# First detailing attempt - any tips?



## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

Hi!

Although my car's paint is not in a totally bad shape, this Saturday I will attempt a full detailing. I will outline here why I bought and what my plan is and I would kindly ask you guys to let me know if my plan is flawed as I'm a total newbie when it comes to detailing and such. I really don't want to mess this up as you can imagine 

So I've ordered the following:


 DAS-6 PRO Dual Action Polisher[/*]
 Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Plus Kit (includes: Gold Shampoo & Conditioner, Gold Class Carnauba Wax, Gold Class detailer, Microfiber wash mitt and 2x Water magnet drying towel)[/*]
 Meg's Supreme Shine Microfibre Cloth + Even Coat Applicator Pads[/*]
 Meg's Ultimate Compound[/*]
 Meg's Hot Shine Tyre Spray[/*]
 Meg's Hot Rims Wheel Cleaner[/*]
 Meg's Ultimate Polish[/*]
 Meg's Quick Interior Detailer[/*]
 Gliptone Liquid Leather Cleaner[/*]
 Gliptone Liquid Leather Conditioner[/*]
 Meg's Soft Buff Foam Finishing Pad (Black pad)[/*]
 2x Meg's Soft Buff Foam Polishing Pad (Yellow pad)[/*]

And my plan goes like this:

1. Thoroughly wash the car using Meg's Shampoo & Conditioner and the wash mitt (2 buckets, 1 for the shampoo and 1 for rinse)

2. Wipe it dry using the Meg's water magnet towels

3. Inspect the paint condition if things aren't quite smooth I will use Meg's Ultimate Compound with the Yellow pad to smooth things out. From what I read, as a rule of thumb compound should be used with the burgundy/red pad but since I'm afraid to use a cutting pad and the paint is in a decent condition (light marks here and there) I think I'll just use the yellow one even if the results will be less dramatic. Any pointers here, tips and trick to use the DA?

4. At this point (assuming I survive step 3 :lol: ) I would use the second yellow pad and Meg's Ultimate Polish

5. Applying wax using the Black pad and finally taking care of the tyres and rims using the Meg's products I mentioned above.

6. For the interior I would follow Jac-in-a-box's guide outlined here: viewtopic.php?t=115681

I'm really nervous to not mess things up so I'm asking you what would be some tips that you wish you'd knew before you attempted something similar for the first time? Am I missing something?

Many thanks!


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## turboDean (Nov 16, 2016)

Shouldn't be using a polisher/compound to make paint smooth, polishing is to remove paint defects like swirl marks, the paint should be smooth before u go near it with a polisher.

If your paint has a rough gritty feel if u lightly run your finger tips over it then it needs decontamination before polishing, for this i would us a tar and glue remover like Tardis followed by a fall out remover like Iron-X, depending on how bad it is it may need claying as well.


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## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

turboDean said:


> Shouldn't be using a polisher/compound to make paint smooth, polishing is to remove paint defects like swirl marks, the paint should be smooth before u go near it with a polisher.
> 
> If your paint has a rough gritty feel if u lightly run your finger tips over it then it needs decontamination before polishing, for this i would us a tar and glue remover like Tardis followed by a fall out remover like Iron-X, depending on how bad it is it may need claying as well.


Thank you turboDean, much appreciated. So after a proper wash if the paint is not rough on touch (as you explained above) I can go directly for the compound followed by polish, is this correct? Else could I possibly use something like Meg's Smooth Surface Clay Kit or I need to go for a tar / glue remover + fall out remover and just in worst case scenario followed by claying if it still doesn't feel smooth enough. Is it ok if I go directly from wash to the claying (if needed of course) and the follow up with compound into polish and wax at the very end. So to recap: wash -> claying -> compound -> polish -> wax


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## turboDean (Nov 16, 2016)

Its a down to personal preference a bit, some people like to just use clay, some like to use chemicals some to do both.
I dont really like using clay myself and would rather use Tardis to remove any Tar spot and give a deep clean, then Iron-x to remove any fall out (small iron particles that bond to the paint).
Personally i would do these 2 steps prior to polishing regardless of how the paint feels and its something i do to my car once a year anyway (if the car was a daily driver probably do it more often) some people use a fall out remover a lot more regularly.

With polishing you may only need a single stage, Audi paint tend to be quite hard and takes a compound to correct but it certainly wont hurt to go over it a again with the milder polish. Guess it comes down to how much time u have, to do a single stage polish on a TT properly would probbaly take about 5+ hours I would say.

Ive never tried applying Wax with a DA i always do it by hand.


