Help needed to spruce up white van

gooner99

any advice on how to spruce up this white van?

Ded_Zebra

Do you ave any pictures of the van?

What sort of budget did you have in mind to spend on getting it looking the way you want?

Year/make/model information might also help

gooner99

Thanks for the reply.

I had some pics up but they were poor. I deleted them and will upload a couple of new ones. Its a white peugeot partner. You can see the passenger door is quite scatched in one area and there is gloss paint splattered on parts of the bodywork. I did give it a prewash and began to remove the tar with autoglym intensive tar remover before the heavens opened yesterday. Only other products I have lying about are a pressure washer, bottle of t-cut and a bottle of car wash,so pretty much starting from scratch. I heard the t-cut is not great,but might do the van?

I'm not after a showroom finish and as you can see the bodywork is far from perfect.

I also have a black mk5 golf that needs a lot of attention, paint very dull and comes complete with sun screen hand prints. Big miles,so again happy with a decent finish.

My nephew has a white current generation auris, so he'd probably also be using whatever kit i get on that too. Guess we'd like to keep that one in better shape.

Would also need to look at something to do interior and exterior trim. Probably looking at doing everything by hand, so I guess ease of use would be beneficial starting out.

Maybe a pro for the first clean for the van and golf might be a good idea?

gooner99

pics attached. might need to increase the resolution.

Curran

Easy route would definitely be to get a pro to tidy them up and concern yourself with maintaining the finish.

The flip side is that you'd purchase all the products you'd need to do the job on all of three motors, and still be left over with a lot of stuff that you'd be able to use further down the line.

While the scratches on the van (will need), and the sun cream marks on the Golf (likely to need), need machine polishing, you still should be able to get a decent overall finish by hand.

My advice is to....
Wash & Rinse
De-Tar & Rinse
Fallout / De-Iron & Rinse - this step alone on both the white motors will make a massive difference
Clay & Wash
Dry
Polish
Protect

That should bring up the paintwork nicely on all....you'd have to get some extra Tar Remover and Fallout Remover to do the job on three - but the clay, polish and protection you go for will be plenty to do multiple jobs!

Perhaps with the van (for practice), and maybe the option of spreading the expense with your nephew, a machine polisher would be a worthwhile investment - you'll really be able to improve the van and Golf with it, while the Auris probably only needs a slight enhancement, but it will do wonders for it too!

gooner99

Excellent. Thanks for the reply.

I'm with you when saying that some products we may need more of and some will last quite a while, like buckets, wash mits, towels, cloths, pads, shampoos, polish , wax, etc..

Maybe an idea would be for us to start out and do it by hand and if the swirls, scratches are still pretty bad then we could take it to a detailer to see if they can machine it. At least we'd have some practice cleaning them and have the rest of the car/van pretty clean, so they wouldn't have so much to do.

What products would you recommend from your store or other for us starting out. As I say ease of use would be great along with items that might cover the different colours/types.I'm sure there are many choices in the different categories. Really after things that work well without being too difficult to use in order to get great results. Probably not wanting to spend a fortune to start out to see if detailing is for us, guess we can add as we go along, but I'm sure there are things we should buy right that will last.

Curran

Shampoo - anything thats pH neutral - you probably have something at home that will do until it runs out. Avoid any shampoos that are like Wash 'n' Wax - they'll take away from the finish you apply after protecting the car

Tar Remover - CarPro TarX

Iron Remover - CarPro IronX or Bilt Hamber Korrosol

Clay - Bilt Hamber Auto Clay

Hand Polish - Chemical Guys Pro Polish (P40 or 3n; but much the same)

Protection - so many options, but if you go with something from Chemical Guys, youve a better chance of it lasting longer as it will be designed to work well with the layered hand polish underneath.
Collinite 845 is a product that punches well above its weight in terms of performance, given the price!

Ded_Zebra

As you're just getting into this particular addiction (and it is an addiction :P) I'm going to recommend some products that might not be the best of the best but they'll get you in the door. After that the sky is the limit regarding upgrading your tools and products.

First thing is to find a good shampoo. I've tried more expensive and I've tried cheaper but I've not found anything I like more than this.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/shampoo-polish-wax/meguiars-gold-class-car-shampoo-and-conditioner-1-89-litre

Personally I would recommend using 3 buckets. One for soapy water for the car. One with just clear to wash the grit and dirt off your wash mitt. And a last bucket of soapy water for the wheels. The idea is to take the grit off the surface while rubbing it on the surface as little as possible. Then once the dirt is removed from the car to not allow it to get back on the car by wringing out and washing out your mitt in the clear water bucket.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/sponges-brushes-buckets/halfords-heavy-duty-bucket

A wash mitt like this will get you started in the right direction. This is best kept for the body only because you don't want to drag grit from the wheels across the bodywork if you can avoid it.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/sponges-brushes-buckets/halfords-wash-mitt

