Cleaning advice

[sullii94]

So after owning the car a few years, I figured I best clean it properly and try remove a few light scratches
So before I start I am a complete newbie to this haha

Was thinking:
Jetwash & wash with shampoo etc
Clay bar
Polish
Wax

In that order..
Does it sound okay?
And what products do people recommend to remove scratches etc

Thanks in advance

 

[LEOX5000]

Hi,

If you've got a pressure washer may be worth thinking about snow foaming! its great as a pre wash removes alot of the dirt etc before the main wash that a pressure washer rinse doesn't always remove

For light scratches and marks I tend to use Mer ultimate car polish which buffs alot of them out.
Using Mer I also have never had to clay, but clay/polish etc is personal choice and depends alot on the polish you chose to use.
The only thing i do have to admit about mer is its a pain in the bum for leaving white powder residue on your car so your best giving it a dust before waxing lol!
Ive also heard great things about poor boys black hole glaze (for dark/red cars) which can hide scratches and marrs to your paint work, not used it myself yet though!

 

[sullii94]

Went and got some stuff last night, halfords is offering 3 for 2 on cleaning products
Got meguires(however you spell it) clay bar
Auto glym polish and wax(glass protectant thing)
Just going to use 2 random microfibres cloths to apply with
Didn't get any fancy shampoo, but I am going to try the 2 bucket method
And I have a jetwash, but no snow foam :/ is it worth getting?

 

[LEOX5000]

Autoglym and Maguires stuff tend to be gpod on the whole, I use Autoglym for shampoo, fast glass wheel cleaner etc.and meguires tyre dressong is my must have excellent wet look shine lasts ages ( just make sure you dont drive the car for approx 3 hours afyer applying)
Only thing with shampoo is make sure its ph neutral, if its not it can strip wax from the car. Apart from that shampoo doesnt matter that much in my opinion!
Let me know how you get on with the clay bar, I have what I can only assume is highly backed on tree sap on the roof and I have tried everything even tar remover but it wont budge!

I would say yes I always thought it was a bit of a gimmick but after trying it myself I know wont wash my car without it!
Ive done a video review on it a couple of entries back in the cleaning section should be under chemical guys no touch snow foam.

If your ever looking for stuff to clean with and you know in advance you need stuff try cleanyourcar.Co.UK they have an amazing range

Ive found a few gems on their from dodo juice and chemical guys whoch I wouldnt of found at halfords!

 

[LC]

Autogylm did my car some good, for light scratches use their deep shine polish restored alot of depth to my black paintwork, still would benefit from a machine polish though

 

[oscar]

Autoglym and Maguires stuff tend to be gpod on the whole, I use Autoglym for shampoo, fast glass wheel cleaner etc.and meguires tyre dressong is my must have excellent wet look shine lasts ages ( just make sure you dont drive the car for approx 3 hours afyer applying)
Only thing with shampoo is make sure its ph neutral, if its not it can strip wax from the car. Apart from that shampoo doesnt matter that much in my opinion!
Let me know how you get on with the clay bar, I have what I can only assume is highly backed on tree sap on the roof and I have tried everything even tar remover but it wont budge!

I would say yes I always thought it was a bit of a gimmick but after trying it myself I know wont wash my car without it!
Ive done a video review on it a couple of entries back in the cleaning section should be under chemical guys no touch snow foam.

If your ever looking for stuff to clean with and you know in advance you need stuff try cleanyourcar.Co.UK they have an amazing range

Ive found a few gems on their from dodo juice and chemical guys whoch I wouldnt of found at halfords!

ph neutral shampoo? have you forgot that tap water is never neutral? sorry to blow that one out of the water for you. no pun intended either.....

 

[LEOX5000]

True not alot I can do about that though... Unless I go out and buy evian lol XD

 

[LC]

Autoglym and Maguires stuff tend to be gpod on the whole, I use Autoglym for shampoo, fast glass wheel cleaner etc.and meguires tyre dressong is my must have excellent wet look shine lasts ages ( just make sure you dont drive the car for approx 3 hours afyer applying)
Only thing with shampoo is make sure its ph neutral, if its not it can strip wax from the car. Apart from that shampoo doesnt matter that much in my opinion!
Let me know how you get on with the clay bar, I have what I can only assume is highly backed on tree sap on the roof and I have tried everything even tar remover but it wont budge!

I would say yes I always thought it was a bit of a gimmick but after trying it myself I know wont wash my car without it!
Ive done a video review on it a couple of entries back in the cleaning section should be under chemical guys no touch snow foam.

If your ever looking for stuff to clean with and you know in advance you need stuff try cleanyourcar.Co.UK they have an amazing range

Ive found a few gems on their from dodo juice and chemical guys whoch I wouldnt of found at halfords!

ph neutral shampoo? have you forgot that tap water is never neutral? sorry to blow that one out of the water for you. no pun intended either.....

