Today I did some detailing...

Curran

Fine Grade Steel Wool (0000 grade) and a metal polish if it heavily contaminated with carbon deposits. Followed by bringing up the final shine with metal polish on a microfiber.

Ogogo

If I can be bold enough to ask a noob question ??? for a white car (golf) whats the best option for finish, one of the high tech coatings or a wax with repeat application on a regular basis?

Any recommendations for a specific product?

Foxhole Norman

I too did an A5 in the lovely rain today, foamed, washed, de-tared, de-ironed, clayed and waxed.

MetzgerMeister

How the hell did you wax it in the rain? :P

Landsail tyres..................

Foxhole Norman

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

How the hell did you wax it in the rain? :P

Landsail tyres..................

Let's just say there was some odd looks in the Tesco multistorey :pac:

vintagevrs

Did you remove the rear diffuser thing to clean the exhaust?

tech

ya!!!

Curran

Ogogo wrote: »

If I can be bold enough to ask a noob question ??? for a white car (golf) whats the best option for finish, one of the high tech coatings or a wax with repeat application on a regular basis?

Any recommendations for a specific product?

Both options you mentioned are vastly different.
The nano coating will be a lot more critical to the prep work done right or it won't perform as well as it should. Given that it's so durable, you need to be sure that you are 100% happy with the paintwork condition, because if you realise afterwards that there is defects, say swirls, the only way to remove the coating is by machine polishin. You'll have to get through the coating before you can get to correct the defect.

With a traditional wax or sealant while the prep is important, if it's not done quite right, it will perform quite well or its easy to remove to re-try if something didn't work out right.

Anything applied on a the paintwork after a decent decontamination / prep will look great. The de-iron step makes a really noticeable difference on white, as when the paint is fully cleansed, the white really pops.

There are so many factors when choosing what to go for; durability, appearance, easy of application and removal, price, etc. Waxes generally look best on darker colours. Sealants give a sharper or glassy look which is usually suited to lighter colours. Then would you rather something very simple to apply such as a spray sealant, spray on, buff off, walk away.

Specific products?
Collinite 845 is a great all rounder for the price.
Bilt Hamber Double Speed Wax if you want something durable from a traditional wax
CarPro Cquartz CQUK or Gtecniq if you wanted to go for the nano route
CarPro Reload for a spray sealant

There are so many options!

MetzgerMeister

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Let's just say there was some odd looks in the Tesco multistorey :pac:

Fair play to you. Never give a crap who or what gives you weird looks. IMO it shows dedication and supplying a good service.

I did a rather lazy job today but the car only really had dust on it, no dirt or grit. I snowfoamed it and gave it a wipe-dowm with a mitt using the snowfoam as shampoo, rinsed it, removed the excess water with a Dry Me Crazy and applied a light coat of Gtechniq C2v3.

Having the Fusso on it made it a lot easier. Also did the wheels separately with Bilt Hamber AutoWheel first.

ianobrien

I think I finally tried DA polishing, after annoying people here with loads of questions. I used the Argos one that was discussed on the forum earlier. I did swap the plate to a 5" one I got from Detailing Shed. Practice was on a spare Citroen AX GT door I had in the back of the shed.

I tried the top rear of the door first (nearest to the door lock) with a Hex-Logic Green pad and 3 blobs of Chemical Guys V36. Spreading the polish was at speed 2 and worked in at speed 5 with 3 to 4 passes of the machine. The residue was wiped off and then repeated with a Hex-Logic Black pad and Chemical Guys V38. I divided the door at the quarter window.

The top front of the door (nearest to the door hinge) was done with the same combo, but with 4 bigger blobs of polish and 4 to 5 passes of the machine, with more pressure on it. The verdict is the later method gave a better, deeper shine.

The bottom of the door wasn't done so a comparison could be made. The result is that Da wants his (black) car done that way.







I cleaned the pads with rinsing them with washing up liquid and I'll be throwing them into the washing machine along with the rest of the cleaning cloths (no fabric softener will be used)

What I learned is that it's easier than I thought, use more polish initially to "wet" the pad and another backing plate might be got as its probably easier to swap backing plates rather than pads on the plate. Da wants to use the DA to buff waxes now.

Foxhole Norman

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Fair play to you. Never give a crap who or what gives you weird looks. IMO it shows dedication and supplying a good service.

I did a rather lazy job today but the car only really had dust on it, no dirt or grit. I snowfoamed it and gave it a wipe-dowm with a mitt using the snowfoam as shampoo, rinsed it, removed the excess water with a Dry Me Crazy and applied a light coat of Gtechniq C2v3.

Having the Fusso on it made it a lot easier. Also did the wheels separately with Bilt Hamber AutoWheel first.

Sound there's really no point being in this business if the end result isn't decent or what was specified!

Curran

Very good Ian....I like your systematic approach to your practice! And it's good that you took learns away from it too; priming the pad before hand is important, and the value of having the options of various pad sizes, etc! Would rate that as a very successful dipping the toe in the water!

cena

ianobrien wrote: »

I think I finally tried DA polishing, after annoying people here with loads of questions. I used the Argos one that was discussed on the forum earlier. I did swap the plate to a 5" one I got from Detailing Shed. Practice was on a spare Citroen AX GT door I had in the back of the shed.

