# Major Clean Today!!!! ........



## neilwade (Aug 29, 2007)

Morning all,

After trailing through hundreds of posts on Detailing World I'm going to attempt my first go at Detailing my car today and was hoping for a little of advice from you experts on here(as well as there forum) as I have only ever washed with normal car Shampoo before (so never been clayed/waxed or polished!!! &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.Shameful I know)

I was going to use the following method......

1 - Rinse with warm water

2 - All purpose Cleaner wheels, tyres arches etc

3 - Rinse

4 - Shampoo with Johnson's Baby Bath/Autoglym Shampoo

5 - Rinse

6 - Shampoo with Johnson's Baby Bath/Autoglym Shampoo again

7 - Rinse

8 - Clay Bar - Meguiars Quik Clay Detailing System (can I purchase this from Halfords?)

9 - Rinse

10 - Polish with Autoglym Super Resin Polish (can I apply with Kent Car Care Super soft micro fibre Towels?)

11 - Then wax with another AutoGlym Product (can also I apply with Kent Car Care Super soft micro fibre Towels?) Protector or a wax???

I'm not too sure on numbers 10 and 11 so any advice or recommendations on the above or for a first timer/newbie would be greatly appreciated,

Many Thanks in advance

Neil


----------



## SimonQS (Jul 21, 2008)

Go for the Meguiars polish and wax as these are water based and like the AutoGym chalk based. Otherwise you will be spending half the day getting rid of the dust!

Also, where the hell do you live, London is predicted 10 days rain in one day today!


----------



## neilwade (Aug 29, 2007)

Thanks for the advice, Looks like gonna have to put it off untill tomorrow now, like you said were in for some serious rain today!


----------



## bobski (Oct 21, 2007)

Yes you can get the Clay Bar from halfords..... :wink:

Did mine yesterday... 

Girlfiend took the camera... :x

Wheels:
1. Cleaned Wheels (virosol) and bath brushed for inside of wheels
2. Power wash rise

Body:
3. Rinsed
4. Snow foam
5. Rinsed
6. Two bucket method with Baby bath and autoglym shampoo
7. Rinsed
8. Claybar
9. Rinsed
10. Meguiars Magnet dry
11. Meguiars #7 Glaze
12. Buffed
13. Meguiars #21 Sealant
14. Buffed
15. Carnuba wax
16. Buffed
17. Black plastics sprayed (matt shine)

Wheels:
18. Polished wheels 
19. Buffed
20. Tyre shine (Gloss)

Done in about 6hrs.... :wink: 
Thats all i had time for as i was going out .... :-|

Bobski


----------



## neilwade (Aug 29, 2007)

6 Hours!!! Nice work

I take it the "Meguiars Magnet dry" is a type of towel ?

Are the Meguiars products (glaze and sealant) easy to apply? - I may have a look at these?

Cheers

Neil


----------



## tomchap81 (Feb 12, 2008)

neilwade said:


> 6 Hours!!! Nice work
> 
> I take it the "Meguiars Magnet dry" is a type of towel ?
> 
> ...


Personally wouldn't go for Meg's towel as think it's a bit rough (concern shared by a few other forum members). Try the Sonus Der Wunder towel (google them).

Tom


----------



## bobski (Oct 21, 2007)

neilwade said:


> 6 Hours!!! Nice work
> 
> I take it the "Meguiars Magnet dry" is a type of towel ?
> 
> ...


 Cheers..

Yes it is a towel..

The glaze is very easy to apply as you dont let it completly dry. Do a panel @ a time. As for the sealant this takes as much effort as a good wax.

Here is a pics of my paint before ( the glaze add a little bit more luster)











tomchap81 said:


> Personally wouldn't go for Meg's towel as think it's a bit rough (concern shared by a few other forum members). Try the Sonus Der Wunder towel (google them).
> Tom


 Will have a look into this as, thats why i changed from a leather .


----------



## jbell (May 15, 2006)

neilwade said:


> Polish with Autoglym Super Resin Polish (can I apply with Kent Car Care Super soft micro fibre Towels?)


Yes you can apply it with Micro Fibre towls



neilwade said:


> Then wax with another AutoGlym Product (can also I apply with Kent Car Care Super soft micro fibre Towels?) Protector or a wax???


Put Extra Gloss Protection on top of the SRP then Auto Glym Hi Definition Wax on top of that


----------



## TTitan (May 11, 2007)

I followed a regime like you posted, except only did one wash cycle (not 2) and made it a good one.

