As in a previous post, allow me to confess I am an amateur (proper amateur) detailer. My OCD is extremely mild at present. Get yourself on Youtube and search for car wash tips or similar - it's what I did. There's loads of vids and after you've watched, say, 5 of 'em (or until your missus stops speaking to you, whichever is the sooner), you'll get the idea.
The colour of your car may heavily influence how you need to treat it. Black car (like mine) - nightmare if you have OCDd etailing problems. Silver - excellent choice sir, you won't notice anything on your car anyway so feel free to treat it however you like! Blues tend to show damage/dirt, some will probably say red too.
"Two bucket method" helps (literally requires two buckets, that's it); without a sponge - use a washmitt damn it! (costs about £8, you'll probably want two and maybe a wheelbrush or three) - will work nicely and make sure you dry it - by patting down (not wiping) with microfibre towels is a good start (a big one is maybe £8 but I'd check the local TK Maxx if I was you - you can get some great knock-down stuff there). If you think you might get serious about detailing you will need to buy microfibre towels of varying sizes and piles/weaves from now until the day you die as if your life depended on it. Pound shop, TK Maxx - you will get fleeced elsewhere.
Polish is always good, the Autoglym Super Resin Polish is great if that's all you're going to use because it partially hides swirl marks. I am making an assumption that you will polish by hand here. If the swirls are too deep and the polish doesn't get them out, think about getting some help unless you have lots - really lots - of time on your hands. By the way, you will create the swirls yourself (i.e. you damaging your own car) by washing with a sponge or drying the car without care.
I have a full time job, no kids and a serious golf habit - and I've only polished the motor once this year to date but it still looks nice and clean. I'd honestly need to give up work to keep the car sparkling, so best just accept your limitations and do a decent wash and dry every 2-3 weekends - this will really help. If you spend some time getting info from the web, you can also find some products that will help you with each wash. Stuff called "quick detailer" will help for the washes you do without doing a polish - a polish will takesomething like 1-2 hours if you're being conscientious. Quick detailer will take about 10 mins and is a bit like doing a mini-polish with an element of protection for the paint underneath. Let me be clear - the quick detailer stuff avoids an unlimited amount of time that you really could spend claying the car, applying sealant, more selant, wax, more wax, cuddling the car etc ad infinitum...
So, wash, dry, polish - that's a good start. Polish every now and then - I aim for once every couple of months; try a quick detailer (spray) and probably buy some specific wheel cleaner product and possibly even a tub of protection for alloys. Budget for the above (pound shop for buckets where possible - I even saw some wash mitts in there too) will exceed £50 but not by much. I have to say one of the best items I got was a new head for the hosepipe - one that has multiple types of spray - very useful, about £15 from B&Q.
Depending on how sad you are, you will need a camera also...
As far as trees on your road go, tree sap is a complete arse and I don't think there's much you can do about it. Washing with warm-ish water will help a bit though. If it's bird shite you're worried about, keep a microfibre in your car (cubby between the seats is a good spot). I found Autoglym's roof cleaning kit really good on a prvious M3 vert about 5 years ago - one wash spray with hardish sponge and one water-repelling finisher - not eveyone agrees with this but it was fine for me. I probably did the roof rarely - probably once a year but you'll have to do it more often if you're parking under trees...
There are lots of detailing enthusiasts around. Just having a look at somewhere like www.cleanyourcar.co.uk will help you get a feel for what is out there; www.detailingworld.com if you have a spare day or so to kill reading about stuff - and this board is OK if you're on the fringes.
That OK as a starter?
Stevo
