The Car Detailing Thread

[lucus30]

So I've had a few questions about car detailing so thought I'd make a new thread on it. Please post your process and especially any tips or tricks you have learnt

I polished and waxed my car yesterday and posted to what has made you happy today thread.

Here are the photos I posted







So I might be a little anal about this but here is my process. I find this little flowchart something handy to follow

Process

1. Spray no acid wheel cleaner on the wheels and let it soak for 5 minutes~ (any brand I've found they are all very similar). For really filthy wheels you might need to agitate them a little before spraying off
2. Spray with a autobrite snowfoam lance connected to my karcher pressure washer. Here is a picture of the snowfoam gun and the Mrs old car after about 5 minutes of soaking

pa-snow-foam-lance_1.jpgDSC_0572.JPG

3. Hose off with Karcher starting at the wheels
4. Wash the car using the 2 bucket method which is explained here . I don't have a set detergent but at the moment I am using duragloss 901 but I've also used Meguiars soft wash and wash and wax. Obviously then use the Karcher to hose off

By this stage I do different things depending on if its a normal wash or I'm going to be polishing. For now I'll stick to normal

5. While the car is still wet I spray with either duragloss aquawax or meguairs ultimate quick wax and use a waffle weave drying towel or a shammy to wipe it down
6. Give the tyres a shine using meguiars endurance tyre shine gel and the windows a clean on the outside with stones invisible glass

If i was to polish and wax this is what I do

5. Shammy car with either sythentic shammy or waffle weave drying towel
6. Clay bar my car using this process
7. This is where i crack out the DA polisher. I use a DAS-6 PRO but would next time probably get the supercheap one the beauty of DA polishes is that they are easy to use but still powerful enough for paint correction without destroying your paint job. I use the polisher with meguiars ultimate compound following this process
8. Some people would then follow it up with meguiars ultimate polish on the DA but i tend to skip this step and go straight to waxing/sealant
9. I use meguiars ultimate liquid wax but honestly I think wax/sealants are always going to be a personnel preference so chuck it on the DA again with a finishing pad

And that's it for the outside


For the inside I don't do anything special but I'll list steps briefly for completeness sake

1. Wipe inside all the doors, boot and bonnet with a microfiber wet towel
2. Vacuum with a wet/dry shop vac
3. Clean windows with stones invisible glass
4. Wipe/clean dash and console and any other trim. Using a cheap paint brush to get into those tight corners and air vents. I then use 303 aerospace protectant ( this stuff I Love) to coat all the trims, dash and console
5. Spray a few puffs of deodoriser over the seats

I'm sure I've missed a few things but I'll update the thread as I remember them.

I this i might be obsessed. Here is my cleaning shelf






Edit:

Also I should say how often I do this stuff

Normal wash 1 X a fortnight
Wax I try to do 4 -5 X a year
Polish only when its looking dull
Clay bar maybe twice a year

[jay see]

My process is pretty simple these days.
Wash, dry and vaccum (if needed).

Pre wife and kids it was a 1/2 job.

Now I gotta pull out the old pic of previous cars to find a clean one.

[garett]

want to come demonstrate on my car

[lucus30]

My process is pretty simple these days.
Wash, dry and vaccum (if needed).

Pre wife and kids it was a 1/2 job.

Now I gotta pull out the old pic of previous cars to find a clean one.

ha ha yeah mate I get ya. Your process is basically my patrol process
All i try to do is remove the mud off it

[lucus30]

want to come demonstrate on my car

If you were in Melbourne I'm sure we could work out a barter (beer) system ha ha

[Bacho86]

Nice write up lucus, very detailed... Certainly a lot more attention than my patrol would ever get! Lol



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[threedogs]

Dont forget to Armourall all your door rubber seals, keeps them supple.
I also use a stiff paintbrush to get into hard to get places.

[lucus30]

Dont forget to Armourall all your door rubber seals, keeps them supple.
I also use a stiff paintbrush to get into hard to get places.

Yeah good ones. I mentioned the paint brush which is really handy. A small detail brush is great for the air vents and small joins on the dash

[taslucas]

Well! No wonder my cars never look that good haha

>>>tappin from tassie

[taslucas]

Thanks for the write up though mate. I may have to try it out on the Calais

>>>tappin from tassie