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## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

Brilliant, thanks for the pointers, really helpful. I'll might just take your advice and go for the Tardis + Iron-x combo or even use clay as well, depending on the condition after wash. Nonetheless thanks for the heads-up regarding this vital step. It will be a long and hopefully well worth it Sturday  Finally any other things that I should be aware of? Apologies for the plethora of questions, just trying to make sure I don't make any serious newbie mistakes. Cheers!


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## turboDean (Nov 16, 2016)

hephe said:


> Brilliant, thanks for the pointers, really helpful. I'll might just take your advice and go for the Tardis + Iron-x combo or even use clay as well, depending on the condition after wash. Nonetheless thanks for the heads-up regarding this vital step. It will be a long and hopefully well worth it Sturday  Finally any other things that I should be aware of? Apologies for the plethora of questions, just trying to make sure I don't make any serious newbie mistakes. Cheers!


If u haven't used a DA before watch plenty of tutorial videos on youtube first. Dont rush with the polishing, you better off doing half the car right then doing the other half on another day.
Took me 3 days to detail my old M3, ive probably spent 2 days on the TT so far and im still not 100% happy with it.


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## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

turboDean said:


> If u haven't used a DA before watch plenty of tutorial videos on youtube first. Dont rush with the polishing, you better off doing half the car right then doing the other half on another day.
> Took me 3 days to detail my old M3, ive probably spent 2 days on the TT so far and im still not 100% happy with it.


Duly noted, definitely won't rush into it. This whole week I've been watching and following every resource I could get my hands on. Obviously since it will be the first time I'm doing this I'm quite nervous about it but I will double check everything to make sure I don't fail. Again, appreciate your input on all of the above. Fingers crossed and I'll check back with some 'before and after' pics next week.


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## bhoy78 (Oct 30, 2014)

If you haven't seen junkman's videos on YouTube they are worth a watch


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## arpuc (Jun 14, 2014)

+1 for iron-x and clay, there is no point polishing unless your paint is totally clean, then wash a second time before considering polish. When done give it a coat of sealant then wax. As the others have said, take your time, I do a panel at a time then move on. I would consider picking up an old panel from a scrappy and practice your polishing skills on that first.


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## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

bhoy78 said:


> If you haven't seen junkman's videos on YouTube they are worth a watch


I'll look him up, thanks for the info.



arpuc said:


> +1 for iron-x and clay, there is no point polishing unless your paint is totally clean, then wash a second time before considering polish. When done give it a coat of sealant then wax. As the others have said, take your time, I do a panel at a time then move on. I would consider picking up an old panel from a scrappy and practice your polishing skills on that first.


Cheers, so you would recommend a second wash before the polishing stage? Any particular reason for this? I'll go grab some iron-x tomorrow or so. Iron-x would come before clay, is this correct?

Again, thanks for all the input, really helpful. :wink:


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## arpuc (Jun 14, 2014)

Second wash is to make sure your paint is completely clean, iron-x and tar remover will leave residue behind, it's not essential but I always do that before clay. The G3 clay mitt is a good option and about £12 in halfords


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## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

arpuc said:


> Second wash is to make sure your paint is completely clean, iron-x and tar remover will leave residue behind, it's not essential but I always do that before clay. The G3 clay mitt is a good option and about £12 in halfords


Thanks for the pointers arpuc.


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## bhoy78 (Oct 30, 2014)

Did you watch junkman's how to use a da videos? There's around 5 in total, helps you learn the speed to use, the pressure to put on the machine and when to prime the pad with some quick detailer.

Probably other advice out there but I followed what he said and the mk1 that hadn't been polished or waxed in many years came out amazing. Think his username was junkman2000


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## arpuc (Jun 14, 2014)

junkman gives great advice and worth watching his "unique" videos as they are really good


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## hephe (Jun 8, 2017)

bhoy78 said:


> Did you watch junkman's how to use a da videos? There's around 5 in total, helps you learn the speed to use, the pressure to put on the machine and when to prime the pad with some quick detailer.
> 
> Probably other advice out there but I followed what he said and the mk1 that hadn't been polished or waxed in many years came out amazing. Think his username was junkman2000





arpuc said:


> junkman gives great advice and worth watching his "unique" videos as they are really good


I did look him up the other day, that series of 5 videos was incredibly good and helpful. Unfortunately I had to cancel my plans for the full detailing this weekend but at least I managed to get a proper wash and some quick detailing in, plus some leather treatment as per Jac-in-a-box's guide.

I hope to be able to resume the full detailing plans somewhere in the next couple of weeks. Nonetheless, I'm pretty pleased how things are coming along so far. Again, cheers for the great info and pointers.

Here are a few pics:


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