What's your car valeting/detailing routine?

Theboinkmaster

Right

I suffer from a mild version of OCD in terms of neatness and cleanliness and this is no more evident than my complusion to clean my car every week. I'm obsessed with my car being clean.

So I was wondering what everyone's routine is? In terms of what they do, how they do it and what products they use?

My car is pear-effect black and looks amazing when clean but sh!t when not, plus the smallest of scratches show up easily :mad: (next car will so be silver....)

- I use a shell jetwash every week and shake out the mats
- Each month I hand clean the car just using simonze (or whatever it's called!) soap and a sponge. I clean the inside with a damp cloth and hoover everywhere. I use a shamois to dry it off also and just use a sponge everywhere.
- Since I got my 07 in Jan I waxed it once last month and it looked really great (just used normal turtle wax), want to do it again soon but finding the weather a problem

My Qs are:

- what products do you use and can you get them in halfords or somewhere
- should i wax and polish and use clay etc? (don't even know the difference!)
- how long do you spend cleaning your car
- is using turtle wax scratch remover a good idea or should i use something else?
- do you use a buffering machine to wax/polish (saw a cheap enough one in argos) or just elbow grease?!
- for minor scratches how do you buff them out?
- any other tips?

Sure post any pictures of your hard work if you can!

nialler

these guys come highly recommended.

http://www.meguiars.com/

Fey!

Megs and Autoglym!

There's another active thread on this topic somewhere.

Theboinkmaster

Ah sorry just saw this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055135364

What's the difference between waxing and polishing?

JoeA3

in simple terms, polishing is somewhat abrasive - in that it takes a tiny layer of paint/clearcoat (not sure), thus polishing is good for removing small imperfections, minor scratches, etc.
Waxing adds a layer of protection to the paint, i.e. a layer of protective wax! A good wax should leave a deep, rich shine, and you'll see rain "bead" on the bonnet/roof.

So you'd polish first (if necessary) and wax on top.

Theboinkmaster

How often should you wash/polish/wax etc?

Is it bad for the paint to powerhose/use sponge/polish/wax too frequently?

MarkN

You could wash your car everyday if you liked.

It more than likely does not need to be polished though unless it has marks on the paint like light scratches but even then, unless you have a porter cable buffer, I would leave it to the pros.

Waxing is easy enough, that cheap turtle wax stuff is nasty though, spend a few quid and you will see results.

I use Swissol wax on my car, it cost me around €200 2 or 3 years ago and I still have some.

AlanAhern

dont use those crap drive through car washes. use a sponge and warm water with soap and then hose it down. make sure the sponge is clean each time it touches the body of the car.

Neilw

Some great information on the forums here http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/

If your looking for some proper detailing products contact Daragh from http://www.smartcarcare.ie/catalog/index.php he sells some really good products that you can usually only get from the UK.

Thanks,
Neil.

cjt156

Jet washers, drive-throughs, sponges and Karchers will all drive/drag the grit on your car across your paintwork resulting in millions of tiny (or worse) scratches.
You want to hose off the worst of the cr@p (gently) then use a lambswool washmit and 2 buckets (one to wash the car, one to rinse the mit).
Products; I use Meguiars (how the hell do you pronounce that BTW) - good enough for the DIY-er.
Clay bar once a year, polish every few months, wax after every wash. Their trim detailer is good too, gets all the plastic/rubber bits back to a deep black.

Then of course it rains for the rest of the week & the car looks like cr@p again...

milltown

cjt156 wrote:

Products; I use Meguiars (how the hell do you pronounce that BTW)

It's pronounced the same as the more familiar to us Maguires/McGuires. Check their website for lots of videos of owner Barry Meguiar and his permatan raving about and demoing his products.

http://www.meguiars.com/

Theboinkmaster

cjt156 wrote:

Jet washers, drive-throughs, sponges and Karchers will all drive/drag the grit on your car across your paintwork resulting in millions of tiny (or worse) scratches.
You want to hose off the worst of the cr@p (gently) then use a lambswool washmit and 2 buckets (one to wash the car, one to rinse the mit).
Products; I use Meguiars (how the hell do you pronounce that BTW) - good enough for the DIY-er.
Clay bar once a year, polish every few months, wax after every wash. Their trim detailer is good too, gets all the plastic/rubber bits back to a deep black.

Then of course it rains for the rest of the week & the car looks like cr@p again...

Well bugger that by using a sponge (and 1 bucket!) ive been scratching my car all year fook :eek:

But is jetwashing really bad for it?! I spray the car down before i use the brush (to lube her up), give it a light scrub then hose down?

irish.rugby.fan

cjt156 wrote:

Jet washers, drive-throughs, sponges and Karchers will all drive/drag the grit on your car across your paintwork resulting in millions of tiny (or worse) scratches.
You want to hose off the worst of the cr@p (gently) then use a lambswool washmit and 2 buckets (one to wash the car, one to rinse the mit).
Products; I use Meguiars (how the hell do you pronounce that BTW) - good enough for the DIY-er.
Clay bar once a year, polish every few months, wax after every wash. Their trim detailer is good too, gets all the plastic/rubber bits back to a deep black.

