How to detail your car for real.

[Buster]

Like I had said before, if its a pain in the butt, then its working properly. Meguiars is a great product and have been in the business for a long time so I would trust what you are using. The way I do my own car is a simple set of steps and pretty much comes out the same everytime.

[Cabra]

you have a pm

[peteyturbo]

I think I will add to this because it really has not been explained in detail and it's that time of year that most people want to get all the crud from the winter off of their paint and have their car looking lik new again.The previous write up was excellent and I'm not knocking but but rather adding to it. I will share my experiences as far as paint cleaning and protection are concerned.There is alot to explain about every aspect of your car but this is probably the most important.This process will take most of the day depending on what condition your clear coat is in.

First, wash the car with DAWN dish soap (only do this if you are planning to follow the rest of the steps). DAWN has a high PH level that will eat away all remaining wax on your car.It will not damage your clear coat in any way and it will make the next step alot easier. Make sure you rinse off well.

Next, after you have washed and dried your car with the dish soap it's time to get down to buisness.

The first thing I do is go over the entire car with a clay bar and meguier's quick detailer, this part is very easy and will take about one hour. You will be amazed at the difference, and the amount of crap that was in your clearcoat. You want to use a high quality clay bar but the 15 dollar mothers clay bar from autozone works ok too. Do one small section at a time making sure it is always lubricated with quick detailer, and you can feel when the contaminants have been removed, then wipe dry and make sure your car is clean for the next step.

Next, after you've clay bar'd your entire car it's time to start working, and believe me this step is alot easier after you have clay bar'd the car. You are going to need a potent cleaner to get your clearcoat as smooth as possible for shine and durability. I use meguiers paint cleaner or I think fine cut- cleaner is about the same, it's about 9 bux a bottle. This type of product you will want to keep off of all of your trim, ect. You will need to take about 2 hours to go over your entire car the right way. Working a small section at a time until you will be able to tell that the spot you just did is as smooth as a baby's butt. The product will come off in a different way then it would if the clearcoat still had contaminants in it so it's not that hard to tell which areas need it more and which need less.This product works excellent for paint stained by your exhaust, small scratches, faded paint,ect. After you have applied and removed your clear coat cleaner to the entire car (as per directions on the bottle) it's time to go on to the next step, POLISH.

Polishing will fill in all of the tiny little abrasions caused by the contaminants and the slightly abrasive nature of cleaning your clear coat. This is the most important step to get the most shine out of your paint so you may want to do it twice. I use meguiers reflections for this. Basicly you want to transfer as much polish to your car as possible so with most polishes you want to let it sit on your car for awhile before removing it. Polish contains alot of oils to give your car the wet look and really brings out the color while in the meantime it bonds to your virgin clearcoat filling in all of those fine scratches and swirl marks.

The next step is of course the WAX. Caranuba is best, I prefer ZYMOL Japon, which was made for the type of clearcoats used in japanese cars, but if you have the $$ get Zymol concours. If you use concourse you will need to apply it with your fingertips which is fun but it works unlike anything I have ever used before. FYI a jar of concourse is about 150 lol. Any caranuba wax will do but in this dept you get what you pay for. Typicly one coat of wax will suffice but some people like to do two just to ensure all of that work they've spent all day doing will last a long time. The job of the wax is to seal in the properties of the polish for as long as possible and provide protection to your clearcoat, so its a good idea to use a spray wax after you wash your car to keep that layer of wax protected and keep from diminishing for as long as possible.

Ziano is a whole other ball game as it is a synthetic polymer and is much thinner then caranuba,ect. Ziano will typicly yeild more shine then a traditional wax because of how thin it is but takes more effort to keep it in pristine condition for an extended period of time regardless of what they advertise. Ziano is an excellent product but its pretty much for the hardcore detailers out there.

That about wraps it up, just wanted to shed some light on this since no one really explained what everything does. I'm not a car show nut or anything, but I have renewed many of cars over the years and thout I'd share my experiences..Hopefully someone will a get a use out of this since it took me 20min. to type .

