Home Car Wash

D'Agger

I'm picking up items to wash the car at home and I've come across some very handy advice on use of chamois cloths, two bucket use etc.

My main query is this - how often should I use Autoglym super resin polish on my car? Am I correct to assume it's okay to wax the car after every wash & then buff it with a micro-fibre cloth? If so then do you have any recommendations from Halfords (one around the corner from me) - thinking of going for a run of the mill Turtle Wax for black cars

Any other tips ye might have for home car washes would be appreciated, I'm hoping for a simple:

- Spray wheels/alloys with cleaner
- Rinse Car
- Return to wheels to scrub and rinse
- Wash car using sponge & two buckets
- Rinse car
- Use cleaner on windows
- Rub down car with chamois cloth to dry
- Apply wax

^ Should I ever apply polish, rub it in, then apply wax? Or is polish more than enough?

Theboinkmaster

D'Agger wrote: »

I'm picking up items to wash the car at home and I've come across some very handy advice on use of chamois cloths, two bucket use etc.

My main query is this - how often should I use Autoglym super resin polish on my car? Am I correct to assume it's okay to wax the car after every wash & then buff it with a micro-fibre cloth? If so then do you have any recommendations from Halfords (one around the corner from me) - thinking of going for a run of the mill Turtle Wax for black cars

Any other tips ye might have for home car washes would be appreciated, I'm hoping for a simple:

- Spray wheels/alloys with cleaner
- Rinse Car
- Return to wheels to scrub and rinse
- Wash car using sponge & two buckets
- Rinse car
- Use cleaner on windows
- Rub down car with chamois cloth to dry
- Apply wax

^ Should I ever apply polish, rub it in, then apply wax? Or is polish more than enough?

As far as i know you shoudn't use a chamois cloth on the paintwork as will scratch it etc. Best to use a correct towel. There's plenty of posts on here to advise you so do a search - even look for posts by Curran and Vectra will help alot.

Spike Witwicky

Re AG SRP would probably be best to use every six months to a year. As its a polish it will strip a tiny layer of paint away but then again doing it by hand wont remove much. Once its polished rinse down, dry and apply wax. The wax will protect your now imacculate paint. AG's HD wax is highly recommended

Dont use a sponge. It can grab dirt and drag it over your paint. Use wash mitt or noodle.

Dont bother with a chamois. Get yourself a microfibre drying towel. These can be expensive online and seeing as you want to keep it local try B&Q for a cheap Kent drying towel.

Would recommend you buy from Detailing Shed. Irish based and may be able to accomodate a pick up

D'Agger

Perfect, thanks for the responses - particularly on the drying towel & wash mitt - will definitely purchase these

myshirt

Remove the word sponge from your vocabulary.

Don't go near the car with a sponge. Please. What you need is either a '70's bush' lambswool mitt, or an incredimitt.

discombobulate

D'Agger wrote: »

Perfect, thanks for the responses - particularly on the drying towel & wash mitt - will definitely purchase these

Best advice is to send a PM to Curran on here. He runs http://www.detailingshed.com/ and will give you great advice on what to buy, steps to take etc. Best off getting good products to start with.

Curran

Its OK lads; I've arrived!

The lads have pointed you down the right track anyways!

Bin the sponge and chamois! They are not good for your paintwork - the sponge will trap dirt between it and the paintwork and as you wash, it drags across your paintwork, leaving those dreaded swirls that you are trying to hide with polishing. Chamois cloths are very hard and will result in the same faith. What you need is a wash mitt with long fibres, so that the dirt is absorbed into the mitt, away from the paintwork and thus limiting potential damage; washing with the two bucket method ensures that the dirt your mitt did pick up, is washed out in the rinse bucket, and not in the same bucket everytime which means you are dragging dirt all over your car. A microfiber drying towel is recommended for drying the car. They are soft and if you pay for a quality one (which will out last a cheap one, so works out the same or better on economy anyways) it will have no problem soaking up the water after you've rinsed your car down...even on a large car.

So a bit about polishing - as it can be a bit of a grey area!!
AG's SRP is a decent polish - it wont do a whole lot in terms of fixing your paintwork, but what it will do is restore a bit of the colour, depth and gloss in your paintwork...but where it wins, is that it contains fillers, which help hide the swirls. Essentially is levels your paintwork and gives that nice mirror look. However, results are only temporary as these fillers will wash out over time.
Do you apply wax or sealant over SRP? Absolutely! Applying either a wax or sealant will help lock in the fillers and protect your paintwork - you will start to see signs of the paintwork needing a reapplication of polish after maybe 3 months.
There is no need to work the polishing in like a mad man, its not going to give you any extra amazing results, and your arms will be hanging off you!

If you really want to give your car a nice treatment and want an appearance that is that bit extra special; I would recommend you clay the car. This will remove bonded contamination that regular wash simply will not remove. This gets your paintwork totally clean...which will help with the polishing and durability of it too. With a clay and a polish, your paintwork will look vastly different.
To lock in the SRP, then its best to stick with AG products - HD Wax as mentioned is very good, but a bit expensive, perhaps for a first time user. AG's Extra Gloss Protection is a nice combo with SRP, a bit cheaper and its easy to apply, provided you apply it in really thin layers; otherwise buffing it off is a nightmare. Two thin layers with any product is always better than one lashed on!

