How do you detail
 

I dont know about you guys, but I'm REALLY picky when it comes to the look of my car, I cant stand it when its dirty. Right now after all the snow has melted my car is pretty filthy, and it pains me to even look at it during the day :(

However thinking of detailing it fully when the weather is nicer and bring back that deep wet look brings me joy :p

I thought this would be a good thread to share what products/methods you use, what's worked/hasn't worked well, what products go well with different pads (if you use a pc or rotary) etc

I dont recall seeing a thread dedicated strictly to detailing, and with spring just a couple months away, why not?!

Personally, I havent fully detailed my car yet as its pretty new.
But when the time comes I was thinking of using the following

1) Porter Cable 7424 (Already have, awaiting use)
2) Meguiars clay bar system
3) Pinnacle advanced swirl remover
4) Pinnacle finishing polish
5) Wax (still to be determined)

Please feel free to share your tips/tricks, product choices etc:)

1. Rinse the car with 1200+ PSI pressure washer

2. P21s Total auto wash citrus clean ( lower half of the car)

3. Power wash with pressure washer foam gun ( meguiars gold class, DP extremefoam...or any other cleaning soap) let it sit for 3 mins

4. I use a single bucket method w/ water and a gritguard because the foam gun acts as your 2nd bucket . I wash with a up and down method with a microfiber or sheepskin mit to prevent any further swirling

5. Pressure wash the excess foam and hose and use the flooding method the sheet off the excess water.

6. Blow dry with leaf blower and mini compressor w/ blow nozzle fitting to clean out the jams and microfiber wipe the remaining.
7. I normally use the 200g Clay Magic fine grade cut in 3 pieces with Meguiars Last touch Detailing spray with a 1:1 water ratio

These Steps may be skipped depending on the severity of the scratches on your finish

7. Deep scratches - wet sand with meguiars 1500-2000 grit sand paper with a 50/50 isopropyl alcohol mix and SPOT buff with a LC ( lake country) orange pad with meguiars #105 ultra cut or Menzerna power gloss or Optimum Hyper compound. I normally set my porter cable to 6 and use a 4 or 5 inch because the bigger the pad the more it bogs down the power of the PC. If im using the rotary ( makita ) I alway use the 5 inch LC pad with a 3M prefect-it backing plate with the speed set to 600rpm to spread around the compound then 1000 for a few passes with moderate pressure and then 1600rpm with only the weight of the rotary for a few passed and I continue this step till the scratches are gone.

(Remember when using a rotary not to keep the pad still on a single spot for too long and always go in a left to right motion)

8. Moderate scratches - you can either go back to wet sanding with a 2500grit or you can go straight to a polish. I would recommend any one of the Mezerna lines of polishes. For any hard ceramic clear coats ( Mercedes, Audi, BMW) I would suggest Menzera SIP ( super intensive polish) and for soft clear coats (Toyota's, Lexus, Honda) I would recommend the Menzerna Intensive polish. Again you have the option of going with a rotary or a PC but I prefer the the Makita and I would suggect a LC white, gray or green pad with any of these polishes.

9. Jewling - Alot of people arn't familiar with this concept, jewling is basically making your clear coat smoother and smoother till it has a really reflective shine this is done with a polish like the Menzerna polish PO85RD at 1600rpm and working it in with a LC gray/black pad till you achieved the finish/shine you want.

10. 2 Bucket method wash with a "maintenance soap" . Alot of people don't realize that there are 2 different kind of soap/shampoo you can use to wash your car
-Cleaning Soap/Shampoo ie.. DP extreme foam shampoo, CG Citrus wash will lift and clean and lift dirt from your cars finish and will also remove wax and sealant. These are the kind of soap you would use if your car was pretty dirty.
- Maintenance Soap/Shampoo ie... Pinnacle Bodywork Shampoo, Wolfgang Auto bath will not remove wax or sealant because the are ph balanced , however they don't have the cleaning ability as the other soaps do. I probably would recommend these shampoo for car that are slightly dirty .

11. Glaze- Menzerna Finish glaze is what I generally use to fill in thoes stubborn swirls that won't go away and this time use a PC with a grey/black or red pad at speed 3 since your not doing any correcting work on your finish.

12. Wax and/or Sealant - You can apply either one or both, but I recommend sealant if your looking for longevity and wax if your going for max shine.
Wax- My recommendations are Pinnacle Souveran , Wolfgang Fuzion (expensive but nice) and the bang for the buck wax P21S Concours Carnauba Wax
Sealant- CG Jet-Seal 109 or Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint sealant

Pinnacle advance swirl remover fills like crazy, go for meguairs #83, 80. Awesome to use with the PC. For protection, collinite 845 is awesome, and gives a nice wet shine. To top that off, you can us chemical guys ez creme glaze. For windows, stoners, ZEP glass cleaner.

p21s, gives off sharp reflections,tight beads, awesome wax !

qwerty, is the meguiars #83 good for removing just light swirls?
Any opinions on poorboys swirl remover 1?

Almost all Megs products have fillers in them. I know for sure Megs 83 does.

Check out this guy.....
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ad.php?t=43269

That is what detailing is all about. Making your car look as good as possible.

Wow, thats nuts, he literally covered every square inch of the car!
I cant help but notice but it looks like he did this over a large period of time, it wasnt just a one day thing
For the average joe with a DD that would definitely be considered excessive dont you think? :p

he even cleaned and dressed the spare wheel lol

Just a little bit anal!!

wow I am speechless, his jetta was probably cleaner then when it came off the assembly line.

That thing looks amazing!

lots of time on his hands