Car Cleaning

[allyrennie]

Tut, your right, Its Zymol Solaris, coming in at the moment at $45,000.............

http://www.zymol.co.uk/zymolsolaris.aspx

Its all very subjective on what you wany to achieve - Budget, durability, willingness to spend an hour or 2 on the car every week, want to wax it once a year etc, all down to your preference.

Waxes, sealants, polishes, glazes, all perform differently, all giving different results. The main thing to remember is the prep is the key - most LSP's ( Last stage protection ) will look good on a car cleaned properly, clayed, wiped down with Isoprop etc.

The blackfire kit is really good, I'm now stocking this ( with someone on here wanting one ) and it really has everything you could ever need to keep the car looking great, will last a long long time too. On a car like yours Scott it works well, Dark colours come up really well with it when applied properly and is very durable. The Valentines wax Jim has mentioned is also a very good product, as Is Colinite, as is P21, Dodo Juice Supernatural as a wax I can't fault ( Thats what I used on your 355 Jim ) so its all down to your choice, budget etc really, when you start to spend more than high street prices on products you notice a difference right away with how they perform, how they apply, how they wipe off etc.

If you want to try a few Scott let me know, I can get something down to you with some waxes, sealants, glazes etc

Cheers

Ally

[j2 lot]

Ally, What would you recomend for Graphite grey Lotus (& also black Vauxhall) ?
Weekly wash and occasional polish with Autoglym products doesn't seem to leave the car shiny for very long so reckon I need to invest in some decent wax /polish to give a good base.
I know the more effort that is put in the better the result, however I'm not a dedicated detailer, so some something quick, easy and ideally not too expensive.
Any advice appreciated. Keith

[r055]

does anyone use these mitts???

[renmure]

Dodo Juice Supernatural is a wax I can't fault ( Thats what I used on your 355 Jim )
Cheers

Ally

That was another one I thought looked great Ally, and again agree that 99% of the final effect is in the prep that you guys do
My point about the £7k wax being like the Emperors New Clothes is that when Dave used a sample on the 355 I genuinely couldn't tell whether it looked any better than the £120 BOS that was on before, and even then I wasn't sure if the BOS was any better than the cheapo Halfords stuff I used before that. Reason I like the Valentines is simply cause I like the simple and no nonsense way of using it and my attention span for doing the detailing is about 20 mins

But I do use 2 buckets, a grit guard, a couple of woolly mits, a snowfoam lance, microfibre bits n bobs, QD spray... and even a leaf blower to fry the car

Jim

/sad faction

[allyrennie]

does anyone use these mitts???

Honestly, I Have told her not to pose like this, I Issue her with company workwear and you wear this old tattered and torn thing? not good enough, you shall be suitably soaped in the morning young lady................

[111Rxpress]

Dodo Juice Supernatural is a wax I can't fault ( Thats what I used on your 355 Jim )
Cheers

Ally

another from me for Dodo SN, topped up with Redmist between wax applications and/or after washing.

476s for durability
P21s for ease on/off but doesnt last the best

Sealants are of course another avenue to go down and are generally less affected by the cold temps.

[a4drk]

The blackfire I use isn't a wax. Not sure about Ally, but the Polished Bliss people told me to use this followed by this.
Now we discussed waxes as I have Zymol carbon wax but they reccon that modern polymers are better and easier to use than waxes. Also the Blackfire cannot be used on top of a wax.
Very easy and quick to use.

I bought a bottle of the "Poorboy's Black Hole Glaze" from polished bliss (about 4 months ago!) - yesterday i eventually got a day to myself & polished the BMW with this stuff. (by hand)
The car was all swirl marks from a badly done machine buffing job with G3 about a year ago.
This stuff is so good - dead easy to put on & buffs off easily. I then put a top coat of Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection on. (Hard work to buff up ) - but great result.
Kicking myself for not claying the car first. - i bought the Meguairs clay kit about a year ago & forgot about it until i was nearly finished!


wee pic below - not the greatest pic - taken with my phone



Cheers for the advice guys

David

[DavieK]

I held off using the Meguairs clay kit for a while but when i did use it i couldnt beleive the crud that came off the car.

[Stewart]

My daily driver civic could do with a good claying as the paintwork feels rough as a badgers.

I have never tried a clay bar and have never seen it done either but I can't get past thinking that the process must leave some light scratches on the car as the contaminants are caught up in the clay. Is this not the case?

[a4drk]

No, apparently you use a lubricant with the clay & all the crap gets taken into the clay.

You should have a look on detailingworld forum
eg.... http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... light=clay

David

[allyrennie]

My daily driver civic could do with a good claying as the paintwork feels rough as a badgers.

I have never tried a clay bar and have never seen it done either but I can't get past thinking that the process must leave some light scratches on the car as the contaminants are caught up in the clay. Is this not the case?

Im up your way quite a bit these days sir, more than willing to pop round and show you what its all about etc

Ally

[tut]

Zymol Solaris
Price: £40,000.00
Sorry, all units sold.

I know, let's not buy a Ferrari, I will buy a tin of polish instead.

tut

[Stewart]

My daily driver civic could do with a good claying as the paintwork feels rough as a badgers.

I have never tried a clay bar and have never seen it done either but I can't get past thinking that the process must leave some light scratches on the car as the contaminants are caught up in the clay. Is this not the case?

Im up your way quite a bit these days sir, more than willing to pop round and show you what its all about etc

Ally

I may yet take you up on that but will not be until the weather improves.

Not sure what it is with the civic but the polish (AG SRP followed by AG EGP) just doesn't seem to last. Perhaps it is because the car sits outside and does quite a few miles on crapy country roads. I only ever snow foam it a 2BM wash it with AG shampoo normally at least once every two weeks in the summer and at least once a month in the winter.

[allyrennie]

Whereabouts in NE Fife are you sir?

[Rusty]

Al fancy coming down and doing my astra? as its manktastic! and covered in swirls. Thats what trip from here to glasgow and back in one weekend through snow does.

No mains water or power supply and my old pressure washer was my parents, so my cleaning routine for the bike is up the sh*t.

or next time i'm up can we arrange a meeting?