[e6t]

not only am i new to this board, but im new to cleaning my own cars... for quite a few years, i have had someone wash my cars when they were very dirty and taken them through touchless carwashes when they were mildly dirty.

now that i have this 5, i want to start cleaning the car myself but really have no idea where to start as far as cleaning products are concerning. i looked at the detailing board but i think that is over my head for now. im sure as time goes on iw ill get up to speed on all the products that i will need after the cars is a few months old.

do you guys mind babystepping through what products you recommend for general washing?

THANKS!

[Krozi]

e6t, on Jun 2 2009, 06:36 PM, said:

not only am i new to this board, but im new to cleaning my own cars... for quite a few years, i have had someone wash my cars when they were very dirty and taken them through touchless carwashes when they were mildly dirty.

now that i have this 5, i want to start cleaning the car myself but really have no idea where to start as far as cleaning products are concerning. i looked at the detailing board but i think that is over my head for now. im sure as time goes on iw ill get up to speed on all the products that i will need after the cars is a few months old.

do you guys mind babystepping through what products you recommend for general washing?

THANKS!

For general washing, you really can't go wrong with Meguiars car soap. You really can't go wrong with any of Meguiars products.

The most standard detail procedure is wash, clay, wax.

If you don't know what claying is, just go to youtube and search how to clay bar a car.

[pjinca]

2 things that are key to a clean car:

1) Stoner's Invisible Glass
2) Lexol leather cleaner and conditioner

I also use Mother's Clay bar and wax, keeps my car looking new so far

[craigm1841]

i love those self wash car washes with the power washers built in. i clean my car and dry it with a chamois. i then drive it a few blocks home and polish it using microfiber applicators towels. what color is your car? how is the car kept? garage? etc. how often do you want to clean it? how much time can you afford to put in?

[craigm1841]

Krozi, on Jun 2 2009, 06:40 PM, said:

For general washing, you really can't go wrong with Meguiars car soap. You really can't go wrong with any of Meguiars products.

The most standard detail procedure is wash, clay, wax.

If you don't know what claying is, just go to youtube and search how to clay bar a car.

...not a fan of meguirs polish on the black.

clay bar is a definate. i garage my car and wash/polish it weekly. i clayed it the first week i had it (6 mos ago) and it doesnt need to be clayed again yet.

again, all of this is relative to how often and how much time you plan on dedicating weekly/monthly to maintaining your vehicle

[e6t]

craigm1841, on Jun 2 2009, 05:42 PM, said:

i love those self wash car washes with the power washers built in. i clean my car and dry it with a chamois. i then drive it a few blocks home and polish it using microfiber applicators towels. what color is your car? how is the car kept? garage? etc. how often do you want to clean it? how much time can you afford to put in?

sapphire black. garage kept day and night. i hope to clean it weekly... i'll put whatever time into it that it needs. i reeeeally like this car.

[craigm1841]

e6t, on Jun 2 2009, 06:46 PM, said:

sapphire black. garage kept day and night. i hope to clean it weekly... i'll put whatever time into it that it needs. i reeeeally like this car.

sapphire black is a great color. you get the benifits of black without the hardship of jet black. the metallic make your car easier to maintain.

i would, if i were you, first time, wash it... clay bar it, apply a paint cleaner, apply a sealer/glaze/polish, apply a carnuba wax (i am not a fan of the synthetic stuff) this will be an all morning or afternoon project.

after that i would wash it once a week and hit it with a polish or a spray detailer. because you garage it and will wash it often, there is no need to keep applying wax or cleaning the paint. washing/drying/spray detailer will take you 1.5 hours a week max once you get used to the car.

make sure you use microfiber towels and never let them touch the ground. if they get dirty, wash them and dry them. DO NOT USE fabric softener. everyone has different taste in products. i am an off the shelf autozone type guy and my car looks great with mothers products. I used to own a black mustang and i posted on corral.net. i used only mothers on that too, and i got an email from the VP of sales of mothers, and he wanted to come see my car. i think a lot of times it is 30% product, 70% person applying the product.

many on here will insist on ziano bros and other high end products. GREAT products, might be unneccessary for a guy who just wants to clean his car weekly and have it looking good. there is a premium that comes with the high end products too.

