Billabong,
No camera trickery needed. its all in the prep. ie pre-cleaning, pre-wax (ie polishing). It IS hard work, but that is how you can make a car look with patience, time, experience and the right products. To avaid getting the wax on black bits. Be careful. Just joking. If you use quality products, like the s100 wax, it doesnt dry white. In fact, some of the guys over at autopia deliberately put it on their black trim. persoannly, I havent had the guts to try it yet tho.
Clare,
At the moment, Im using Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo. Its a tad pricey at £4.99 for 16oz, but they do sell 64oz for £14.99. Lovely and slick feeling when you use it. Suds like crazy. It contains no wax, and is pH balanced, so is easier on the wax you have on the car.
_KDF,
Now youre all set. You should only need the paint cleaner about 2-4 times a year, followed by the Polish. Keep on top of the waxing, say once every 3 or 4 weeks to keep the shine from the polish locked in and youre set.
The High Gloss gel is great. Smells just like grapes. It is very greasy to handle though. Scrub your tyres well and then apply the Gel and really work it in well. After 30- 60 mins pull your car forward half a wheel-turn and do them again. They will really shine. If you dont like the really glossy shine, it eventually turns to a nice deep matte effect, which is quite nice. Youll need to sacrifice one of your new pads just to the Gel tho. When Im done using it i squish out as much of the left-over Gel as possible from the Pad, and then out a big dollop of washing-up liquid on the pad to soak in, as this seems to kill the gel in the pad.
You may also want to get some more MFs tho as you really need at least a couple per stage. I got a load of carpride ones at poundland, but also found some bright orange ones in poundland too. The MFs are excellent at cleaning glass, too.
Something else that is quite good also, is a quick detailer. it is a spray that you mist on to your car paint when you have wash and dried it, then buff off. It adds a high-gloss shine, but only for 2 or 3 days tho. is quite a nice finishing tough. meguiars make one, but I think others make them too, although I use the Meguairs trade ones called Final Inspection and Final Detail.
The Monk,
You have PM (well, will have shortly!).
regards
face