Mecha-wombat
08-12-2009, 12:41 AM
I never used to have a car wash routine nor did I really care about a shiny car because well the Corolla and Echo were colours you can leave dirty for a while and still looked clean so I never cared
Then my Molten Red GT comes along and I decide its time to learn how to properly maintain my paintwork
now there are thousands of product out there and I have used alot of different things via things like samples, gifts, unwanted stuff ETC but I have settled on PRIMA (its around the same price point as Megs and Autoglym but just so much nicer IMPO
but the corolla gets Autoglym and anything else round the house
If you can, buy products from detailing specialist retailer rather than from automotive stores they have the knowledge to help you its what they DO
OR ASK CYBERMONKEY (HIS CAR IS AMAZING and its BLACK)He wont be back til Jan 2010
Always wash and dry in shade with a car that is cool to the touch. Washing a car with hot paint will usually result in streaks as the water / shampoo dries before you can remove all of it from your car.
Rinsing your vehicle is the first step
Washing comes next and it is often done incorrectly, ruining the painted surface.
The first step to correct washing, is to ensure your mitt is always kept clean of dirt and grit.I use two buckets, one bucket for your soap and water mixture, and another bucket containing clean water. The vehicle is washed panel by panel with constant rinsing of the mitt in the clean water,
Everything for my cars is colour coded too so I dont mess up the paint
you need to wash the panels in a set order from cleanest to dirtiest. This usually starts with the roof of the vehicle and ends with the lower sides of the vehicle. A common order would be roof, bonnet, boot lid, sides upper, front bumper, rear bumper, sides lower. This order of washing, coupled with the two bucket method will make it easier to not get swirl marks or damage your paint
When washing is complete remove the nozzle from the hose and “sheet” the water over the panels. To do this, you run the hose at low pressure trying to reduce any splashing and coating the panel with the water. The surface tension of the water will allow maximum run-off leaving minimal water beads behind, minimising contact with the surface while drying.
I never use to do this but it by far is the best method to techinically dry the car
This makes drying your car a 5 minute wipe down vs a 30min waste of time. I only use Microfibre to dry my car as well as to apply polish and buffing. I have over 10 different styles of MF for differnt jobs and each is colour coded (3M love me LOL)I have round 25 MF cloths all up not including the household cleaning ones
I use 2 different washs
Prima Mystique
Meguires Hyper wash
both of these are great for cleaning the surface but not stripping glazes etc
I do this weekly early morning tuesday straight after work I will also apply if I feel it needs it Prima Slick or Hydro for extra gloss top up
This will take me about 1hr which is nothing
If I am doing my seasonal paint protection I start with the wash and dry and then Clay Bar the car
I am totally addicted to Clay after doing it on my Corolla and feeling the difference before and after. if you use a plastic shopping bag run your hand over your paint and if you notice how it feels like sandpaper then you should CLAY your car.
I am going to let the experts tell you how to do this part from WAXIT.COM.AU
1. Work indoors or in the shade on a cold paint surface.
2. Wash and dry your car prior to starting claying.
3. Using a plastic shopping bag run your hand over your paint and notice how it feels like sandpaper.
4. If you have chosen one of the larger clay bars, cut it into 3 or 4 pieces and shape one of these into a flat round disk shape.
5. Spray the area you wish to clean with Clay Lubricant to lubricate it and then rub the clay back and forth until you feel the roughness diminish, wipe off the residual spray with a Microfibre Towel and move onto the next area. I typically divide a roof or bonnet into four sections.
6. Put the plastic bag back on and feel the difference, simply amazing.
7. Make you sure you use enough lubricant, do not scrimp as you could scratch your car.
8. Check the surface of the clay bar for contaminants constantly and knead it back into itself so your are always using a clean part of the clay.
9. If you drop the clay, throw it away, one small piece of dirt could scratch your paint very badly.
10. You can usually get 4 cars to one bar, however an entire clay bar on one car due to it being very badly covered in industrial fallout is not unheard of.
11. Wash the car to remove any clay or lubricant residue.
When you have done the entire car it should feel like glass. One point to remember though, a clay bar will not remove scratches or swirl marks for these paint imperfections you will need a dedicated swirl remover.
Extra Tips to ensure a successful claying job.
1. Dry any lube off the clay, place in the container provided with a LIGHT spray of lube and leave. I have clay which is a couple of years old and still usable. Never has any clay gone hard or turned into a soggy mess. Recently I left some clay stuck to the side of shelf for 3 months, pulled it off the shelf, kneaded it into shape and used it without any problems.
