clean it how often??
18 January 2015, 05:09 PM
#2
Ideally you want to be washing every 2 weeks or less with your wash mitt.
More washing means more chance of marking your pain.
As a wash plan, start with either a foam or a 1st stage shampoo depending on if you have a mesto foamer/foam lance or just a pressure sprayer.
The idea of this is to loosen the heavy grime, mud and general crap. This is a spray on rinse off method. It wont clean your car, nor is it meant to. It just reduces the crud for the next steps.
Now is the time to check for bug splats, tar etc. a squirt of all purpose cleaner for bug splats and tar remover for tar.
Move onto the wheels, give them and the exhaust a treatment with wheel cleaner and use as instructed.
Now it's time to get the buckets out. Google 2 bucket method for a good idea on washing techniques but basically never use a sponge, these are for baths and not cars! start at the top and work your way down.
Polish, polish, polish....
The more polish, the better the protection. Now don't go blathering your car, It takes time to layer up. Allow time to cure between coats and don't expect to do it in a day. After a few month's of correct washing and polishing you will find the car much easier to wash. In summer I can generally foam the car with shampoo, rinse clean without touching the paint.
I tend not to use quick detailer purely because I have a Rupes Bigfoot and can machine polish the car in less time then it would take to use a quick detailer
More washing means more chance of marking your pain.
As a wash plan, start with either a foam or a 1st stage shampoo depending on if you have a mesto foamer/foam lance or just a pressure sprayer.
The idea of this is to loosen the heavy grime, mud and general crap. This is a spray on rinse off method. It wont clean your car, nor is it meant to. It just reduces the crud for the next steps.
Now is the time to check for bug splats, tar etc. a squirt of all purpose cleaner for bug splats and tar remover for tar.
Move onto the wheels, give them and the exhaust a treatment with wheel cleaner and use as instructed.
Now it's time to get the buckets out. Google 2 bucket method for a good idea on washing techniques but basically never use a sponge, these are for baths and not cars! start at the top and work your way down.
Polish, polish, polish....
The more polish, the better the protection. Now don't go blathering your car, It takes time to layer up. Allow time to cure between coats and don't expect to do it in a day. After a few month's of correct washing and polishing you will find the car much easier to wash. In summer I can generally foam the car with shampoo, rinse clean without touching the paint.
I tend not to use quick detailer purely because I have a Rupes Bigfoot and can machine polish the car in less time then it would take to use a quick detailer
18 January 2015, 06:01 PM
#5
Be careful using the term polish. Especially as mentioned above by Shane above. Polish is to remove swirls,scratches and marring. It does nothing to protect the paint. In fact a newly "polished" car has no protection on it at all.
To protect the paintwork you'd need to build up layers of sealants or waxes. Not polish.
To answer the question....As and when it's needed. If the paintwork is well protected then the accumulated dirt on top of the protection is doing no harm at all and in actual fact it's better off left where it is rather than remove it with poor technique.
To protect the paintwork you'd need to build up layers of sealants or waxes. Not polish.
To answer the question....As and when it's needed. If the paintwork is well protected then the accumulated dirt on top of the protection is doing no harm at all and in actual fact it's better off left where it is rather than remove it with poor technique.
19 January 2015, 09:59 AM
#10
The term "polish" is regarded by most to be an action or product to make something shiney. Take Pledge furniture polish for example, how much cutting action does this have? Take a bottle of meguires, autoglym srp etc..
You have no chance of removing a scratch, Gloss enhancers would be a more fitting name.
For scratches and swirls you will need a cutting compound as a minimum if not polyblocks/sandpaper for deep ones. Polish with light cutting action will hide/remove marring depending on it's cut/filling ability and will protect your car as most, if not all polishes on the market have some form of sealant be it polymer or wax/oil based. This then can be topped up with a wax or sealant with no cut for further enhancing the finish.
As for a machine polish in less time than QD, that's simple. A Rupes Bigfoot RO with 21mm throw will do a car in 20 minutes. Being a RO it can be used straight over curves and panel edges with no worry of burning through. Remember, it's simply applying a layer of wax polish over a panel NOT paint correction as obviously this would take much longer.
19 January 2015, 01:46 PM
#11
And this is the problem with marketing aimed at customers perception.
The term "polish" is regarded by most to be an action or product to make something shiney. Take Pledge furniture polish for example, how much cutting action does this have? Take a bottle of meguires, autoglym srp etc..
You have no chance of removing a scratch, Gloss enhancers would be a more fitting name.
For scratches and swirls you will need a cutting compound as a minimum if not polyblocks/sandpaper for deep ones. Polish with light cutting action will hide/remove marring depending on it's cut/filling ability and will protect your car as most, if not all polishes on the market have some form of sealant be it polymer or wax/oil based. This then can be topped up with a wax or sealant with no cut for further enhancing the finish.
As for a machine polish in less time than QD, that's simple. A Rupes Bigfoot RO with 21mm throw will do a car in 20 minutes. Being a RO it can be used straight over curves and panel edges with no worry of burning through. Remember, it's simply applying a layer of wax polish over a panel NOT paint correction as obviously this would take much longer.
The term "polish" is regarded by most to be an action or product to make something shiney. Take Pledge furniture polish for example, how much cutting action does this have? Take a bottle of meguires, autoglym srp etc..
You have no chance of removing a scratch, Gloss enhancers would be a more fitting name.
For scratches and swirls you will need a cutting compound as a minimum if not polyblocks/sandpaper for deep ones. Polish with light cutting action will hide/remove marring depending on it's cut/filling ability and will protect your car as most, if not all polishes on the market have some form of sealant be it polymer or wax/oil based. This then can be topped up with a wax or sealant with no cut for further enhancing the finish.
As for a machine polish in less time than QD, that's simple. A Rupes Bigfoot RO with 21mm throw will do a car in 20 minutes. Being a RO it can be used straight over curves and panel edges with no worry of burning through. Remember, it's simply applying a layer of wax polish over a panel NOT paint correction as obviously this would take much longer.
Totally agree with the statement regarding what customers or clients think a polish is. Even my old man still says he's going to polish the car. That's after I'd glasscoated it. In fact all he was doing was giving it the once over with Carpro Reload after he'd finished his wash routine :/
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