[Sparky68]

Hopefully this has not already been covered, if it has ignore and carry on with what you were doing

Now we all love our machines , some a lot more than others but im sure we all want to keep them looking in as good a condition as possible.

The Basics

For a basic washing system i use the following

Micro fibre or lambs wool mitt
Meguiars Gold Class shampoo [ or whatever you prefer]
2 buckets [one with a grit guard].for the 2 bucket wash method, one with your shampoo in, the other with plain water to rinse your mitt in.
Micro fibre drying towels
Clay bar [ not overly important but a must once you see how good they are]
Bilberry wheel cleaner.
Poor boys wheel sealer.
Sonax tyre gel
Trigger spray bottle with 10:1 water/shampoo mix for Clay bar lubricant.
Karcher pressure washer.
Snow foam lance.
Snow foam.
I have various glazes , polishes and waxes [you will have your own favourite but i love Sonax Proffesional Carnuba]


Silverline rotary or a DA if you prefer.
Various 3m polishing pads.
Machine polishing , once you have practiced [ id recommend buying a boot lid from a scrappy] can get some fantastic results. Im no expert but one example of my Focus ST before and after.


took a few passes and about a day to do the whole car but well worth it imo



Get a lot of my stuff from work or http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

So what do you use? Where do you buy from and are there any products you have found that you now cant live without?

[Mr Singh]

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=280698

Here's how I detail.

[Sparky68]

Originally Posted by Mr Singh

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=280698

Here's how I detail.

I remember you from DW and TalkAudio

[Sparky68]

Oh and Bimmerforums iirc.

[Rob318]

What colour is you Beemer?

Here's my preferred regime - I've tried a LOT of products and heres my favourites:

Car is Mineral white, but had an alpine white 1 series before and this worked wonders...

Wash:

CHemical Guys no touch snow foam
Auto glum bodywork shampoo and conditioner
Renault Ixtar tar remover
Iron x contaminant remover
Dodo duice supernatural clay (BH detailer a lube)
Chemical guys final polish (by hand)
Poor boys white diamond glaze
Bilt hamber finis wax

Wheels:

I have sealed with Cquartz ceramic coating - working fantastic 6 months on
Wheel cleaner would be Scholl Rim7 if I needed it, but due to above wheels still wipe clean
Gtechniq T1 tyre and on tyres - no splatter after application

Glass:

Clay
AG glass Polish
G techniq c3 glass water repellent

Interior:

Gtechniq matte finish (I forget the product code)
Zaino leather in a bottle (great stuff)

Quick detailer of choice is bilt hamber QD. It's brilliant.

All of he above by hand. I haves DA polisher to use, but as yet haven't needed to as car is pretty swirl free. Have got CH hex logic pads for it.

Couple of photos:

http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/...y/_DSC0293.jpg


http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/...y/_DSC0295.jpg

http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/...y/_DSC0296.jpg

[Sparky68]

My car is Titan silver, only had it a week and not got around to giving it a proper clean, just a wash,clay wax and seal. Cant wait to get a day on it although to be fair its like yours, pretty much swirl free.

[Rob318]

Loving the beading shot....

[Sparky68]

White has to be the hardest colour to get looking good, yours looks great.

[Rob318]

Surely silver is more difficult? !

Single favourite product is the white diamond glaze, you notice immediate improvement after application. I'd imagine that would work well on the silver also.

Have tried other glazes since but always go back to it.

I have been told about and probably will try next time Jeff's Werkstatt acrylic kit. Seen some good shots of this on othe cars, but never tried it myself

[Brian mc21]

Don't get mr Singh started. And keep him away from the wet and dry whatever you do.

[Rob318]

Wet and dry is too far for me, if it got that bad I'd be paying a professional to do it.

[Brian mc21]

And me though obviously not for the man with balls like water melons.

[Sparky68]

As long as you know how much depth of paint you have it gets fantastic results.

[Rob318]

No disagreement there - Mr Singh's images look awesome!

[BimmerW]

Originally Posted by Mr Singh

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=280698

Here's how I detail.

Singh! All I got to say is "Oh Thwaaaaadi!" you have a beauty there!

One of my BMWs needs this treatment - interested? haha

[blackrabbit]

Im an autoglym convert for my sapphire black e92

Basic wash:

jetwash
autoglym body shampoo (2 bucket)
Jetwash
microfiber cloths for drying
Autoglym quick detail spray

Thorough clean:

jetwash
autoglym body shampoo (2 bucket)
Autoglym alloy wheel cleaner
Jetwash
microfiber cloths for drying
Autoglym super resin polish
Autoglym Ultra deep shine
Autoglym extra gloss protection
Autoglym High Def wax

I may go OTT on the thorough cleans, but the finish lasts for several months. I have tried other products but the autoglym stuff really gives that deep shine that looks so good on black!

[IanS100]

Originally Posted by blackrabbit

Autoglym extra gloss protection
Autoglym High Def wax

I may go OTT on the thorough cleans, but the finish lasts for several months. I have tried other products but the autoglym stuff really gives that deep shine that looks so good on black!

I'm not an avid detailer but do like my car to look good, even though it's nowhere near any of the finishes here, so I may did the AG out again this weekend, weather willing. I see you use EGP & HD Wax, are you using the the wax as a final coat over EGP? it's something I've considered for a while but never found anyone who does.

[blackrabbit]

Originally Posted by IanS100

I'm not an avid detailer but do like my car to look good, even though it's nowhere near any of the finishes here, so I may did the AG out again this weekend, weather willing. I see you use EGP & HD Wax, are you using the the wax as a final coat over EGP? it's something I've considered for a while but never found anyone who does.

Yep i use the EGP, let it dry and buff then add a coat of HD wax over the top. Personally i think it adds to the depth of the shine and gives a little more longevity to the finish. Its extra work, and im sure some will question the benefits but i think it does make a difference.

[IanS100]

Cheers, I'll have to give it a try

[fulcrum]

So I have a garage full of too expensive products - some I like some I dont.

I thought I would get a DA Pro and a practice panel - put so scratches in and used Scholl Concepts S3 Gold and S17 with various pads (purple Scholl, tangerine LC, Optimum MF etc). Decided I had made the scratches too deep - paint was rock hard.

To my car which had only slight swirls -less cut pads and then more cut pads. Rather disappointed in the results and it was going to take days!

OK - so I obviously need more practice. But what is everyone choice of pads for our stupidly hard paint?

[Cyprio]

Yeah I would like to know the answer to that as well.

Good thread btw, it saves looking around all over the place on D/W.

[Sparky68]

SRP is ok if you have a lot of swirls to cover [contains a shitload of fillers]
Use to use it before i started learning to use the rotary but now just use a glazes, wax and sealer.