First attempt at my Clio detailing !! Photo heavy

[Beasley Clio182]

Well first off id like to thank everyone in hear for the inspiration to actually do it myself rather than pay !!

I had a go at my Clio today for the first time at detailing !!

Now my clio hasn't had a easy life as you can tell from my project thread , was bought for pittance as it needed a lot of work and love! Its now getting close to how I want it , and I have gone to town detailing today , before I looked on hear, I literally washed and polished a car that is it!

Today its been washed all over, cleaned and dried fully, i went over the whole car with intensive tar remover (was covered in tar) cleaned it down again, Set at it with a clay bar , polished it, then fully waxed it !!

Most of the stuff i used is here

And i also used Meguiars Ultimate liquid wax to finish it off !!

Its also good to remember its got 99,000 miles hard miles on her , and silver it turns out is incredibly hard to make look good !! lol

feedback would be great , this is my first go at making her look good

Thanks for looking ! Hope you all like and any comments and recommendations please

 

[stevescort172]

looks good mate.

All I used to do was wash and polish but now want to start giving it a proper clean, got two weeks off soon ad going to spend a day or two doing it.
Did you use snow foam or the two bucket method??

 

[Feates172]

Should always use two bucket method. Even if you are foaming before hand. All that does is lift some dirt off.

 

[stevescort172]

Yeah I started to once I read it on here.

I've got a karcher high pressure wash can I attach a snow foam bottle to that?? because i've never snow foamed my car and don't know really whats best to use

 

[Feates172]

Mines a karcher, and have a foam lance. Just make sure you get the correct attachment.

More than welcome to try mine. What is yours a k series? Or pro?

 

[stevescort172]

Thanks for the offer.
I'll have to pop over to my parents as that's where all my cleaning gear is (hate living in flats haha) and no idea which one it is :S might have to buy a foam lance as pretty sure it didn't come with one and are all karchers universal as that I can attach any lance to it??

Sorry to op for hijacking thread

 

[Feates172]

Nah mine didn't come with one either. Mine is autobrite foam lance. Just select from the drop section which type you need. I would imagine its k series with the bayonet type figment, push In and twist to lock.

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Sorry late reply ! Two bucket method and a snow foam lance on a kartcher worked a treat to get it clean ! Couldn't believe the state of the clay when I had finished ! Really really needed it ! But the body work is silky smooth now and shines and reflects awesome now

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Nah mine didn't come with one either. Mine is autobrite foam lance. Just select from the drop section which type you need. I would imagine its k series with the bayonet type figment, push In and twist to lock.

Same as mine ! You can get them on EBay dirt cheap the lance , it literally plugs on your jet wash and works ace !

 

[Pistachio]

What is the two bucket method? And what does the clay do? I've never done any detailing

 

[Feates172]

Two buckets, one with warm water with shampoo for washing, another bucket with warm water to rinse the wash mitt/sponge in to avoid dragging dirt around, and cleaning you car with dirty water.

Clawing removed contamination from the paint work, leaves it feeling smooth.

 

[Beasley Clio182]

What is the two bucket method? And what does the clay do? I've never done any detailing

Two buckets explained above

as for clay basically you get a lubricant , a clay bar and a rag and basically it removes all the contaminats that sits in the paint , all the roughness that you feel when you rub your hand down the paint !

The clay removes all that and makes all the paint clear of imperfections ! Once done you normally polish it and wax it to get the best out of the paint !

 

[terryc101]

Looks nice.

Making silver cars looks that that little bit cleaner is all about the products used so might be worth a search in here. Think most people would say a sealant instead of a wax would give a better finish/look on a colour like that.

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Looks nice.

Making silver cars looks that that little bit cleaner is all about the products used so might be worth a search in here. Think most people would say a sealant instead of a wax would give a better finish/look on a colour like that.

Ahh really ? That's one thing I was un sure about that ! What's the main differences between wax and a sealant ? And can anybody recommend a good one for titanium ?

I never realised how hard silver is to get a good shine on !! Lol

 

[Cliotoby]

Take this as constructive criticism.

Paint looks very flat to me.

Next step is to buy a DA IMO and get it polished properly after you decontaminate it properly (Clay, Iron X etc). Top it off with FK1000p sealant and youll be onto a winner.

Also, get some Megs Endurance Tyre Gel.

A good attempt non the less, tidy motor.

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Take this as constructive criticism.

Paint looks very flat to me.

Next step is to buy a DA IMO and get it polished properly after you decontaminate it properly (Clay, Iron X etc). Top it off with FK1000p sealant and youll be onto a winner.

Also, get some Megs Endurance Tyre Gel.

A good attempt non the less, tidy motor.

Conpletely constructive I do see what you mean !! Would you recommend a machine polisher with those ? Or can it be done by hand ? Ill have a good look at all the items you've mentioned
like I say complete novice, all I know is its a lot better than it was haha

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Could you go into a little more detail struggling lol what's a DA IMO?

 

[stevescort172]

A dual action machine polisher.

IMO - in my opinion - tinternet slang innit

 

[Cliotoby]

Yeah DA is dual action, DAS6 over at clean your car.co.uk for example. Gally posted some links in the sticky's in this section which explains everything. I would probably go one step and dont get hung up on compound then polish then finish etc. Just get one pad and one polish (Menzerna 203s for example) enough to clean up the clearcoat, gt rid of dead clear etc. Fk1000p is all you should need for a silver car. It will look great.

Bit expensive however! Its just some advice. Otherwise get a glaze or polish like Auto Glym Super Resin or Prima Amigo and then top that with a wax or sealant (Like FK1000p for example....) or a spray sealant of some sort. Spray detailers are also useful these days. Sonax QD produces good water behavior.

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Ahhhh lol still getting use to all this lol I knew IMO bit thought it was part of the product hahahaha sorry it's been a long week ! Well maybe something to save up to ! This FK1000p is getting recommend a bit ! What company is that?

Ive also been thinking about a dual action (I just thought of a machine polisher) ill google any difference ! Haha thanks for the help guys ! Like I say complete novice to this type of thing but really enjoying it ! Need to save some more penny's I think haha

 

[Rob]

To some degree, I agree with Toby, from another angle, maybe not.

Some of the "flat" look to the paint, I think, is due to the camera you've used. If you'd had someone taking some lovely, correctly set, DSLR pics, a lot more people would be creaming over it.

Looks good for a first try that's for sure.

 

[Beasley Clio182]

To some degree, I agree with Toby, from another angle, maybe not.

Some of the "flat" look to the paint, I think, is due to the camera you've used. If you'd had someone taking some lovely, correctly set, DSLR pics, a lot more people would be creaming over it.

Looks good for a first try that's for sure.

Cheers rob !

I have got to agree ,because I used my crappy iPhone camera , and it's poo! I should have used my proper camera ! I'm also investing in a dslr very soon haha !

I can say that in the flesh it looks 100x better than it does on the photos ! But even then I'm open to suggestions as to how to make it better

As you can tell I know very little on detailing so more suggestions the better !

 

[Chris_MK3]

Great job mate, I know silvers are hard to polish up to proper gleam (ive got one) but that worked like no idea. Photos never do it justice than what it really looks like up close!

 

[Beasley Clio182]

Great job mate, I know silvers are hard to polish up to proper gleam (ive got one) but that worked like no idea. Photos never do it justice than what it really looks like up close!

Cheers mate ! Yeah they don't , if its still gleaming after work tomoz ill get my bridge camera out it'll be better than my iPhone ! Just not as good as a dslr see it a bit better !