Detailing Newbie - Advice Sought

[Malcster]

Hi Guys,

First off, I have not been into detailing in any way at all before really.
Though I do like a clean car.

My experience has been to buy whatever is under £5 in Tesco and use that. So usually Triplewax shampoo, then a coat of turtle wax (spray stuff).
That’s about all my car has ever had.

So, much to my suprise, for my birthday this year I have been given:
- Lambswool mit
- Grit guard
- 2 buckets
- Clay Bar kit (Meguires)
- Gold Class Polish (Meguires)
- Dodo Juice Born to be Mild Shampoo
- Dodo Juice Lime Prime (Wax Primer?)
- Dodo Juice Banana Armour Wax
- Dodo Juice Red Mist Spray Detailer

So... basically... what do I do?!

From what I’ve read, to start I should be using Fairy Liquid to wash the car, to remove all previous waxes (or is this what lime-prime does?) then:

1. Clay Bar (using a spray as a lubricant against the paint)?
2. Wash with one of the shampoos?
3. Then polish with the megs polish?
4. Then wash with Born to be Mild to prep for wax?
5. Then wax with the banana armour? Do I need to leave this to cure etc?
6. Then add spray detailer?

Then every wash after just Born to be mild shampoo & red mist spray wax?

The car is a Starmist Crimson TVR Chimaera by the way (pic in my profile).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I’ve not embarked on anything like this before!

Cheers,

Malc

[bgunn]

I wouldn't use fairy liquid to wash your car, it contains a lot of salts and is quite damaging to paintwork (and metal work - although obviously this is less of an issue with your car).

A double or triple strength mix of a good shampoo will usually strip wax off, IPA is the ultimate for this after you've given it the first wash, but you might want to test it to ensure no damage is done to the paintwork.

Iron-x or equivalent is a good move prior to claying the car the first time, as it'll help lift any embedded iron/steel particles from the paint before you start claying the car.

So basically:

1) Wash with a strong shampoo (or snowfoam with a very heavy mix)
2) IPA to clean/strip wax/sealants.
3) Rinse, then apply iron-x to pull out the heavy contamination from the paint
4) Clay the car
5) Wash again (Two bucket)
6) Polish/correct paint after examining for swirls
7) Seal/wax

The detailing spray is generally used when washing the car, as you won't want to be doing a full wash/strip wax/clay etc every time. The QD spray is what you want to use after a Two bucket wash and rinse for an 'every day' wash. The polish/clean/re wax generally needs only to be done every 6-12 months (depending upon the environment your car is subjected to).

Edited by bgunn on Wednesday 22 May 12:58

[cjb1]

Best tip from me is maybe a little obvious but one I've adopted and thought it to be a tremendous help.

Always use masking tape on black/plastic trim (especially grained or textured) when waxing/polishing paintwork adjacent to it, it saves hours of re-cleaning the trim to get the unwanted wax/polish off it.