Detailing chat

Curran

waraf wrote: »

I'm interested in the Microfiber Madness Dry Me Crazy towel as several people have recommended it here. Detailing Shed sells them but there's no mention of the size. Does anyone know the dimensions of the towel that's for sale on detailing shed by any chance? (ahem...cough.....curran)

25" * 17"

In this case size doesn't matter! :P
The towel is more than capable of drying the biggest of cars with ease!

Curran

ratracer wrote: »

Curran, had you any further feedback, positive or negative, on the BH claybar? I'm gonna need to clay my car in a couple of weeks, but after my experience with the BH one I'm almost reluctant to use that one again! Are the other brands any different?

At the time, they hadn't been made aware of any issues. I followed up again, today, and they still haven't heard of anything. They make Auto Clay very large batches, so if anything was to be amiss, it wouldn't slip through the net too easily.

waraf

Curran wrote: »

At the time, they hadn't been made aware of any issues. I followed up again, today, and they still haven't heard of anything. They make Auto Clay very large batches, so if anything was to be amiss, it wouldn't slip through the net too easily.

When I order my next batch of stuff from you I'll give you back some of the clay bar I used so you can test it to see if it looks strange to you. It was my first time using clay so it's possible that it normally behaves like that and I was just expecting it to behave more like plasticine.

Curran

Some clays are a bit more elastic than others - the Bilt Hamber Auto Clay is not, but it still should fold and knead without too much hassle. I wouldnt mind having a look at it though!

Curran

waraf wrote: »

Does anyone have any recommendation for a good tyre cleaner please?. Like a tyre foam or something like that to get them properly clean before I apply tyre dressing. Thanks

No need for anything fancy - a good all purpose cleaner, spray on, agitate with a detailing brush, rinse down. Repeat a 2nd time if necessary!

ratracer

waraf wrote: »

When I order my next batch of stuff from you I'll give you back some of the clay bar I used so you can test it to see if it looks strange to you. It was my first time using clay so it's possible that it normally behaves like that and I was just expecting it to behave more like plasticine.

+1 on this lads, I'd be interested to see if it's just a newb claying experience as it was my first effort also, and I reckon our prides were probably from the same batch.

vectra

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

The Dry Me Crazy towel is big enough that you can fold it twice and 1/8 of it can dry the roof, bonnet and bootlid. It.Is.Superb.

Curran wrote: »

25" * 17"

In this case size doesn't matter! :P
The towel is more than capable of drying the biggest of cars with ease!

If it is any consolation to you,
I washed the Passat today and dried it.
I could have dried another one without wringing it out.

Curran

Jeez ye'll wash the paint off that thing if you keep it up!
Will ye do mine next!
:P

Mister Jingles

Anyone be able to recommend any product to use to keep the car clean and remove bird ****e without having to get it washed again as I only got it done a couple of days ago.

Curran

Funny you should mention that - just today, an Irish supplier added Poorboys range and one of their products is 'Bird Sh#t Remover'

MetzgerMeister

vectra wrote: »

If it is any consolation to you,
I washed the Passat today and dried it.
I could have dried another one without wringing it out.

It's actually impossible to wring that yoke!!

Curran wrote: »

Jeez ye'll wash the paint off that thing if you keep it up!
Will ye do mine next!
:P

Irish response is Irish :P

Mister Jingles

Honestly anytime I get the car cleaned a bird ****s on it (im actually convinced it's one of those huge herring gulls) and I could go ages without washing and nothing will happen.

Would an APC do the job as well ?

Curran

APC would do a job on it, but won't be as slick as the Bird Sh#t Remover....it would have more lubrication properties to prevent the gritty nature of the dropping, causing any potential damage.

