Decent car cleaning gear?

[Chan61922]

Hi there looking for some recommendations on decent car cleaning gear i.e shampoos, wax etc etc, bought a black car a few months ago, my first black car might I add, and it's winding me up how much the dirt shows up on it, esp now the weathers nice, car looks like sh*t dirty lol, I'm regularly paying 15 odd quid for a valet wash is beginning to get on my t*ts and to put the icing on the car the car always comes back with a little surface scratch here and there, deciding I'll give it a spruce up myself every now and again. My car has some silly diamondbrite paint and alloy protection applied so it's like a magnet to dirt and grime, however it usually cleans up with just water, looking for recommendations on a good cleaner/shampoo and was with shouldn't interfare with the paint protection already applied? Are they're any decent kits which has a bit of everything in it? I popped into halfords earlier I was baffled with what to pick out because they're was so much variety, just looking for any advice on what you guys use

Cheers

[parkem50]

Get yourself over to Detailing world. That will blow your mind!
It is a great place to learn everything.

[dirty_dog]

parkem50 said:

Get yourself over to Detailing world. That will blow your mind!
It is a great place to learn everything.

This

[Wills2]

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

Couple of deep buckets with grit guards (one wash one rinse)
Good shampoo (dodo juice super natural) as an example
Lambs wool mitt (Eurow one is good)
EZ clean wheel brush
Wheel brush woollies
3 x big fluffy micro fibre towels (sonus)
Valet pro bilberry wheel cleaner + spray

For further prep and shine:

Clay bar (megs)
Detail spray (megs)
Carnauba wax eg swissvax
Wax applicators
Buffing clothes

The above is enough for a beginner, warning it gets a bit anal on detailing world.

Edited by Wills2 on Tuesday 21st April 21:01

[dirty_dog]

You could look at polish with fillers in instead of paint correction.. Just admit you'll never get it perfect before looking on DW

[Chan61922]

cheers for the replies, that kit seems abit intense to be honest lol, not looking to spend hours on it ,just after decent bottle of shampoo, and some polish/wax type stuff to make it nice and shiny also just recommendations and types of cloths i made need.....also after formulas that are neutral and wont affect the already applied paint protection malarky.
cheers

[8Tech]

First thing to learn is that polish and wax are completely different.

All you need to know as a novice is use a proper car wash shampoo, with or without a wax additive to wash the car. you then build your shine with your choice of POLISH. Once the car is as shiny as you can get it, you protect the shine with a WAX.

I have successfully used many makes over the years and can thoroughly recommend the Meguiars range or the AutoGlym products. Both widely available and sensible money.

[Chan61922]

okay mate thanks for clearing that up, ive been looking at auto glyms earlier, they obviously look the bees knees, just not sure which shampoo and polish to pick out from the range, i also come across this demon shine stuff, is that any good? seems like a 2 in 1 product? what about spongescloths/rags etc?
sorry complete novice here, never been one to wash my own car before

[Jonsv8]

Detailing world are really serious which may make your eyes roll. But the simple truth is you need to get the car right first, putting more cheap wax on it isn't going to help.

Depends on your budget, the top end is something like a professional detail and a ceramic coating applied that will cost £100s. I do it myself, wash, get rid of tar etc, clay, light machine polish, coat with gtechniq exo. You can get a finish like the picture with a days graft. That lasts 6-12 months and dirt flies off when washing and needs just a quick wipe down to be looking great. No intermediate polishing or waxing needed.

[Chan61922]

Wow I must admit that looks absolutely stunning unfortunately not looking to spend 100s on waxing my e93 cab lol maybe When I get my Ferrari someday lol I was talking to a mate about it last night at work he recommended meguiars products as have most of you, ive just checked Amazon and there loads of carbausa (spelt incorrectly I know lol) waxes and polishes out there, priced quite reasonable too, basically just need a good shampoo, a good polish and a wax, to be honest I like the idea of liquid wax as it's easier to apply, I imagine the wax needing quite a it of elbow grease, too much effort lol am I right in thinking firstly you shampoo wash, then you apply polish, and finish with wax to finish? The miguiars range is very highly rated on Amazon, I think I'll give there products a try- just need to pick out something decent now- any recommendations?

