[Spitz428]

Hi Guys,

I don't trust the car wash place now, they just don't really care how to clean and dry your cars which making alot of swirls and scratch. So I plan to do it all myself. Any DIY pros here can recommend the best products for washing and polishing? Can you please tell a bit the procedure as well.

My Plan:
Get honeydew or Citrus foam wash from Chemical Guys, and use their 4-in-one polish, Also wanna iron X and clay the whole car and then put the CQuartz myself.

What you guys think?

[Buckeyes]

Autogeek is the place for great detailing info and products.

http://www.autogeekmobile.net//

[Spitz428]

Originally Posted by Trcb777

Autogeek is the place for great detailing info and products.

http://www.autogeekmobile.net//

Yea, but any personal experience to share what product to use?

[rmr927]

Try posting this in Cosmetic Maintenance forum - you should be more responses. Personally, I use Zaino products on my car.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=427

[KneeDragr]

For correcting paint ( swirls ) Griots 6" w/ lake County microfiber pads + wolfgang Uber compound.
Anything on sale for car wash, spray wax or various cleaners, it's all good stuff at autogeek.
For protection, pinnacle paint coating for daily driver, various carnauba pastes for Vette.

[Fronzdan]

You'll get a ton of opinions on this. You might ask this on the Maintenance Wash and Wax forum here instead. Go on YouTube and watch Junkman2008's videos. They are very good, entertaining and informative. Never ever go to a car wash. Use the two bucket technique for washing. Invest in a foam gun if you can along with high quality wash mitts and microfiber cloths. I like Meguiar's Gold Class wash and Chemical Guys Honeydew for soaps. I use Griots polishes and wax along with their DA polisher. P21 carnauba wax is awesome...and very expensive. You'll get many other opinions.

[squidlyboy]

I know you are probably looking for input on detailing chemical products, but you did mention wanting to reduce swirls and scratches. No chemical product will really help you with that.

I don't know how much $$$ you are willing to spend detailing or minimizing the chance of swirls, RIDs, and other random scratches, but i ended up getting a 2800 psi gas pressure washer and a high-quality lance foam cannon.

The potential for swirls and random scratches are greatly minimized due to the high pressure spray lifting off most of the attached dirt particles without the need to rub it off using a MF cloth, chenille glove, or any other surface that traps dirt between it and the car's paint job when you are washing off the dirt on the surface of the car. You can't really do that with just a garden hose and foam gun. The pressure is just not high enough to blast off the dirt.

In additional to making clinging dirt (or its entrapment thereof between your cleaning material and car paint surface) a non-issue, the mountain of foam that is produced with the CG Honeydew suds is amazing (see the Youtube video showing a foam cannon being used with the Honeydew Snow Foam on a Z06). I can't see ever going back to using a hose or the two-bucket method alone.

But as far as detailing products, i've tried HoneyDew, Mr. Pink, and Extreme Maxi Suds II all with equal results. But to be honest, since i like to do a complete wax whenever i do a full wash down of the car, nothing works better than good 'ol Dawn. Plus its much cheaper than the Citrus Wash. Nothing produces more suds

I try all kinds of polishing products, but right now, i'm using Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection, which creates a deep wet look. I love the slick feeling it leaves on the paint.

To be honest, since my car/paint job is less than a year old, just about any higher quality polishing product will do that for you. Before that, i was using Meguiar's Ultimate Wax, which pretty much did the same thing.

[S4NoMore]

Adam's Premium Car Care products are all great, can't go wrong. There is a sub forum specific to this type of topic btw.

[Aaaaaaaaa]

You should consider doing maintenance washes with rinseless/waterless wash products like Optimum No Rinse and Ultima Waterless Wash+ because of the drought. I've been doing it for months and haven't put any swirls or scratches yet.

[Exterminador]

I use honeydew or citrus Chemical Guys for washing. I dry with a blower (master blaster). Klasse sealant and P21S wax to finish.

[DocB]

Like many, I use CG Honeydew to wash. I recommend that you purchase a California Squeegee to make the drying process much quicker. I also highly recommend Gtechnique EXO nano coating. This $#%@ is amazing!

[smithf80]

Do not use a Squeegee.

I use Honey dew as a prewash then Adam's shampoo for 2bm.

Any polishing is done with Menzerna PF2500 or SF4000/4500.

I always seal with Sonax Polymer Net Shield.

[vanbmw]

Wash: Foam canon/pressure washer with CG Honeydew soap for wash. NOTE: you can't get it all off with pressure washer...still need to use a wash mitt and 2 bucket method to get car clean

Dry: Stihl leaf blower then spot dry with microfibre drying towel (i got mine from detailed image)

Polish: Mequires M105 and M205 polish with Lake Country hyrdotech pads and Porter Cable polisher

Seal: Menzerna power lock sealant

[thatryan]

Adam's is definitely my favorite product set. Very nice people as well, super active forums.

http://adamspolishes.com/
http://www.adamsforums.com/

[AstonKarim]

Originally Posted by Exterminador

I use honeydew or citrus Chemical Guys for washing. I dry with a blower (master blaster). Klasse sealant and P21S wax to finish.

citrus chemical guys is quite strong and should only be used when you need to strip wax. honeydew is great, love using it with my foam cannon.

I haven't seen Sonax mentioned much, I'm quite satisfied with their products.

[bobbydigital]

Originally Posted by AstonKarim

citrus chemical guys is quite strong and should only be used when you need to strip wax. honeydew is great, love using it with my foam cannon.

I haven't seen Sonax mentioned much, I'm quite satisfied with their products.

CG Mr Pink is awesome with a foam canon too tried it?

[vanbmw]

I have tried both the honeydew soap and the Mr.Pink soap (both chemical guys) in my foam cannon. Both seem to work very well. I had expected the honeydew to be the better choice since chemical guys recommends it with foam cannon. That stuff works great. Pretty amazing how heavy you can foam up the car and the soap just sticks there! I used the Mr.pink for a few washes when I was low on honeydew and it seemed to work just as well.

[rolltidef32]

Originally Posted by AstonKarim

citrus chemical guys is quite strong and should only be used when you need to strip wax. honeydew is great, love using it with my foam cannon.

I haven't seen Sonax mentioned much, I'm quite satisfied with their products.

I use the CG Citrus and I use Wolfgang's Paint Sealant 3.0.

Now, I mostly use Adams Shampoo for most washes, but for bugs, tree sap, etc, I use the Citrus.

The key to using Citrus is to not use too much, or yes, it will strip wax since it isn't PH balanced. However, just a few drops is safe for wax and sealant. The soap foams up well and is mainly for a deep cleaning. Great for Pre wax/sealant tasks.