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What do i need to clean my car?

A

azndal

Car  Mk2 Ph1 Renault Clio 1.2
please dont say bucket and sponge lol

i need some advice about washing my car properly, all ive ever done is wash it with halfords car shampoo and use wheel tire shine!!

what should i be using to clean the paint work? ive been reading that people use clay bar, but where do i get it from and how do i use it?
also i how do i bring back the black on the apparently black plastic bits? lol

basically i need to know whats the best stuff to buy for a total of lets say £30-40 and whats the best way to use it all?

cheers in advance!!! :D
 
Oh God. I bet it has swirls. Ignoring that...

Autoglym Bumper Care
Autglym Vinyl Stuff
Meguiars Gold Class Wash
Meguiars Quick Detailer
Meguairs NXT Tech Wax
Meguiars Quick Clay
Autoglym Fast Glass
Wheel cleaner of your choice
Lambs Wool wash mit
Synthetic Chamois
Some micorfibre wipes and terry towels
 
Dave said:
Oh God. I bet it has swirls. Ignoring that...
Click to expand...

wow, a really quick reply, thanks for that :D

can anyone ellaborate how to use all these products, and where the place to get these all from is?
just pretend that im a virgin to this all lol.

and im afraid to say, it has so many swirls :( and it looks as if the black colour has lot its depth :(:(.
 
you can get a few things from halfords, I would recommend seriousperformance.co.uk (cliosport members get 10% discount).

what you need is:
lambs wool mitt,
a decent shampoo (meguiars NXT tech) or something similar,
Auto Glym super resin or meguiars polish
Poorboys EXP sealant (apply for extra protection)
any decent wax (meguiars No.21, NXT tech, P21s, Clearkote carnuba moose wax),
Auto Glym bumper care & Auto Glym vinyl rubber cleaner (for black bits)
Auto Glym engine cleaner spray (this can be used on wheels)
Meguiars endurance tyre shine (for tyres)
Meguiars waffle weave towel (for drying)
and a couple of microfibre and terry towels.
 
i use a water magnet to dry my car, some foam applicator pads to apply the wax, and microfibre towels to remove it.. some may disagree, but works fine for me..
 
coool, ive just spent £50 on stuff to clean up the car lol, cant believe it!
  • Meguiars NXT paste tech wax
  • Meguiars Supreme shine microfibre 3 pack
  • Meguiars Gold class shampoo
  • Meguiars Quick clay bar detailing system
  • Meguiars Scratch X
  • Lambs wool wash mitt
:D

edit: ive already got alloy wheel cleaner, a steam cleaner to sort out the engine bay and autoglym glass cleaner stuff
 
Looks like a good selection of products, I would have got Autoglym Super Resin Polish and some Autoglym Extra Gloss Sealant rather than the NXT, but thats just my preference, the NXT is loved by many.
 
im getting..

gold class shampoo
clay bar
gold class wax
some applicator pads
water magnet
microfibre pads
and i've got a megs product lambswool sponge but they are only available in the US :D
 
Martin_89 said:
post back what you think of the ScratchX when you use it, im thinking of using it.

good luck
Click to expand...

i brought the scratch x not only coz of my current scratches but also coz i heard someone on here ended up with very fine lines after using clay bar, so i thought i better get some just in case.

cant wait :D it all coming tomorrow.
 
Scratch X works well by hand, if you put in some real elbow grease needs to be worked hard to get marks out. To do a whole car with it takes some doing. It doesnt leave fine scratches when taking out bigger ones as some scratch removal products do.

The Scratch x contains dimishing abbrassives - it starts of harsh and breaks down to a milder finishing polishing to ensure a great finish. In order to do this youmust work the products till it's almost gone. Work the product so there is little or no residue to remove, that way you will be sure its done its job, and wont have left additional marks to the ones you where trying to take out. The fact it needs working like this means that doing a whole car with it is hard work. Use a small amount of it at a time working in small areas.

TYo help out further use a folded terry towel ( into 8ths) rather than a foam applicator. It has more bite to it to remove the defects and the bigger area of a folded towel allows more even pressure.

Hope this helps.

Rich
 
Best piece of advice I could give anyone, especially this time of year, is the two bucket method. I was gobsmacked how much s**t ended up in the rinse water - and the wash bucket was clean!!
 
As an ex- professional valeter I can safely say that many of the more expensive products on the market cannot justify their prices, and that the secret is definitely in the method not the products (although they can help).

First of all, probably the most important stage, use plenty of water to spray off the car. Use hot water if you can, preferably using a pressure washer. Use a shampoo that contains wax (most do these days, for a non- smear finish I recommend using Turtle's Extreme Wax Rapid Dry formula) - use a generous amount, again in a bucket of warm water. Once car is fully shampooed you can use the same bucket to clean the alloys. If shampoo is not enough as you have let brake- dust accumulate, use a light alloy acid, although I don't like using this as over time it corrodes some metals, especially wheel nuts. Rinse off thoroughly, then I use a product called Rapid Dry which is basically just a soft silicon blade with a handle to wipe of the water quickly. This saves time and leaves a slicker finish, I highly recommend. Alternatively you can *carefully* take off a wiper blade from your vehicle, but these normally have metal back- pieces so only try this if your confident you won't scratch your car! Use a decent synthetic leather, again make sure this is clean and free from grit, you can do detail work such as door and boot sills. Leave your car to dry for about an hour, as residual water normally lurks on overhangs and can ruin the polishing process. Don't spend loads of money on polishing cloths, complete waste of money. Just get a dedicated "put- on" cloth, and a smoother "take off" cloth. I also like to polish my alloys as it makes them easier to clean in the future.

