I've been paying attention and reading alot of the posts on this forum. You people are GREAT! Thank you for all of the great info. I do have some basic questions. I keep reading: wash, clean, clay, polish, wax. Please tell me the reason for each step. Also, is hand washing a must? Are the "no touch" automatic washers bad? Are buffers a must-have? What type of accessories( ie towels, cloths, buffers)do you use for each step? Thank you!
I'm a relative newbie at this myself, but here's a good all-in-one site for help. BTW, I tend to buy Meguiars, but not exclusively.
http://superiorcarcare.net/carcare.html
As to a buffer --- I waited out eBay until I got a deal on the PorterCable --- it took some conditioning on my part, but I got it for around $80. If you've followed this post, you know that some of the guys wax their cars weekly/monthly --- you can get pretty tired doing it by hand [;)]
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1990 560SEL
Midnight Blue & Grey Leather Interior
"The Money Pit"
100,000 and counting (repair$ and miles)
As a novice I found Meguires website very useful. There is a video tutorial under http://www.meguiars.com/video/ which is very informative for people new to detailing. The site also has a questionnaire (they call it interview)under http://www.meguiars.com/howtocenter/
This guides you through the different steps and comes out with a "personalized" recommendation on which products to use for what.
Also check out their forum at meguiarsonline.com . Mike Philips is a great detailer and teaches free classes on Saturdays at their Irvine headquarters but sometimes they go to other areas. I was never a fan of Meguiars products until I started using products from their professional and detailer line, not the consumer stuff you get at Pep Boys.
. I keep reading: wash, clean, clay, polish, wax. Please tell me the reason for each step. Also, is hand washing a must? Are the "no touch" automatic washers bad? Are buffers a must-have? What type of accessories( ie towels, cloths, buffers)do you use for each step? Thank you!
The end results of a quality detail job will show when you do the prep work (Clay,Polishing) . Claying removes those surface contaminants washing can not ,it also give you a totally smooth surface to polish your paint.
Polishing brings out the shine and is your chance to do any paint corrections , such as removing swirls, marring, spider webbing and light scratches.
I would skip the wax for a good quality sealant ,especially if this vechile is a daily driver.Sealants give you longer protection. You could top a sealant with a good carnuba wax if your looking to give your paint that warm look.
Buffer's like any tool save you time , are they a must have , not really. You can do it by hand but you're going to get a nice workout[:D]
A good quality wool wash mit ,some microfiber towels for drying and buffing are must have . That should cover it. Happy Detailing [8D]
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Good things are not cheap and cheap things are seldom good !
This is exactly the thread I was looking for, many thanks.
How do you care for the towels and mit, just keep them in a plastic box, or do you put them in the laundry, or just spray them with a hose?
Many thanks! Excellent thread.
Definately keep your towels and mitts in some kind of a container to keep dust/dirt/bugs off of them. Towels and cloths can be machine-washed and dried(don't use any bleach or fabric softener, though). If you have microfiber towels, wash and dry them together, separate from everything else, to keep them lint-free.
If you have an artificial chamois like "The Absorber", wash it and put it away damp in a ziploc bag. For wash mitts, I hand-wash those with some Woolite. Depending on what they're made of, if you try to machine-wash them, you could open up the washer and find that the mitt has disintegrated. Let the mitts air-dry.
For synthetic, horsehair and boar's-hair brushes, I give those a good blast with the garden hose and let them air-dry. If you've gotten them greasy working on your wheels or undercarriage, you might have to hit them with a mild degreaser as well.
Try to keep your different cloths segregated as well, based on what you use them for. A cloth that you've used to buff off wax or polish will probably cause streaks if you later use it to clean glass, even after it's been washed. I buy my microfiber towels in a multi-pack of different colours. All the towels in the pack are identical, but I use the blue ones with polish, the yellow ones are for wax, and the white ones are for glass. For polishing chrome and aluminum, I have a roll of 8" X 8" disposable cotton cloths, since chrome/aluminum tarnish will permanently stain just about any fabric.
For cleaning things like wheels, chassis, door sills and door jambs, I use disposable lint-free cloths, since you always seem to pick up some grease or brake dust on those, even right after you've washed the car.
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