[UKF30]

I have been reading and seen loads of thread about Detailling and it is not cheap if you ask me specially when it is raining everyday literally

It will be Easter bank holiday soon and I intend to do it myself which I know I can do it but will need some advice about buying professional kit.

I found this on eBay , if we buy our kit then we can detail or clean properly every other week, summer on way

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Detail...cAAOSwux5YQWXp

Any good or not ?

Please recommend whatever you know about cleaning and detailing .

I need to do both cars (F30/F10) and bank holiday should be more than enough, I clay bar whole car (F10) last summer and it was gleaming and all black shit came off , it did take me 3 hours to do whole car like

[Kiddy1]

I've never heard of that stuff in the link (doesn't necessarily mean it's no good), but there looks to be a lot of stuff included in the kit that you don't really need... I would buy the following:

2 x plasterers buckets from wickes
2 x grit guards
1 x wash mitt
1 x drying towel
A multi pack of microfibres from Costco
Applicator pads

A decent shampoo (megs gold class is easily bought in Halfords)
Polish (I like gtechniq P1)
A wax/sealant (I like finishkare 1000p) as you get good results and it lasts months
Sonax Brilliant shine detailer - fantastic hydropohic properties and sooo easy to use
Wheel cleaner - again you can use auto Glym from Halfords
A glass sealant (I like gtechniq g5)
A tyre sealant - Meguirs ultimate can be bought in Halfords

Detailing can be made very very expensive as there is constantly new products being released, I used to be quite involved but there's no need to spend a fortune or go mad. The above products have always served me well and all do their jobs fantastically.

Apologies if this doesn't make much sense but I have typed it all out on my iPhone ha.

[a803sgo]

My yearly routine is to wash it, clay it, 105 with a DA, 205 with a DA, whatever polish I've got hanging around again with a DA and then 845 over the top to seal it all in, comes up like this...

[jang150]

Everyone has there own methods. I'd recommend the following:

1. Use 2 bucket method and good wash mitt and brushes
2. Snow foam the car and alloys.
3. Rinse and then clay then rinse again
4. Shampoo and rinse.
5. Dry car
6. Super resin polish to remove swirls
7. Wax to seal
8. Glaze for final pop! (Optional)

Also sweat and tears and at least an afternoon required!

There's a number of detailing products you can use. Just depends which ones you prefer. I use the following:

Alloys: Autobrite very cherry
Tyres: meguiars endurance tyre gel
Shampoo: dodo juice born slippy (smells lovely)
Autoglym super resin polish: Great for removing swirls
Clay: built and hamber
Snow foam: any
Wax: Collonite 476s
Glaze: Poorboy's black hole

It's trial and error. You'll settle with your own preferred products!

[UKF30]

Kiddy1

Thanks a lot great help mate and yea I don't want to go route start spending too much on detailing rather do it myself and I love it anyway

a803sgo

Car looks licked clean mate but you DA not making sense to me as I don't know what these stand for

Sorry for being ignorant.

[Kiddy1]

Originally Posted by UKF30

Kiddy1

a803sgo

Car looks licked clean mate but you DA not making sense to me as I don't know what these stand for

Sorry for being ignorant.

DA is a dual action machine polisher (around £100 plus pads and polish)... you can polish by hand but the results won't be as good

[SteveChester]

DA = dual action polisher.

You'll never polish a car properly by hand - a decent machine polisher brings a new level of finish.

[jang150]

You'll end up with a new level of OCD. obsessive car detailer!!

[UKF30]

Kiddy1

SteveChester

Thanks a lot man I wouldn't have guessed that.

So £200 for complete kit with DA .

Originally Posted by jang150

You'll end up with a new level of OCD. obsessive car detailer!!

I know I already am

[PJJD]

I've never heard of that brand, but it may be ok. There are so many new companies producing detailing products now.

Kiddy1's and jang150's lists are perfect for starting out, but like everything, it depends how deep you want to get into detailing. As the guys have said, detailing can be extremely expensive when you get into it - I have £1000's worth of products and equipment. I don't say that to be boastful, I just mean there's no end to how much money you can spend on it. Detailing is a passion to me in the same way as football is to others.

[jbeer]

Pretty much what others have said method wise,

I would though use a good wheel cleaner which is acid free and the AG Wheel Cleaner is not acid free.....go for something like Billberry wheel cleaner, it's good and acid free so it'll be kind to your wheels

[Chris_330]

its all about the prep the most cruicial stage. I would recomend the following

1.Jet wash the car
2. Snow foam the car get it nice and thick and let it dwell for about 5 mins.
3. Jet was the car again
4. Wash with the two bucket method and good quality wash mitts (worth buying the lambswool ones, and make sure you use a ph neutral shampoo somthing like dodo juice pborn to be slippy)
5. Rinse
6. give the wheels a good clean i personally use iron x can be used on paintwork also to remove contaminannts
7. Clay the car glass and wheels (i use bilt hamber medium clay)
8. Rinse and dry the car
9. Go round the car felling all panels by hand and make sure there as smooth as glass if you feel any rughness or bumps clay this area again till smooth
10. if paintwork is marred or swirled would recomend using a da with meguirs 105 and 205 polish (good vid on youtube but a guy called junkman really explains how to machine polish, worth a watch if you have never done it before)
10. i personally add a glaze at this stage and i use primo amigo really good stuff (again with a DA)
11. seal it all in with a choosen wax. (personally wax by hand)
12. slick your tyres up and any trim i use chemical guys trim and tyre
13. Stand back and admire while you can before its filthy again within a week

theres probably more ive missed but gives you a good guide. Really reccomend wathcing Junkmans vides on youtube about the guide to using a DA will save you time and hopefully avoid you making any mistakes. some good detailing sies out there to get all the kit you need in one go i personal use cleanyourcar.co.uk. If you can do most of the polishing and waxing inside this is a big plus.

if you need anyhing else just ask, got to admit one of my guilty pleasures is cleaning my car can easily sepend a few days doing it if and when i get chance.

