Hi, i thought i took care of my car but reading the posts on here I recon im a total begginer, what with talk of clay, wax, polish ect ect.

At the moment I Wash my car with a wash wax using a mitt and two bucket method, then leave it out to dry and then spray tyre shine on the tires.

thats it.

But i want my car to look the best (without getting anal and spending a whole weekend!)

Does anyone have a sort of overview tutorial on the steps to take? I dont even know what the hell clay is or what is the differnece between polish and wax.

Also when i got the car from the dealer there was something on the windows that acted like wax, it was really cool and want that again. Also is it ok to use back to black on the plastic bits?

any advice much apriciated.

beany_bot said:

Hi, i thought i took care of my car but reading the posts on here I recon im a total begginer, what with talk of clay, wax, polish ect ect.

At the moment I Wash my car with a wash wax using a mitt and two bucket method, then leave it out to dry and then spray tyre shine on the tires.

thats it.

But i want my car to look the best (without getting anal and spending a whole weekend!)

Does anyone have a sort of overview tutorial on the steps to take? I dont even know what the hell clay is or what is the differnece between polish and wax.

Also when i got the car from the dealer there was something on the windows that acted like wax, it was really cool and want that again. Also is it ok to use back to black on the plastic bits?

any advice much apriciated.

Click to expand...

Im on the same boat as you here
But as i understand it
Clay - when used with correct lube is used to remove contaminates out of the paint. It may look clean and smooth after been washed, but it isn't
Clay removes these contaminates making bodywork as smooth as new glass

Polish - I think is a way on making it all shiny
Wax - is a protective layer
(Feel free to correct me if im wrong on that)

As for the "cool" stuff on the windows? Where rain water is repelled off? Its called Rain X - it dont allow water to stay, it forms beads and runs straight off

Something of worth doing is visiting www.detailingworld.com, these guys know there stuff, and there are lots of guides on there, from the 2Bucket method to machine polishing

Hope that helps

Ziggy

Ziggy122 said:

Im on the same boat as you here
But as i understand it
Clay - when used with correct lube is used to remove contaminates out of the paint. It may look clean and smooth after been washed, but it isn't
Clay removes these contaminates making bodywork as smooth as new glass

Polish - I think is a way on making it all shiny
Wax - is a protective layer
(Feel free to correct me if im wrong on that)

As for the "cool" stuff on the windows? Where rain water is repelled off? Its called Rain X - it dont allow water to stay, it forms beads and runs straight off

Something of worth doing is visiting www.detailingworld.com, these guys know there stuff, and there are lots of guides on there, from the 2Bucket method to machine polishing

Hope that helps

Ziggy

Click to expand...

COOL, thanks alot.

Is there anypoint in using clay apart from making it smooth then?

Also should i use polish or wax?

clay is for getting stubborn deposits off paint.

polish is to shine up the paint

You then protect the paint with either resin or wax.

Hellcat said:

clay is for getting stubborn deposits off paint.

polish is to shine up the paint

You then protect the paint with either resin or wax.

Click to expand...

How long would all three jobs done probperly take?

beany_bot said:

How long would all three jobs done probperly take?

Click to expand...

When I do a proper clay/polish/wax, can take 2-3days depending on the car & the condiion.

Mark Elvin said:

When I do a proper clay/polish/wax, can take 2-3days depending on the car & the condiion.

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Ok, so forget that, could i roughly clay and then wax in a few hours? I dont see the point in polishing if you are going to wax becuase waxing creates a nice shine.

beany_bot said:

Ok, so forget that, could i roughly clay and then wax in a few hours? I dont see the point in polishing if you are going to wax becuase waxing creates a nice shine.

Click to expand...

But the polshing will remove any swirl marks.

Mark Elvin said:

But the polshing will remove any swirl marks.

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oh god now im confused. why wont wax remove swirl marks? can i polish and then not bother about waxing? If i do clay/polish/wax my car how often do i need to do it assuming i will wash it everyweek.

Polishes are abrasive in avrying degrees, and are used to remove swirl markes, oxidisation etc, the paint must be protcted after polishing, that's where the wax comes in.

I can give the GP a good clean and wax in about 6 hours all in (depending on the state of it it might take longer)


washing is where you do the most harm (well apart from running it into a wall )

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4829


Then onto correction and cleaning....



clay the whole car this removes bonded contaminents such as tree sap, tar spots, brake dust as such the clay needs to be Kneaded regularly to keep this away from the paint.. this would be my recommendation as it will be hard (but not impossible to do any damage)

http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=455

guide:
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4829

then onto polishing,

Polish uses an abrasive to polish out any fine scratches

http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=119

Guide:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4536

once polished the car is ready for some protection this really can be argued till the small hours over which is best but at this time of the year you can't go wrong with some Collinite 915

http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=402


have a read of this
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=79801







and some more bed time reading:

http://home.comcast.net/~michael.cohen1/Detailing_Hand_Book.pdf



hope that helps

Mark Elvin said:

When I do a proper clay/polish/wax, can take 2-3days depending on the car & the condiion.

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Presuming you are talking about a full correction though. Doubt he is gonna be there with a porter cable on the job.

Clay - only needs to be done once every 6 months or so.

Polish is there to remove swirl marks and then you put a layer or 3 of wax ontop to protect the paint.

Dependant on the wax used it only needs to be done every 4-6 weeks maybe a bit longer.

A clean, clay, polish and wax can be done in 5-6 hours or so.

punto_matt said:

Dependant on the wax used it only needs to be done every 4-6 weeks maybe a bit longer.

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try more like 4-6 months with a couple of layers of Collinite :devil:

oops thats what i meant to put not weeks =/

Just finished washing mine. Gave it a wash, polish and protect. Took about 4 hours and now I'm knackered.

I'm never buying a black car again!

Andy Monty said:

try more like 4-6 months with a couple of layers of Collinite :devil:

Click to expand...

What collinite? sounds good if i only need to wax my car every 4 months!!

Also is it worth polishing my car? it only 2 years old and has ony a few swirl marks?

Bump

F*ck me you impatitient git. 2hrs FFS give people time Yes definately needs polishing after 2yrs. I gave mine a full detail after a month of owning it and the paintwork was swirled to hell.

No matter how old the car is it the time you put into the preparation makes the finished result better on a 2 YO car i'd clay it Polish it (really well) then wax