ionojimbo

Hey guys! Since I had some time on my hands today, I decided to do some amateur detailing to my car with mostly OTC stuff. why not buy the "good stuff" from our vendors here you say? well my answer to that is why waste good products with a lack of skill and knowledge. As i get better, i will move up. For now here are some things i would like to share for other amateurs like me about my experience so far... (criticisms are welcome)

Keep in mind that i did not use all of my products today.

First let me say that i do not have a garage and my place is not really hose accessible. Second, my home is small so space is limited( storage for equipment = no) and my buckets are small so it would be really inconvenient for me. This leaves me with those touch-less car washes. All i do is some use the brush on my rims (to clear heavy brake dust before i insert money in because I am cheap ), soap spray , foam gun and spray down with water . Now before i move on i think that just spraying down with water will do better since the soap doesn't seem to do much unless u actually scrub with a sponge but we are on a limited time here and i only have so many dollar bills. Also my OCD makes me think that the soap will work on the dirt and all that and loosen it up lol. After the spray down I hand dry it.


First step was the wheels before the brake dust dries up. I have type S wheels and let me just say these are somewhat annoying to clean around. Plus I might switch to the C-max gold when my pads wear out. Anyways, I just sprayed some bug and tar remover on them. I let it sit for a little then just wipe em down. then i applied some endurance wheel gel around the tires to make it shine. (i used these in my last wash and it lasted about 2 weeks, I was very satisfied with it.)


next step I use my quick detail spray and clean each panel of my car with a spray and wipe to get most left over dirt off. ( i found that the quick detail spray works great on windows( correct me if this is wrong). After that I tried to clay bar the car and my friend gave me the mothers clay bar ( which I read from these forums is not that great of a clay bar), but it was free so no complaints. I used it and it was a great experience to see all these black and some orange dots on my car just disappear. unfortunately my allergies are bad this season so i had to cut it short but i will resume with a better clay bar next time. after i tried to use meguirs #7 glaze by hand ( i do not have an orbital buffer, due to lack of storage spacer.) but i couldn't really tell much of a difference so i just finished off my hood with it and moved on. next step i used some liquid wax and applied them to my applicator pad and just hand wiped it all over my car( regarding my trim i tried best to avoid it.) then i just used some microfiber towels to wipe the entire car down. After that i just used some quick detailer spray and cleaned my windows and applied some rain-x to my front and rear windshield, driver and passenger window, and both side mirrors (hope thats not a hazard).


some problems i had was getting the chrome trim to look good. for my exhaust i will be picking up bar keepers friend and some fine woolite. for my roof i had trouble reaching the center since I am short

For my interior, not much to say i bought the car with the interior in mint condition just vacuumed and used aerospace 303.

And here is a picture of my arsenal at my disposal. (There WAS a mothers clay bar but it was used up) i will dump the eagle one products off as i felt it was crap. For today i used NXT 2.0 instead of the gold class. my class cleaner for today was the quick detailer instead of that can but i will probably pick up invisible glass or something.




Currently i am looking for a good clay bar at a reasonable to cheap price, so suggestions are welcome! Also since i do not use a portercable or any sort of equipment, any one got some tips to wax and all that stuff properly by hand?

JLui83

For wax by hand.. just do 1 panel at a time. switch hands b/c it will get tiring.

For the exhaust tips, try using Alloy wheel cleaner. I use the Alloy wheel cleaner for the rims on the exhaust tips and it does the job.

Aretardedorange

iTrader: (2)

Get the meguiars claybar. It comes with the meguiars claybar kit.

ChrisJ

All clay bars sold in the US are made by Clay Magic so you will get the same clay in the megs kit, mother kit or any other kit you buy...

Me personally I like the Mothers just bc I like their Instant Detailer...

Jesstzn

I hope your car is a light color ... as your method is going to scratch the hell out of the paint.

Drying a car that was just sprayed off is basically wet sanding it .. same with using a QD to get the rest of the dirt off.

In time it will be evident even on WDP out in the sun.

Look into Optimum No Rinse and good Waffle Weave drying towels.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

when i lived in an apt and didn't have access to a garage or hose, i had to resort to DIY car wash bays... at first i would find myself just feeding the machine for more time, but i learned there are still ways you could do it even on a single session if needed... but it takes practice, and is harder to not do more damage...

i would start with spraying the car completely down with soap from top to bottom... if you spray from the top, and let the suds perculate for a bit, by the time u get to the bottom of the car, it would have time to work on the dirt... then from there i would rinse the soap off from top to bottom... that is the most that you want to do with their supplies... the brushes there i have seen ppl leave them on the ground and dirt just sits waiting to scratch your paint...

with the car still wet, i will usually have some ONR in a bottle and spray down the panel before wiping it with a WW to dry it... this should be a good enough car wash with your limited resources... then detail as you want...

good luck...

ionojimbo

i see....guess ill pick up some meguiars clay bar then, but i have a question about that, i notice theres also the meguiars professional clay bar too like the mild(blue?) and aggressive(red/maroon), would anyone recommend an amateur to use this?

the mothers spray that came with the clay kit leaves this weird white stain on my car as it drips and sorta dries out, but it wipes off instantly so im not sure if that means anything...

ill make sure i get a waffle weave towel before my next detail for sure.

after reading all these posts so far, what if i bring a small bucket and sponge and put in one session to fill the bucket with water(or with soap if suggested), then spray the car down with the soap (or use the foam gun) and then use the sponge to clean and such, then put another session for a water spray down to rinse it?

FYI its like 3 bucks for 5 min and 5 bucks for 10 min of use.

Jesstzn

Why not just buy Optimum No Rinse and do it at home .. A good sheepskin wash mitt, 3 good WW towels and a cheapy mitt/towels for your wheels and your into it for less than a few washes st the spray wash.

As for the clay .. stick with the reg. clay and clay 2 sq ft. at a time and wipe the QD off after each section.

ChrisJ

Just go with the regular clay...New people shouldnt worry about the other levels of clay until they get the fine type down like you get in the kit...CLay has a small learning curve so just make sure and use lots o lube...

JLui83

+1 to Optimum No Rinse. This stuff is GREAT. No scratch or swirl marks when doing the QD technique. I live in a condo and do not have access to a water hose so I tried Optimum No Rinse. So far so good. All I do is spray the panel down real good then wipe gently while flipping the towel over. It works great!

Jesstzn

Thats basically QDing a dirty car which I don't recommend .. I was refering to a proper ONR wash using a quality Sheepskin Mitt and good MF drying towels.

JLui83

Forgot to mention that I don't let my cars get too dirty. I have had no problems at all with this technique. just FYI

Jesstzn

With your color of car you won't immediatly see problems QDing even a slightly dirty car .. even dusty .. but you will on a darker color .. which means its happening.

All it means is down the road you will park beside another car the same color and yours just won't "pop" any more.

Glad its working out for you .