WRX400

iTrader: (1)

For the last 6 months, since the company I worked for went into Administration, I have been delving into the mirky subject of Detailing. This led to a number of questions to which I have come up with the following answers and would welcome your comments if you agree or disagree with the conclusions come to so far.
I should add that I have decided to make detailing part of my full time job as of tomorrow when I formally start trading.
When does “cleaning a car” become Detailing? I’ll try and answer this question at the end.
What products do I use? Select from the wide variety available and decide on a budget, carnauba wax can vary between £15 and £95 a pot, try the product if you like it keep using if not try another manufacturer.
Heres just a few
Meguiars, Autoglym, Collinite, Menzerna, Bilt Hammer, Chemical Guys, Dodo, Poorboys, Sonus, Swissvax, Zaino amoungst many more.
In the stages set out below I name my particular favourites of the moment.
Cleaning
Snowfoam before hand washing, it definitely works, you can see the muck, especially volcanic dust in the foam that has washed off the car. I use Ultimate snow foam, its well priced and does the job.



Handwash
Use a neutral shampoo such as Meguiars NXT or Gold Class. Use a microfiber washmit never a sponge. Dry with a microfiber water magnet never a chamois.

Claybar
For Impreza's use a fine claybar and proprietary lubricant never soapy water as the paint is quite soft. My personal preferences are Meguiars blue clay and Dodo born slippy as the lubicant. Get the claybar warm so its pliable and keep folding it over. If you drop it throw it away and start with a new piece. You’ll be surprised at how much muck comes off with the claybar especially on lower doors behind the front wheels.



Paint Inspection
Ok so the paint is clean so now is time to see what condition its in and decide what to do next. Use a halogen light and check for swirl marks, automatic car wash scratches, oxidation and on the bonnet especially cat claw marks. If the paint is good then proceed to polishing section, if not its machine polishing first.

Machine Polishing
Before machine polishing check paint thickness with a paint meter. Most paint coatings are made up of a basecoat, a colour coat and a clearcoat. When machine polishing you can only “play” with the clearcoat, if you burst through it then a respray is the only option. A rule of thumb is that the basecoat is 25%, the colour coat is 25% and the clearcoat is 50%. If the paint meter reading is 100 microns then you have 50 microns to play with. Swirl marks and carwash scratches are generally between 5 and 10 microns deep so are relatively easy to remove. Random scratches can be any depth however machine polishing will at least round off the edges and make them less visible.
I use a Megs Dual Action Orbital polisher. I start with the softest pad and mildest polish/cutting compound and work my way up using harder pads and/or stronger cutting compounds to get the desired result. At each pass the paint is checked with the eye and the paint meter.



The pic above shows the effect after machine polishing on the right. Yes they are scratches on the left of the pic from a carwash as a guess

After machine polishing its time to protect the shiney paint finish. This can be achieved by applying a protective polish or a wax or both.

Polish
The choice could be down to paint colour. Autoglym super resin polish can be used on any colour.

Wax Application
Prices range from the sublime to the ridiculous so take your choice. I use Dodo Juice Carnauba wax. Its a natural carnauba wax, available in different mixes for different paint colours, its easy to apply and buffs off easily too.


I’ll stop there for now. If there’s sufficient interest I’ll cover wheel, glass, trim and exhaust cleaning amounst other items another time.

The answer to the question ........ I haven’t got one yet have you?

AlzayUK300

iTrader: (2)

You forgot to mention the two bucket gridguard method.

Good luck with your new venture.

WRX400

iTrader: (1)

Fair point, I find that after using snow foam grit gaurds in washing buckets aren't necessary as theres very little dirt/grit left on the car.

B4D HK

iTrader: (15)

cheers Psul, you are now a WMI trader

Folks, Paul offers a 10% discount for all WMI members with a sticker on there car


Paul get some before and after shots up of customers cars please

H

imprezajon

iTrader: (2)

hi paul.
how much do you charge for a machine polish ??? i have a few minor paint swirls that i can get rid of by hand and i dont feel comfortable using a machine.
or can you recommend a product that can be used by hand.
many thanks.

kully

iTrader: (2)

He did mine

WRX400

iTrader: (1)

A few before and afters
First up is the worst case of scratched paint i have experienced so far on a 10 year old Bentley of all cars




And after first pass machine polishing with Megs 82 and soft pad



And then after second pass with Megs 83 and medium pad





My wifes car before




And after, no machine polishing this time, paint meter readings were at 60 microns so couldn't take the risk




M3 machine polished, BMW paint is very very very hard !!




Now you might notice theres a lot of black cars .......... swirl marks show more on black than any other colour in normal light but they are there in all colours especially when the sun is shining

M5




T25



And my own for good measure

prodrive sti 340

very nice, amazing difference, wish i hadn't stickered up my car now

Black Widow

iTrader: (2)

excellent finish

B4D HK

iTrader: (15)

droooooooooooool Bentley

Tom87

iTrader: (2)

Excellent write-up Paul

All the best with this mate, I may be contacting you in the near future about machine polishing my Impreza

Tom

p.rite.sh

likewise

WRX400

iTrader: (1)

Tip of the Week

For cleaning glass use AutoGlym Fast Glass

Be careful your wife/husband/partner doen't pinch it to clean the house windows ..... its that good !!!

specky

Ive used this before and its unbelievable, so easy to use and ive never had glass so clean

SinnerBugEye

iTrader: (3)

so what's the mildest polish/cutting compound you use for machine polishing?

and whats can you do for stone chips?

billyray911

iTrader: (4)

Whereabouts are you based mate?.Am looking to get my motor looking nice and shiny,so would be after a price for a full detail (bugeye wagon) over the next month or so

WRX400

iTrader: (1)

I start with Meguiars 80 with W8207 pad and work upwards on Subarus.

Stone chips - Depending on colour of car hand fill with paint and cover with laquer then dry sand with 3000 grit sand paper then polish.

scoobysteve2286

wrx400... i've got really bad paint fade on the roof of my scoob, is there anything you could do with that? what prices do you charge for full works? pm if you have to.. cheers.

WRX400

iTrader: (1)

Hi Steve
The reason the paint appears to have faded will obviously determine what can be done. As long as its not primer showing through !!!!! then its probably oxidation of the clear coat that can be machine polished away. Light colours are more prone to oxidation. If not oxidation then it could be marring from previous cleaning, again removeable by machine polishing. I would need to have a look and put the paint meter on it to be sure.
Paul

imprezajon

iTrader: (2)

do you do engine bays as well???? mine just needs abit of a clean. never been done since the car has come off the production line, so very dirty.

kully

iTrader: (2)

I'd say a good day to clean it , but several days days to do it properly

WRX400

iTrader: (1)

Detailed a WMI members car last Friday, heres a few pics and H I will paypal a contribution to you for WMI as agreed

Snowfoam


Paint checked


Machine Polished and waxed

Black Widow

iTrader: (2)

your the man.

don't believe you say what area your in.

andycal

I was looking at doing a detailing course a couple of weeks ago.

Fancy taking on a trainee??
Will work for food!