Cleaning? Detailing???

[andy_m]

I've stayed away from this part of the forum, until now, and now that I'm here, I'm kinda scared

Let me explain.

Cleaning and "polishing" a car is something that has always been seen as a chore to me. In the past, I have only really cleaned a car to make it safe to drive. My last car was a 55 plate Astra Life, in Slate Grey. What an amazing colour choice that was, to a lazy SOAB like me. I think I cleaned it once. My missus might a cleaned it a couple of times, more on the inside than out.

I remember getting a Civic 1.5 LSi once. I loved the look of that car, with its almost non-existent radiator grill... almost sporty looking. I think I actually polished that car a couple of times.


So, *sigh* I now have a Sirocco, and it appears that I should be spending a lot more of my weekend time taking care of its appearance.

To be frank, I don't know where to start, so straight away, having read a few topics around this part of the forum, that I am probably going to do more harm than good, and I might do the poor car a favour by not washing it at all, until I at least learn the essential "do's and don't's" of looking after your body work.

Snow Foam? WTF is that FFS? I've never even heard of it until now! Is it something I should be looking at? Or could I get along fine without it?

If I've ever bothered looking after my motorcycles, I usually used Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Could I use this product on my beloved new GT?

Clay? I mean, what on earth is that for? Apart from making cups from?

And how often do you need to do all this "detailing" stuff?

I sort of washed my GT last Saturday, before taking it for a service... took me about forty five minutes. Wasn't that good a job really, and I didn't leather the thing off, so streaks became apparent later on. Also, it was a bit windy that day, and by 16:00 hours, my car was full of bloomin dust and cr@p again!

As you can probably tell, I am in dire need of some serious help, possibly therapy, before the idea of cleaning my mo mo drives me around the proverbial bend

[Ian_Mac]

Hi Andy

It's very easy to get confused with all the terms and get rather OCD with all the cleaning products.

You may find ths site very useful for some background info http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... dvice.html

What I'd start off with is putting together a kit for a weekly wash, this is likely to include 2 x buckets with grit guards, a good quality lambs wool mitt for the washing, a decent shampoo, another mitt or brushes for the wheels and large drying towel (not a leather). That should pretty much allow you to wash the car on a weekly basis and not inflict too many swirls.

Snow foam you use before the hand wash stage. In simple terms you apply what looks like shaving foam via a lance attachment to a jet washer. As the foam slowly runs off the car the idea is that it removes much of the loose surface dirt meaning you then arent rubbing it over your paintwork later.

The clay technique is described in the link above but really your looking at every 4/6 months for that. Once clayed you then need to top up on your chosen wax/sealant/glaze products.

Another website which is full of useful info is http://www.detailingworld.co.uk

It's extremely easy to get sucked into the who detailing science and before you know it you've a garage full of products and can quite easily spend a full day going through the cleaning regime.

Black is one of those colours which is a pain in the arse to keep clean but can look fantastic given a little effort.

[andy_m]

Thanks for reading my post Ian, and for the links too.

I've just finished reading the article about the Enzo. That was a mind blowing read, and I didn't even know that that sort of stuff goes on. It's a whole new world to me. Clarke, of PB, says that it took 144 hours . Puts a whole new perspective on doing what is required to look after your pride and joy, and I suppose that, if you've spent £750,000 on your car, then another coupla grand, once a year, is a worth while investment. The pictures taken are amazing, and I was really surprised at the "swirl" defects that were shown up with that "sun gun."

I think, that with regard to my Scirocco, I'll gradually build up a regime, while learning what I need from the links you supplied.

thanks again,


andy