[Buster]

Some good tips, It's Keiths Uncle. I've been doing this since Blue Coral was the best on the market, That's a long time ago.

Some of you may want to consider the first approach to getting the car clean. Separate buckets for wheels and tires, lower panels and one for the top. Wheels and tires always first, Open all jambs use a light cleaner like a fine mix of simple green to get the door jamb oils and grime out, plus the trunk and if you decide a quick clean under the hood that should be all that's needed cause most of you are touching up the engine alot. Sponge out all the jambs including underneath the bottoms of the doors, close hose them down, move to the lower of the car. Rinsing isn't enough, a sponge is needed to get rid of loose particles that you don't want to drag to the top of the car. front and rear lowers get the same. All the lips of the wheel wells get a good wipe as you're going along too. Resoak the car and with a fresh bucket, begin from the top down. "NEVER IN THE SUN" Some of the points in the above post are very good, but Dawn is wayyy too strong and will remove the wax as said but also it will etch the clear and remove needed solvents in the paint that keep it shining with normal care. Step down to a standard wash, you're going to be doing the polishing or clay bar which does the same but without the harsh detergents.

Since you now have the car clean and soaking wet, time to dry, but there are a couple of things you may want to do before running a towel or shammy over it. A spray is going to still leave a ton of water so rinse with a stream, more water less spots. At this point you grab your can of pledge yes pledge once the car is dried and the jambs are slightly wet, spray well and wipe out the jambs of the pledge. It will protect and keep the grime from setting back with each wash. You'll go back to this later.

You're ready to polish. Don't be afraid to mask off rubber trim or sharp edges, with a rotary polisher, orbitals are less strain on edges. Polishing / waxing techniques have been covered above.

Your car is now smooth and waxed with whatever you plan to use. I prefer to stay away from "white" waxes, and use the liquids more. Zymol is expensive but leaves no white residue on black trim. I also don't let the wax dry, you can rub it in and rub it off, drying wax does nothing to make it last longer. The average life of wax is 3% loss per day outside.

Assuming the tires were dressed well before you began polishing you'll be left with some residual dust in the jambs or the edges of the trunk and hood. You already prepped them so they just need a quick wipe. A good test to see how well you did when done, but you're not so you'll have to wait till the next paragraph is to run the clear plastic covering from a cigarette pack over your finished work. It should not grab or cling to a small spot on the car. A before and after meaning after the wash will show you the major difference in how smooth it is now.

Glass, Glass, Glass !! Nothing is clean until the windows are sparkling. During the wash you have the option of running steel wool #0000 over all your glass with soap, or doing it now with window cleaner no heavy presure is needed, use a razor blade to scrape excess grime from the edges of the glass.

Finish off the glass properly and the car will now have a full gleam to every part.

I saw this thread and just wanted to add. My nephew is pretty darn good at this stuff and I was at one time. Too old and tired to do this again, thanks for listening

[silver05bullet]

you guys know i got some fine scratches on my rear passenger window dunno where they came from but is there something i can do about them? You cant really see them unless your at the right angle.

[turbotool]

Originally Posted by 99SL2_Modder

Any tips on how to clean the backs of mirrors well? I kinda have 1 new mirror to put on, but it's uber shiny compared to the other side...

A high speed buffer/polisher will make that mirror look just as good as the new one. You'll need to use polish or wax with the buffer, of course.

[peteyturbo]

Some of the points in the above post are very good, but Dawn is wayyy too strong and will remove the wax as said but also it will etch the clear and remove needed solvents in the paint that keep it shining with normal care

I have had nothing but great results.Granted I dilute the dawn to a reasonable level. Dawn has a high alkalidity level but is not acidic. It's main purpose really is to strip the clear down to its bare chemical makeup, and start from a clean slate without keeping your old solvents (polish) on the surface. This makes for a surface thats easier for the next steps to bond to..

Excellent write-up and there are alot of good tips in there, glad you could share.