2. Usage - lightly spray the area to be clayed ensuring an even coverage then move the clay back an forth over the area using enough pressure to hold the clay against the panel...no more.
Once you have done that section wipe the surface of the clay onto the heel of your left hand (assuming you are using the clay in your right hand) this will remove any surface contaminants and EXCESS lube.
Visually check the clay surface for grit, clean out as required.
If you wipe off the excess lube and dry the clay prior to folding and re-shaping your clay will last a lot longer.
Most people I have watched roll the wet clay into a ball and then flatten it, doing this a few times it starts to get soaked in lube and falls apart. Imagine the poly clay is real dirt clay...too much water and it falls apart.
3. I have to say I never had clay break down on me, but I am very careful about how much lube I use............enough to allow the clay to glide over the paint but not so much as it is dripping on the ground. The average bottle would do about 6 average cars.
4. Regardless of what you use as a lubricant too much of will break down the clay.
5.The use of soapy water is often promoted as a suitable lubricant, the problem with this is that if a very strong mix of a cheap wash soap is used it will break down the clay and can effect the rubbers etc on the the car if done repeatedly.
Using the recommend lubricant removes any chance of incompatibility and therefore when used in the correct amount will result in a better job.
I also clayed the exterior windows of my corolla water beads right off after that (RainX does help though)
Then you need to protect the fresh paintwork this is where you would polish the car.
I prefer a glaze again a Prima product - Prima Amigo to preclean than EPIC and finish with a spray of SLICK
(The Corolla gets Autoglym Super Resin Polish and then a coat of Armour all Wax and Polish for the final coat )
I follow the same pattern as washing top to bottom
This takes me at least 6 hrs sometimes more depending on how long I leave the glazes (I do multiple coats) on to cure but afterwards it is something sweet to look at like a big shiny boiled lolly
Slick just adds to the final gloss and repels DUST
windows get wiped doen with a you guessed it a MF cloth
Wheels I clean seperate I use left over wash and a colour coded MF cloth and interior is done when it needs it (and if you have a young-un its daily LOL)
I apply just a cheap tyre dressing (its tyres for crying out loud)
The engine bay gets a wipe down with a damp MF cloth (again colour coded for the engine bay)
I have a bevvy and sit back and smile
I have nothing but praise for both Waxit.com.au and for ZAS.com.au as all the info I learned came from those two sites
Joel at ZAS is really great and is happy to answer any questions
I hope this helps someone
Then my Molten Red GT comes along and I decide its time to learn how to properly maintain my paintwork
now there are thousands of product out there and I have used alot of different things via things like samples, gifts, unwanted stuff ETC but I have settled on PRIMA (its around the same price point as Megs and Autoglym but just so much nicer IMPO
but the corolla gets Autoglym and anything else round the house
If you can, buy products from detailing specialist retailer rather than from automotive stores they have the knowledge to help you its what they DO
OR ASK CYBERMONKEY (HIS CAR IS AMAZING and its BLACK)He wont be back til Jan 2010
Always wash and dry in shade with a car that is cool to the touch. Washing a car with hot paint will usually result in streaks as the water / shampoo dries before you can remove all of it from your car.
Rinsing your vehicle is the first step
Washing comes next and it is often done incorrectly, ruining the painted surface.
The first step to correct washing, is to ensure your mitt is always kept clean of dirt and grit.I use two buckets, one bucket for your soap and water mixture, and another bucket containing clean water. The vehicle is washed panel by panel with constant rinsing of the mitt in the clean water,
Everything for my cars is colour coded too so I dont mess up the paint
you need to wash the panels in a set order from cleanest to dirtiest. This usually starts with the roof of the vehicle and ends with the lower sides of the vehicle. A common order would be roof, bonnet, boot lid, sides upper, front bumper, rear bumper, sides lower. This order of washing, coupled with the two bucket method will make it easier to not get swirl marks or damage your paint
When washing is complete remove the nozzle from the hose and “sheet” the water over the panels. To do this, you run the hose at low pressure trying to reduce any splashing and coating the panel with the water. The surface tension of the water will allow maximum run-off leaving minimal water beads behind, minimising contact with the surface while drying.