My other strong piece of advice is not to clean your car on a hot or sunny day, especially if it's a black or dark blue car. Doing it in these conditions will make the job twice as hard and lead to a poorer quality finish.

My recommendation of where to spend your money is on a decent polish. Autoglym is used in the trade and gives a great finish, but there are many similar products selling for less which give an almost as good finish.

Hope that helps.
 
I agree with some bits in the above post but not all!

It really is down to the process not the products. With the correct prep even cheap products can look good. I am also a big fan of Autoglym and in trade sizes its cheap as chips. It gets a bad name these days just because Meguiars is relatively new over here it must be better.

I use luke warm water to wash, very hot water is not kind of wax. If your planning to re-wax after every wash that's not a problem.

I prefer a seperate dedicated wash bucket and mitt for my wheels to avoid any change of real grime getting on my paint.

I wouldnt use a wiper blade to try the car either, silicone flexi blades do work well, but the chance of doing damage with one if some grit gets stuck under it is to high. I know if you have washed and rinsed properly it shouldnt happen, but a microfiber waffle weave towel reduces this risk so much.

A seperate polishing pad/applicator is a must for each diffrent product. Same as at least one clean microfiber towel to remove each product. No way I would use one cloth on and one cloth off week in week out on products. Yeah MF'S ay cost a couple of quid but being washable they will last you years.
 
Yeh sorry kind of took that point for granted - certainly use a new put- on cloth for each product, and preferably a new one each time as wax and polish tends to dry out hard on a cloth, and then becomes a solid.

Also, when polishing BE CAREFUL HOW MUCH YOU USE and AVOID getting products down gaps and seams. I have seen some lovely cars made to look laughable due to dried polish being left in gaps. I tend to apply the product directly to large areas such as bonnet and roof, and apply product to the cloth when doing more detailed areas. Remember that you don't need an inch thick coating of product for it to be effective, but total coverage. I have a 97 Ka which was dull when I got it. After a paint- cut back and polishing regularly it looks and feels like a dream.

I would highly recommend the Diamond Brite protection system to anyone serious about protecting the paint (and also alloys and interior) of your car. It can be expensive if you want someone else to do it, but anyone with a moderate amount of car detailing should be able to carry out the process themselves. The kit can be bought for as little as £40 if you look around, and also adds value to your car, in virtue of it having being applied, and also as it should retain the appearance of your vehicle. Anyone else used this or a similar system?
 
Thin coats are best, some people seem to trowel wax/polish on then when they buff off are taking back off as much product as they put on. Anything that comes off is waste so it you want it thick then build it up coat by coat dont try and put a thick coat on as it doesnt work.
 
Fully agree with that. Less is more when it comes to most products.

When polishing by machine though make sure you use enough to prime the pad, dry buffing is not good!

When it comes to sealants though in most cases the thinner the better, when you get a thin coat on, its proabably to thick in the case of some. As Loony says the residue that dust when you remove it is just wasted product when you have applied it to thickly.
 
If you get swirl marks on your paintwork, is it easy enough to remove them? Would it require something like Scratch-X?

Also, what do people think of Mer for a polishing product? Nobody has mentioned it.
 
Mer hasnt been mentioned because its not up to much. Scratch X will remove swirls but you'll have to work it in so doing a whole car by hand can be bit tiring.
 
Well i waxed my car at the weekend, but today i have brought all new products..... Spent about £50.... an got the following.. Come on then what did i miss? i went a bit Autoglymn mad cause it was cheaper to buy all the same product :)

  1. Autoglym Metal Polish 55ml
  2. Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner
  3. Autoglym Super Resin Polish 325ml
  4. Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection 325ml 500ml
  5. Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing 500ml
  6. Autoglym Clean Wheels 500ml
  7. Autoglym Bumper Care 325ml
  8. Autoglym Fast Glass
  9. Supersoft Lambs Wool Wash Mitt
  10. Chamois Leather 15"x 18"
  11. Autoglym Hi Tech Finishing Cloth
  12. Autoglym Hi Tech Cleaning Hand pad
 
Looks a good set up.

I would swap the AG Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner for something else. Also maybe see if you can get a Microfiber drying towel instead of the Chamois.

Other than that looks spot on.
 
Brand86 said:
Yeh sorry kind of took that point for granted - certainly use a new put- on cloth for each product, and preferably a new one each time as wax and polish tends to dry out hard on a cloth, and then becomes a solid.

Also, when polishing BE CAREFUL HOW MUCH YOU USE and AVOID getting products down gaps and seams. I have seen some lovely cars made to look laughable due to dried polish being left in gaps. I tend to apply the product directly to large areas such as bonnet and roof, and apply product to the cloth when doing more detailed areas. Remember that you don't need an inch thick coating of product for it to be effective, but total coverage. I have a 97 Ka which was dull when I got it. After a paint- cut back and polishing regularly it looks and feels like a dream.

I would highly recommend the Diamond Brite protection system to anyone serious about protecting the paint (and also alloys and interior) of your car. It can be expensive if you want someone else to do it, but anyone with a moderate amount of car detailing should be able to carry out the process themselves. The kit can be bought for as little as £40 if you look around, and also adds value to your car, in virtue of it having being applied, and also as it should retain the appearance of your vehicle. Anyone else used this or a similar system?
Click to expand...
diamond brite works for me :rasp: , just got to remember only apply in lines NO swirls..........
On ebay its cheap for smaller bottles
 
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