[Buster]

If you want your car detailed I would prefer to do it on my work time. Come to Reedman-Toll and go to the appropriate service center. A full detail comes to just about $150.00. This includes full wash, buffing, clay, wheels, engine degreased, carpets and floors extracted, and a full wax. For the price its pretty good.

There are four guys on the full details and I am one of them. If you come in ask them to write on the car that you are a TST member and I will have your car directed to me. I can give no discounts. I will consider side jobs in the spring. Its honestly too cold to spend my only day off in the cold.

[Cabra]

k thanks....btw I was no try to get you to do it outside of work

[Cabra]

where is Reedman-Toll?

address?

[bluengoldsti]

1700 east lincoln highway (business rt 1) langhorne, pa 19047.

[Buster]

haha I bet you bought your STi there didnt you?

In the summer I will be a little more inclined to doing outside work, but with the weather and all I would like to work in a warm place.

[Cabra]

Originally Posted by bluengoldsti

1700 east lincoln highway (business rt 1) langhorne, pa 19047.

thanks

[wgb113]

GREAT info here guys! I clean my car more than anyone in my neighborhood. I am "that guy". A clean car, inside and out, says a lot about a person IMO.

Last year it was microfiber towels to wash, white bath towels to dry. McGuire's NXT wash liquid, liquid wax, and quick detailer. Black Magic's tire gel, Eagle 1's window cleaner. Properly diluted Simple Green for the interior. McGuire's Gold Class tire and wheel brushes. Nu-finish Scratch Doctor. Craftsman Wet/Dry with detailing attachments.

All of that was on my silver '04 Impreza which, let's face it, hides a lot. This year I decided to take it to the next level for my black '06 Impreza. After doing some research on various websites and talking to some other Subie owners I've decided to go with the following:

Menzerna Auto Shampoo
Menzerna Final Polish II
Menzerna Finishing Touch Glaze
Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket
Menzerna High Gloss Acrylic Shield
California Exterior duster and dash duster
303 Aerospace Cleaner
303 Aerospace Protectant
Classic Motoring's Best Microfiber Towel Kit
Classic Motoring's Big Blue II Drying Towel
Griots Garage Wheelwell brush
Wheel Wax
Wheel Wax's Tire Shine
Stoner's Invisible Glass

Can't wait until it all arrives and I get a nice weekend. Some good sites for more info:

www.autopia.org
www.properautocare.com
www.griotsgarage.com

Bill

[SexyDSM95]

Keith
I think I asked you about this before. My wheels are horrendous! I have scum/buildup on them that do not come off with wheel cleaner and brushing. I tried a Nylon brush, but I would be there forever scrubbing. I have been asking around about the wheel cleaner with acid in it?

Just wondering if you could get me more info or suggest something else.

[james_ls]

Do you do this as a service?

If so...can you send me more information??

[the mike]

Is there a commercially available wheel cleaner with acid in it? I know our detail dept uses an acid cleaner, but I don't like dealing with those guys....

[Buster]

Eagle One has a wire wheel cleaner that is fairly aggressive, you can use it on any wheel but do one at a time and very quickly or it will haze your finish, Your boys probably use ardex. If they do that stuff is great but again you have to use it one at a time and very quickly.

[2slowMX5]

Originally Posted by the mike

Is there a commercially available wheel cleaner with acid in it? I know our detail dept uses an acid cleaner, but I don't like dealing with those guys....

When I worked at a dealer, we used chemicals and supplies from Ardex. They make a brake dust remover called "buster". It is VERY acidic. If you get some on your skin and dont remove it right away it starts to itch and burn! Its meant for a quick removal of brake dust, like for use in a dealer, when you dont have much time to spend on the wheels.

Anyway... I gripped up some before I left. I usually spray water on my wheels first BEFORE spraying the buster, to dilute it. Go full force if the wheels are real bad.

[CHAOS]

here is a question, my windows appear to have permanent water spots.... ive hit them with stoners, hit em with windex basically any glass cleaner i can find and nothing works... the previous owner lived near a nuclear power plant in Limerick so that leads me to believe they are acid etched... anything to fix this short of getting new glass?