By far the clay bar treatment gave results that I never got before. Be sure its nice and lubed & no dirt in the clay that will cause a scratch. Have also used shampoo solution (vice the mequires store bought stuff) with clay with equally impressive results.

also with clay i did the horizaontal coverage stroke , then immediately followed with a vertical coverage stroke pattern.

good luck

TTitan


----------



## neilwade (Aug 29, 2007)

Thanks for all the tips and advice, as soon as my clay arrives and the rain stops I'll be out there and will post my results up. (good ones I hope!!!)


----------



## J55TTC (Apr 25, 2005)

Hi Mate,

I dont see the need to wash the car twice in a row, do it once on a panel by panel basis making sure you wash from top to bottom. The 2 bucket method is useful as you are not washing the car with dirty water. Save the second wash until after the clay treatment.

Once washed and rinsed if you are going to clay the car theres no point in drying it. The clay kit from halfrauds does a good job and in my experience is very safe. You can use some very diluted baby bath as lubricant and then save the detailer spray for quick touch ups when required. Remember to clay in straight lines, fold the clay over after completing a panel - again work from top to bottom leaving the worst areas until last like near the wheels and the rear of the car.

Once all paneals are clayed this is where your second wash should come in.

Dry thoroughly, I usually go for a quick blast around the block as water has a habit of sitting in the wing mirrors and the front grille. The meguiars water magnet is OK when new but after a few uses it goes really hard and Im sure it would inflict some very minor scratches if pushed hard. I have switched to a miracle drying towel http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-a ... d_362.html extremely soft and very absorbent.

Autoglym super resin polish is a great product, it might be a bit dusty if you put it on too thick but is minimal when used correctly. On detailing world, super resin polish constantly gets good things said about it and for masking fine swirling nothing else comes close to it. The meguiars foam applicators are better for application and the microfibre for buffing.

Autoglym extra gloss protection goes over the top of super resin polish (after buffing of course) very well and durability is fantastic, I did my wifes car with super resin polish - extra gloss protection and then waxed about 5 weeks ago and its still beading now! Again apply the extra gloss with a foam applicator but do the whole car before buffing off as it needs to dry properly - read the bottle.

Lastly, you can wax over the top of it once the extra gloss had cured for a couple of hours, the only wax in halfords I can recommend is the meguiars NXT tech wax, durability is poor compared to other products but it gives a nice wet shine. If money allows Id recommend the new autoglym high definition wax - it will compliment the extra gloss protection and the durability is fantastic (at least 6-8 weeks if you wash the car a couple of times in between).

I just did the above on my company car but I used 2 coats of dodo supernatural for wax and these are the results:










































The TT with similar treatment and meguiars NXT Tech wax to finish:


----------



## tomchap81 (Feb 12, 2008)

J55TTC said:


> Lastly, you can wax over the top of it once the extra gloss had cured for a couple of hours, the only wax in halfords I can recommend is the meguiars NXT tech wax, durability is poor compared to other products but it gives a nice wet shine. If money allows Id recommend the new autoglym high definition wax - it will compliment the extra gloss protection and the durability is fantastic (at least 6-8 weeks if you wash the car a couple of times in between).


So you don't think the Megs lasts 6-8 weeks? Agree the beading isn't quite as tight, but think it's still looking reasonable after 2 months minimum. Am finding wax is lasting a lot longer now I've left the seaside (seagulls and salt are bad combination!)

Tom


----------



## J55TTC (Apr 25, 2005)

tomchap81 said:


> J55TTC said:
> 
> 
> > Lastly, you can wax over the top of it once the extra gloss had cured for a couple of hours, the only wax in halfords I can recommend is the meguiars NXT tech wax, durability is poor compared to other products but it gives a nice wet shine. If money allows Id recommend the new autoglym high definition wax - it will compliment the extra gloss protection and the durability is fantastic (at least 6-8 weeks if you wash the car a couple of times in between).
> ...


I never had a problem with the beading - it was always very good I just found that after 2-3 weeks the beading was there but not great. Are you using the tech wax version 2.0 by any chance?


----------



## J55TTC (Apr 25, 2005)

High definition wax after a couple of months and a few washes


----------



## neilwade (Aug 29, 2007)

Thanks for all your replies (especially J55TTC for your detailed post) you have all answered many questions that I was thinking about asking? Just waiting for a nice day now!!! (Could be waiting some time)


----------



## J55TTC (Apr 25, 2005)

No problem 

I have found that it all boils down to experience, and I still have a lot to learn too.

Just get out there and try different products, for example waxes are a very personal choice IMO. In a recent test on detailingworld of waxes ranging from £15 to well over £100 they all seemed to offer a very similar finish, with similar beading (all the same prep work) - the main difference was durability.

Im currently testing out £65 dodo supernatural as I dont think its going to be any better than £30 high def wax.... we will see.


----------

