car cleaning for dummies????

[glynnbob]

okay so tommorrow weather permitting i am gonna give my 03plate st220 mondeo a bloody good clean i have a garage full of cleaning stuff polish etc but in 5 years of owning the car i have never gave it a thorugh clean. my question is where do i start? i was thinking jetwash at local petrol station then home to do all the polishing etc. i only have a standard hosepipe at home so cant really jetwash etc is there a recommend process you guys would say also any products etc? was thinking of one of these car wash mitt things and doing it by hand as i have only got sponges and i read not to use them. sorry if this sounds a bit of a slaphazard put together thread but blame the grolsch.

cheers glynnbob.

[OldSkoolRS]

Have a read of this threads for some tips about cleaning:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...

They do have guide threads about polishing, but mostly aimed at using a DA or rotary polisher rather than by hand, but worth having a read of the various sub sections about polishes, interiors, wheels, etc.

[325Ti]

I might be a bit late - but simple guide i use

powerhose the car to get rid of dirt
spray wheel with alloy cleaner
wash body work is sections (starting with roof and working down to wheels) using a mitt
also make sure you have 2 buckets - one with soap and one with warm clean water to rinse mitt it (stops small bits of dirt and grit damaging paint)
dry with Chammy cloth
correct and marks in paint with T cut / clay bar to take out inperfections
you can then use a paint conditioner
good quality polish
then a wax

am sure there is bits ive missed but thats a general clean - you can add in alloy coats and doing exhaust etc

in terms of products - everybody likes different stuff - but ive found Autoglym Super Resin Polish followed by HD wax hard to beat

[325Ti]

I might be a bit late - but simple guide i use

powerhose the car to get rid of dirt
spray wheel with alloy cleaner
wash body work is sections (starting with roof and working down to wheels) using a mitt
also make sure you have 2 buckets - one with soap and one with warm clean water to rinse mitt it (stops small bits of dirt and grit damaging paint)
dry with Chammy cloth
correct and marks in paint with T cut / clay bar to take out inperfections
you can then use a paint conditioner
good quality polish
then a wax

am sure there is bits ive missed but thats a general clean - you can add in alloy coats and doing exhaust etc

in terms of products - everybody likes different stuff - but ive found Autoglym Super Resin Polish followed by HD wax hard to beat