A few all round questions.

R

RoyS

Member
 Wakefield / Ipswich
Iv recently just purchased car cleaning stuff for the first time ever! ( I know its a bit late had the car nearly 3 months now and its the first car I've ever cared about enough not to let anyone else do it soooo check me out :) ) Just a few questions regarding the cleaning steps.

P.S. I have a alpine white E89. LOVE IT!

1. How do you clay a car? No Idea what so ever or is it as simple as it sounds, spray it with the lube and rub with the bar?

2. After claying do you rinse again with plain water?

3. Drying.. How do you dry properly i'm lead to believe this is very important? Is there a correct way to do this I had micro fibre towels and if so just rub down or what?

4. Polishing I've got some foam applicators is it just rub in to the panels wait a bit then rub off if so rub off with what and in what way?

5. Rinse again after this and dry or straight into the wax?

6. Waxing same as polishing or different it says on the tub leave until hazed then buff off. What with micro fibre towel or is there anything specific out there also circular motions?

Sorry about all the questions, I just want to get it right so I keep it up and if it looks terrible not just wish I had paid someone to do it. If there is anything you recommend out there worth buying please post here.


Oh one more thing. It's not to do with cleaning maybe body work in general, while just driving around today and I see alot of people with poppys on the front of their cars. I was maybe trying to go for something different and a bit more permanent. However my idea may not work... I was thinking maybe having a poppy painted on to one of the front grills if that makes sense but I'm not sure if there is enough slats for it to be clear if that makes sense and idea where I can get this done or rough cost of it? All opinions welcome.
 
No idea about the poppy mate!

Claying a car = easy. Wash car, buy clay, rub clay across car - just be methodical and in straight back-and-forth motion in, say a 1 ft square area, then move on to the next one. Check Youtube (ammo NYC channel is a good one) if in doubt. You need to lube with clay. I have Bilt Hamber clay which just requires water as a lube - otherwise you can dilute washing up liquid with water (high dilution ratio - I've heard people talk of 20 water: 1 fairy liquid, or you can use wax spray but that will get expensive I'd suggest.

After claying, I wipe off the smooth paint with spray wax - just a cheapo from Halfords will do you. Be sparing but don't scrimp. MF towel does the job.

Pat dry is probably a reasonable method but you'll want a towel-sized microfibre for that i reckon - about £8 from Cleanyour car.co.uk. Some people have good enough paint such that just an open hose will work - the water just runs off. Watering can might work otherwise - it's a bit of trial and error. Just don't wipe with pressure if you value the paint finish - even microscopic bits that might be caught in your MF towel can cause damage. However, which method is up to yu but DO dry it, otherwise you'll get watermarks - requiring another wash. I find that I get watermarks reasonably quickly so basically swill the whole car every time I wash a panel.

Straight into polish then wax after drying and claying. Sounds like you're doing this by hand so, yep, just as you said - rub in with MF applicator, leave for a bit and buff off with MF towel - fold them into 4 whcih will give you 8 clean squares per towel with which to buff. Never applied wax by hand but I think it's roughly the same - remember your goal is to apply thin layers on top of the paint so be sparing with the wax and feel free (nay, it is encouraged) to apply more than one layer. Personally I'd polish using circular motion. Pressure is something you will judge with time - "medium/light" will be fine but you might have to press harder if you find a nasty bit. Take the wax off with a MF towel. Unless you get very specific products, do not polish or wax in the sun (or wash even). If you have a garage, use that, especially for the polish/wax bit. You'd be surprised how much crap there is in the air! I use a gazebo with closed sides for this reason. See thread - http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=66459

Happy car care! :)
Stevo
 
Thanks very much cleared alot of things up. Do you have any specific way to look after and clean the leather seats I have black leather and in some places it looks like its starting to fade? Also any recmomendations for products to clean the car interior and my alloys? I have nothing yet.
 
As mentioned, Checkout AMMO NYC (Larry Kosilla)'s youtube page - he's the posterboy detailer for /Drive and does tend to do pretty good videos on 'how-to' .

https://www.youtube.com/user/AMMONYCdotcom

Clay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFQsqBHEwrE


There are lots of experts on the web tbh, detailingworld is also a great forum for more info, and yuotube tutorials provide good cleaning tips/tricks/methods.
 
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