[harryj41]

Hey guys...
I'm pretty into cleaning cars, I've cleaned cars, racing cars, racing show cars, cars for scrutineering, etc for years... And now, I'm Going to detail my car myself on Saturday, seen as you guys are the oracle of all knowledge help out a friend if I've missed anything...?

1. Wheels first, allow to soak in wonder wheels then jet off
2. Sponge wheels down and detail wheels
3. Jet wheels down
4. Initial Jet Wash Down
5. Snow foam bathe
6. Jet off snow foam
7. Shampoo the car
8. Jet off shampoo
9. Initial dry with shammy
10. Secondary full dry with microfiber cloths
11. Tar Remover on clean microfiber cloth
12. Use 3M Clay bar with soapy water (what type of soap? Car Shampoo?)
13. Dry once more
14. Polish car with a super resin polish
15. Wax Car with HD Hard Wax
16. Clean windows with ?????
17. Apply RAINEX to front and rear windows
18. Alloy wheel conserver applied
19. Clean tires and apply tire gel
20. Rubber preserving gel to bumpers, plastic grilles etc

Can you think of anything I've missed?

Cheers guys!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[roshambo]

I work on the wheels after the body has its stages done (so snow foam, rinse, pre wash on body but fallout remover/imperial on wheels and rinse off together). I snow foam onto a dry car too as I find the foam clings onto the car better.

Personal preference really!

Oh, and bin the sponge and chamois. Get some lambswool mitts and microfibre plush drying towels

Matt

 

[br0wny]

i put shampoo into some water and rub my car with it then rinse

 

[roshambo]

i put shampoo into some water and rub my car with it then rinse

Tresemme, Head & Shoulders or Johnsons baby?

Matt

 

[br0wny]

loreal kids cherry and almond

 

[BistoKid]

There needs to be 40 points of detail not 20 - what is this, amatuer hour?

1. Wheels first, allow to soak in wonder wheels then jet off
2. Nice cup of tea
3. Sponge wheels down and detail wheels
4. Nice cup of tea
5. Jet wheels down
6. Nice cup of tea
7. Initial Jet Wash Down
8. Nice cup of tea
9. Snow foam bathe
.
.
.
........

If at some point it passes 5pm, you can then replace Nice cup of tea with Nice bottle of beer

It must be past 5pm however. We live in a civilised western society and there are rules sir......

 

[DurhamLad1973]

I wouldn't touch my wheels with Wonder Wheels, I only use:

Bilberry

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/valet-pro-bilberry-wheel-cleaner/prod_499.html

for cleaning.

Bilt Hamber Korrosol

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1338

for decontamination.

Use Wheel Woolies for cleaning in between and behind spokes

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1037

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1252

I also would never use a chamois on my car, always a good quality drying towel, to pat dry - never rub or drag over paint. "

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/micro...uys-wooly-mammoth-drying-towel/prod_1003.html

Clean windows with Fast Glass

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/interior/interior-glass-cleaners/autoglym-fast-glass/prod_747.html

Tyre dressing? You cannot go wrong with

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/zaino/zaino-z-16-perfect-tire-gloss/prod_476.html

its not a gel so you do not get a "fling" in the side of your car.

These are just my opinions and I'm sure people have other ideas.

Andy.

 

[br0wny]

In real life I use pretty much one of every auto finesse product available. I love their stuff. And the packaging and their customer service is unbeatable.

 

[scrounger]

Agree with the above.

Get rid of the chamois. It will inflict more damage than you think.

Us a fall out remover eg autofinesse iron out. Chances are you wont need the clay bar after that.

AG super resin polish is good but from what I'm told it's full of fillers so only hides the swirls. Personally I use G-Techniq P1. It's a great water based polish that can be used by hand or by machine. Plus you can just hose any dust or residue off. SRP is a ***** to get off plastics.

You can use your car shampoo as a clay lube. As you wash your car go over the recently washed panel with your clay.

 

[Crafty]

I'd echo what Andy says, korrosol will remove Fallout and should mean you don't need to use anything on the wheels other than water.

I keep anything to do with wheels separate - bucket, mitt, towel.

I found that after korrosol (other fallout removers may be the same but I haven't used them) on fresh paint there was no contamination that could be removed with clay. Worth testing though.

As to what products to use, in all honesty there are so many its personal preference.
I used 3M ultrafina because I find it really easy to use with a good result and none of that dust that SRP creates that used to drive me mad years ago.

When it comes to wheels I think there are advantages to the ceramic coatings like qtechniq c5, but they are awkward to use and are pricey. Due to the weather I've delayed using one and put fkp 1000 on the faces for now.

