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

[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

[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

[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

[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?

[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

[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?

[Chan61922]

cheers for all the feed back guys, i bought some autoglym srp polish earlier along with auto glym shampoo and conditioner, seeing as halfords where doing 3 for 2 i opted for meguiars deep crystal carnauba wax (stage 3 in the step process they do), i know its probably not the greatest wax but i like the fact its not a paste, thick liquid suits me fine- also halfords did not stock the suggested collinite wax, and autoglym hd wax was almost 40 quid, bit too steep for my liking as im still in experimenting stages, do you guys think this is a okay combo ive chosen? or is throwing meguiars wax into the mix a big no no>? also i only bought 3 sponges and 3 packs of microfibre cloths (15 in total) i was hoping to do all the work with just microfibre cloths is this okay? i should i buy a fancy round applicator pad? sat at work right now learning the tricks of the trade on youtube, im getting way into this malarky lol

[Chan61922]

i spotted this on tescos website, worth a punt?
http://www.tesco.com/direct/230v-10in-orbital-car-...

[Chan61922]

http://www.halfords.com/motoring-travel/cleaning-b...

[Chan61922]

is it worth ditching the megs wax and swapping for autoglym extra gloss protection?

[Chan61922]

So meguiars no good then? As ive already purchased it all now? Probably buy the gd wax next time round, or am I just wasting my time altogether? Also as stars in my first post on this thread, I got some diamondbrite protection already applied, shall I just ignore and carry on as usual, I'm assuming the autoglym srp will remove a lot of it?

[Chan61922]

Okay great I'll attack it on Sunday hopefully it doesn't rain I'll try post a few before and after snaps

[Chan61922]

Wow!!! Top job there mate, I don't think I got the marbles to machine polish my car lol, I'd cock it up no doubt :0, that company did a great job in sorting it out though, seems like them guys are up in Newcastle though? Just out of curiosity how much did that work set you back?