AF inspired clean

[.Andy.]

Some of you may have seen my thread in 'Other Marques' and would know that I collected my Z4 on Friday! So Saturday, my friend gave me free rain over his unit so I had my first proper go at a bit of detailing. Something I'm keen to get involved in with this car.. So.. Pictures..

AF Iron X

I then had ago at the exhaust, caked in years of s**t and pitting! It needs more time but I did get somewhere using Autosol

The car was then SnowFoamed using Avalanche. Seemed to foam very well too. Then washed using 2B method with Lather and dried using a MicroFiber Towel.

The car was then reversed inside to begin the claying process with Dodo born slippy. I wish I'd taken more pictures as the level of grime that was removed was actually quite sickening! These two pictures were the roof and part of the bonnet. Nothing compared to what was caked on the bumpers and doors!

The car was the foamed again and washed, dried and reversed back inside to reveal an awful lot of swirling!!

The car was then polished using AF triple. Again, being a beginner I felt this was a good place for me to start!

Tripple applied and buffed off, I then cleaned and treated the leather to some AF Hide Conditioner. Smells awesome!

The interior was cleaned up with Meguires products. Halfords 3 for 2!

I then moved back on to the bodywork and applied a coat of AF Temptation. This being my first ever experience of applying wax.

Total of 7hrs spent and pleased to say the least with my first attempts:smile: Constructive criticism is VERY welcome!

 

[Philip.]

Good first attempt! I'd try and get hold of a DA polisher.

Having owned and spent 14 hours polishing a black car, there's nothing like it once it's done!

 

[Gally]

Car looks good mate.

Couple of things, did you research products and process etc before having a go at cleaning? The reason I ask is most of the swirling and damage will have come from the clay bar/contaminants.Clay bars aren't for removing tar i'm afraid.

 

[Knuckles]

Good effort! The car looks ace.

Black is so rewarding

I'd definitely recommend using a tar remover and iron remover on the paint before considering using clay.

As Gally said, clay can inflict marring even when used correctly. If you go guns blazing and use it to remove tar and iron contaminants, you're essentially dragging them across your paint, causing more damage to polish out later.

 

[.Andy.]

Good first attempt! I'd try and get hold of a DA polisher.

Having owned and spent 14 hours polishing a black car, there's nothing like it once it's done!

Thankyou! A DA is on the agenda but not just yet, I want to get used to using a few different products before I jump to a machine.

Car looks good mate.

Couple of things, did you research products and process etc before having a go at cleaning? The reason I ask is most of the swirling and damage will have come from the clay bar/contaminants.Clay bars aren't for removing tar i'm afraid.

Cheers, Gally. To be fair, yes I did. I spent hours reading up on guides and watching videos. I didn't actually set out to remove tar, but I was under the impression that the clay bar was for removing contaminants? As for the swirling, I have improved that dramatically to how it was before startingi believe? Maybe I have introduced some marring then, but on the whole, I'd like to think Ive improved rather than inflicted. How would you recommend I progress from here? Should I have polished with more than one coat? Leap to a machine polish?

Thankyou for the help in advance

 

[.Andy.]

Good effort! The car looks ace.

Black is so rewarding :smiley:

I'd definitely recommend using a tar remover and iron remover on the paint before considering using clay.

As Gally said, clay can inflict marring even when used correctly. If you go guns blazing and use it to remove tar and iron contaminants, you're essentially dragging them across your paint, causing more damage to polish out later.

Thankyou, I'm really pleased with it, but it's just the start

Regarding the above, can you suggest a couple of products I could specifically look in to?

 

[Knuckles]

Thankyou, I'm really pleased with it, but it's just the start:smile:

Regarding the above, can you suggest a couple of products I could specifically look in to?

Detailing is a Pandora's box of a hobby lol... Enjoy :smiley:

Auto smart tardis

Carpro (I think ) iron x

Both can be had for £12ish for a litre on eBay

If you can, get the lemon scent iron x, it's more bearable to use than the original and cherry options lol. They stink lol



And regarding your above post, clay is for removing the stubborn bits or minuscule left overs the tar remover and iron removers have missed.

And (tell me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs at all) but polishes are for removing defects, waxes/sealants are for protection, so you don't layer polishes, you just apply more and remove more.

Tripple is an all in one product, it has a little abrasive quality, it has fillers which fill the deeper swirls and it adds a little protection.

I wouldn't recommend using clay or a polish, even one like tripple every wash for fear of inflIcting more swirls

 

[D7NTK]

Jump to a DA before a rotary . Easier to use for a begginer . Do some research on pads . I find hexlogic the best . Combined with meguires medium cut polish and then a finishing compound followed by liquid wax using my rotory slow speed or da . Then just a hand haze of wax so build layers up

 

[JD]

Looks great, Andy! Lovely colour and good attempt on the exhaust - you're never going to contend with pitting as that's permanent I'm afraid.
As Kev has said, tar spots can be removed with clay, as before Tar removers were all the rage, that was a piece of clay's purpose as you've correctly said. What Gally means is with more recent developments, tar can be chemically softened and removed before a hard piece of clay is rubbed over it, thus reducing the chances of imparting marring into the paint. It's just like your 2BM - a better way of doing things but not the end of the world!

 

[Auto Finesse]

Good work! little Z4 looks great for all your efforts.