Detailers Unite

[mentalcase]

That time of the year is almost upon us, well here in NJ we are still being subjected to freezing temps, but I'm talking about spring detailing!!!

I can't wait to whip out my random orbital and give this thing a good base for warm month maintenance.

Any one else take their car's cleanliness very seriously? What's your favorite recipe?

 

[danieljw]

That time of the year is almost upon us, well here in NJ we are still being subjected to freezing temps, but I'm talking about spring detailing!!!

I can't wait to whip out my random orbital and give this thing a good base for warm month maintenance.

Any one else take their car's cleanliness very seriously? What's your favorite recipe?

I'm with you. Planning to give the polisher a spin next week, cold be damned. I don't do anything too fancy. Wash, clay if necessary, compound, polish, wax. I don't do this that often, so I just go with Meguiar's Ultimate products. Basically the same as their professional stuff but in lesser quantities. I'll probably also Lexol my upholstery.

Join us at reddit.com/r/autodetailing

 

[mentalcase]

I've always been a fan of Meguiar's three-step and their ultimate detailer has been my choice for years. I used to be completely anal retentive with my 07 3, but after I traded that in I kind of let it go by the way side. Definitely going to get back into the game.

Time to stock up.

 

[Surfsup]

Going to hit mine with a good wash, IronX, then use a Griot Garage 6, using a 5" Lake Country backing plate and an orange or gray CCS Lake Country pad, using Menzerna SF4000. Since it is new I don't think I will require anything after that. Once that's done I will hit it with a specialized nano-chemical bond that will be a permanent sealer - similar to Opticoat but better (and not available for retail, sorry). I'll detail the interior and wheels as well, of course, and nano the wheels so I never have to deal with them again except hose 'em off. I have all my stuff, just want the weather to be better.

 

[mentalcase]

That opticoat stuff sounds intriguing, amazing, and scary all at the same time.

 

[jeremy44]

I'll come back to this thread when the snow banks are gone and it's not -10C outside -_-
But here's a pic from this past summer, hand washed, clay bar, waxed all with Meguair's top of the line products

 

[SayNoToPistons]

Autopia and Autogeek avid here. Just ordered a about $100 worth of stuff to refresh the detailing stash a bit. Autopia had a nice 25% off sale two weeks ago.

 

[Surfsup]

Autopia had a nice 25% off sale two weeks ago.

Damn...missed it. Been getting stuff at AGO that I can't find locally...

 

[Rich 65]

Yup - can't wait either. I am more of a traditional wax on wax off kind of guy so no orbital for me. I was a big Sonax fan when I had my Saab but now I am going to try the Mother's Reflexion line. For the first wash of the spring I go to the local car wash so the underbody gets a good rinse. I do a very basic with no wax or anything. I get home and then do all the plastic trim. Then I give her a coat of polish then finish with a wax. If I feel good I will rotate my wheels and while they are off, detail them. I like to use a glaze and then a wax on the rims. When I do this, I rarely need to use a wheel cleaner, just a cheap car soap. I read somewhere that you should treat your rims like you would treat the car's paint - so no cheap acid based wheel cleaner for me. I am usually too tired or too excited to drive the car to get to the interior so I leave it for the next weekend. For leather I use Lexol and for vinyl/plastic I use Vinylex. Can't wait to see my Jet Black Mica really shine (I got it in Nov )Good clean N.J. fun!

 

[mentalcase]

Surfsup - Thanks for turning me on to opticoat. After researching this stuff I can't wait to get my hands on a tube. I don't have a garage so I'll have to head over to my parent's to do this, but still can't wait.

What polish would you recommend to treat the paint before hand. I can't imagine the paint being that bad as I just took delivery a month ago, but then again who knows what was done at the dealership.

 

[JTNY]

Had the Mazda for 2 years now and I stick with my usual spring detail.

Dawn Dishwasher Detergent wash (strips any leftover wax) using Gilmour Foam gun
Clay (using a Pinnacle clay bar)
Wash again with Dawn
Left blower to dry off
Klasse AIO (to prep for the glaze) with porter cable 7424 (orange dimpled polish pad)
Not much aggressive polishing needed since the car is white and its hard to see swirls )
Klasse SG (2-4 coats with soft polish pad) locks in shine

Wheels - 2 coats of wheel wax (forgot the name)
Leather - Griot Garage leather cleaner
Vinylex to treat interior dash

 

[Surfsup]

Surfsup - What polish would you recommend to treat the paint before hand. I can't imagine the paint being that bad as I just took delivery a month ago, but then again who knows what was done at the dealership.