[ukblade]

I was very keen to detail as well but was put off with the £100's you could spend.
In the end I went with these and haven't regretted it.
For a home guy who wants to spend a few hours now and again I can't recommend these enough, then saying that I've never used anything else but for under £100 all in, they do a great job.
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...t-car-polisher
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...uid-wax-bundle

[P1 PET]

Originally Posted by a803sgo

My yearly routine is to wash it, clay it, 105 with a DA, 205 with a DA, whatever polish I've got hanging around again with a DA and then 845 over the top to seal it all in, comes up like this...

Have you lowered the car? Looks nice.

[PurpleTT]

Originally Posted by ukblade

I was very keen to detail as well but was put off with the £100's you could spend.
In the end I went with these and haven't regretted it.
For a home guy who wants to spend a few hours now and again I can't recommend these enough, then saying that I've never used anything else but for under £100 all in, they do a great job.
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...t-car-polisher
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...uid-wax-bundle

This. You don't need to go overboard with expensive solutions. It's about the time & effort. And the results in this pic are frankly astonishing.

[Squiretolley]

Originally Posted by Chris_330

its all about the prep the most cruicial stage. I would recomend the following

1.Jet wash the car
2. Snow foam the car get it nice and thick and let it dwell for about 5 mins.
3. Jet was the car again
4. Wash with the two bucket method and good quality wash mitts (worth buying the lambswool ones, and make sure you use a ph neutral shampoo somthing like dodo juice pborn to be slippy)
5. Rinse
6. give the wheels a good clean i personally use iron x can be used on paintwork also to remove contaminannts
7. Clay the car glass and wheels (i use bilt hamber medium clay)
8. Rinse and dry the car
9. Go round the car felling all panels by hand and make sure there as smooth as glass if you feel any rughness or bumps clay this area again till smooth
10. if paintwork is marred or swirled would recomend using a da with meguirs 105 and 205 polish (good vid on youtube but a guy called junkman really explains how to machine polish, worth a watch if you have never done it before)
10. i personally add a glaze at this stage and i use primo amigo really good stuff (again with a DA)
11. seal it all in with a choosen wax. (personally wax by hand)
12. slick your tyres up and any trim i use chemical guys trim and tyre
13. Stand back and admire while you can before its filthy again within a week

theres probably more ive missed but gives you a good guide. Really reccomend wathcing Junkmans vides on youtube about the guide to using a DA will save you time and hopefully avoid you making any mistakes. some good detailing sies out there to get all the kit you need in one go i personal use cleanyourcar.co.uk. If you can do most of the polishing and waxing inside this is a big plus.

if you need anyhing else just ask, got to admit one of my guilty pleasures is cleaning my car can easily sepend a few days doing it if and when i get chance.

Good overview, very similar to my full detail routine. I went a bit mad on products and equipment a couple of years ago and probably spend best part of £1k! It's an expensive and time consuming hobby, but very rewarding.

[gr4z]

Originally Posted by ukblade

I was very keen to detail as well but was put off with the £100's you could spend.
In the end I went with these and haven't regretted it.
For a home guy who wants to spend a few hours now and again I can't recommend these enough, then saying that I've never used anything else but for under £100 all in, they do a great job.
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...t-car-polisher
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car...uid-wax-bundle

That sir looks fantastic. Do you do anything special before polishing? Any tips for the polish? Never used a machine polish before.

[kzg1969]

Firstly, I would decide if you want to fall into the nano/quartz camp or the wax camp

the preparation stage is similar, but it changes thereafter

[ukblade]

Originally Posted by PurpleTT

This. You don't need to go overboard with expensive solutions. It's about the time & effort. And the results in this pic are frankly astonishing.

This was after I lazily left bird crap on it over night and it burnt the lacquer so it wouldn't just buff out.
The bonnet was 2 hrs solid work though, it made me fully realise why a good detail is £500 plus

[Chris_330]

Originally Posted by Squiretolley

Good overview, very similar to my full detail routine. I went a bit mad on products and equipment a couple of years ago and probably spend best part of £1k! It's an expensive and time consuming hobby, but very rewarding.

i agree its so easy to start spending lots of cash on the products. However i think if your starting form nothing there is an inital outlay but then its just a case of topping up things as you need them kind of spreads the cost then. Ive just restocked a load of things id run out of and spent around £130 could of easily doubled that.

my recomendation is start with a few bits that you will need to get going
buckets, wash mits, shampoo, wheel clearner, paint cleaner/glaze, clay bar and a wax. And dont forget some decent quality microfibrre and drying towels. alot of the decent products like wheel cleaners, apc's etc you can use diluted so makes them go quite a long way.

once your ust to washing and detailing your car like this then id move onto either a DA or rotary polisher (although id recommend staying with a DA polisher much more difficult to casue damage to your paint than a rotary)

[Mattyk]

Don't used meguiars gold IMO, unless you want creaking seals.

I switched to auto finesse shampoo.

[ukblade]

Originally Posted by gr4z

That sir looks fantastic. Do you do anything special before polishing? Any tips for the polish? Never used a machine polish before.

The photo is very, very flattering. Yes it looked superb and was more than worth the effort.
I got there just by following the instructions on the DA polisher and the Meguiars bottles.
I just used the mops that came with the polisher and took my time.
I would definitely invest in more mops now as the finish is certainly all in that last coat of wax.
I think my greatest fears was that with the rotary mop going I'd take the paint off, especially on the crease lines, if you can get over that, I then found it a very enjoyable way to lose a few hours in my "never got a spare second" life.