You'll also need cloths for drying the car and for applying/removing polish, wax etc. Again these will get you started but there are much better available out there if you're willing to spend more.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/sponges-brushes-buckets/halfords-microfibre-cloths-x-10

Once the car is washed getting all the tar off it is the next step. You have already started that I believe. I haven't used this tar remover before but if Curran says it's good then I'm sure it is. A cheap and very effective alternative is some petrol though

http://www.detailingshed.com/tar-iron-fallout/233-carpro-tarx.html

Removing the iron contamination from a car chemically is massively easier than claying to remove it. This product is recommended a lot, not something I've used myself.

http://www.detailingshed.com/tar-iron-fallout/234-carpro-ironx.html

Next step after that is to clay the car. I would recommend this kit to start with.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/clay-bars-detailing-products/meguiars-smooth-surface-clay-kit

At this stage the car will be transformed from when you started!! You could take a brief moment to enjoy!

Next thing on the list is the wheels. You're kidding yourself with any other wheel cleaner. I'm fairly sure there is nothing else on the market that comes close.

http://www.detailingshed.com/wheels-tyres/9-bilt-hamber-auto-wheel.html

Don't forget to give the tyres a good scrub too

Next for polishing. I've not used a hand polish better than this.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/shampoo-polish-wax/meguiars-ultimate-compound-450ml

This polish is best to follow the previous. It'll help hide a lot of the defects that can't be removed by hand polishing.

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/shampoo-polish-wax/autoglym-super-resin-polish-1-litre

If using this polishing technique I would recommend sealing in your hard work in with this

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/shampoo-polish-wax/autoglym-extra-gloss-protection-500ml

As an alternative to the previous 2 products this could be used instead. It will probably hide more defects but definitely won't last as long before it'll need to be re-applied.

http://www.detailingshed.com/waxes/113-bilt-hamber-auto-balm-50ml.html


For the final touch apply a little of this to the tyres and the black plastic trims to make them appear blacker

http://www.halfords.ie/motoring/car-cleaning/wheel-tyre-cleaning/meguiars-endurance-high-gloss-tyre-protection-473ml

gooner99

Curran wrote: »

Shampoo - anything thats pH neutral - you probably have something at home that will do until it runs out. Avoid any shampoos that are like Wash 'n' Wax - they'll take away from the finish you apply after protecting the car

Tar Remover - CarPro TarX

Iron Remover - CarPro IronX or Bilt Hamber Korrosol

Clay - Bilt Hamber Auto Clay

Hand Polish - Chemical Guys Pro Polish (P40 or 3n; but much the same)

Protection - so many options, but if you go with something from Chemical Guys, youve a better chance of it lasting longer as it will be designed to work well with the layered hand polish underneath.
Collinite 845 is a product that punches well above its weight in terms of performance, given the price!

Thanks for that. Must get a good look at those. Quick read suggests the Bilt Hamber Auto Clay works fine with tap water?

Curran

Yeah, Auto Clay as per manufacturer is fine to use with just tap water - but I'd always recommend using a small amount of lubrication - if you are in an area of hard water, tap water alone mightn't be enough. A diluted down lubrication product or quick detailer, or a drop of car shampoo (though some will cause it to turn a bit tacky)

gooner99

Thanks guys.

I'm reading lots. Probably a good thing in that you educate yourself, but also bad in that there are so many products available.

Have read quite a lot of good things about the Collinite 845 being the best bang for the buck and easy to use. Would it work well with those polishes listed?

It seems that microfiber applicators are best for applying polishes and wax?

Also reading good things about PERL. It seems to be pretty versatile covering all kinds of trim,etc which is great for one product. Does it really work well on exterior/interior plastic trim, dash, tyres, etc?

Curran

Yes, for the money, its hard to beat Collinite 845 - can be a little tricky to get out of the bottle, but if you leave it in warm water for a short period before hand, its easier to work with.

Its not a case that it wont work - it will, but you may not see the maximum performance from it - if the manufacturer states, for example, 4 months protection....that means on decontaminated paintwork, no layers between the paint and the protection product. If you introduce a hand polish or a glaze in between, the sealant is now bonding to this layer, and not the paintwork, so you may only get 2 months protection from the product that you thought you'd get 4 months from....and this sometimes leads people to be disappointed with a product, but in reality it wasnt used to its maximum capability.

PERL is very versatile. As it can be diluted, it can do many jobs - where it needs to be durable, on the exterior for example, use it straight from the bottle. On the interior, it can be diluted down 1 product to 10 water, so that it doesnt leave a high shine finish, etc. So yes, it covers lots of bases quite well.

gooner99

Thanks again. So using products from the same line is generally a good idea, especially polish and wax.

Curran

Only necessary when layering product....as you say, polish and wax.