The detailing and washing thread

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This is what I usually do
  • Wash the tires and rims with a scrub
  • Dry the rims
  • Wash the floor mats and let them dry
  • Rinse the car/truck with water, completely
  • Scrub with microfiber cloths soaked on water mixed with shampoo, rinse off and dry. Every body panel separately starting from the ceiling
  • Scrub the grill and headlights with a cloth
  • Dry everything left soaked, if I find water spots I wash the entire panel again
  • Vacuum the interior
  • Put Armor-All on tires and other parts
  • Wax it (every month)
Shampoo and Wax are Meguiar's brand, microfiber cloths are those yellow ones you can get from Costco
Toyota.jpg
 
GDII
That's AMAZING!!! Way better than my car. It's actually lifting the water up and forcing it to become almost a sphere.
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Yeah, for water beading, it is pretty extreme. :) It gives this kind of result for a good couple of months too.

The only part where it lacks a bit is that it doesn't have that silky smooth finish a carnauba will have. Currently I use Megs Quik Wax as a maintenance to add some of that softeness though.
 
AJHG1000
This is what I usually do
  • Wash the tires and rims with a scrub
  • Dry the rims
  • Wash the floor mats and let them dry
  • Rinse the car/truck with water, completely
  • Scrub with microfiber cloths soaked on water mixed with shampoo, rinse off and dry. Every body panel separately starting from the ceiling
  • Scrub the grill and headlights with a cloth
  • Dry everything left soaked, if I find water spots I wash the entire panel again
  • Vacuum the interior
  • Put Armor-All on tires and other parts
  • Wax it (every month)
Shampoo and Wax are Meguiar's brand, microfiber cloths are those yellow ones you can get from Costco
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Waxing once a month with Meguiar's products is probably not as necessary. The wax is designed to seal the paint for months at a time - regular normal washes would be just as effective until the wax loses its efficiency. Looks great though.
 
Katiegan
The reason why I spent all day Saturday detailing is because I'm supposed to be going to a show this Saturday (as a participant for the first time!) and I'm working up until then so I won't have time. At this rate I'll have to take my whole cleaning kit with me and start again...
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The wax should make the dirt easier to wash off.
 
SVX
Waxing once a month with Meguiar's products is probably not as necessary. The wax is designed to seal the paint for months at a time - regular normal washes would be just as effective until the wax loses its efficiency. Looks great though.
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It's a bit of an overkill, but this region has a lot of dust coming from the deserts and sometimes I have to wash it twice a week, and also someone recomended me to wax it every month because the dust wears off wax pretty quickly, at least that's what he told me.
 
Well, I only just found this thread, on account of @Katiegan kindly recommending me.

I've recently started a mobile valeting business on my own. Nowhere near the standard of stuff on this thread, but I'm making some decent jobs out there. Take this Vauxhall Astravan for example. Never cleaned, and I mean never - previously owned by a painter/decorator.

Astravan BD1.jpg


On the left is after a quick wash and dry, and on the right is after compound polishing the panel. Quite the difference!
 
I've become obsessed with detailing as many of you that post or lurk the thread.

Been watching this guy specifically:



Sure people consider it overkill, but it makes such a major difference.
 
Mike Rotch
What products are you using for your biz?
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All Autosmart.

-I use smart wheels for... you guessed it. Wheels!
-Duet wash and wax for washing.
-Tardis tar and glue for tree sap and pre-polish treatment.
-Platinum for polish.
-Watered down G101 for interior plastics.
-Generally I avoid tyre slick and dashboard polish in favour of simply cleaning the plastics.
-Glass Clear for windows.

I don't wax cars simply because it's rather expensive option and customers in my area don't very much care for it.

I would like to try waxing my 240, mind. What's the best you've found, let's say on a budget of £20 per 250ml pot?

