noob wash/detailing

[chromal]

Well, I can't put it off any longer, gonna have to learn how to take care of my new mz3. My first two cars never really got anything resembling regular washing or detailing, being a student or recently-graduated without a particularly good environment to DIY, it was all I could do to take them down to the autowash or power-spray stalls once in a blue moon.

Funny how buying something new can realign your priorities.. if my mz3's finish gets faded and scuffed, there's no rationalizing it, it's all on me.

Just about to start, once I'm sure the sun's low enough to not mess with things and the front end has cooled off from an earlier drive... Here's what I've got. I hope this is okay for a noob wash and wax job on a new mz3...



Today, I plan/expect only to need/want to use the car wash, liquid tech wax, and natural shine for bumpers/trim. Gonna use those white microfiber pads for the wash with a rinse and wash bucket, and a bunch of microfiber towels to dry. Microfiber hand buffers to apply wax, microfiber towels to polish/remove it.

[memphis]

Good choice on using Meguiars.. Theres plenty of good products out there like mothers, turtle wax etc.. but I have stayed wtih Meguiars through all these years and I love it... When you do the clay bar.. Just be ready for a very time consuming process. But TAKE YOUR TIME.. it will be well worth it in the end if you fully cover your car and get every spot you can. Your hands will be killing you the next day, but the show room shine of your car will be worth every sore finger you have.


oh and one note.,, since your a noob.. DO THIS ALL BY HAND. STAY AWAY FROM POWER BUFFERS!!

[chromal]

Just came back in around 8:10pm, starting at 4:45pm as the sun fell behind my house and the car was cool. Because of the dust from cars driving by 75ft away, I more or less rinsed, washed, rinsed, dried, waxed, removed, waxed, removed each side of the car (and also roof!) at a time, probably made it take a lot longer than it would in a less dusty environment.

I used natural shine on all the black trim and non-metallic parts (except the windows themselves) and the liquid nxt tech wax on painted metal and on glass, two coats. The second coat on the hood was the last, and I had to remove it almost more by feel as twilight faded. I'm annoyed I can't see it in the darkness, so I think it's time to get some take-out chinese food and gawk at it under the parking lights. :]

Everything was by hand. Double bucket for wash, lots of microfiber cloth for drying and wax removal, microfiber wax applicator with handle for wax application. I shoulda/woulda done this the week I bought the car, things came up. :] As it was, I had to spend a lot of time tonight removing specs of stuff, even tar. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer to hand wash and wax... It's especially critical for me, considering I park it outside under trees near a dirt road.

Next weekend (I hope)-- interior detailing. Only got around to vacuuming today. I'm really happy with how much smoother and sleek the car feels now than when I started... and how it forms small beads when wet now, not flat sheets of water. :]

I hope I'm doing this stuff right. My main goals were to avoid abrasion and to keep the wax off the plastic/vinyl trim. Depending upon what I see tomorrow, I may work at any remaining sports with the clay bar and detailing spray.

[Huzer]

Good stuff to start with. Glaze and polish are two vital steps as well, but what you have there will definitely still get you a good finish, especially on a new car. The NXT 2.0 can be a bear to work with, as it's not very tolerant of heat, it can get streaky. For an inexpensive synthetic, I actually prefer Mothers FX (liquid, as I've had poor results with the paste.) as it's easier to remove than the NXT.

Do you have a garage? If not, I wouldn't worry about using the clay bar too much. The debris the clay bar removes isn't particularly hard on paint (usually), and if you're parking outside, you're hours of clay bar work will pretty much be gone overnight.

All of that said, I enjoy detailing my car, but doing too much is overkill for a daily driver. Wash it, keep it clean, and a good cleaner wax followed by a protective wax coat is all you really need to worry about. A good synthetic beads water for a long time.

[chromal]

Good stuff to start with. Glaze and polish are two vital steps as well, but what you have there will definitely still get you a good finish, especially on a new car.

Yeah, I banked on the hope that the car's factory-new finish and lack of visible marks would make this come out well. I barely finished with enough light to see the overall result. Can wait to see it tomorrow in the sun.

Do you have a garage? If not, I wouldn't worry about using the clay bar too much. The debris the clay bar removes isn't particularly hard on paint (usually), and if you're parking outside, you're hours of clay bar work will pretty much be gone overnight.

That's pretty much the situation. Parked between fir and aspen trees. For a daily driver outside in a mountain forest, I'm nowhere near ideal for avoiding sap, bird droppings.

All of that said, I enjoy detailing my car, but doing too much is overkill for a daily driver. Wash it, keep it clean, and a good cleaner wax followed by a protective wax coat is all you really need to worry about. A good synthetic beads water for a long time.

Sounds like I'm going in the right direction so far, but will want to add some cleaning wax steps to future coatings. The learning process continues, heh, though I feel like I got a sense of how it should be done and how these products work, at least when it is in the lower 70's F outside.

[chromal]

Here's an updated photo, taken the morning after the detailing described in recent posts to this thread.

[Colombia28]

Hot! Love the white! Nice job.