I never use to do this but it by far is the best method to techinically dry the car
This makes drying your car a 5 minute wipe down vs a 30min waste of time. I only use Microfibre to dry my car as well as to apply polish and buffing. I have over 10 different styles of MF for differnt jobs and each is colour coded (3M love me LOL)I have round 25 MF cloths all up not including the household cleaning ones
I use 2 different washs
Prima Mystique
Meguires Hyper wash
both of these are great for cleaning the surface but not stripping glazes etc
I do this weekly early morning tuesday straight after work I will also apply if I feel it needs it Prima Slick or Hydro for extra gloss top up
This will take me about 1hr which is nothing
If I am doing my seasonal paint protection I start with the wash and dry and then Clay Bar the car
I am totally addicted to Clay after doing it on my Corolla and feeling the difference before and after. if you use a plastic shopping bag run your hand over your paint and if you notice how it feels like sandpaper then you should CLAY your car.
I am going to let the experts tell you how to do this part from WAXIT.COM.AU
1. Work indoors or in the shade on a cold paint surface.
2. Wash and dry your car prior to starting claying.
3. Using a plastic shopping bag run your hand over your paint and notice how it feels like sandpaper.
4. If you have chosen one of the larger clay bars, cut it into 3 or 4 pieces and shape one of these into a flat round disk shape.
5. Spray the area you wish to clean with Clay Lubricant to lubricate it and then rub the clay back and forth until you feel the roughness diminish, wipe off the residual spray with a Microfibre Towel and move onto the next area. I typically divide a roof or bonnet into four sections.
6. Put the plastic bag back on and feel the difference, simply amazing.
7. Make you sure you use enough lubricant, do not scrimp as you could scratch your car.
8. Check the surface of the clay bar for contaminants constantly and knead it back into itself so your are always using a clean part of the clay.
9. If you drop the clay, throw it away, one small piece of dirt could scratch your paint very badly.
10. You can usually get 4 cars to one bar, however an entire clay bar on one car due to it being very badly covered in industrial fallout is not unheard of.
11. Wash the car to remove any clay or lubricant residue.
When you have done the entire car it should feel like glass. One point to remember though, a clay bar will not remove scratches or swirl marks for these paint imperfections you will need a dedicated swirl remover.
Extra Tips to ensure a successful claying job.
1. Dry any lube off the clay, place in the container provided with a LIGHT spray of lube and leave. I have clay which is a couple of years old and still usable. Never has any clay gone hard or turned into a soggy mess. Recently I left some clay stuck to the side of shelf for 3 months, pulled it off the shelf, kneaded it into shape and used it without any problems.
2. Usage - lightly spray the area to be clayed ensuring an even coverage then move the clay back an forth over the area using enough pressure to hold the clay against the panel...no more.
Once you have done that section wipe the surface of the clay onto the heel of your left hand (assuming you are using the clay in your right hand) this will remove any surface contaminants and EXCESS lube.
Visually check the clay surface for grit, clean out as required.
If you wipe off the excess lube and dry the clay prior to folding and re-shaping your clay will last a lot longer.
Most people I have watched roll the wet clay into a ball and then flatten it, doing this a few times it starts to get soaked in lube and falls apart. Imagine the poly clay is real dirt clay...too much water and it falls apart.
3. I have to say I never had clay break down on me, but I am very careful about how much lube I use............enough to allow the clay to glide over the paint but not so much as it is dripping on the ground. The average bottle would do about 6 average cars.
4. Regardless of what you use as a lubricant too much of will break down the clay.
5.The use of soapy water is often promoted as a suitable lubricant, the problem with this is that if a very strong mix of a cheap wash soap is used it will break down the clay and can effect the rubbers etc on the the car if done repeatedly.
Using the recommend lubricant removes any chance of incompatibility and therefore when used in the correct amount will result in a better job.
I also clayed the exterior windows of my corolla water beads right off after that (RainX does help though)
Then you need to protect the fresh paintwork this is where you would polish the car.
I prefer a glaze again a Prima product - Prima Amigo to preclean than EPIC and finish with a spray of SLICK
(The Corolla gets Autoglym Super Resin Polish and then a coat of Armour all Wax and Polish for the final coat )
I follow the same pattern as washing top to bottom
This takes me at least 6 hrs sometimes more depending on how long I leave the glazes (I do multiple coats) on to cure but afterwards it is something sweet to look at like a big shiny boiled lolly
Slick just adds to the final gloss and repels DUST
windows get wiped doen with a you guessed it a MF cloth
Wheels I clean seperate I use left over wash and a colour coded MF cloth and interior is done when it needs it (and if you have a young-un its daily LOL)
I apply just a cheap tyre dressing (its tyres for crying out loud)
The engine bay gets a wipe down with a damp MF cloth (again colour coded for the engine bay)
I have a bevvy and sit back and smile
I have nothing but praise for both Waxit.com.au and for ZAS.com.au as all the info I learned came from those two sites
Joel at ZAS is really great and is happy to answer any questions
I hope this helps someone