Mister Jingles

I probably will look into it next week, no point now as I won't be getting the car washed for a couple of weeks. Also the the novelty of having a spray in my slowly growing collection called bird **** remover would amuse me and probably others

Curran

It's one for the boot and a plush microfiber cloth!
Gotta love the name of it though - no messing about! :P

Mister Jingles

If it was marketed well if would be a big seller,especially in Dublin :pac:

Curran

Don't know where you are from, but don't want to know what the 'burds' are like down your way!!...Durty!!

vectra

Curran wrote: »

Funny you should mention that - just today, an Irish supplier added Poorboys range and one of their products is 'Bird Sh#t Remover'

Hmm
I wonder could that supplier get this? :P

Gavman84

Anyone in cork please fancy getting rid of a small mark on bonnet think needs to be machine polished to shift it. Don't have one myself! Don't know where it came from.

edburg

dnd detailing are in cork city somewhere.

http://dnddetailing.ie/

Gavman84

Ya I use them but looking for someone who might have a da as its a tiny mark don't need the whole bonnet done or anything. Quick rub of a da sort it I say.

edburg

Ah right, your begging for a freebie you mean :pac: :pac: :pac: :pac: :pac::pac:


:P

Mc Love

Just watching the beads, it's hypnotising

Danger781

Does anyone have any experience with plasti dip or vinyl wrap? Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask.. Since getting the car I've been considering blacking out the chrome trims on my MINI. Like this:


Not sure what would be better..

Danger781

Danger781 wrote: »

Not sure what would be better..

Plasti dip. Definitely plasti dip. Vinyl looks like such a balls to work with.

bbari

Danger781 wrote: »

Plasti dip. Definitely plasti dip. Vinyl looks like such a balls to work with.

Agree, Plasti dip is so easy to work with. Having said that it didn't work for me, probably i didn't apply it properly. I applied on the grill and it came off where the grill was bent.

MarkN

Lads, I'm thinking of one of these.

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Porter_Cable_Complete_Detailing_Kit_p/buf_209.htm

What do I need to know?! Buy a kit?

Mainly I just want to remove light swirls, marks and then apply and buff wax off - that is pretty much it.

edburg

Good bit of kit, porter cable machines go down well in usa.

If you look down page it gives you the recommendations for each pad and what polish to buy.

Detail shed does a tester kit of the CG polish they are recommending on that page for you to start with.

On how to go about things look up Ammonyc and drive clean on you tube, Larry does the best video how 2's out there for working on the cars paint.


Oh yes um buy from the European site so you get the right plugs voltage for machine lol

Curran

Assuming you are using it on or are still driving the F10 5er, then the paint work will be on the extreme end of the hardness scale. Correction with a 500w Dual Action will be slow. Though, that removes any risk involved. While still being quite safe, there are models that come with an 850w motor, and correction with it will be easier. The extra power means the machine won't bog down under pressure.

MarkN

Hi Curran - driving a 2004 325ci at the moment which is in fairly good nick but a polish with a bit of cut wouldn't do any harm. Waxed it a few weeks ago and it has got a lovely shine to it so I know the potential is there to really restore it.

Curran

Paintwork will always benefit from even the lightest of machine polishing. Restoring the gloss, shine and depth of the paint is the biggest factor....while random deep scratches will remain, and will be visible if inspecting the paintwork closely, from a feet away, the paintwork will look vastly improved.

What happened the F10? Or am I confusing you with someone else?

MetzgerMeister

bbari has the F10

Curran

Ohhh, so there's only one F10 in the country!!

edburg

OK curious now, what the pants is a F10 5ER????

MetzgerMeister

Curran wrote: »

Ohhh, so there's only one F10 in the country!!

How many F10 owners are in here who are also into detailing their F10? :P

bbari is the only one I can think of!

edburg wrote: »

OK curious now, what the pants is a F10 5ER????

BMW 5 Series. F10 is the chassis code.

edburg

Cheers, I was at a loss trying to work it out lol

MarkN

Had a 2012 m-sport but sold it last year, bought a house an E60 and a kid (didn't pay for the latter as such) - sold the other 520d a few weeks ago and doing some saving at the moment maybe for a 420d, we'll see.

MetzgerMeister

edburg wrote: »

Cheers, I was at a loss trying to work it out lol

F10 - 2010 - current 5 series
E60 - 2003 - 2010 5 series
E39 - 1996 (?) - 2003 5 series

Curran

edburg wrote: »

OK curious now, what the pants is a F10 5ER????

BMW 5 Series, F10 model

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

How many F10 owners are in here who are also into detailing their F10? :P

bbari is the only one I can think of!