Cheers

[Chan61922]

Lol sorry I don't own a ASTON just yet, scrub the Ferrari

[Dannbodge]

Wills2 said:

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

Couple of deep buckets with grit guards (one wash one rinse) (About £20-30)
Good shampoo (Autofinesse Lather 500ml)(£13)
Lambs wool mitt (Eurow one is good)(About £10)
EZ clean wheel brush (£20)
1 x Auto finesse drying towel (£13)
Valet pro bilberry wheel cleaner + spray (£10-15)
1" round brush (£3)

For further prep and shine:

Clay bar (Bilt Hamber Soft)(£10)
Detail spray (FK#425)(£10)
Polish or Glaze (Hides scratches etc)(Autoglym SRP or Prima Amigo)(£10-20ish)
Wax (Autoglym HD is great for beginner)(£40) or FK1000p for awesome durability and you can use it on wheels and metals (£20)
Buffing clothes (Can get 72 from Costco for about £32)

The above is enough for a beginner, warning it gets a bit anal on detailing world.

Edited by Wills2 on Tuesday 21st April 21:01

Edited with my thoughts.

For £100-£200 you cen get set up with a very good set of tools and products.

Also look on detailing world as there is a thread with discount codes for various online shops (general chat section)

Edited by Dannbodge on Wednesday 22 April 07:12

[Chan61922]

Thanks a lot for editing with price ranges, that's a great help mate. I'll look into it some more on cleanyourcar website when I get a minute, detailing world looks amazing, abit too labour intensive for my liking if I'm honest, don't love the car that much lol, wouldn't spend hours cleaning myself let alone the motor lol, I appreciate all the advice though, never knew people took cleaning their cars so seriously :0 whilst having a nose about on 'dw' I saw a thread where a guy was polishing out swirls from the paint work, ive got a few bits on my car, and because it's black it shows up in the sun if you look closely enough, can only the machine polish type thing remove these? Or would a good wax mask these up?

[Dannbodge]

You can hide them to some degree using a filler heavy polish or glaze but once you start washing it, the products slowly get removed so will always come back.

Machine polishing is the real way of getting rid as you are physically removing them from the paint (You remove a very thin layer of paint/lacquer) but without proper wash technique they will come back.

[Chan61922]

hmmm i see any recommendation of pros who can do this in the london area, west london to be more specific- if its a job which will set me back X amount of 100s i think ill give it a miss to be honest, the swirls dont bother me too much its more just how quickly the car gets dull being black. one final thing as you guys probaly had enough of my crap now lol, is it okay to use a liquid wax? im thinking of going for miguirs range, i dont fancy spending hours polishing out paste type wax. cheers

[Chan61922]

hi guys any recommendations or advice on miguars 3 step range? step 1 - paint cleaner, step 2 a polish, and step 3 - carbausa wax. all products seem to have decent reviews, and currently on offer at halfords, 10 quid per bottle and 3 for 2 offer so 20 quid all in, worth a shot?

cheers

[Chan61922]

also apprantley the step 1 product removes light swirls in the paintwork- just reading up review on it at the minute seems okay, but people keep throwing in a spanner in the works and saying use so and so instead, what im looking for is something similiar where you go by 2 or 3 steps, nice and simple. people keep mentioning clay bars prior to use i have no idea how you use these

[FurryExocet]

Chan61922 said:

hmmm i see any recommendation of pros who can do this in the london area, west london to be more specific- if its a job which will set me back X amount of 100s i think ill give it a miss to be honest, the swirls dont bother me too much its more just how quickly the car gets dull being black. one final thing as you guys probaly had enough of my crap now lol, is it okay to use a liquid wax? im thinking of going for miguirs range, i dont fancy spending hours polishing out paste type wax. cheers

A professional machine polish will set you back a few hundred quid at least, it will make the car look amazing, but you then need to put in the work to keep it that way, which to me, sounds like you won't (not a dig at you, it's not everyone's cup of tea)

Autoglym super resin polish will help with the swirls, but it will only mask them. The problem you've got, is you've taken it to one of these £15 valet places, they add swirls for free!!

The advice in this thread is very good so far, get the basics right and the car will look good. Black is a right pain to keep clean.

Halfords did have a 3 for 2 on the other week. You can't go wrong with Autoglym products as a starter

[Chan61922]

Your right there I don't particularly want anything too labour intensive, not enough hours in the day lol, any suggestions on what product to choose from the autoglym range then, a shampoo, polish and wax? I'll pop into halfords later today

[Chan61922]

Sorry you've already stated autoglym super resin polish, what about a shampoo and wax to go along side use of the polish?