Edit: I also cleaned the alloys on my Corsa today!
TTU 1.jpg

TTU 2.jpg
 
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I used to use some really strong wheel acid back when I worked at the dealership. I haven't really detailed my car since I took it out of storage... And since I left the dealership, I don't have my own stuff to detail my car. So, I figured I may as well start somewhere. Mainly, with the wheels. Just ordered the wheel regimen kit from Ammo NYC when Larry mentioned free shipping for this week.
700x700_Wheel__Regimen.png
 
MedigoFlame
I used to use some really strong wheel acid back when I worked at the dealership. I haven't really detailed my car since I took it out of storage... And since I left the dealership, I don't have my own stuff to detail my car. So, I figured I may as well start somewhere. Mainly, with the wheels. Just ordered the wheel regimen kit from Ammo NYC when Larry mentioned free shipping for this week.
700x700_Wheel__Regimen.png
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Love their products
 
Car was looking wretched, so gave it a top up wax today, as I Collinited it maybe 6 weeks ago. I also tried CarPro Iron X for the first time (wheel cleaner) and Duragloss AquaWax as the spray on.

Re the Car Pro
ralph-wiggum-smells-like-lung-cancer.jpg


First impressions - not impressed with it. Didn't clean out the residue, even after waiting 5 mins. Will assess next, but I actually prefer the effectiveness of the cheap ArmorAll I had before.

As for the Duragloss - weird application process. Buff on....and keep buffing. Best applied to a wet car, although I dried first. Does seem to make the colour pop a bit more than Megs, but time will tell how effective and durable it is. Smells nice though.
 
I thought I would try some of the AMMO Plum Wheel Cleaner that my brother gave me for christmas. It's a small bottle and you use a lot very quickly so I will only use it when the wheels are really dirty like today.



I didn't manage to get any decent shots of how dirty the front wheels were so I'll use some older photos to show approximately how bad they were. At least for how bad I let them get normally.




Before, I think the hose washed off some of it before I put Plum on. Wheel wax is a good thing.


Just after spraying on the Plum. Starts to change colour quite fast on any contaminated surfaces. That includes the bare brake rotor faces.


So now my wheels are bleeding. That can't be good.






Drags all the dirt to the bottom.


It appears there is no contaminants on the centre cap. The foam hasn't reacted and changed colour, it never did either.


Hungry for rotors this Plum is.


The CarPro DLUX I put on the caliper paint made it bead very well and almost all the brake dust came off with just the hose. A small amount was left as shown by the purple colour Plum makes.



Once you let it sit for a short time you can either go at your wheels with a wheel brush or in my particular case I just hosed it and this was the result.




I'm quite impressed with the results. I did have to wipe the wheels with the cloth I use to get some off but that was because I didn't do it while the Plum was on still. Just testing results. It's not like my wheels let any dirt stick to them anyway.


It's great for getting dirt out of around the wheel nuts which can be hard if you don't have a long bristle brush.


Final results :sly:
 
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Awesome looking wheels.

With mine having been refurbished in gloss black I actually take a similar approach to the bodywork of the car. Soapy water (Autosmart Duet), microfibre wash mitten to clean the wheels, then I dry them and use Autosmart Platinum as a polish.

TTU 1.jpg

TTU 2.jpg


No tyre slick/gel. I hate that stuff. Silicone crap.
 
lbpomg95
I still prefer the natural look.
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I use CarPro PERL and it's water-based. No sling, drys hard so dirt doesn't really stick to it and beads water very well. Darkens the tire but not too glossy. There are other products out there that do a similar or better job than PERL but it's what I have right now.

Black glossy wheels with dull grey tyres isn't my thing as it looks odd but that's just me. :) I find with black wheels and black tyres you can't tell the difference between the 2 but with your car you can clearly see what is what. 👍
 
GDII
I use CarPro PERL and it's water-based. No sling, drys hard so dirt doesn't really stick to it and beads water very well. Darkens the tire but not too glossy. There are other products out there that do a similar or better job than PERL but it's what I have right now.

Black glossy wheels with dull grey tyres isn't my thing as it looks odd but that's just me. :) I find with black wheels and black tyres you can't tell the difference between the 2 but with your car you can clearly see what is what. 👍
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That's kind of why I like the tyres untouched. Makes the alloys stand out that much more!
 
