AR

iTrader: (2)

Hey whats up,

This weekened I bought the materials need for my first detailing job on my civic. I have had my car for over 4 months, but I have only been washing weekly. Its like 30 degrees in Chicago, and I wanna polish and wax my car before it snows. This took hours of searches and pming the right people on this site. I bought the following products:

1. Meguiars deep crystal system step 1: paint cleaner
2. Meguiars deep crystal system step 2: polish
3. Meguiars deep crystal system step 3.: carnauba wax
4. Two micro fiber cloths
5. 6 “Viking company“applicator pads, they are terry cloth cause could not find the foam ones sold individually. They say theyre soft cotton.
6. Oh yeah and meguiars quick clay detailing system .
7. Two new foam sponges

I looked on this site for about a week before looking into and buying all of these products. I didn’t want to mix and match products though so I sticked to meguiars. Snow is coming soon but I didn’t wanna use nu finish, I heard it can be too strong on the paint under certain circumstances. I know meguiars 3 step deep crystal system is long and hard work, but I am willing to deal with it. Anyways I have some comments and questions about the order of detailing…

1. Wash car with car washing soap
2. Dry car with the absorber
3. Apply damp sponge of soapy water onto sections of the car and rub clay down (don’t use the lube spray right?)
4. After I am done with all sections of the car being clayed, should I wash and dry it off again?
5. Apply step one paint cleaner in sections
6. After all sections are rubbed off and finished, apply step two polish
7. After all sections are rubbed off and finished, apply step three carnauba wax.
8. After all sections are rubbed off and finished, admire the vehicle to its fullest.
IMPORTANT: when rubbing off liquids (cleaner, polish, wax, etc) can I simply rinse out and ring dry the micro fiber cloth and reuse it to take off the cleaner, polish, and wax for the next procedure? I have the terry applicator cloths for applying my liquids and I will not use them for rubbing off material. Also how long do I allow for the sections of the each section to dry after applying the liquid? Each section should be about
2 x 2 right? Ok thanks. I wont apply in circular motions but in right to left pattern or up and down.

I just wanted to thank you all for the helpful insight and advice on products and techniques. If It wasn’t for this site I don’t know where I would be. i am going to detail my car tomorrow morning and i will let you all know how it went tomorrow afternoon on this post. Thanks you guys, hope to hear from you. i am open to any comments and advice, i hope you can answer some of my questions too. Peace.


Alex

Mbow

3. That is what what Civicdude recommended for me to do. I trust and respect his advice since he does car detailing for a living. You can do it either way though. I did you use the spray once and it did leave a lot more clay residue behind than using the soap.

4. After claying the whole car I would wash it again.

5,6, 7, 8. Just follow the directions on the back of the bottle. The only product I ever apply in small sections is swirl remover which doesn't sit on the vehicle to begin with....You can polish and wax the whole car and then take it off the whole car all at once. Which ever way you feel more comfortable and pretty much depends on the product. Follow the instructions the first time you use it and you make adjustments from there.

About the towels, I would use the microfiber towels to go over the car after you have used something else to remove the product. You are going to need quite a few towels to take off each coat. I have a ton of terry towels. I fold it up so it has 4 sections on one side and 4 on the back. That way I have 8 sections to use per towel. Keeping the towel fresh helps take the product off with a lot less effort and keeps the towel from smearing everything around.

You want to put the polish on and then take it off with terry towels. Use the microfiber towels to go back and get the small stuff and remaining residue the terry clothes didn't pick up. You have to do this for the polish and the wax so you can see why you need several towels. You can wash them inbetween steps but it takes a while.

You can't just rinse the towel out and reuse it. It has to be dry for one and simply rinsing it isn't going to get all the product out it. It will have to be washed or cleansed however the tag says.

You have the order in which to apply the products correct.

Don't use the same applicator to apply 2 different products. Use a seperate applicator to apply each one.

As far as time to leave on, I would just go over the whole car with the polish, wait a minute or 2 and then take if off.

The wax, go over the whole car and wait several minutes. Run you finger down the car and see if it is still greasy or has dried. Once it has dried to a nice haze, take it off.

It is cool out and not the best time to be doing this. The products don't set up quite as well and can be a bish to get off from my experience. That's why I recommended the nu-finish. That's why people use it for winter because you don't wax when it is cold. People have said they have had some problems with it but there are always a few who somehow screw up everything, even putting a coat of wax on their car.

I have used it pretty consistently for about 10 yrs and have had nothing but good results. I used to use it yr round at one point.

The whole point of that was this, that carnaba may only last a couple months and then you are left with no protection and trying to wax in the freezing cold...that won't be pretty.

Have fun, it's a lot of work but well worth it.

AR

iTrader: (2)

hey dont worry. i forgot to mention i have a nice garage in my apartment building where my car stays every night. thisw is where i will wax my car aswell. it's nice and heated too. thanks for the great tips

Mbow

Must be nice. I have a nice big garage but no heat though. I froze just the other night putting stereo equipment in.

Macko

I use what my dealer gave me and what they used in the showrooms... Eagle 1 products.... i got a full detailing kit

civicdude

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the props.....Mbow. Just remember to use back and forth motions.....and no circular motions when applying and removing the wax products. If you use circular motions you will create swirl marks

AR

iTrader: (2)

Well I did the 3step. It was a lot of work but well worth it. I washed, clayed, and washed my car again before doing it. I only had one complaint though… when using the bar, I notcied it was picking up a lot of residue from the car. This residue looked like brown dots on the bar. Yes, I did wash the car very well before claying, and no I did not drop the bar. When the residue built up on one side, I flipped the bar over and continued working. Has anyone else notcied this? It bothers me, and I scratching the paint? I noticed if I didn’t apply enough soapy water, the clay gunked up with was biitch getting off. The 3step was a good process though, I put on smooth even coats. It was a lot of work and I am very satified, the paint looks fresh and deep. I can see my own reflection in the glossy gray paint.

Yes I applied in right to left/ up and down patterns. Thanks civic dude.

2Hottie

The brown spots on your clay bar are just showing the dirt particles and stuff that has bonded to your paint & also show the clay bar is working...as long as your spray on the stufff they give you with the clay bar, you will be fine...clay bars do a great job for getting the crap off the paint on the lower mouldings and stuff..I know I get a lot of tar on there and stuff...

O yeah, BTW...make sure you don't drop the clay bar on the ground...that is like the cardinal sin of detailing!

2Hottie

AR

iTrader: (2)

i dont even let my sponges or applicator pads touch the floor. if i do, i buy another one... theyre 1.54 at murrays. i never even let my bottles (wax, soap, anything) touch the floor too, if i do i wash them and dry them by hand. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/IMG]

AR

iTrader: (2)

what sucks though is that i park my car at school (college student) in a parking structure. it's not at all heated, hot in the summer, cold in the winter. but it keep the sun off the car when its hot, and the snow off when its winter.
otherwise i never park my car on the street for long periods. maybe an hour at most... for many reasons