Head full of little detailing questions...exploding!

M

Mark83

Member
 Chesterfield
My head is fit to burst with the amount of detailing posts I've read. So I need to get it all out and hopefully you guys can just answer my newbie questions, so .....


I have washed, then clayed, then polished. When I applied the wax I expected it to enhance the bodywork to a glossy finish but it looked the same as it it at the polished stage. I expected a deeper shine. Any advise?
Should I build up layers of wax?

Once waxed, how do I maintain the the bodywork? I have Mer 'high shine' shampoo, will it remove waxes, or do I use this as a weekly wash
My car is black and after 2 days a light dust is all over the car, what's best to control this?
I have 100's of flys & insects stuck to the front bumper/bonnet. Would glass cleaner remove these best or would that remove the wax?

How often should I need to wax? And do I need to start from the beginning ie wash,clay,polish first or can I just wash and wax?

Sorry I'm a novice at this...thank you in advance.

Mark
 
Mark
We were all in your position at one time. I'm in a similar position but have not yet broken out the DA and all the products - just can't seem to find the time. Maybe I've just read more than you on these points but here goes:

If clayed/waxed etc properly (don't ask me what that is - although I can tell you that fine layers of wax is apparently the right way to do it), you should only need to repeat the whole (long) process every 3-6 months, depending on all sorts of different factors. Factors range from "do you live next to an ironworks with lots of carp (intentional misspelling - I'm at work) in the air" to "is it kept in a garage most of the time or do yo upark it under a tree" to "do you drive it much" etc etc. Obviously you CAN do it more often but

I don't think it's the wax itself that contributes to the shine - that has more to do with teh paint, its cleanliness (i.e. your cleaning and polishing stages), although once in good nick, the wax will help keep it that way. I don't know how/what method you are using for the cleaning and polishing so can't help much with that.

Don't know anything about that shampoo I'm afraid but I just use normal washing products for the flies. By that I mean your normal car washing products not your fairy liquid stuff! If it's only the very front your dealing with, it'll only take you 10 mins all in. A hose might get a lot of it off anyway.

Last thing is actually two things. One, amke sure you are dead carefull when drying the car - it's about as bad as using a standard sponge if you do it wrong and, second, you will probably find www.detailingworld.com has some fairly useful info. Half the posts on there are "I'm a newbie - HELP" and it certainly is useful for me - although it hasn't got me any closer to getting th epolishing machine out et...

Stevo
 
thanks, I use a lambs wool mitt, and microfibre for drying. Will a standard car shampoo remove the wax coat? And can I keep build layers of wax up between washes? Or is that a pointless exercise? I may have to invest in a DA polisher :) sorry one more question, quick detail spray any good for the bugs/ dust etc and does it leave the wax on? :?
 
Wax isn't going to transform your paint, the correct polishes and application has the potential to. That's probably where you're going wrong. Bmw paint in general is very hard and so polishing by hand is only going to get you so far. Ideally machine polishing is what it will probably need. Read up on the da and rotary polishing threads on detailing world. There are a couple of very detailed threads on their but I can't remember the name of who posted it. Might be davekg or something. .
 
Sim_Simma said:
Wax isn't going to transform your paint, the correct polishes and application has the potential to. That's probably where you're going wrong. Bmw paint in general is very hard and so polishing by hand is only going to get you so far. Ideally machine polishing is what it will probably need. Read up on the da and rotary polishing threads on detailing world. There are a couple of very detailed threads on their but I can't remember the name of who posted it. Might be davekg or something. .
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, you're right it's the polishing stage I need to concentrate on...I'll check out the polishing threads.
 
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