# Cleaning advice + i hate black cars.



## Widdlez (Jul 18, 2012)

Hi guys,

Can you recommend what i would need to clean my car myself once a week inside and out. I dont want to break the bank, i seen a autoglym kit for £33.95 which includes 10 items.

Also with my car being black and 5 years old, the paintwork is an eye sore (to me that is). All the stone chips, scratches etc. Can anyone recommend a solution? I was thinking about one of those chip stick lipstick looking things with the black polish... I was going to get my car wrapped in white but i was told wrapping a black car in white is a no no.

Thanks in advance for your help.


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## X5TUU (Sep 4, 2012)

first and foremost do not bother with AG products, as a general rule of thumb they are pretty shocking

I have ran 6-7 black cars over the past few years and am a bit obsessive over them looking shiny

I would personally use the following regime, I am assuming you dont have a pressure washer or snowfoam lance

1) Flood Rinse the vehicle to wet the paint and loosen it
2) Wash with warm to hot water and Zymol AutoWash (circa £10 a bottle - lasts ages and ages)
3) Rinse
4) ReWash as above
5) Rinse
6) Clay the paint, you can pick up fine and medium clays on ebay from China for £2-3 and they are equal in quality to the AG and Megs clay they sell for £12-15 ... Bilt Hamber clay is superior but again about £15 a bar, and use a simple mix of the Zymol AutoWash and cold water in a trigger bottle to keep the paintwork lubricated
7) Rinse
8.) Rewash as above
9) Dry, ideally with a leaf blower, but MFs will do
10) Work over the car with PoorBoys BlackHole approx £15 (FIller Polish designed for darker paint, gives off little dust)
11) Buff off PB with a clean MF cloth
12) Apply a wax or sealant, I would recommend either DoDo Juice Blue Velvet or Purple Haze (Panel Pot £5 and will do a full car 4-5times) or if you prefer a liquid wax, then Collinite 845 (1L bottle lasts for years £15) 
13) Buff with a fresh MF
14) Repeat 12 + 13, ideally for 3 coats of wax for durability and protection

Depending on how the car is used and kept, I will assume its used as a daily and kept outdoors, this will last for a few months, and all you will need to do in the interim is hose the dirt off and top up the wax with a Quick Detailer, or if you are like me, I re-wax normally about once a week throughout April to October then apply a very hard wax (Collinite 476s) in 4 coats which covers me over the winter ...

these are the sorts of reults you can expect with the above regime ...:


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

Poor boys black hole or anything with fillers eg AG Super Resin Polish will help reduce the appearance of gazing and swirls. If you want a proper finish then long term it's worth borrowing a machine polisher or paying someone to do it.

Not difficult to do, but hard to do perfect. Blows any hand polishing out if the water. Clay bars, as mentioned above, is good for removing ingrained dirt and tar though.

Maybe try the steps mentioned above and if not read up on detailing using a rotary.


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## X5TUU (Sep 4, 2012)

thats a really good point actually, as the Astra and Corsa above have both been machine polished by me ... personally though if you are just starting out getting into detailing, while I would recommend a Rotary over a DA, you would be best buying a bonnet from a scrappy to practice on before hitting your paintwork


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## Bartsimpsonhead (Aug 14, 2011)

You should of course use the two bucket method to wash the car too - otherwise you're just washing the car in its own dirty water/grit solution creating more swirl marks.


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## Widdlez (Jul 18, 2012)

Thanks guys that's really useful!!


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