The Official Car Care Thread

[trvs]

crazychinee, yes any quick detailer will work fine. It's used to keep the claybar lubricated so you don't cause marring on your paint.

HD Wax locally costs $600+

Mothers sells almost everywhere

[crazychinee]

you can use any quick detailer with a clay bar

Nice! I noticed the one in the quick detailer kit was a red bottle vs the black one I have.

Can I use it on my rims as well, ? They are painted.

[trvs]

I think it depends on the finish on your wheels. I do my OEM wheels.
Karim or someone else can probably advise you more on this.

You can even clay you windows/windscreen etc

[crazychinee]

I think it depends on the finish on your wheels. I do my OEM wheels.
Karim or someone else can probably advise you more on this.

You can even clay you windows/windscreen etc

got home yesterday to see some type of really bad "Blotting" all over my rims. Washing didn't take it out. I had to use a cleaner wax for about 15 minutes, and still most ofthe nooks and crannies are looking aweful.

Like I drove in some hardcore elf sheit.

But anyway, where can I get a citrus spray to try? I think we should have a "WHERE TO BUY" items list in this thread. Skyboxing in a spray mightn' be the best of ideas.

[nemesis]

Chinee you need to determine what it is first, and are your wheels stock? And paint flaking etc? Just going for the cleaner wax may not help nor be the best approach.
And yes you should be able to clay your wheels. However, try to be careful around the edges or any points where paint is missing, as you can stick pieces of clay there that may be quite difficult to remove after.

[silent_riot]

Here are some pics of the beading action of HD Wax one month after application on an unwashed car.
Note the car was dirtier last night, but the rain washed most of the dirt off, so credit to the wax there as well. Click to zoom in.

[nemesis]

Nice shots. The HDwax does bead well and hold up for a long time.

[silent_riot]

Yep, even on the surface of the beads in the first pic you can see some tiny dirt specs lifted off. Washing is much easier with this wax on.

[pioneer]

damnnn

[trvs]

Auto wash there silent_riot lol.

Good stuff.

[pioneer]

Karim and others I still seeing slight swirl marks on very close inspection....should I do another pass of Megs UC?

[pyung99]

not sure if this was dealt with already, but my car tyres seem to stick to the ground of my garage after drying overnight (after washing). not actually sure its d tyres sticking to d ground, but daz the theory.

any advice on how to avoid that? (i actually need to mash d x down a bit in order to move)

[Aaron 2NR]

Rofl brakes...slight corrosion on the disk. Very normal. That's why I always take a spin around the block after washing

[pyung99]

ahh boi. that sounds like the plan yes. i saw that advice given on another forum also. thanks

[Karim Khan]

Karim and others I still seeing slight swirl marks on very close inspection....should I do another pass of Megs UC?

Did you wash the car since ? If yes then the swirls was caused by washing. Once you have a dark color vehicle and its a daily driver you cant get away for it. You can reduce the amount of swirls you instill by adopting a proper wash method such as the two bucket method with grit guards etc ( proper washing has been dealt with on this thread).

If you have the AutoGlym Ultra Deep Shine use it as it will assist to elevate the swirling in the short term.

[Karim Khan]

Nice pics Silent

[pioneer]

Nah I haven't washed it since, I have a grit guard though that I plan to use...should have gotten two yes lol

Any tips for polishing around windshield washers?

[Karim Khan]

^^Yeah..... remove it.

[pioneer]

ermm how I doin that

[Aaron 2NR]

shud have clips on the underside

[crazychinee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC5A1bEiAxE

Picked up this wheel brush from meguairs! Waiting to try it out vs my fingers in my rims.

[Karim Khan]

Out of the may Meguiars products that brush is the most disappointing well for me at least.

[jdeen]

Today I did a 2 step Polish then Wax using Shining Monkey Clean and Repair then Seal and Protect on my Hilux. Luckily I finished just before the rain came. If the sun comes out later i'll take better pics.

[Karim Khan]

JDeen the van looks very good. Keep up the good work!!

The Shinning Monkey Products makes that paint look awesome!!!

I have seen that Shinning Monkey has some new products for matte paint finishes called the Ken Block 360 Matte Paint & Vinyl Wrap Surface Protector.

I have to try this out

[nemesis]

Some vehicles I worked on last week. Both started in quite poor condition, although for different reasons. Volvo needed a lot of paint cleaning and the Merc was heavy on the swirl. Didn't turn out too bad I think.
Benz paint before and after:



not 100% but it is much better. Tried to ban this guy from going to his normal washers too.

Full shots:





Didn't do Volvo before/after shots. But it was a lot of contamination. Iron everywhere. Rust stuck on the rubbers etc. A long time with Pt lisas parking:






Got a few more to do this week with fun ole euro paint again!

[pioneer]

good work there guys

what's a good product to remove existing wax/polish/sealant etc?

Mine still swirled up pretty bad, contemplating goin back to the guy who "buffed" it...if not someone else

[nemesis]

Hmm, I wouldn't suggest random 'buffers' again if it didn't work out well the first time. And as I said before, I wouldn't have recommended starting with UC either.
I'd suggest letting someone else look it at. Maybe even a few people that do polishing and see what the general consensus is. As for removing wax, don't worry about it for now if you're going to have further swirl removal done. That will pretty much remove everything. If you would really like to though, there are sprays such as Griot's Pre wax, or the Menzerna Inspection spray that will remove everything. P21S TAW works pretty well too. And of course, there are the citrus washes that do the same.

[noshownogo]

makes me want to stay away from Black and Dark Colours for my next purchase. Karim what u suggest as the easiest to maintain colour both professionally and average car enthusiast?

[trvs]

makes me want to stay away from Black and Dark Colours for my next purchase. Karim what u suggest as the easiest to maintain colour both professionally and average car enthusiast?

lol I asked Karim that same question last year. IIRC he said any color

[crazybalhead]

Jah! Due to works at home, I finally had the opportunity to wash and wax my own car this weekend. Although there are still a LOT of imperfections, it looks 100% better than before. In the light I can see many many many minor scratches and mitsubishi's famous and excellent orange peel finish.

a simple mothers wash and a quick synwax. Hand done with some of those white towels in pricesmart.


I guess I shoulda take a pic.