Let me be the first...

Semis57

Semis57

Casual User
2 You're 10
Apr 27, 2010
95
1
Sherwood Park
VetteCoins
601
Car
1998 roadster 6spd
I can get this forum rolling! I am wondering what you folks do to wash, wax, and baby your baby!

My car came out of San Jose, so has been dry all it's life with very good care. Even though the paint is excellent, and the interior too, it needs a bit of work.

1. What's your washing procedure? Do you use one of those rock guard things in the bottom of your wash bucket? Do you use dish soap?

2. What do you use for wax? Hand or power application?

2. What do you do on your wheels? Spray cleaner, small brushes,?

3. How do you clean your glass? Invisible glass, windex, ammonia and hot water?

4. What do you dress tires with?

5. What do you use to clean the interior? What do you spray on the dash, and what do you clean/condition the leather with?

6. Can you recommend a good detailing place/touchup/rock chip repair business in your area?

I know I'll think of more later, but that's a start!
 
i notice u guys all use zaino. i had the same questions as semiss57. last summer was first year for me and i avioded waxing the car because its black and i am paranoid about swirls and scratches. do you guys hand apply the zaino or do it by machine? is there any danger in doing it mechanically if you are new to it?
also, once i have a coat of wax whats the cons of using that mcguires quick detailer stuff.
 
HespelerC4 said:
i notice u guys all use zaino. i had the same questions as semiss57. last summer was first year for me and i avioded waxing the car because its black and i am paranoid about swirls and scratches. do you guys hand apply the zaino or do it by machine? is there any danger in doing it mechanically if you are new to it?
also, once i have a coat of wax whats the cons of using that mcguires quick detailer stuff.
Click to expand...

ZAINO is not a wax , but rather a polish . It is hand applyed . Not need to use the Mcguires as zano has its own quick detailer that is by far the best .
 
I prefer a wax over a polish. Each time you polish the car you are removing a small layer of paint and if you do this too often you will go through to the undercoat and the only way of fixing that is to respray the car. Of course this is an extreme outcome, but it's affecting the paint each time you polish nonetheless.

I clay bar to remove the dirty stuff, then protect the paint with a wax. I also hand apply the wax, not machine. Turns out beautiful and isn't a ton of work either.
 
Don't forget that it smells like cinnamon.

I have yet to wax/polish my car as it still beads like it was freshly done. In the interior I am using Maguire's low shine detailer and leather protector, however, I would much prefer Mothers products. I use Mothers Vinyl, Plastic, Rubber protectant on the tires and under the hood. If that is not around, I use Areospace 303.

I plan to move to Zaino products and am going to detail the wheels and barrels this summer, and protect them with Rejex.
 
To reply to Semis57 thread:

1. What's your washing procedure? Do you use one of those rock guard things in the bottom of your wash bucket? Do you use dish soap?

2. What do you use for wax? It depends on what I am looking for. I have had great results with WBW, Zaino and Maguires. Hand or power application? I like to apply the polish/wax with either a Porter Cable 7424 or a UDM using a white foam pad.

2. What do you do on your wheels? Spray cleaner, small brushes,? Elbow grease and micro fiber mitts.

3. How do you clean your glass? Invisible glass, windex, ammonia and hot water? Interior is done with Invisible Glass while exterior is done with soap and water and dried off with a Water Magnet towel - leaves no marks or residue.

4. What do you dress tires with? As little as possible. I use a new sponge with a little tyre dressing. I then wipe it down so as to not have any over spray when driving.

5. What do you use to clean the interior? What do you spray on the dash, and what do you clean/condition the leather with? A good vinyl cleaner (Zaino). Again. the trick to a good finish is "less is more"

6. Can you recommend a good detailing place/touchup/rock chip repair business in your area? Still haven't found one.
 
1. What's your washing procedure? Do you use one of those rock guard things in the bottom of your wash bucket? Do you use dish soap?

2 buckets, rock guards in both buckets. Buckets sit on a tray on rollers. I use a microfiber mitt and rinse the mitt in the second bucket so it does not contaminate the first bucket... soapy water stays cleaner.

