1 Day 1 Woman 1 Car

[millicent]

Hello guys.

Just after some advice please. I haven't given my car a proper good clean for weeks. I really want to spend one day (while the other half isn't here to interfere as he's not as thorough as me!) giving it a really good clean.

The car is a black MK4 Golf 1.8T GTI, it's 7 years old. The paintwork is in pretty good condition. Just some small scratches and no real swirl marks.

Currently, my clean consists of a thorough wash with Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, then Autoglym Aqua Wax (because I usually don't have much time and this achieves good results). I use separate lambswool washmits for upper and lower parts of the car.

I have bought a bottle of Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine, but I'm not sure how is best to use this - is it a polish, wax, or both?



I also have Meguires Smooth Surface Clay Kit.





This looks like a pretty good guide to using a clay bar...
http://www.matey-matey.com/detailing.shtml

But I'm not quite sure which order to use these products. Should I wash the car, use the clay bar, then the Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine.

Any experiences/or thoughts on these products would be gratefully appreciated,

Thanks guys.

Edited by millicent on Thursday 18th June 22:08

[belleair302]

Firstly do you have two buckets both with grit guards? Why because by using one as a wash bucket and one as a rinse buket for the wash mitt or natural sea sponge you will not be putting grit and dirt back onto the car, as you do with one bucket and no grit guard.

Wash and rinse the car with an open hose, this aids drying by allowing the water to sheet of the car.

Dry the car with a decent drying towel.....not an old chamois or a drying blade.

Then warm the clay (dip in warm water), break off a little and by lubricating each panel work the clay over the surface. Keep the bodywork well lubricated to stop marring.

After claying wash the car again, dry and then get to work with any polish and your choice of LSP...Last Stage Product, a wax or whatever, your Autoglym product.

Hope this helps....

My question is why buy the Ultra Deep Shine when you have Aquawax? The wax should protect the paint somewhat and Super Resin Polish would do a better job of filling any swirl marks.

I personally would not use both Aqua Wax and UDS...its one or the other.

Edited by belleair302 on Thursday 18th June 23:18

[P17_GTA]

I use aqua wax as its meant, just a drying aid which contains wax.

UDS is a totally different product, as far as I know anyway.......I dont have it but it reads to be an all in one product that will do some minor correction on damaged paint and add some protection.

[millicent]

belleair302 said:

Firstly do you have two buckets both with grit guards? Why because by using one as a wash bucket and one as a rinse buket for the wash mitt or natural sea sponge you will not be putting grit and dirt back onto the car, as you do with one bucket and no grit guard.

Wash and rinse the car with an open hose, this aids drying by allowing the water to sheet of the car.

Dry the car with a decent drying towel.....not an old chamois or a drying blade.

Then warm the clay (dip in warm water), break off a little and by lubricating each panel work the clay over the surface. Keep the bodywork well lubricated to stop marring.

After claying wash the car again, dry and then get to work with any polish and your choice of LSP...Last Stage Product, a wax or whatever, your Autoglym product.

Hope this helps....

My question is why buy the Ultra Deep Shine when you have Aquawax? The wax should protect the paint somewhat and Super Resin Polish would do a better job of filling any swirl marks.

I personally would not use both Aqua Wax and UDS...its one or the other.

Edited by belleair302 on Thursday 18th June 23:18

Thanks for the advice. I only use Aqua Wax when I don't have much time. I bought the Ultra Deep Shine for when I have more time to do a proper polish, and so far haven't used it as yet! So I was planning on giving this a go tomorrow instead of Aqua Wax.

Grit guard buckets are on my list of things to buy, but I don't think I'll have time to get these before tomorrow (have to do the car tomorrow as I think this will be the best day weather wise! ) as I think they are only available online? So I was just going to use two separate buckets for now.

So just to confirm, the order is...
1. Wash car
2. Dry car with towel
3. Clay bar
4. Wash car again
5. Dry car again
6. Ultra Deep shine

Thanks again.

Edited by millicent on Friday 19th June 13:29

[Bonnie and Clyde]

I have a bottle of AG ultra deep shine. Its excellent on a dark car i found. Hope you get a good result

[Cotty]

Short vid on how to use a clay bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfEfLGL59GI