[Krozi]

pjinca, on Jun 2 2009, 06:40 PM, said:

2 things that are key to a clean car:

1) Stoner's Invisible Glass
2) Lexol leather cleaner and conditioner

+1. Craig, what don't you like about the Meguiars polish?

[craigm1841]

Krozi, on Jun 2 2009, 07:04 PM, said:

+1. Craig, what don't you like about the Meguiars polish?

all of the polish i have tried isnt condusive to hand polishing on black. seems rather hard to remove (smears) the outcome is great, but not greater then what i see with the mother sealer and glaze which is significantly easier to use.

i apply with a terrycloth applicator to a small area and immediately buff/polish/remove the polish while it is still wet. i try that with both polishes, mothers is much more user friendly with the same if not better results.

so i should say "its not that i dont like meguirs, but i like mothers better"

[Krozi]

craigm1841, on Jun 2 2009, 07:07 PM, said:

all of the polish i have tried isnt condusive to hand polishing on black. seems rather hard to remove (smears) the outcome is great, but not greater then what i see with the mother sealer and glaze which is significantly easier to use.

i apply with a terrycloth applicator to a small area and immediately buff/polish/remove the polish while it is still wet. i try that with both polishes, mothers is much more user friendly with the same if not better results.

so i should say "its not that i dont like meguirs, but i like mothers better"

Yea I like and use Mother's a lot aswell.
I think that some of Meguiars stuff is better than Mother's and vice-versa.

[einstein57]

You need two buckets, one will be a suds bucket and one will be a rinse bucket (rinse the mit each everytime before putting it back in the suds bucket). I also re rinse the entire car after cleaning each section to avoid spotting ( 1) roof,windows, & trunk, 2) left side 3) right side 4) hood and bumpers 5) Wheels) I sometimes do the wheels first depending on how dirty the are. I use to Absorber brand drying cloths. One for the exterior, and one for all the door jambs, trunk, under the tail lights, and wheels(basically all the dirty areas). A good trick for the glass is to get most of the water off with a couple passes with the absorber, and then immedialtly follwed up with the micro fiber cloth. The micro fiber cloth by itself will get soaked too fast and the abosber leaves very small droplets behind. I use two micro fiber cloths for the interior. One to apply the dressing and one to remove it. I don't like the greasy look. Let the dressing sit for a couple of minutes after applying it and when you wipe it off it gives you that off the assembly line look. I would suggest starting off with at least a half dozen micro fiber cloths.

[e6t]

you guys are awesome.

[craigm1841]

e6t, on Jun 2 2009, 10:34 PM, said:

you guys are awesome.

you should have met captianawesome.

[spiros]

Buy 1 car shampoo (i like meguiars gold best or zymol autobath)
1 paint cleaner (zymol hd cleanse?)
1 car wax (definate fan on zymol on this)
1 glass cleaner
1 rim cleaner
At least 3 microfibre towels for drying
At least 1 detailing towel/cloth
2 buckets
2 sponges (meguiars mitten is very good)
Get one pack of easy clean tissues for bird $hit removal ..

I personally would not recommend clay to somebody very new on cleaning but that's a personall opinion

Paint clean every 4-6 months, wax every 1 month , wash every week . These all are dependent on various things of course ie. weather conditions
Allow a minimum of 6 hours for a full clean and about half that for wash/wax

[ferio]

These are my usual steps on cleaning my car. I got the products/suggestions from those detailer forums. These are for beginners so not much of the advanced stuff going on here.

1. wash the car with meguiars gold car soap
2. clean wheels with wheel cleaner soap
2. dry it
3. then i use colorx which is a weak polish that takes minor swirls and scratchs out
4. leave on till dry and then rub off
5. then i put on nxt wax
6. leave on till dry and then rub off