Most people wash around there car.... I was top to bottom.... I do the roof/front/back/side windows first as they are always the cleanest... then I move in sections around the car.... when I get to the bottom foot or so I use a microfiber towel that is really soapy to wipe away any excess residue before I go near it with the microfiber wash mitt. Sounds a bit anal but there is nothing worse than getting a huge black grease mark on your nice wash mitt.

I use a 2nd microfiber towel to do the exhaust... I just use soap and water for the exhaust as well..

I use a shammy to dry the car but I'm going to look into a california water blade or whatever they are called...

Takes about 1 hr from the time I open the garage to the time I am done. I'm pretty picky to make sure all the water is out of the mirrors/rear door/door sills/etc.

I use Maguires Gold class car wash on a day to day basis then I use Dawn dish soap when I am about to wax the car (dawn removes wax).



2. What do you use for wax? Hand or power application?

I used hand up until this spring... I used power for the first time this year with a random orbital and the results are better and I use less product. I use meguires tech wax 2.0. I use a claybar before I apply any wax or polish to make sure i'm not pushing around any surface contaminants...

I've been driving it daily for the last month and the bugs wipe right off so I know the wax is still there.

2. What do you do on your wheels? Spray cleaner, small brushes,?

I have 2008 c6 rims which are a breeze to clean. I spray them down with the hose and then use a sponge and use the same soap water I use on the car. If i'm going to a car show I'll use a tire spray.... they all seem to work well. I do not use any rim cleaner.....

3. How do you clean your glass? Invisible glass, windex, ammonia and hot water?

No matter how much I clean the car the windows always have that one streak when I'm done... I use Windex for the outside.... I also use windex to remove some bugs sometimes if the car isn't dirty.... I use windex on the inside of the window as well but someone told me that there is a layer of plastic on the inside of the window that can get stained from the windex and to only ever use water.


4. What do you dress tires with?

Maguires hot shine (it has lasteed two months so far on a daily driver).

5. What do you use to clean the interior? What do you spray on the dash, and what do you clean/condition the leather with?

Leather I use Lanolin.... friend of mine owns a leather furniture store and he said its the best thing for leather... Do it 1x a year... twice if you live in a super hot climite like texas. Other than that I use water... The important thing is not to dry the leather up with the water but not to over apply any oils or the leather will rot.

6. Can you recommend a good detailing place/touchup/rock chip repair business in your area?

Not yet...
 
I took the advice from this forum and purchased Zaino Show Car Polish for Clear Coated cars and ZFX. I love the results. It goes on well and it doesn't take much to do the whole car. I used about 1 oz (around 1/2 of the mixer bottle). The only issue I have is that it takes a fair bit of effort to remove all of the polish and bring up the shine (I used 100% USA cotton towels). Is it possible I wasn't waiting long enough for it to dry? I waited 15 minutes. I used 5 drops of ZFX. Is it possible that was not enough/too much?
Thanks for any advice!
 
Thanks for your insight, fellas. I have not yet tackled the detailing aspect, have just been washing and maintaining, if you will. I have been looking for a place to power polish the car and repair the chips, but have not yet found one that will do good work for a reasonable price. Everyone wants to charge through the rof, with no guarantee I'm gonna like what I see when they're done.

Once I get to that "clean slate" stage, of a chip-repaired, cut/polished surface, I will try some of these great products discussed here. Might even try our sponsors product, World'sBest Wax!

Couple more things--- best way to remove bugs? One guy I talked to uses WD-40. That's on his year old BMW, and he isn't afraid to use it for bugs or tar.

Under-hood detailing- anyone have any tricks there? The car was SO clean when I got it, but 2 weeks on these city streets and I have little bits of gravel, dust, and road film everywhere. Can I just use a degreaser and a garden hose? Where should I keep the spray away from? Don't wanna kill any electronics or anything.

Thanks, and I'll post, with pix, later in the summer when I get 'er all cleaned up. I'm also replacing the floor in a '57 Chev sedan right now, so not a ton of time left over to do the detailing stuff.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for at least 100 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Top Bottom