Giving it the bird

[KernowPete]

Well I've just finished giving the black beast a pre winter treat - wash, chamois, clay bar, polish and wax (all by hand). For the last 2 or 3 years I've been using Dodo Juice 'Rainforest Rub' wax and I have to say every time I open the jar I'm impressed with the quality of the product. It goes on so easily - it seems to have the consistency of butter no matter what the temperature - and buffs off just as well. And my car is a daily driver summer and winter so it's never going to have concours standard paintwork, but RR brings it up brilliantly every time. These of course are just my opinions but I think for a mid price range product, DJRR is hard to fault.

Incidentally, my local Asda is doing packs of 5 microfibre buffing cloths for £3. I thought they'd be pants but they brought my car up a treat.

[P_G]

Your phantom black would really benefit form either CG Blacklight, Poorboys Blackhole of Wet Diamond. Then you'd need sunglasses everytime you went near it. Dodo is good but I never found it very durable and poor beading after a few washes.

[Rick_RS4]

Your phantom black would really benefit form either CG Blacklight, Poorboys Blackhole of Wet Diamond. Then you'd need sunglasses everytime you went near it. Dodo is good but I never found it very durable and poor beading after a few washes.

wheres best to get these from?

[P_G]

Chemical guys you can get from their own website or IIRC there was some on Fleabay for £17 plus postage which is way cheaper than buying direct. The other two from Cleanyourcar or PolishedBliss IIRC. The CG stuff is a glaze sealant and will need something on top, I use CG Speedarmour in summer and Collinite 915 in the winter and top up after washing with Duragloss Aquawax which acts as a drying agent to.

[Reflect Russ]

Well I've just finished giving the black beast a pre winter treat - wash, chamois, clay bar, polish and wax (all by hand). For the last 2 or 3 years I've been using Dodo Juice 'Rainforest Rub' wax and I have to say every time I open the jar I'm impressed with the quality of the product. It goes on so easily - it seems to have the consistency of butter no matter what the temperature - and buffs off just as well. And my car is a daily driver summer and winter so it's never going to have concours standard paintwork, but RR brings it up brilliantly every time. These of course are just my opinions but I think for a mid price range product, DJRR is hard to fault.

Incidentally, my local Asda is doing packs of 5 microfibre buffing cloths for £3. I thought they'd be pants but they brought my car up a treat.

You may want to ditch the Chamois mate as these are either synthetic and scratch or its like rubbing a piece of leather on your paintwork, go for a drying towel, much safer and hold more water so dry a lot quicker...

on the subject of winter prep DDJ Rainforest Rub wouldnt be my choice as its not really that durable may be 8-12 weeks protection is about its barrel in the summer so this will be greatly reduced in the winter....there are better things out there like Permanon, as its electrostatic it doesnt adhere chemically but electrostatically and it will easily see 6-8months through the winter, sometimes more depending on the product chosen....

Russ

[P_G]

Permanon doesn't appear to fair well with some of the snow foams though Russ; can't beat a couple of coats of Collinite 876/915 or G-Techniq.

[Reflect Russ]

never had a problem with it mate....if by snow foam you mean TFR then nothing will as its probably above 12.5ph...Permanon withstands anything between 1ph and 12.5ph so my guess is its either a very hich level in the foam or application of Permanon was all wrong....

[P_G]

It was the foam, particularly the ones that needed more application time, i.e. dwelling for 10+ minutes like Magifoam. It affectued Permanon's dirability.

[Reflect Russ]

going on what i have seen of its cleaning power the surfactants must be extremely strong....only foam i have come across with that cleaning power or similar is Autosmart Active XL...and thats allegedly wax safe as is Magifoam....concentration levels etc all play a part and any foam will eventually strip or degrade an LSP....I have seen Zaino Z2 activated with ZFX for multiple coats stripped in one session with a ph neutral foam....the customer mixed an inch in a litre bottle and topped up with water, as i told him to but he didnt think it did any cleaning so decided to go full concentration and bang Zaino on its way out....

Snow foams in general are not meant to clean but loosen dirt but Magifoam does sort of break the mould but at what cost....it must be high in the ph values even mixed....

if its anything like AS Active XL it will be high 11's maybe low 12....and as i say with its cleaning power its not like a normal foam....especially as you can let it sit there doing its cleaning for upto 30 minutes....cleaning agents sat for that length of time just dont cut it with me....a gentle clean for me, if it wants stripping then i will use fairy liquid....

Permanon though has its own cleaning properties and should be cleaned with water only for the first couple of times, i know it sounds strange but the way the cleaning properties spread is like a shampoo solution....once the first couple of washes are out of the way you should be able to wash it however you like....thing is its all about prep with it as with others but more so with this....another point is that beading doesnt necessarily mean its not still there....

[KernowPete]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll check out some of those other products. Its a bit of a minefield though eh?

Next year I want to get myself a machine polisher as I really fancy giving that a go. I'm well aware that this can go badly wrong so anybody got any tips or do's and don'ts??

[P_G]

Buy a Dual Action (DA) Polisher rather than a Rotary, that way would would be hard pressed to do damage but with practice can achieve a good finish, perhaps not to professional detailer standard in terms of major corrections but not far off. Plus there is some reassurance that Audi lacquer is rock hard so can't be as easily damaged as other marques

Cleanyourcar do a high power DA polisher or the other favourite is the Meguiars G220 or Kestrel DA which is pretty much the same as CYC's. You'll usually get it as a kit with bag etc and then you'll need a range of either Menzerna or 3M polishes and there are numerous pads but I stick to either Chemical Guys Hexlogic or Lake Country pads. Each detiler has their preference.

[KernowPete]

Cheers P_G, the Meguiars machine is the one I've been looking at - seems to get generally good reviews. The paint on my car is generally pretty good, just fairly superficial scratches and the usual swirling (god knows what the guy before me cleaned it with, sandpaper??). What products would you recommend for a complete novice to start with correcting these?

[Reflect Russ]

How have you been looking after it as this is key to what it is going to be like once you have stripped back all the surface products it has on, especially being black....most blacks, especially Phantom Black has a tendancy to look drab and grey once its bare....and there will lie you work load....

Wash first with fairy liquid....this helps strip all old waxes etc....then put it back on the sink as you wont be using it again....
Once its been dried you will need to clay it with plenty of lube...BH Clay is a cracker and only needs water as a lube but I always add something to it....

Only then will you know what you are working with but I would go with Scholl Concepts S17+ with their Orange Pad, even on a DA you will get excellent results but if you wanted to hit it harder first go with SC S3Gold Edition....

I have done more Audi's than you can shake a stick at and these polishes make mincemeat of swirls on Audi paint....

[P_G]

Or a little more mainstream available (well perhaps not as mainstream as Fairy Liquid Russ ) get yourself some CQuartz IronX (does similar job to Fairy but also takes out iron contaminants in paint from polution etc) and apply after washing / rinsing, let it work, rinse and then clay (another thumbs up for BH AutoClay) and then Menzerna PO 85 RD3.02 on a chemical guys yellow pad as this has great cut and polish properties in one (usually two hits per panel).

If you want more gloss after removing the marks/swirls then apply PO 85 RD and then use IPA (isopropylalcohol) spray to take all the oils from the polishes off to leave the paint nice and bare before applying glaze / sealant / wax or whatever combination you want.

[KernowPete]

Cheers guys, advice much appreciated.