Newbie detail-help/guideline

[Chris92]

Hi everyone,

In My pretty short driving life I've only ever washed my cars with a bucket and sponge, but I want to detail my gti to keep her looking great.

I've done a little research online but I'm still confused about things. The product such as meguiars and autoglm seem to be some of the best.

Is this correct:

1: Cover the car in snow foam using a power washer and leave for 10mins. What's a good product for snow?
2: rinse off and use the two bucket way to wash the car with a Woolley mit. Just use shampoo?
3:rinse off and dry car then clay the car then wash again and rinse.
4: dry car again and wax it.
5: apply polish
6: sit back and crack a beer open.

Is this correct way of doing things? Also for now I won't be using a machine polisher I know the results won't be as good but for now until I know what's what my hands will do.

All the detail products etc just confuse me ha sorry for being a dumb ass  any tips and advice would be great 

[bigeyd]

Thats about it Chris,the products vary from person to person autoglym and meguiers are good.

[Chris92]

Thanks for replying, I'm still not clued up tho. I'm all good and clear up until the polish and wax parts.

1:  Do I polish first and then wax or other way round?

2: How many layers do I apply polish and wax to the car in one session? I'm guessing it's good to lay lots of wax on to protect the car.

3: How often do I need to do a full detail again after doing one and do I need to strip the car from wax polish etc completely every time I do a full detail?

4: how do I maintain the car inbetween full details? What do I don't I etc.

If someone could take five mins and help me I'd appreciate it very much, all this has my mind baffled, we all have to start somewhere I guess.  

[Banham]

Polish always comes before wax/sealant

One polish and a layer or two of wax. Depending on how long the wax lasts, then just top up when it starts to wear off.

Maybe twice a year. Depending on how dirty the car gets and if well looked after/maintained

Just a shampoo wash will be enough to maintain it i would of thought. Stay away from using iron x, tar remover and other certain products as some will strip your wax. Will be ok to use when giving a full detail

Hope this helps abit, i am just a newbie at detailing. Check out 'detailing world' as it will answer alot more of your questions   

[Leebo310]

Hi everyone,

In My pretty short driving life I've only ever washed my cars with a bucket and sponge, but I want to detail my gti to keep her looking great.

I've done a little research online but I'm still confused about things. The product such as meguiars and autoglm seem to be some of the best.

Is this correct:

1: Cover the car in snow foam using a power washer and leave for 10mins. What's a good product for snow?
2: rinse off and use the two bucket way to wash the car with a Woolley mit. Just use shampoo?
3:rinse off and dry car then clay the car then wash again and rinse.
4: dry car again and wax it.
5: apply polish
6: sit back and crack a beer open.

Is this correct way of doing things? Also for now I won't be using a machine polisher I know the results won't be as good but for now until I know what's what my hands will do.

All the detail products etc just confuse me ha sorry for being a dumb ass  any tips and advice would be great 

I'm just getting into the detailing lark too mate, there is a lot to get your head round! A lot to spend your money on too 
As someone else has already said, get on Detailing World it's got so much information on there it's untrue!
Biggest tip would probably be don't do anything in bright sunlight! Given that it's now October though, that isn't going to be too much of an issue 

With regards to foam, you'll want to buy a proper snow foam lance mate, go on Detailing World website and there's a group buy for an Autobrite one. It's brilliant and works really well! It just clips onto the end of your power washer and works way better than the standard nozzle spray bottle thing you get on a power washer.
With regards to snow foam itself, I've only washed each car once so far and did a full cleanse but I used magifoam as a pre wash and then valet pro ph neutral advanced. (The magifoam came free with the lance too!)
I used Tardis and Iron X to decontaminate the car then clayed it too, all of that got rid of all the bits that you can't see but isn't something you want to do very often as will remove wax.
I then polished using AG SRP and waxed with the awesome (and cheap!) Megs #16
Maintaining it (probably every week or two) I'll just use VP Citrus pre wash foam (won't remove my wax) VP advanced neutral as a main foam (again won't remove the wax whereas Magifoam will I believe) and then hand wash with Megs gold class shampoo and a Megs lambswool mitt.