I have some gnarly pin-stripping on my paint for a trip up in the canyons a couple weeks back from various limbs and other foliage. Any thoughts on getting them out or at least making them look better? I know it will never be perfect but I just want it to look slightly better than it does.
 
Joey D
I have some gnarly pin-stripping on my paint for a trip up in the canyons a couple weeks back from various limbs and other foliage. Any thoughts on getting them out or at least making them look better? I know it will never be perfect but I just want it to look slightly better than it does.
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Really depends if the scratches are through the clearcoat or not. If they are, not much you can do unfortunately. If not, compound and polish, preferably with a dual-action orbital polisher so you dont burn the clearcoat or destroy your hand (as it's hard work ;)).
 
Joey D
I have some gnarly pin-stripping on my paint for a trip up in the canyons a couple weeks back from various limbs and other foliage. Any thoughts on getting them out or at least making them look better? I know it will never be perfect but I just want it to look slightly better than it does.
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If it's just trees and you can't feel it with your fingernail a polish should get them out. You'd be surprised how easy it is to fix up minor marks like this but as @Mike Rotch said it can take some time if you have a clear coat. That stuff is very hard compared to what I am used to with single stage soft paint.
 
Thanks! I think a majority of them are just in the clear coat. Is there a buffer I can get that won't ruin the paint if I have no idea what I'm doing? The truck is too big for me to want to do the whole thing by hand, it wasn't a problem with the MINI, Focus, or Volvo.
 
Autosmart Evo 3 (about £15 per litre bottle on Ebay) and a damp microfibre cloth followed by buffing seems to work pretty well.

It's how I did this (for the most part anyway).

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12 Hours, A Superclean and a Video to go with it later....

BEWARE NSFW - Some coarse language in the lyrics

 
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Well, a friend of mine was working on a clapped out Suzuki Alto (yep, another one) this week. I got bored and tried (of all things) autosol. Rather good as it turned out...

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I took the MR2 to a track day last week. This is a showing what was done after to clean the wheels. The day after I took time to wash the car although the body didn't really need much. What got it more dirty was a swarm of little flies I drove through on the way to the track. The wheels on the other hand got very dirty from brake dust and tyre rubber.

This is probably the darkest I have seen these wheels with an even coating of brake dust. Road dirt only tends to stick on the lip and the leading edge of the spokes. This time it was all over the wheel.

Dusty Spokes Before


Accelerated tyre wear is obviously something that track driving causes. This was definitely the case here but after a 2 hour highway drive home the signs of this had mostly gone. This is the right rear tyre. It looks fine as this is probably the least stressed tyre on Manfeild due to the majority of the corners being right handers.


Right Rear Tyre


On the other hand the front left was quite a bit hotter therefor having more wear. You can still see some melted rubber on the tread block edges. It was far worse after a 20min session on the track.


Front Left Tyre



JDM Shoshinsha Mark
JDM Shoshinsha Mark L Plates I bought when I was in Japan. These were the car put on as I was completely new to track driving. I felt they were quite fitting for this situation and if people knew what they meant it wouldn't be so silly to have them on the car.


Overall Front Left Before
An overall shot prior to any cleaning. You can see the brake rotors have darker centres to the wear face. This came off after a drive up the street with my foot on the brake. Back to normal now even silver now.


Brake Pad Material
As you can see there is quite a lot of brake pad material on the barrel being thrown out from the rotor. The slots in the rotor definitely work as they had pad material in them filling up about a 1/4 of the groover on the trailing edge.


Brake Dust on Caliper
A bit of pad dust on the caliper. These calipers are coated in CarPro DLUX so most of it just comes off with a spray of the hose.


Clean Centre Cap
The centre caps never seem to get dirty with is good.


Tyre Rubber On Wheel Lip
A bit of tyre rubber on the wheel lip. This came off very easy as the wheels have a coat of wax on them to help with cleaning.


Overall Side Shot
An overall of the car. Still very clean except for the rather dark front wheels.


