cleaning / detailing advice

[JohnW]

Hi guys,
been a while since I've posted on here. Glad to see some old names are still here

Anyway, I would like some advice please regarding cleaning my car (Noggy B5 RS4 - yep still got it) which could do with a birthday.

My selection of polishes includes :
- Zymol (had it for ages and used on my 993. Not used on the RS for a while)
- autoglym super resin polish (never used on the car, only on my bikes up until now)
- mer (used on my van and daily driver)
- T-cut
- Turtle Wax

It seems things have moved on a long way in terms of cleaning and polishs, so thought I best ask for advice.

The car lives outside and could really do with a decent clean & polish.
It has some brake dust on the paintwork that I need to deal with first, so intend to buy some iron-x (unless there is something better ?).
It also gets tree sap on it from time to time.
The car sills and bumper are armourfended, so any cleaner / polish needs to work with that too.

I'm seeing lots of talk about clay bar.
Do I need this ?
Is it a pain to use ?
which should I buy ?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm well and trully confused.
If I'm going to buy something I might as well buy decent stuff that will do a good job and hopefully make my life easier too

Looking forward to your replies

[KernowPete]

Hi John, I've just finished sprucing up my black B7 RS4 (taken me nearly a week of evenings after work!). You're right, it is a bit of a minefield with a myriad of products out there, but this is what I did to the paintwork:

1 - Wash with fairy liquid to strip the old wax. Dry.
2 - Clay using Meguiars clay bar and Meguiars Quik Detailer spray as lubricant.
3 - Polish using Meguiars dual action polisher, Scholl Concepts S17+ polish on a Meguiars microfibre pad. Buff with microfibre cloth.
4 - Glaze with Poorboys Black Hole Glaze. Applied with the DA, buffed off by hand.
5 - Wax with Collinite 915. Applied by hand with Meguiars foam pad and buffed with microfibre cloth.

The result is nothing like what a pro detailer could achieve but I'm pretty happy with it. The few deeper scratches are still there (but less visible) but all the bonded crap, swirls and washing marks are gone. My car was recently washed at a garage using a foaming brush which left it absolutely plastered in fine scratches - all those are completely gone.
The Black Hole and Collinite seem to bring Phantom Black up pretty well (excuse crappy photo but hopefully you get the idea):

(note to self, must clean mirror housings)

The clay bar is a doddle to use - Meguiars do a starter kit (Smooth Surface Clay Kit I think it's called) that you can get from most places like Halfords. I'd never used one before last year but am completely comfortable with it now and you wouldn't believe how much extra crap it takes off even after a very thorough wash.

These are just my thoughts, no doubt you will get loads of other valuable advice in due course. Good luck !

[JohnW]

Thanks for the reply, most helpful.

I bought one of the turtle wax clay bar kits from halfords last weekend, along with zymol auto wash and cleaner wax.
If the weather is ok Saturday I might get chance to have a go with it all.

No idea if the clay bar I have is any good, but I guess I will find out...

Still battling with all the brake dustvat the moment !

[John Johnson]

A lot are shocked how much difference a clay bar does , keep it warm and turn it a lot . Mine resides on the radiator in the garage . I would practice the two bucket method too and invest in a snow foam lance ... Polishes and waxes etc are a minefield and a personal thing but good cloths and pads are a must

[JohnW]

Well, I finally got around to doing this today.

I started by washing with just water and a sponge.
I have been trying for ages to get rid of brake dust down both sides of the car. I bought some iron x, and used that next. Wow, this stuff is superb !
I was blown away at how it removed it without a trace.
Next I used sonax tar remover. At this stage the paintwork looked and felt pretty good (well compared to how it started out anyway )
I gave the car another wash to get any residue off, and set to work with the clay bar and lubricant. I wish I knew about this stuff before. The panels were pretty clean already, but the bar got off anything still left, including some of the tar I had missed. Even the wife was impressed, and now expects me to do her car
I finished off with the zymol polish, which got rid of pretty much any remaining water marks.
An afternoons work well spent

Some more questions:
Peter you used a d/a to polish, and then added both a glaze and a wax. Is this just belt & braces approach, or should I be looking to add a glaze ?
Not sure I can now that I have used zymol cleaner wax... (seemed more like a polish than wax, but what do I know )

Second question,my car has armour fend on it. What can I use to get rid of the polish along the edges, which are leaving a White Mark and making them stand out ?