If you have a narrow mind, you cant put two and two together!
Perhaps Im mixing up MarkN, with another person with N as their surname - the other person Im thinking of, is a BMW fan, and I believe they owned a F10.

Curran

So, I was right! :P

bbari

MarkN wrote: »

Had a 2012 m-sport but sold it last year, bought a house an E60 and a kid (didn't pay for the latter as such) - sold the other 520d a few weeks ago and doing some saving at the moment maybe for a 420d, we'll see.

I am thinking of doing the samething myself and I hope I will be able to sell it at good price.

bbari

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

How many F10 owners are in here who are also into detailing their F10? :P

bbari is the only one I can think of!



BMW 5 Series. F10 is the chassis code.

Thanks Metz, I don't know the abc of Detailing, I have learnt a couple of things from few kind guys (Vectra, Curran etc) on this forum and still learning

I'm looking at changing cars. I know I do a bit of my own detailing, but I'm wondering if anyone here would be able to advise on this.


I looked at a car yesterday. Car seemed great in everything but cosmetics. Lots of scuffs and light scratching. Mostly around the driver's side door handles (front and back).

Would it be possible to completely (and I mean 100% completely) eliminate these? You can't feel them, and i've no idea how they got there so bad, but...










And is there a fix for peeling/'nibbled' looking coatings like this, that are peeling away:





Or is that just a case of looking for a scrapyard to replace the parts?


I'm interested in the car and wouldn't have any issue picking up a proper orbital (instead of the DA sh*te I have) to do a proper number on the car (I'd enjoy it, as a hobby, really) but I don't think they'd come out? (the scratches), and it being a 2008+ C5, it doesnt look like there'll be an abundance of them in scrapyards for interior parts to take out.

Curran

Short answer; no, you wont get it 100% right, and I dont think you'd even improve on them vastly to be honest.

Previous owner(s) were pretty carless with their keys when opening the doors!!

frozenfrozen

looks like a drunk person was trying to unlock the door with their key but couldn't quite line it up right . you'd wonder how there could be that many scratches and on both sides. maybe they had big dangly metal bracelets that scratched it every time they opened the door.

that interior bit could be fixed with plastidip that's what it looks like it is? if it feels rubbery

Curran

Curran wrote: »

Short answer; no, you wont get it 100% right, and I dont think you'd even improve on them vastly to be honest.

Previous owner(s) were pretty carless with their keys when opening the doors!!

I don't understand the scratches to be honest. It has central locking, so no need for the key to be anywhere near the handle And the second picture (the worst one) is the rear door!


What if I didn't try to DIY it.. would there be any likelyhood of better results handing it over to one of the lads on here to do a number on it?

Tempted by it, but can't live with those marks.

Curran

Open the car with the central locking, but still have the keys in their hands when they pull the door handle open. Back doors would be caused by opening the door for kids!

True enough.. wasn't really thinking along those lines. I usually tend to use the hand with nothing in it to open the door, and keep sharp steel objects away from the paintwork. Obviously the previous owner wasn't of the same mindset. :rolleyes:


So just to throw it out as I won't be buying anything til monday.. I've asked a chap that I know that does repairs how much a full respray would cost (I'd imagine it'd be far too pricy, but i'd rather ask and be told than not ask and find out later it's not too expensive at all).

But if there's a boardsie on here that reckons they could bring that up (as new) and fancied taking it on let me know. You'd also have pretty bad stone chips on the front bumper, bonnet and wings (some barely noticeable, but definitely about half a dozen that I copped, where the paint is practically gone).


I'm going to look at a different C5 today that has been described as 'immaculate' (obviously!) so mightn't even buy the one above, but either way I'm not buying anything today, so will be Monday, and if one of ye chaps reckon you can do a job on that car I posted above, let me know (feel free to PM me either). I know its unlikely, but no harm in asking.

How anyone could be so careless. The car above is a 2011. My 2001 Focus looks like it's had an easier life!

tommer

Previous owner probably had dogs?? Maybe

vectra

Probably could improve them a lot by carefully touching up followed by touch up lacquer
Then wet sand and polish.
Will never be 100% though.