Hard to tell without seeing the car. A car has primer, paint, then clearcoat. The key is to correct the clearcoat only as much as you have to, to get it to smooth out and shine, without removing more than you need to. So if the car is new, a light cutting product 2-4 on the scale of 1-10 is probably what you want and you can use a more aggressive pad if you need to. For example, I have Menzerna SF4000 which is a cut of 4 out of 10, which is light. I have a finishing pad and a cutting pad (actually three: orange, gray and red). I figure I will try the finish pad first on a test section, see the result, if I need more I will run a new test section with the cutting pad (orange LC CCS pad) and if that looks good, do the whole car. I doubt I will need more than that. Menz chart below:

 

[Surfsup]

Leather - Griot Garage leather cleaner

How do you like the GG LC? I have Leather Master Protectant Cream and love it. Never tried GG LC though.

I also use 303 aerospace protectant on the dash/vinyl stuff. Works great.

 

[mentalcase]

How do you like the GG LC? I have Leather Master Protectant Cream and love it. Never tried GG LC though.

I also use 303 aerospace protectant on the dash/vinyl stuff. Works great.

I used 303 aerospace protectant on my previous car where the passenger airbag was notorious for leaving lines in the dash. Took them right out and kept them out.

 

[V8toilet]

1. Wash with car wash.

2. Clay bar whole car.

3. Wax with CR top rated Turtle wax ICE wax PASTE. Liquid is no good. The ICE paste wax is great because it doesn't leave any white residue on the black plastic.

4. Repeat for wheels too with same products.

5. Use ICE paste wax on interior piano black plastic trim too.

6. Sit back and relish cars awesomeness.

 

[runtohell121]

Just did a detail on my Insight...

Wash car with dawn shop or something to strip off old wax
Clay car (used nanoskin autoscrub, much faster)
DA Meguiar MF D300/D301 whole car
BF Crystal Seal

Maybe some spray on wax after BF Crystal Seal

 

[danieljw]

Did mine today, just in time for some nice beading! Sorry for the camera shake.

 

[Felt_Rider]

Last I did mine was in the early fall and I am looking forward to a good weekend to spend a day. I am new to this level of detailing and did some reading on the detailing forums with some tips on this forum to get a jump from the basic wash and wax up to a little more effort.

I suppose I will use the same process as the last time, but I am thinking about adding a decent polisher to my tool list.

Last fall
1. First wash with Meguiar Gold with the two bucket method after letting it soak for a few minutes using a foam sprayer
2. clay bar (had a little issue with the clay catching on the hood's XPEL film in one spot)
3. Second wash with a clean microfiber mitt and keeping the water clean4.
4. Applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss 3.0 Sealant to paint and windows in 2 thin coats and 3 on the hood, let it sit in the shade for 30 minutes
5. Wiped down
6. Applied Mother's Back to Black to exterior trim
7. Applied sealant on the wheels
8. My CX5 was only a few months old and the interior was very clean. I used to Swiffer duster and applied 303 to plastic and vinyl.
9. Put the CX5 in the garage and let it sit overnight for the sealant to cure.

I am very new to cleaning a car like this so I am sure I made some mistakes and inefficiencies. It took me more than 10 hours of going over the CX5, but it was a very rewarding experience especially when I pulled it out the garage the next day. Wow! Not too shabby. I will say having the premium white and applying a clear colored sealant that dries almost clear was extremely difficult to see if I was getting spread over the whole car evenly. I followed the directions and applied more than 2 thin coats letting each panel dry before adding a new coat. Then I wiped it down after the 30 minute drying time.

I was amazed at how well the sealant held up through the fall and winter. The sealant on the windows worked much better than RainX.

This next detail will require more effort inside and out with more dust collecting in the cracks and crevices in the dash, door sills are dirty, engine compartment needs cleaning this time. A lot to do and it may need to be spread into two weekends since I am already time crunched.

I will stick with the same products this time around since I have mostly full bottles, but I will get some new clay.

Apart from detailing I have to say that I am also extremely happy that I got the XPEL self healing film applied. The front end of the CX5 still looks great and it gave me peace of mind on some long interstate trips.

 

[Rich 65]

Does cold beer help a long detailing session go faster?!

 

[JTNY]

Cold beer is good anytime!

When i was in my early 20's I could easily detail for hours on end with every conceivable product/methodology out there. I was a junky on Autopia reading up on the latest products and reviews.

Now married in my mid30's time is a PREMIUM and my wife is not too cool with me spending the entire day/weekend detailing. Now I have to be ULTRA efficient ... at some point i might have to just outsource the work...


Anyone else in the same boat?