Yes I wash mine with Volvic. Newbies eh

 

[sullii94]

So I vacced, washed, clay barred, polished & waxed my car yesterday, and all I can say is it looks 100% better than it did before, almost got rid of a few small scratches, but there's still quite a few deep ones that need attention(what's the best way to do this? Touch up paint?)
Could have probably done a bit better, but I ran out of time before the show :/
Would definitely recommend the products I got!

 

[Lucky eddie]

Do you have to wash the car again after you have clayed?

 

[sullii94]

I didn't
You spray the panel, clay it, then wipe it over

 

[Lucky eddie]

Ok cheers

 

[maggi200]

Depends on what you use to lubricate the clay. Some need a wash as they leave residue. Some don't.

There is no yes or no answer.

 

[Lucky eddie]

Ok I'll look into it thanks for the info

 

[Alex_225]

Jetwash & wash with shampoo etc
Clay bar
Polish
Wax

That's exactly the right order for those processes mate. You can as mentioned use snow foam although personally (and recently) found that a wax safe all pupose cleaner shifts the dirt much better than any foam I've used before.

You could also use a clay cloth as it makes the claying process a lot quicker although I have not tested them as yet but seen them used by hobby and pro detailers, both rate them highly.

To remove swirls you'd ideally need to correct them using a machine polisher but if you use a polish with fillers, such as Autoglym Super Resin Polish it'll give a very similar effect and leave a great finish to wax. Correcting by hand is extremely hard but this is the next best thing.

Also you could go for a sealant prior to waxing, this is an chemical wax effectively and usually lasts longer than a wax. Good thing is you can wax on top of a sealant.

So if you want to go really mad you could do the following -

Pre-wash with APC or foam
Rinse with pressure washer
Wash by hand
Clay (don't bother drying the paintwork)
Wash again by hand to remove claying residue
Dry
Polish
Seal
Wax

Hope that helps mate. Either way though if you've never detailed the car, even a hand polish and wax after washing will show good results.

 

[sullii94]

Jetwash & wash with shampoo etc
Clay bar
Polish
Wax

That's exactly the right order for those processes mate. You can as mentioned use snow foam although personally (and recently) found that a wax safe all pupose cleaner shifts the dirt much better than any foam I've used before.

You could also use a clay cloth as it makes the claying process a lot quicker although I have not tested them as yet but seen them used by hobby and pro detailers, both rate them highly.

To remove swirls you'd ideally need to correct them using a machine polisher but if you use a polish with fillers, such as Autoglym Super Resin Polish it'll give a very similar effect and leave a great finish to wax. Correcting by hand is extremely hard but this is the next best thing.

Also you could go for a sealant prior to waxing, this is an chemical wax effectively and usually lasts longer than a wax. Good thing is you can wax on top of a sealant.

So if you want to go really mad you could do the following -

Pre-wash with APC or foam
Rinse with pressure washer
Wash by hand
Clay (don't bother drying the paintwork)
Wash again by hand to remove claying residue
Dry
Polish
Seal
Wax

Hope that helps mate. Either way though if you've never detailed the car, even a hand polish and wax after washing will show good results.

Thanks for the advice!
Not given the twingo a proper wash in a while, feel like I've been neglecting it :lol:

 

[Dubz]

Jetwash & wash with shampoo etc
Clay bar
Polish
Wax

That's exactly the right order for those processes mate. You can as mentioned use snow foam although personally (and recently) found that a wax safe all pupose cleaner shifts the dirt much better than any foam I've used before.

You could also use a clay cloth as it makes the claying process a lot quicker although I have not tested them as yet but seen them used by hobby and pro detailers, both rate them highly.

To remove swirls you'd ideally need to correct them using a machine polisher but if you use a polish with fillers, such as Autoglym Super Resin Polish it'll give a very similar effect and leave a great finish to wax. Correcting by hand is extremely hard but this is the next best thing.

Also you could go for a sealant prior to waxing, this is an chemical wax effectively and usually lasts longer than a wax. Good thing is you can wax on top of a sealant.

So if you want to go really mad you could do the following -

Pre-wash with APC or foam
Rinse with pressure washer
Wash by hand
Clay (don't bother drying the paintwork)
Wash again by hand to remove claying residue
Dry
Polish
Seal
Wax

Hope that helps mate. Either way though if you've never detailed the car, even a hand polish and wax after washing will show good results.

I've never tried sealing before wax... I read that sealants and waxes have conflicting chemicals in them. Need to give my car a bloody good clean this weekend!

 

[Alex_225]

You can't put a sealant on top of a wax as a sealant is designed to bond to a polished surface.

You can though apply a sealant and then wax on top of that as an extra layer of protection.

My Megane Trophy currently has two coats of sealant and a coat of wax for good measure.

 

[Dubz]

Ahhh ok. As I've only done one or the other.. Still need to car my car...

Any idea where to get a good alloy brush? As all mine fall apart within a few months

 

[Alex_225]

I've got a Viken wheel brush from Cleanyourcar from ages ago (tis good quality), although I tend to relegate an old wash mitt to wheel washing instead as am not a big fan of brushes if I can avoid them.