andysubaru3089

Hey,
I am planning this weekend cleaning my car top to bottom,in and out, and was wondering if anyone can give me a step by step guide to the perfect clean car. The products i have at the moment are

Poorboys slick and stud car wash
Karcher K2.35D pressure washer with detergent
Poorboys trim restorer
Clearkoat trye sealant
Wonderwheels
Turtle wax bug and tar remover
Turtle wax car wax

I can quite easliy buy other stuff that u recommend. Am planning puting the car on 4 axel stands,taking wheels off and cleaning arches. hoover the inside etc

PLEASE HELP GUYS

Cheers, andy

V4JDMSTi

iTrader: (2)

great question to put forward in this section. have a look at the polished bliss guides at the top of this forum. great resource there.

if this was me i would do the following:

exterior:
get the car up onto the axel stands,
remove wheels,
soak arches with degreaser / bug and tar remover,
lay the wheels face down on something soft so as not to damage the face and soak inside of the rim with bug and tar remover,
agitate b&t on arches with wheel well brush and rinse off with hosepipe or pressure washer,
agitate b&t on inside of rim with wheel brush and rinse off with hosepipe or pressure washer,
rinse car with pressure wash to remove any big lumps of dirt that may be on the car,
foam and soak - leave for 10 mins,
while soaking clean the front face of the wheels with wheel cleaner and treat any tar spots with tar remover,
rinse wheels with hosepipe or pressure washer,
apply bug and tar remover to parts of the car that need it, all over if necessary - leave to soak for 2 mins, 3 max - don't let it dry out - you can apply this towards the end of the foam soak if you wanted to,
rinse with pressure washer,
foam with a less "foamy" mixture - just use more water,
wash with 2 bucket method,
rinse with pressure washer,
dry with drying towel - pat dry to have less risk of swirls or use a leaf blower,
clay using claybar and lube,
dry using microfibre towel as you go along,
use a seperate clay to remove any last marks from the wheels,
rinse with pressure washer,
foam and soak - 10 mins,
rinse with pressure washer,
open doors, bonnet & boot and clean shuts,
dry with drying towel or leaf blower,
mask up ready for polishing - door shuts, glass rubbers, door looks handles etc,
polish either by hand or machine,
remove masking tape and clean up any polish that manged to get into where you didn't want it,
apply wax or acrylic sealant inc door shuts etc,
clean and dress trim (glass rubbers, door handles, wheel arches etc) - i like to use zymol carbon for this or 303 aerospace protectant,
clean the glass inside and out, inside use side to side cleaning motion and up and down on the outside. this way you see where there are any marks rather than chasing them!,
put the wheels back on the car,
dress the tyres.

Interior:

Remove all items that can be removed, mats, rubbish etc,
hoover out thoroughly - use a nailbrush to help on cloth seats & carpets or a toothbrush to get in the stitching of leather to get out the crumbs etc that will be in there,
use a nice soft detailing brush or natural long hair paint brush to get dust out of vents, clocks and buttons while hooving,
clean down all plastics with a fairly strong mix of soap liquid and warm water applied with a terry cloth,
dry with another terry cloth,
wipe over with white spirit and terry cloth to remove anything else,
soap / water mix steps again,
using a damp clean terry cloth wipe the plastics until no soap is left,
treat plastics with something like poorboys natural look dressing (great matt / satin finish),
shampoo cloth seats with an apc such as poorboys all purpose cleaner,
agitate gently if needed and then using a clean damp cloth wipe until cleaner is out,
clean leather seats with a good leather cleaner (i use the zymol one) then wipe clean and dry and treat with leather conditioner,
next shampoo the carpets with apc as per cloth seats and use the same process,
check over the inside and spot clean anything you've missed,

finally before keeling over after 2 days of work (it will take you this long if you do it properly!) check over the outside and go over any bits you notice.

products wise for the wash stage go for something like megs hyper wash or stick with the poorboys super slick n suds.
the trim restorer is fine,
same with the tyre sealant,
wonder wheels is ok but fairly strong, i use megs super degreaser cut to 10 - 1 for wheels,
if you're happy with the TW bug and tar stick with it. i use the megs SD cut to 20-1 or use poorboys bug squash,
get yourself some decent polish, menzerna intensive polish is great and apply with a german applicator pad,
wax wise - what colour car do you have and what finish do you want? if a dark coloured car and want it looking super wet then go for blackfire mirror finish followed by a good wax. i use zymol waxes but also use the poorboys ones which are a fraction of the cost.
if you've got a lighter coloured car or want a harder colder look to your paint you won't go far wrong with the menzerna full molecular jacket or one step acrylic jacket

lot of info there so shout if you want me to go over anything.

andysubaru3089

mneame,wow that is amazing,just what i was looking for. I have printed it of so i can read over it propley and have it by myside the whole weekend lol. I will probley get back to you on a few things, apart from that,ur a star, cheers

andysubaru3089

mneame,wow that is amazing,just what i was looking for. I have printed it of so i can read over it propley and have it by myside the whole weekend lol. I will probley get back to you on a few things, apart from that,ur a star, cheers

V4JDMSTi

iTrader: (2)

no probs.

Rich @ PB

iTrader: (3)

Jeepers, nothing to add!

V4JDMSTi

iTrader: (2)

cheers

iSCOOB

Can we make this a sticky?