I've chosen AG products there as you mentioned them yourself, but there are plenty of other options!

Once you've done your claying (perhaps), polish and protection, then its simply regular washing from week to week to keep it looking its best! Wash with the 2BM, good wash mitt, protection safe shampoo, dry with a good drying towel, give the wheels a bit of a clean and you are laughing!
A car that is clayed, polished and protected, is also far easier to clean - it doesnt get as dirty as the surface is much smoother and washing is also a doddle as a result!

Any other questions - fire ahead - no question too silly; we all had to start somewhere!

D'Agger

Thanks a million for that Curran been off the past few days so only seen it now!

Washed the car again a couple of days ago and learned some lessons from it based - will definitely be getting a different wax and will look out for AGs as mentioned.

I got a drying towel & lambswool mitt for washing the car - the mitt was very good & I used the two bucket method. What I learned from it was to leave the wheels until last, I essentially tried to do them first - stupid move out of me & not sure what I was thinking doing it! Unfortunately the neighbors children came over and kept asking if they could help - this was before I went to wax the car so I was using the drying towel - told one of them to rub the car all over with the towel....she failed to do this, preferring instead to dunk the towel into the dirty water bucket and then rub the car all over with that!

I suppose the only question I have is about frequency - am I correct in saying that I should only polish the car every few months? (I'll get a clay bar for next time)

If I wash the car every two weeks say - I wash as you've mentioned, then I always wax the car. So every 3 months or so, should I be washing the car, drying it, clay bar, polish and then wax? Then back to just wash and wax for the next couple of washes until I feel it needs a polish again. With the polishing also - can I apply wax straight after the polish or should I leave some time in between?

Theboinkmaster

D'Agger wrote: »

Thanks a million for that Curran been off the past few days so only seen it now!

Washed the car again a couple of days ago and learned some lessons from it based - will definitely be getting a different wax and will look out for AGs as mentioned.

I got a drying towel & lambswool mitt for washing the car - the mitt was very good & I used the two bucket method. What I learned from it was to leave the wheels until last, I essentially tried to do them first - stupid move out of me & not sure what I was thinking doing it! Unfortunately the neighbors children came over and kept asking if they could help - this was before I went to wax the car so I was using the drying towel - told one of them to rub the car all over with the towel....she failed to do this, preferring instead to dunk the towel into the dirty water bucket and then rub the car all over with that!

I suppose the only question I have is about frequency - am I correct in saying that I should only polish the car every few months? (I'll get a clay bar for next time)

If I wash the car every two weeks say - I wash as you've mentioned, then I always wax the car. So every 3 months or so, should I be washing the car, drying it, clay bar, polish and then wax? Then back to just wash and wax for the next couple of washes until I feel it needs a polish again. With the polishing also - can I apply wax straight after the polish or should I leave some time in between?

First rule of detailing - keep the kids out of it!

Think consesus around here is you only need to de-tar/de-iron/clay/polish maybe every 6 months? and in terms of sealing or waxing - do this every 2-3 months depending on what you use and how bad car is?

But make sure outside of that when washing to just use shampoo otherwise you could end up removing the seal/wax protection.

Definitely don't need to wax every 2 weeks - just wash with shampoo and 2 buckets with mitt and drying towel.

Curran

Regular washing will be just a wash and dry!

Now, with regard to using the likes of SRP, it becomes a bit of a grey area. Usually you would protect the car (either a wax or sealant) every 3-4 months. But since you are using SRP, this layer on the car before the protection, hinders bonding of the protection slighly, so you might only get 2-3 months for example, over the 3-4 months you should get if you applied to a car after a claying.
When the car is clayed, the paint surface is perfectly prepared and the best surface for protection to be applied.

Your first "detail" will be; wash, de-tar, de-iron (optional but recommended), clay, re-wash, dry, polish, protection

Weekly / Bi Weekly washing will be a wash with two bucket method and dry - its OK to do the wheels first, as long as you dont use the mitt that you use on the paintwork, or the rinse bucket - if you are washing regularly, a good wheel cleaner, sprayed on, agitated with a wheel brush and rinsed off should be sufficient.

Then; after 3 months say, as you have used SRP, you might need to wash the car down with a strong All Purpose Cleaner mixture, to help remove the last of the protection, give it a light polish and re-protect.

Back to your Weekly / Bi-Weekly routine.

Then 3 months later, 6 months since your first all out detail, you would need to do that again.


On applying protection after polish; yes thats not a problem. Apply the polish, once it dries to a haze, buff off, then its ready for protection to be applied on top, buff that when its cured for the recommended curing time, 20-30 mins, buff off, allow to cure for another 30mins and then its good for a 2nd coat.

D'Agger

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

First rule of detailing - keep the kids out of it!

