Theres a guy on ebay who ive bought 99% ipa from and I am pretty sure it ships from inside Ireland so no issues

Thanks for replying. It makes sense alright if you make it yourself because you'll know the percentage of alcohol and how much to dilute it etc. It's just confusing that commercially available IPA panel wipe doesn't specify the concentration (from the browsing I have been doing)

PsychoPete

I just buy 99% isopropyl alcohol and then mix it at 15% with deionized water

MetzgerMeister

IPA does not remove polish residue as efficiently as the likes of Gtechniq Panel Wipe or CarPro Eraser. It has been proven in videos by KDS Keltec. With IPA you would need to do 4-5 passes as opposed to 1-2 with Panel Wipe or Eraser. You're much better off with these dedicated products.

vectra

Anyone ever try body shop panel wipe?

Sexual Chocolate

Anyone used the Auto Finesse drying towel in Halfords yet ?

https://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/sponges-brushes-buckets/auto-finesse-aqua-deluxe-drying-towel-841277.html

opinionated3

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

Anyone used the Auto Finesse drying towel in Halfords yet ?

https://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/sponges-brushes-buckets/auto-finesse-aqua-deluxe-drying-towel-841277.html

Yep. It's ok. There's better towels or there tbh but it's ok if you're stuck.

Sexual Chocolate

Ive being using one of these at the moment and find it okay, probably could do with a couple more.

https://www.reflectautocare.ie/Accessories/Chamois-Drying-Towel/xl-trade-microfibre-drying-towel.html

Was looking at this one from The Rag Company as well

https://www.reflectautocare.ie/index.php?route=product/product&path=186&product_id=844

I wouldn't be into spending big money on a drying towel tbh, 20 quid would be my max.

celticsfan

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

Ive being using one of these at the moment and find it okay, probably could do with a couple more.

https://www.reflectautocare.ie/Accessories/Chamois-Drying-Towel/xl-trade-microfibre-drying-towel.html

Was looking at this one from The Rag Company as well

https://www.reflectautocare.ie/index.php?route=product/product&path=186&product_id=844

I wouldn't be into spending big money on a drying towel tbh, 20 quid would be my max.

I have the twistress one from the rag company..great towel imo,not overly big compared to other drying towels but I really like it...just be aware,as the description says its not a real high pile towel if thats what you are after as it's a twist weave... i think they were selling those towels off at 12eur a month ago or so on reflectautocare so they may be back on offer in the future...

dastardly00

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

IPA does not remove polish residue as efficiently as the likes of Gtechniq Panel Wipe or CarPro Eraser. It has been proven in videos by KDS Keltec. With IPA you would need to do 4-5 passes as opposed to 1-2 with Panel Wipe or Eraser. You're much better off with these dedicated products.

But what is the concentration of alcohol in the likes of the Gtechniq Panel Wipe?
Since it isn't specified I assume that it's more likely to be in the range of 10-15% (less likely to damage the car) rather than 50-70% (more likely to damage the car)?

MetzgerMeister

dastardly00 wrote: »

But what is the concentration of alcohol in the likes of the Gtechniq Panel Wipe?
Since it isn't specified I assume that it's more likely to be in the range of 10-15% (less likely to damage the car) rather than 50-70% (more likely to damage the car)?

I have absolutely no idea. I don't think companies release this information for good reason

CathalC2011

Hi, any recommendations for replacing the hose and head parts of the Karcher K4?

https://www.woodies.ie/karcher-k4-full-control-home-kit-pressure-washer-1125070

The pressure is perfectly fine for an electric pump, but the hose is very hard and difficult to maneuver around, and the actual lance is pure cat ****. very heavy, flimsy plastic materials which broke in no time.

I'm looking to replace the hose with something made of a softer plastic/rubber, and I'd like to replace the lance with one of those small hand lances with quick release and multiple head attachments.

I haven't a motion about compatibility, or what's good. I do wash frequently but generally with poor equipment. Would like to step it up a notch!

Thank you !‚

PsychoPete

Is there any issues with ordering products from UK stores these days or extra charges ?