It's addictive mate and a money pit but brilliant fun and massively rewarding when you get the car absolutely shining! 

[Chris92]

Thanks for the info guys it's helped me a lot, things are starting to make sense...finally  I've just had a look on that detailing word forum and I've had a read of certain things and so far it's great with a lot of info cheers for the heads up, think il sign up to it as no doubt they'll be plenty more to ask. Looking forward too having a go at it now 

[Chris92]

I signed up to that DW forum and it said I'd have to confirm something blah blah and they would send me an email, well it's been a day and still no email and it won't let me post. How long did it take you lot to get this email? Or maybes I'm just being impatient just Throught I'd have got it buy now

[Leebo310]

I signed up to that DW forum and it said I'd have to confirm something blah blah and they would send me an email, well it's been a day and still no email and it won't let me post. How long did it take you lot to get this email? Or maybes I'm just being impatient just Throught I'd have got it buy now

Check your junk email mate, mine went there!

[Chris92]

No just checked  hate all this email rubbish ha

[Leebo310]

Hopefully it'll be there tomorrow mate. If not let me know and I'll see if I can contact an admin person for you and see what's happening.

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[xjay1337]

I'm just getting into the detailing lark too mate, there is a lot to get your head round! A lot to spend your money on too 
As someone else has already said, get on Detailing World it's got so much information on there it's untrue!
Biggest tip would probably be don't do anything in bright sunlight! Given that it's now October though, that isn't going to be too much of an issue 

With regards to foam, you'll want to buy a proper snow foam lance mate, go on Detailing World website and there's a group buy for an Autobrite one. It's brilliant and works really well! It just clips onto the end of your power washer and works way better than the standard nozzle spray bottle thing you get on a power washer.
With regards to snow foam itself, I've only washed each car once so far and did a full cleanse but I used magifoam as a pre wash and then valet pro ph neutral advanced. (The magifoam came free with the lance too!)
I used Tardis and Iron X to decontaminate the car then clayed it too, all of that got rid of all the bits that you can't see but isn't something you want to do very often as will remove wax.
I then polished using AG SRP and waxed with the awesome (and cheap!) Megs #16
Maintaining it (probably every week or two) I'll just use VP Citrus pre wash foam (won't remove my wax) VP advanced neutral as a main foam (again won't remove the wax whereas Magifoam will I believe) and then hand wash with Megs gold class shampoo and a Megs lambswool mitt.

It's addictive mate and a money pit but brilliant fun and massively rewarding when you get the car absolutely shining! 

Hello mate.
Iron X won't strip wax.
VP citrus pre wash will strip wax, Magifoam wont. 

[xjay1337]

Over the weekend I will write a detailing / cleaning guide for people to read that I will post up here . hopefully that will be as useful as the other guides i've done.

The basics are asked very regularly and sometimes I can't be bothered to answer lol

But basically wax or sealant goes last you need 2 coats minimum to ensure even coverage
Most of "detailing" (unless you're correcting paint it's really valeting to be honest) comes in using the right products in the RIGHT way , little things like the way you apply waxes in straight lines rather than circular motions, use nice clean soft microfibre towels.. etc.

[Leebo310]

Hello mate.
Iron X won't strip wax.
VP citrus pre wash will strip wax, Magifoam wont. 

Is that right about the citrus pre wash mate?! On the product description on Cleanyourcar it says 3 separate times that it won't strip wax and that was why I bought it!
"Valet Pro Citrus Pre-Wash is excellent at Traffic Film Removal, but a huge plus is that our product won't strip wax or paint sealant from paintwork"
"The biggest difference between Orange pre wash and other traffic film removers is that it is wax safe."
"Citrus Pre-Wash, like many other wax safe products, is best used on cars prepared with good quality waxes or sealants"

[xjay1337]

It is a product of dilution and you can change the strength of it.

So yeah, it can strip wax if you use it in a strong dilution.

Orange pre wash is more of an APC to be honest . 

[Leebo310]

Ah that makes more sense, cheers mate!


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