Think consesus around here is you only need to de-tar/de-iron/clay/polish maybe every 6 months? and in terms of sealing or waxing - do this every 2-3 months depending on what you use and how bad car is?

But make sure outside of that when washing to just use shampoo otherwise you could end up removing the seal/wax protection.

Definitely don't need to wax every 2 weeks - just wash with shampoo and 2 buckets with mitt and drying towel.

Cool - had no idea that waxing should be left that long.

For washing - I have wash & wax - I like the job it does so far, no complaints but would plain shampoo be better for the paint?

On the kids - they were the neighbours who I was talking to at the time, normally I'd have been a díck and just said no but with the parents there I was in an awkward spot! I'll wash it late at night from now on in case :pac:

Spike Witwicky

D'Agger wrote: »

Cool - had no idea that waxing should be left that long.

For washing - I have wash & wax - I like the job it does so far, no complaints but would plain shampoo be better for the paint?

On the kids - they were the neighbours who I was talking to at the time, normally I'd have been a díck and just said no but with the parents there I was in an awkward spot! I'll wash it late at night from now on in case :pac:

Kids eh? :pac:
I'd say that Washnwax is not a good idea before polishing. It'll probably add a layer of very thin protection to the surface you are about to polish.
Something like Orchards Precleanse is good for washing before polishing as it will strip the existing wax away. Then the surface is ready for polishing.
Detar, deiron, clay n wash (with precleanse) dry then polish away.

D'Agger

Spike Witwicky wrote: »

Kids eh? :pac:
I'd say that Washnwax is not a good idea before polishing. It'll probably add a layer of very thin protection to the surface you are about to polish.
Something like Orchards Precleanse is good for washing before polishing as it will strip the existing wax away. Then the surface is ready for polishing.
Detar, deiron, clay n wash (with precleanse) dry then polish away.

Cool - for regular washes (i.e. no polishing, bi-weekly washes) I'm sure wash & wax is fine, but would you recommend shampoo instead or is it 6 of one, half a dozen of the other?

Curran

No need to wax on your regular wash!

Get yourself a shampoo that is safe to use on your protection of choice....pH neutral is what you want, others with strong cleaners will strip away your protection. For regular washing, you dont need powerful cleaners. A car that is clayed, polished and protected is much easier to clean and dry, due to the surface being much smoother than that of one that hadnt the treatment.

Literally; wash, rinse, dry will be your regular wash...perhaps a quick detailer type product to help with drying and boosting a bit of shine.

D'Agger

Perfect, thanks for all the responses fairly well set and better educated on what I need to do going forward

Meursault

Reading through the messages above lads. Some great advice there.

I (stupidly) used a dry cloth that had previously been used to wax my car and it left some scratches on the driver door.

How do you go about removing these scratches? prior to reading the posts above, I tried a wet sponge (again, stupid!) on one part of the scratch and it did seem to fade a bit, which leaves me hopeful that I can remove these scratches without having to repaint.

So, any advice on this please?

Also, where do you stand on power hoses? I was just power hosing the car, then using hot water and washing up liquid, followed by turtle wax all along. I am guessing that all this is a no no?

Cheers

discombobulate

Meursault wrote: »

Reading through the messages above lads. Some great advice there.

I (stupidly) used a dry cloth that had previously been used to wax my car and it left some scratches on the driver door.

How do you go about removing these scratches? prior to reading the posts above, I tried a wet sponge (again, stupid!) on one part of the scratch and it did seem to fade a bit, which leaves me hopeful that I can remove these scratches without having to repaint.

So, any advice on this please?

Also, where do you stand on power hoses? I was just power hosing the car, then using hot water and washing up liquid, followed by turtle wax all along. I am guessing that all this is a no no?

Cheers

Regards the scratch it would depend on the depth. A machine polish may possibly remove it generally if it can't be felt with a fingernail.

No problem with a power hose as long it's not overly powerful enough to damage the paint. Washing up liquid would be a no-no if your waxing the car as it'll remove any wax or protection you've applied. Waxing isn't something that you'd do every time you wash the car. A good wax should last up to a few months provided you use appropriate products when washing the car. What you need is a PH neutral shampoo to wash a car that's waxed as it won't strip it off.

Meursault

Ok, great thanks for the advice

bbari

Curran wrote: »

No need to wax on your regular wash!

Get yourself a shampoo that is safe to use on your protection of choice....pH neutral is what you want, others with strong cleaners will strip away your protection. For regular washing, you dont need powerful cleaners. A car that is clayed, polished and protected is much easier to clean and dry, due to the surface being much smoother than that of one that hadnt the treatment.

Literally; wash, rinse, dry will be your regular wash...perhaps a quick detailer type product to help with drying and boosting a bit of shine.

Hi Curran, As advised by you, I applied the 845 sealant, very happy with the result. I will be using ph neutral shampoo which I got from DS.

To boost the shine, I was thinking to wax the car after every 2nd wash, is that ok ? are the likes of Turtle Wax ok to be used after applying 845?

Curran

There is no need to wax it that frequently.
What you need is a quick detailer type product that will boost shine. Orchard Autocare Perfection is a favourite of mine.