Well, it finally stopped raining and for once i wasn't working. The car was well overdue a wash.

I started a little after 10 and gave up at 1530 as it was getting dark and even colder.

Now, the reason for the post is i was wondering what cleaning lengths people go to?

I had two buckets and sponges. Bucket 1 is for the top half and cleans half way down the door panels. Bucket 2 is for wheels, skirts and bumpers etc...
The car was washed twice and then dried with a microfibre towel and the wheels with a chammy.

I then clean the exhaust for about 30mins with a variet of products.

The car is then waxed with Mguires cleaner wax and buffed with a microfibre cloth.

The second waxing is done with Mguires black gold and a new microfibre cloth.

The third and final waxing is done with mothers wax and another new cloth.

The car is finally buffed by hand all over.

Am i really making hard work for myself? Is anyone else out there worse than i am? Anyway, a couple of pics of all that hard work.

 

Washed mine 3 times this week and only used the car twice! I actually enjoy detailing mine with all new waxes and nano sealents

 

If it's about washing - look up "2 buckets method"

1st stage - giving it a wash with aforementioned 2 buckets method ^
2nd stage - claying (removing all contaminants)
3rd stage - polishing (removing scratches etc)
4th stage - preparing for waxing with wax cleaner
5th waxing - 2-3 coats.

That's only for the body... there's still special wheel, exhaust, rubber elements and windscreen treatments procedures...

and you can go **** about it as much as you possibly can :P

P.S. Nice classic you have mate.

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php I like to prewash mine with a snowfoam or a citrus cleaner oh and a fallout remover to remove the iron from the paint before the wash

 

30 mins cleaning exhaust

 

I last detailed mine 3 weeks ago. It took me a week... granted "only" 17 hours actually working on the car but still.

It needs doing again now too.

 

Mine gets a god wash when he decides it needs doing!

Your's looks very very clean, top work! Wish I could be bothered to clean my cars like this!

 

Looks like you've done a good job there mate. Looks very nice.

I do mine like so...

1. jet wash
2. snow foam
3. jet wash
4. clay bar with born slippy dodo juice
5. jet wash
6. bucket and spong with glossworkz shampoo
7. jet wash.
8. 2nd bucket with spong and glossworkz shampoo
9. jet wash
10. dry with 2 large microfibre towels
11. couple of coats of autoglym HD wax
12. finish kare #425
13. good quick buff all over

Comes out nice, clean, shiny and smooth as a......

 

cleanyourcar.com im sure tim will give u some fine advice.

snowfoam
2 bucket method
dry with water eater towel
nano 68 sealent
r222 or vics wax.
wheels- bilberry
tyres megs endurance on your fine rotas.

 

where did u get the wheels? i looked at fighter and force but bit pricey.

 

Thanks for all your comments guys. It's nice to hear i'm not as crazy as i thought

I'm just googling the dodo juice you've mentionned. It doesn't appear as pricey as i thought. However there seem to be 100's of products to choose from.

As for the wheels, they're P1 wheels. I bought them in off here. They were in awful condition but i spoke to Mags prior to buying them. I dropped them off with him, returned a week later and they were better than new

 

And 36hrs later I guess you drop into bed....LOL!

 

LOL. Not far off mate. You certainly know you've done a days work by the end of it. Worth the effort though every now and then to keep your pride n joy looking good.

 

I like to think i'm still on my original rear arches cause of the amount of wax that's on there

 

Quick wash down with fairy washing up liquid, 3 buckets of water slung over to rinse then a good bat down the road to dry.

 

Who owns the tvr?

 

The trevor belongs to my mate.

 

Washing up liquid contains salt which will promote rusting. It also strips wax, paint is pourus (how ever you spell it). If you can't or don't have time, use a nano Sealent and will protect for a year, should YouTube it. Brilliant products

 

erm i wouldnt be using a sponge if i were you matey,use a microfibre wash mitt instead

 

+1

And as I've recently learned, you have one bucket with your shampoo in it and the second full of clean water to wash the mitt before it goes back in the shampoo.

The car looks really good though.

 

you need these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-Scratc...item3a7ad73b6c

and this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Meguiars-S...item3a7abf4ed4

but 1st you start with this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-VALET-C...item19cfbe8003

 

If you're on a budget, you can get most of the stuff you need (wash mits, drying cloths, etc) from Asda. They're cheap, and good quality too.

 

Lambs wool wash mitt over a microfibres ANY day of the week. Very little difference in price.

2 bucket wash method
Good polish
Good wax
Good wheel wax/sealant
Metal polish for exhaust

That's the simplest way and throw in a claying after washing every so often.

 

Thanks all. The micro fibre mit is ordered and i'm going to wait till i run out of the mothers and mguires products till i order the dodo shampoo and wax.

I was woken this morning to an almighty clap of thunder. Thinking this couldn't be good. Before i could put a mile on the car most of my efforts have gone to waste. However it did make me smile looking at how the water had beaded on the paint work

 

make sure you get grit guard buckets matey,wouldnt want to pick up a stone when swilling out your new mitt and scratch your car would you

 

Thanks for these; it's saved me a lot of head scratching at the 1087 possibilities on ebay alone

 

Lets ignore the nice scoob for a minute, what did you do to the one next to it, and have you any pics? TVR?

 

your welcome matey,also dont dry your car with a leather-use a blade like this (you can get a turtle wax one from halfords for £10)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Autoglym-H...item1e6128d757

then dry with a microfibre towel

sponges and leathers =

 

No point it doing anything to that, if i cleaned it another part would probably fall off. No one really pays any attention to how clean it is when its on the back of a tow truck

 

I don't use leather to dry it. I use a microfibre towel that's big enough to wrap round myself. I gave up on the blades when i managed to scratch my vts with one about 10 years ago.