Overall Side Shot 2



Cleaning Products
These are the cleaning products used. CarPro RESET for the body paint once the wheels are clean. AMMO PLUM for removing most of the wheel dirt without having to touch them too much reducing scratching. AMMO BRUTE for a final clean to soap up the wheel with a soft cloth.


Before Cleaning
Before AMMO PLUM


AMMO PLUM Sprayed on
PLUM sprayed on and let sit for a short time.


Wheel Brush Lug Nuts
I have a specific wheel brush for cleaning around the lug nuts and other tight spots on the wheels and brakes. Yes it's just a boar hair paint brush with electrical insulation tape wrapped around the metal parts to stop scratching. It works very well.


Wheel Brush Brake Caliper
Getting into the calipers with the brush


Wheel Brush Advan Racing Logo
Going over the Advan Racing logo


Wheel Brush Air Valve
It's great for getting around the air valve. This is a spot many people miss when washing wheels.


PLUM After 2 Minutes
PLUM after sitting for 2 minutes and using the brush on the above parts. This has broken up and dragged the majority of the brake dust off the wheel.


PLUM After 2 Minutes Close Up



After PLUM and Hose Rinse
This is after just spraying on PLUM and hosing it off. No agitation apart from the bits shown above. It's impressive stuff.


After PLUM and Hose Rinse 2
You can still see some dirt if you look closely. Also note the brake caliper has water beading on it where the wheel doesn't as much. This is due to the 2 layers of CarPro DLUX and the wheels only have a specific wheel wax. I will soon be adding DLUX to the wheels to get this same affect. It will make cleaning the wheels that much easier. You can knock off most dirt with just a hose.


Dusty Spokes Before
So a side by side comparison. Before and after below.

After Full Wash With BRUTE
After a full wash with AMMO BRUTE and drying with a mircofibre cloth specifically for wheels only.
I have green cloths for wheels, blue for windows and yellow for paint. OCD much?
icon_lol.gif


So looking after the wheels by protecting them and cleaning them regularly has paid off to keep them nice even after subjecting them to this sort of harsh treatment.
 
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Dude, those beads look tasty. Excellent. 👍

Today, I finally popped my cherry breaking out the G21.

Griots Boss G21

Griots Boss G21

with 3-inch backing plate attached.

I figured it'd be quick and easy to get a feel for it by doing my headlights.

Headlights left v right

Headlights left v right


I usually rub them clean with a rag and some polish at my dad's house when I meet him over there to wash cars. Haven't done it in like a year since I started working full-time though. My headlights were getting so scuzzy that I was having a hard time seeing at night. This became especially apparent after the recent hurricanes. Since our city is so ghetto that the piles of felled vegetation haven't been picked up in 2 months, I've had to be especially careful when driving through our residential areas. Anyway, it is finally cool enough outside to (A) not melt and mar your paint while trying to wash your car and (B) to not fatally sweat your balls off. My commute to work has totally destroyed each lens, lol. Look at how awful this is:

right headlight slimy

right headlight slimy


By the time I prepped the pad and swapped out the backing plate, I already lost a lot of the light. Had to make sure it wouldn't blow apart and kill me with the sketchy-looking 3-inch pad on the long-throw BOSS. But I didn't have time to do the paint prep with taping off everything, so I just let it rip on the more important central parts of the left lens. I didn't realize how much damage each lens has been taking during my commute, however. Only after polishing can you really see the fine pitts and pocks from all the road debris. Pre-polish cleaning with my orange degreaser also stripped a bunch of brownish gunk out of the lens. It's amazing how much crud gets lodged in soft plastic.

left headlight shiny

left headlight shiny


You can see the "smoked" border of plasticancer still present along the edges that I didn't cover. Now that I know how easy the process is with the G21, I'll make a bigger project out of the right lens with proper masking and wet-sanding before going to town with the orbital.

That said, if you don't have an orbital DA, I can't recommend one enough. I used to spend 20 minutes hand-polishing like a slave, making my headlights look good. This result comes with maybe 1 minute of working time, if that. I just need more cool, shady days to tackle the rest of the car.
 

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