Third, John interesting you mention foaming lances for pressure washers. Why is this any better than just a normal pressure washer lance, or the soapy hand method

Fourth, does any one have any recommendations on a good glass cleaner ?

Peter your car looks pretty clean to me. I am really pleased with my results, but as you say it's undoubtedly a long way from what a pro could achieve. It is addictive though, I am tempted to do my van next

John thanks for your comments. I bought some mguires pads to pu the polish on, and halfords microfibre cloths to dry, and their normal cloths to apply the polish, and a separate one to polish back off.
I don't use two buckets, but do change the water a lot.

Thanks in advance for any comments.
Cheers,
John.

[KernowPete]

Hi John, glad you got on ok with the clay bar - it was a revelation to me the first time I used mine!!
With regard to the glaze, I just use it because it was a recommended product on here, especially for phantom black. I'm nowhere near clued up enough though to know what the benefits of glazing before wax are! My basic understanding is that it's kind of an intermediate step between polish and wax, ie adds a little bit more seal and shine before putting wax on last.
Cheers
Pete

[Spectre]

My 2cents...
Black Hole glaze is fantastic on dark cars. I use it on my Phantom Black Avant and it brings out a great shine. I use it before waxing. My theory behind this is that I believe this glaze contains fillers that mask the effect of some of the smaller scratches (swirls and holograms etc) and once I have a nice finish i then want to seal this under a clear sealant top coat - in my case a wax. There are other types of sealer out there that are of the polymer variety rather than a wax and I have used Werkstat Pro on accaision to do the same job. however for me I really enjoy applying wax by hand. I use either Poor Boys Blue Natty Paste Wax which is a bargain at about £14 a tub (which will last forever since you only need a tiny amount) or if I have time and the inclination, I treated my car to a pot of AutoFinesse Illusion wax. Not cheap but the gloss is fantastic and really makes the flake on a pearlescent car like mine pop.

Once I got into this detailing lark there can be no end to the different stuff you think you need - some is good - some is a bit hyped. The best things I have discovered / used so far are:
- Bilbery Juice wheel cleaner - works really well, goes a long way and smells great!
- Aerospace Protectant 303 which makes your engine look like its brand new!
- pH Neutral Snow Foam and the lance - this is just plain fun to use and really does get all the loose dust off before you start rubbing the body work over during the wash stage.
- Auto Finesse Citrus Power also works well at helping to remove road film prior to the wash stage
- 3M Tyre restorer does a good job of making tyres look new without making them all shiny like some dressings do.
- Werkstat Prime Acrylic - for when I dont have time to wax... its kind of like a sealant and a polish all in one.
- EZ Detail Wheel Brush... big brushes like this one make light work of cleaning RS4 alloys...
- Plush drying towels work well - B+Q had them on offer recently... And its impossible to have too many Microfibre polishing cloths....

Next up on my list of things to try is Swissvax Seal Feed to keep my rubber seals nice and flexy... not cheap though. I'm going to give a DA polisher a try too - Flex Pro is the one for me I think.

Hope some of this helps.

Mak.

[Bacardi Jo]

Spectre WURTH RUBBER CARE is excellent for your rubber seals Mercedes service manager told me they used it when i had squeaks on the folding roof of my SL ,bought myself some and use it at least once a year on all my rubber seals keeps them in top condition.

[Spectre]

Thanks - I'll track some down.