Detailing (iggu and others)

edition

edition

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Hi,

Getting my black A3 detailed next weekend, just wondering how you other guys who have had theres detailed have found them to keep a nice finish......


Hope that makes sence i,ve had a few....




Cheers :)
 
TBM (two bucket method) to avoid swirls.
Regular waxing - I'm a fan of Dodo Wax.

Invest in some decent microfibre cloths and some decent drying towels.

Clay once or twice a year.

Consider a machine polish every 12-18 months to remove the swirling that will occur and look nasty on a black car.
 
Wash the car with a sheepskin wash mitt, do not move the mitt in a circular motion, always wash in straight lines.
 
loads in detailing section. i think the important bit is having the right bits and pieces i.e. washmits, correct techniques (2bm etc) and regular maintenance.
 
I'm no expert but my car was done by one and here are the tips he gave me:

Purchase the following:

- Karcher pressure washer (£40 or so)
- Foam lance (£40)
- Leafblower (£30)
- Lambswool mitt
- Meguires shampoo

Do:

- Thorough prewash with foam lance and Karcher
- Use 2 bucket method with mitt
- Touch the car as little as possible
- Dry with leaflblower

Do Not:

- Clay (unless you are going to finish with a rotary afterwards)
- Touch the car unless necessary (i.e. during the mitt wash stage)
- Move mitt in circular motions

Good luck - I've been doing this and it still looks 100%.
 
Cool. Can't wait till Saturday :)

Should make a fair improvement!!!
 
As long as you use a fine clay (something like Sonus Green Ultra Fine) then any marring will be kept to an absolute minimum, if at all.

I personally feel a leaf blower is a little OTT. You will (I assume) be driving the car so you are going to have grit particles flying over it at 70mph so you will get swirling. Therefore as long as you pat rather than drag the drying towel you shouldn't be causing too much trouble, especially if you lube with a QD or specialist drying QD.

Definetly use two mitts. Have one for the upper part of the car (above the top of the arch) and another for below. Always make sure you know which is which and NEVER use the upper one on the lower part or the lower one on the upper part.

Never point the pressure washer at 90 deg to the car or use it close to the paint work.

What cleaning kit have you got already out of interest?
 
Olaf said:
As I personally feel a leaf blower is a little OTT
Click to expand...

Got a babyliss hairdryer if thats any help :undwech:

Thanks for the info as was considering having a go myself tbh given the paint needs refreshing, but might get a mate to do it anyway 1st, as he's a proper detailer, but afterwards can do maintenance work huh.
 
most swirling occurs when drying, so use a decent (sonus der wonder imo) drying towel, and when the car is still wet, mist spray some QD ontop and dry to prevent swirlage.
 
I was quite liking the idea of a leaf blower.... Get all the water out of mirrors and the like that always leave water trails how ever hard you try.

Current kit i have:

Zymol carbon wax
Zymol sponge (for wheels and bottom of car)
Sonus L/W mitt
2 buckets
Zymol shampoo
Big sonus drying cloth


I guess the detailer will give me so tips as i'm doing it with him.

Should make a fair difference to a 4 yr old black car (here is hoping!)
 
edition said:
I was quite liking the idea of a leaf blower.... Get all the water out of mirrors and the like that always leave water trails how ever hard you try.
Click to expand...

Some more reasons for using a leafblower:

1. They're cheaper than drying towels
2. They don't need washing afterwards
3. They do a better job
4. They are less labour intensive
5. They are a noisy power tool - it makes you feel like a big man when you use it.
 
They dry it completely Iggu? Where did you get yours?
 
Are they powerfull enough to totally dry the car off? I guess it makes drying wheels easy enough!!

Where did you get yours? Also which did you go for?
 
Hmm, thanks for the tip on misting QD to minimize swirlation. Im goona give that a go!! :thumbsup:
 
edition said:
Are they powerfull enough to totally dry the car off? I guess it makes drying wheels easy enough!!

Where did you get yours? Also which did you go for?
Click to expand...

B&Q - £29
They totally dry the car - all the nooks and crannies and everything.
At least they do if you have Zymole Royale on your paint :)
 
The only drawback with a leafblower is that your neighbours/passers by will think you look like an absolute ****....otherwise i'd get one!!

I'm with Olaf - if you dry with a microfibre,pat dry rather than wipe. I've not tried using QD whilst the car's still wet,i'll give it a go.

The only other option is to wash your car on the side of a mountain....and watch the water roll off
....drawback: haven't got a hose long enough :undwech:

I've just invested in a Meguiars DA polisher,results are excellent so far,but i've only managed to do about a third of the car at the moment...watch this space for pics!
 
I,ve got a porter cable polisher but felt that i could do with a detailer to give the car a good going over and give me some tips on using it to get the best results.
 
Fast said:
The only drawback with a leafblower is that your neighbours/passers by will think you look like an absolute ****....
Click to expand...

Ah yes - ******* off your neighbours.
There's another advantage I forgot about.
 
I'd 2nd that, certainly buying one now just to **** of the miserable old bar steward I live next to, why are people like this, such a complete & utter tosser, sorry guys.
 
NHN said:
I'd 2nd that, certainly buying one now just to **** of the miserable old bar steward I live next to, why are people like this, such a complete & utter tosser, sorry guys.
Click to expand...

Is this the fella Nigel ?

victormeldrew0410_468x493.jpg
 
You wouldnt believe how similar, let me get image, lmao, thats fecking funny mate, lol, made my day, lol
 
where do you buy the Karcher pressure washer (£40 or so)
and the lambs wool mit ????
 
NHN said:
You wouldnt believe how similar, let me get image, lmao, thats fecking funny mate, lol, made my day, lol
Click to expand...

Knock on his door and when he answers it unleash the leafblower in his mush. Then he'll look more like this:

1671-strong-wind-face.jpg
 
Normally I would sing the praises of CYC, but they haven't, in my opinion, been as great as they usually are recently.

If you are getting a QD just for drying purposes then the new Dodo Time To Dry drying detailer might be worth a look. It is much better at 'driving' the water off the car than normal QD. Only trouble is it reduces beading but they do another product to bring back the beading.

I've got a Megs G220 and it is fairly hard work when you first start off - if you are doing a paint correction.
Also useful for applying other things like Lime Prime.
 
Hey, I brought this Karcher a few weekends back:...

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-9151.aspx

Price and Spec were good so went for it. My mate uses a really simple one (£40) on his BMW, and it comes spotless. This ones 80 which I was happy with.
I used it last weekend, was great until it started hail stoning!

Im looking for a Snow Lance now. I was lookin at detailingworld.co.uk. There is some good info on there too....

Bhav
 
Cheers for the advice guys will try and get some pics up :)
 
I got a Karcher from homebase last week. Was £40 half price from £80. No idea what model it is but it is 100bar so plenty powerful enough for car cleaning.

You need to be careful with some of the bad boy 140+ bar ones as they can do serious damage, especially if they get under any loose paint around a stone chip etc etc, Serious detailing freaks will have learned the right way to use one on a car! :respekt:
 
If you have a card then Costco are cheap for Karchers
 
Looking at it the Silverline blowers are cheap enough to give it ago.

Also meant to be lighter and abit quieter :)


Do cost-co have a web. catalogue?
 
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