If you need to buy some stuff try angelwax stuff, I've used their shampoo, tyre stuff (called elixir) and their glass sealant (called h2go) which is sort of like rainx but apparently lasts longer. If you use

http://www.remyrocshop.co.uk

and enter code babybmw you get 10% discount as James is a member here.

Don't forget to post some pics of your hard work!

 

[harryj41]

Thanks for the help guys really is a huge help I'm limited to what I can use now as I want to do it on Saturday. But the brands I use are AG, AG HD Wax, Wonderwheels, Maguires Tire Gel, iFoam, AG shampoo, 3M clay bar, AG tar remover, AG glass polish, rainex. I'm not sure what to use for the bumper trim? I may have missed something there. I'll post pictures of the results!

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[br0wny]

I may be alone but I find all AG products apart from SRP cringe worthily rubbish.

Wonder wheels is the devil.

 

[Red5]

I think WW is non-acidic these days. I used to have some for emergencies. When my CSL-ish wheels were getting old, the finish was quite mat, so needed actual acid to get the welded on bits of crap off them.

Bloody BMW brake pads are shocking! Porsche brakes shed nowhere here the amount of the 130/135i ones. What does get on the wheels, is a fine covering, not the welded on chunks I used to have to deal with!

As others have said though....
Snow foam the dry car.
Get a waffle and some micro fibres to dry with.

The rest is better than most people out there bother with, so you'll have a very nice looking car when you're done
You can get decontaminants and other stuff later.

Btw... Are you using AG tar remover? I ask, as I had some and it actually doesn't do a damn thing to tar spots.
I told James (Remyroc) I had some ineffective product and he named it before I could say what it was
Anything else in Halfords will do a better job

 

[DaleB90]

Lots of good advice in here. You want a minimum of 3 buckets like mentioned, 2 bucket method on the body work and a seperate bucket for the wheels. If you want to splash out get the wheel woolies, they are great.

If you are not going to machine polish with a DA or Rotary I wouldn't risk clay barring. There's a good chance of inflicting marring on the paint work and trying to hand polish that out will be extremely difficult.

Not to cause offence but I think the likes of autoglym, rainex, wonder wheels etc are all the usual stuff people new to detailing purchase just because they are known names/available in halfords. If it's what you've got then use it but when it comes to replenishing your products there's alternatives available that are better at the same cost or cheaper.

Currently I'm using mostly Auto Finnese and Gtechniq products for the my wheel and window coatings (I think they are great). When it comes to doing it again I'll probably look at different products, just because I think it's good to try different products out.

Get some pics up once you are done

 

[br0wny]

When it comes to doing it again I'll probably look at different products, just because inthinknits good to try different products out.

It's been a strange morning.

 

[Menace]

Yeah some good advice in thread OP.

As Dale just mentioned I'd forgo the clay bar for all the reasons he listed also note: car paint is not what it used to be (ticking of green box to thank for that) as it is now water based, BMW also appear to apply the finest of coats too so marring is a definite possibility.

I'm also going to stick my neck out and state if you did clay I'd be surprised if you get out off it once you have run through the other processes.

Personally I tend to clay once / sometime twice a year just before getting a decent seal on. A lot will use the likes of Dodo Juice as lube however I'm a big fan of the Bilt Hamber bar which is recommend for use with good old water - I use a regular spray mist to wet down.

One to remember - it can be easy to get carried away with how far you push the likes of Detailing (been their and done it) the thing to remember is the car is for use and will ALWAYS keep getting dirty so try not to get too hung up on it. Clean, protect and ENJOY!

Look forward to the pics

 

[DaleB90]

When it comes to doing it again I'll probably look at different products, just because inthinknits good to try different products out.

It's been a strange morning.

Hahahaha that's got me laughing out loud!

 

[scrounger]

I have a tendency to just clay the windscreen and rear screen. It's surprising how much crap comes off.

G-Techniq G1&G2 for the glass is excellent. Their spray Sealant C2v3 is outstanding. I haven't used a hard wax since I discovered it!

 

[Crafty]

I've never had marring from 'normal' clays but I know aggressive ones can do so.

If its going to be a bit cold this weekend you can warm up the clay by putting it in warm water before use, this works better than warming it in your hands if its very cold.

 

[DurhamLad1973]

If claying is something that scares you, use plenty of lube (ohh err missus) you should be ok, alternatively you could use a clay cloth which are easier to use.

http://youtu.be/9-4vC5jPtr8