I tried the top rear of the door first (nearest to the door lock) with a Hex-Logic Green pad and 3 blobs of Chemical Guys V36. Spreading the polish was at speed 2 and worked in at speed 5 with 3 to 4 passes of the machine. The residue was wiped off and then repeated with a Hex-Logic Black pad and Chemical Guys V38. I divided the door at the quarter window.

The top front of the door (nearest to the door hinge) was done with the same combo, but with 4 bigger blobs of polish and 4 to 5 passes of the machine, with more pressure on it. The verdict is the later method gave a better, deeper shine.

The bottom of the door wasn't done so a comparison could be made. The result is that Da wants his (black) car done that way.


I cleaned the pads with rinsing them with washing up liquid and I'll be throwing them into the washing machine along with the rest of the cleaning cloths (no fabric softener will be used)

What I learned is that it's easier than I thought, use more polish initially to "wet" the pad and another backing plate might be got as its probably easier to swap backing plates rather than pads on the plate. Da wants to use the DA to buff waxes now.

It is a good da for the price. Used mine again on friday to do one side of the car. Rain got in the way today. Have about ten hrs on the car a;ready

ianobrien

Thanks lads. I'm busy for the foreseeable future so the cars won't be attacked with the DA for a while. Now, does anybody want a half polished black left hand door for a Citroen AX GT? I've got one going here on a first come first served basis......

I see there are pad conditioners available to prime the pad before use. Does anybody use them?

Noccy_Mondy

I need to find a panel to get the feel for the polisher.

Might help if I had some pads and stuff too. Ye might draw me up an essentials list sometime so I can place an order!

Foxhole Norman

The main things really that I would be getting are a 5" backing plate, 3 pads, compounding, polishing and fine polish(jewelling). I'd go for Chemical Guys Orange, White and Black or Green, White and Black. Polish wise, Chemical Guys V32/34/36 range is excellent as is Menzerna's various compounds/polishes.

Can anyone recommend a reasonable paint depth gauge? Was looking at the Sealey TA091 as it's not too pricey.

Noccy_Mondy

I take it the hand stuff I bought recently isn't any good - P40 polish and Butterwax. Rats.

Foxhole Norman

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

I take it the hand stuff I bought recently isn't any good - P40 polish and Butterwax. Rats.

P40 can be used on the Machine too, I just have no personal experience with it myself. I love Butterwax though, great shine and lasts a good while!

Noccy_Mondy

Foxhole Norman wrote:

P40 can be used on the Machine too, I just have no personal experience with it myself. I love Butterwax though, great shine and lasts a good while!

Thats good so!

Yep did mine at Easter, still looking fresh!

Curran

P40 can be used but it's not as effective.

YbFocus

So I got my last order from detailingshed.com on Friday, on Foxhole's recommendation. It was .50 cal's glaze and their pentawax.

The finish is quite a lot better than before I must say, the beading from the pentawax is crazy, lets see how it lasts in the coming months!

Curran

Looking very well indeed!

YbFocus

Curran wrote: »

Looking very well indeed!

Thanks mostly to yourselves

Hal1

Nice job and garden by the looks of it too :P.

MarkN

Pentawax beads for many many months. I've used it for around a year now and it's a great all rounder.

YbFocus

Hal1 wrote: »

Nice job and garden by the looks of it too :P.

Tell that to my parents

vintagevrs

Some garden! Is it 9 holes or 18? car looks class yb.

I remember watching a clip years ago about the most expensive car wash in the world before detailing was as mainstream as it is now. The guy did full detail jobs on all sorts of exotics, I think it was 5th gear.

Anyway, the wax he used was the most expensive wax, it was like the ear wax from a Brazilian dung Beatle or something. Anyway, he used to apply the wax by hand (no applicator or cloth)

Long story short, I did that tonight with the 845 and found it worked really well. Is this a done thing?:o

YbFocus

vintagevrs wrote: »

Some garden! Is it 9 holes or 18? car looks class yb.

I remember watching a clip years ago about the most expensive car wash in the world before detailing was as mainstream as it is now. The guy did full detail jobs on all sorts of exotics, I think it was 5th gear.

Anyway, the wax he used was the most expensive wax, it was like the ear wax from a Brazilian dung Beatle or something. Anyway, he used to apply the wax by hand (no applocator or cloth)

Long story short, I did that tonight with the 845 and found it worked really well. Is this a done thing?:o

Thanks man

Did your layer not go on very thick?
Never heard of doing that

vintagevrs

No it went on nice and thin, the heat from my hands kept it nice and runny. Came off a breeze. In fairness last time I did it, it was nearly freezing. It was a complete ball ache getting it off.

vectra

vintagevrs wrote: »

Some garden! Is it 9 holes or 18? car looks class yb.

I remember watching a clip years ago about the most expensive car wash in the world before detailing was as mainstream as it is now. The guy did full detail jobs on all sorts of exotics, I think it was 5th gear.

Anyway, the wax he used was the most expensive wax, it was like the ear wax from a Brazilian dung Beatle or something. Anyway, he used to apply the wax by hand (no applocator or cloth)

Long story short, I did that tonight with the 845 and found it worked really well. Is this a done thing?:o

That was Brazilian carnauba wax.
Comes from trees and is hard.
Hence the reason of application by hand to warm and soften it
I think he used to charge 5 grand at the time.

As for 845.
If I were to get technical about applying that, I would heat it up until it is like pure water and put a spray head on the bottle to apply a very light misting of it.