Then of course it rains for the rest of the week & the car looks like cr@p again...

There is absolutely no need to wax your car after every wash. You must either be using too harsh a shampoo/car wash or using some really poor wax like Megs Nxt or Gold Class both of which are really just sealents.

Its definitely worth the extra spend to get a good quality wax as itll save you a huge amount of time as you'l only have to wax the car a few times a year.

cjt156

Yeah I've been using NXT, bought it bargain basement. Like I said, good enough for DIY on a 8yr old car with a shed load of scratches.
I know serious guys spend a fortune on carnauba & the like but I'm a skinflint!

TomMc

Most carnauba waxes only last between 2 to 3 months tops (if a car is garaged), and that is the more expensive ones (non-cleaning natural or synthetic waxes). Only the mega priced ones that cost thousands will last any longer and only if layered several times over, on spotless paint. Most of the generic ones sold in shops are mainly cleaning waxes, which mostly contain cheap petrochemicals (topped up with a fairly low wax content, by volume) so only last about 2 weeks, at peak performance. Some budget priced ones like Collinite will last a decent enough length of time (a few months, once applied over fully cleaned paint) but will lose the just waxed look a good bit sooner. The best sealants on the other hand are much more durable so last 6 to 9 months and more. In the real world they are the best way to go for protecting a car out in our crappy weather and road conditions, 24/7.

su_dios

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

Go there for all car products you need. I ordered from them a while ago and took two days and had a great selection. Got myself one of the lambswool sponges and they're great. I really don't like those lambswool mitts and this is a good compromise. I also bought a whole set of the sonus microfibre cloths which are great too. Really impressed by the results from claying my car. When it comes to me cleaning my car I use turtle wax car shampoo(because its cheap and theres lots of it) then the occasional polish with autoglym super resin plus and then autoglym rubber trim for the interior and of course back to black for the tyres and rub strips. I have yet to wax my car but the car shines better than most 07 cars straight out of the showroom.

Theboinkmaster

Well lads you'll be proud of me - just back from a trip to halfords

Spent about €130 on meguairs and autoglym products

Got wash, wax, polish, micro fibre mitts/cloths etc, tyre cleaner/protector, alloy cleaner/brushes and a nice shiny red bucket

Now all I need is some decent weather this weekend to use the stuff

su_dios

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Well lads you'll be proud of me - just back from a trip to halfords

Spent about €130 on meguairs and autoglym products

Got wash, wax, polish, micro fibre mitts/cloths etc, tyre cleaner/protector, alloy cleaner/brushes and a nice shiny red bucket

Now all I need is some decent weather this weekend to use the stuff

Oh see theres where you've gone wrong!..:D

highlandseoghan

Try the Hand Car Wash in ClareHall Shopping Center they wash the car by hand using sponge and wash mitt. they do an excellent job and they leather dry it and apply tyre dressing all for only €10 its a great job it takes them about 25 min but you can look around the shops while they wash your car there number is 0863105592 they also do inside

HungryJoey

Avoid sponges when washing cars, they just swirl the paint too much. Stick using a washing cotton/microfibre mitt.

Personally, when washing cars my self, I find it nessecary to do a decent job each time or you'll be landed with trouble later on with paint work. Hence why I dispise Car washes or these wash centers. If you can't be bothered with all the hasle, bring your car to a car detailing company or a proper valeting center who know what they are doing.

When I wash cars, I spend several hours doing it properly.

Products I use my self are Meguiars, Poor boy's, Auto Glym and find they do a great job. Obviously for the more " Profesional " jobs, there are more expensive products availible that do a brilliant job.

Halfords, although they do have a good selection of auto glym, meguiars products etc, don't stock alot of brands such as poor boy's or some of the more profesional brand products. So don't count on them having the best car care products, they don't always.

Some great info in this thread, also in the several other threads around at the moment. This isn't a topic that gets covered very often & I am glad to see so many people devoting the time to their paint work, which alot of irish drivers over look and that is why there are so many cars on the market, driving around with paint that looks like a 69'er ice cream cone :rolleyes: (I'll get my coat..)

Check out the link in my signature for some advice, tips & products.

Hj

Orange69

I also have a bad case of OCD, both my laptop and car are spotless at all times..

I usually clean the interior and exterior of the car including a wax/polish once a month by hand.. I wouldn't take it to a regular car wash as i think they are too abrasive and i feel if it was hand washed by anyone else they would do a half assed job!