1st time detailer - flame red extreme

[gaz90]

I'm looking to take advantage of the bogof offer that Halfords has on their cleaning chemicals this weekend as on the next nice day I intend to wash,clay,polish and wax my car as I parked right next to a flame red extreme the other day and my paintwork looked quite bad in comparison. I am new to detailing all I have ever done is wash, tyre shine and fully valet the interior so I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me out with to get me started.

1. Meguiars or Autoglym? (I have heard a few people saying that different brands have different finishes on different colours, which I don't really believe tbh)

2. Am I right in thinking the order I would go in is: Wash, clay, polish then wax?

3. Will the procedure get rid of swirl marks, the residue from my stickers and tar spots?

4. My bumpers are not as faded as the body work is this common?

Sorry its a bit of a questionnaire I just like being clued up about things before I attempt them myself, rather than attempt them and make an arse of them.

Thanks for any help!

 

[yellow_chris]

1. both products have products that are very good but it all depends on what product of theirs you want to use imo

2. yes

3.depending on the polish you use..highly unlikey to reduce swirl marks to the point that you notice the difference

4. dont know

if your buying from halfords my advice would be to use.. AG shampoo, meguiars clay kit, AG super resin polish then for wax either AG hd or meguiars gold wax(i think thats what its called)

 

[gaz90]

Cheers for the advice Chris, after a look on the Halfords website I have chose to purchase Meguiars clay kit, I'm kind of between buying either: Meguiars Gold class car wash & wax kit or Meguiars NXT generation wash and wax kit for the wash and wax, for polish I can't decide between Meguiars ultimate compound and Meguiars ultimate polish.
Any help appreciated.

 

[Dunc.]

Read as much as you can, e.g. sticky threads in here.

Maybe detailingworld forums aswell but can be a minefield.


Rinse the car first to get rid of some larger dirt if you can. You dont want to rub this into your paint.

Wash (2 bucket method). Use a mitt not any old sponge.
Megs gold class shampoo from halfords if you like. Or go online and get dodo juice supernatural shampoo if you can.

Could look into iron-x and tardis here.

Dry the car with a towel, such as the wooly mammoth. (basically not a chamois leather).

Polish with AG SRP.

Wax with autoglym HD Wax. (cheapish on amazon for the kit).

There are a million products to use, and other stages. But to keep it simple go for the above and then u can go from there and add more etc.

Something to black your trim/plastics.

Lastly, from halfords you can get Megs endurance tyre shine, applied with any old sponge this is a great product.

 

[yellow_chris]

Read as much as you can, e.g. sticky threads in here.

Maybe detailingworld forums aswell but can be a minefield.


Rinse the car first to get rid of some larger dirt if you can. You dont want to rub this into your paint.

Wash (2 bucket method). Use a mitt not any old sponge.
Megs gold class shampoo from halfords if you like. Or go online and get dodo juice supernatural shampoo if you can.

Could look into iron-x and tardis here.

Dry the car with a towel, such as the wooly mammoth. (basically not a chamois leather).

Polish with AG SRP.

Wax with autoglym HD Wax. (cheapish on amazon for the kit).

There are a million products to use, and other stages. But to keep it simple go for the above and then u can go from there and add more etc.

Something to black your trim/plastics.

Lastly, from halfords you can get Megs endurance tyre shine, applied with any old sponge this is a great product.

as good as that answer is mate hes wanting stuff from halfrauds they have a deal on their cleaning stuff at the moment.

 

[gaz90]

Cheers Dunc sounds like your right into your detailing, I'm not quite at that point yet as I'm just starting. As Chris said I want to go to halfords and get everything hopefully, only got £90 till next monday but that deals too good to pass up so I thought I'd treat my car since it passed its mot with very few problems last monday

 

[172cupleeds]

For tar spots and glue residue from stickers..try get some glue and tar remover.the autoglym stuff is pretty good but the trick is to use quite a lot of product over most of the areas affected 1st and it will start to soften all the tar etc so you don't have to apply too much pressure and risk scratches etc when you go back over it all to remove it completely..

 

[dombloke]

Tar spots on white paint...nightmare

 

[gaz90]

Cheers for any advice given, went to halfords today and bought Meguiars ultimate compound, Meguiars clay kit, Meguiars NXT generation wash and wax kit and Meguiars scratch X2.0. I used the NXT gen. car wash with the meguiars wash mit, then dried the car using the microfibre towel supplied, Clay and polished, wax supplied with clay kit applied using the applicator pad, trim, number plates and freshly painted badges re fitted, job done. Fairly happy with the results for my first time I've not seen the car in the sun yet but, just under the lights in my garage but it looks pretty good, heres the best pic I could get

 

[gaz90]

Tar spots on white paint...nightmare

White cars look great like the focus rs, audi's, etc. but I'd never buy one as I'd never be done cleaning it, its bad enough with my car