The Mr. Clean Auto Dry Carwash thing just isn't doing it for me. It works, but now that I have my Trans Am it just isn't good enough. Now I have never detailed a car or done anything past a basic wash. I want to know what I am going to need (I am going to need everything), and if there are any brands that are preferred.

Thanks,
Alex

 

its a pretty openended question so youll get a lot of answers. heres what i do for a typical detail

Exterior:

-find a quality car wash soap
-get two buckets, and put clean water in both, add the soap to one of them
-use the plain water to clean the rag before dipping in the soap bucket (use 100 cotton or microfiber rags)
-rinse the car down, then wash it with the soap, rinse it down again
-follow this with the clay bar- if you need to know how to use the clay bar, search, i use mothers
-next step is a polish, there are tons of polishes you can use, meguars (#9) and 3m make nice swirl removers if thats what youre looking for, and can be applied by hand.
-next is the glaze, i use mothers glaze. its applied the same as wax would be.
-now wax, theres tons of info and debate on wax around here, i use meguiars gold class (not cleaner wax)

Wheels and tires
-chrome polish if you need it, use mothers, its fine and dandy
-mothers makes a nice aluminum polish if your wheels are polished
-if your wheels are painted, treat them as any other paint on the car
-i use the meguiars tire shine gel on my tires, its applied with a little tire shaped foam pad

under the hood:
-cover electronics that you feel might be vulnerable with plastic bags
-spray everything with some degreaser (i like cd2)
-let that sit, then trickle some water over everything, it should take the grease off
- if your paint under the hood is really bad i recommend "fantastic" and a wet rag (id only do this under the hood of course, but it takes a lot of the grime off, and isnt as harsh as some of the stronger degreasers
-use some 303 aerospace protectant on the hoses and plastic pieces

interior:
-303 aerospace protectant on the plastic pieces
-theres some oxy-something product i used on my carpet that worked great for any small stains, cant remember what it was right now though

glass:
-try some newspaper, it works pretty well believe it or not

thats all i can think of at the moment.

 

Sweet, anything as far as maybe an electric buffer to help wax, or is hand waxing the best way to go?

~Alex

 

for waxing, your hands will do just fine, for other buffing, check out the porter cable thread atop this forum.

also, heres another guide, with a little different view

http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=68531

 

Cool, thanks. So it looks like I am going to be making a trip to the store soon

~Alex

 

glad to help

 

i like the article but he said that armor all is bad?..wtf mate?

 

Yeah, it contains silicon and will eventually dry out your rubber/plastics, not to mention giving it a faded brown/yellow color.

For interior products, try to stay away from "high gloss" products, as most of them use silicon. I have had great luck with interior products from Eagle 1, 3M, and Meguires.

 

how is black magic for interior

 

the armor all debate has been around forever. i dont know if theres any validity to it, but i avoid it to be on the safe side.

 

I heard thats only true with the older formulation of armor all, the new stuff is safe I believe