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Originally posted by Matty G
Meguairs Water Magnet towel

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Originally posted by SteveW
got their hot wheels and tyreshine too but havnt used it yet

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Originally posted by Ojc
Waffle weave? Where do I aquire this?

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What you need,
2 Clean Buckets
2 Wash Mitts (3 if you can)
Car wash Shampoo (not Fairy Liquid)
Chamois or Meguiars Water Magnet (or both)

1:- a common reason for swirl marks (or scratches as they should be referred to, because that's what they are) is from something as simple as washing your car with the wrong equipment. Hands up who still uses a 50p sponge from Hal fords.
Every one has seen those soft lambs wool wash mitts, but who can justify spending £10 or more on a Meguiars Chenille one. Don’t despair, go to your local £1 shop and buy a couple, they always have them for sale and trust me they are allot better than using a sponge.
I will try to explain, a sponge traps the dirt into all of those tiny holes, when you wipe it around your car you are putting "guess what" thousands of tiny swirl marks (Cobwebs) in your paint.
However a wash mitt picks up the dirt, and pulls it into the material away from the surface. These wash mitts will not completely stop swirl marks from appearing but they will certainly help.

2:- Who here uses the two bucket method, "TWO BUCKET WHAT" I hear you cry.
When washing your car you should have 1 bucket full of warm, (NOT HOT), soapy water (please don’t use fairy liquid as its quite bad for your car) and a second bucket of warm clean water with nothing else in it, next spray your car down with a hose or watering can to loosen up the dirt (I usually do this first and then sort the buckets out as it gives the water more time to loosen up the dirt) you can even spray on soap suds if you have a fancy karcher pressure washer.

Back to the two bucket method, dunk your wash mitt into the soapy water wring it out slightly so not to have it dripping wet, start at the top of the car wash the roof but before you go back into the soapy water dunk the wash mitt into the other bucket of clean warm water, whilst in the water give it a good shake around use your other hand to rub the surface of your wash mitt, what your trying to do is loosen any dirt from your mitt that you have picked up from the roof of your car, when your happy, back into the soap and on to the next bit. I know it sounds like a lot of extra work but if your going to spend all this time polishing your car, then ruin all your hard work with something so basic as a car wash then what’s the point in polishing. And to prove a point try this method just the once and when your finished tip the water out slowly and have a look how much rubbish is left in the bottom of your buckets, if I asked you to then scoop this rubbish out with a sponge and rub it on your car you would probably tell me to sod off, but that’s what your doing every time you don’t use the two bucket method.

3:- Stages to wash the car in, most of you probably already know this but for those of you that don’t,
You should always start at the top and work your way down, i.e. roof, windows, bonnet, wings but only down to knee height, or the trim strip on the Mk3 Golf, front doors (knee height again), back doors (and again), boot, then bumpers and below knee height I use a second wash mitt for the below knee height areas and a separate wash mitt for the wheels as break dust is very very bad for paint work, can you see what we did start with the cleanest part of the car and move onto the dirty bits.

4:- Whilst washing your car it is important that your paintwork is not hot to the touch, as this will leave streak marks because it dries to quickly, this is why you never wash a car in direct sunlight,
Always rinse off the part of the car you have just washed before going on to the next bit and keep all parts of your car wet until you are ready to dry your car this will also stop streak marks.

5:- A good tip for drying your car, if your take off any nozzle you may be using on the end of your hose pipe and turn the water pressure down slightly you can get the water to run of the car in one big sheet, due to low surface tension. Get the car all wet and as the water starts to run of each panel follow it down with the hose and all the water comes off as one big sheet making it allot easier to dry your car.

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Alot of people are affraid to try this product, trust me give it a go, as it will change the way you clean your car for ever.

Most people think of Clay as a big piece of blue tack that you rub on your paintwork and it just grabs the rubbish because its sticky and that’s it, WRONG, Clay bars have been highly engineered and taken years to perfect, you can even get different grades (but that’s a bit professional). Clay actually works by slowly and gently abrading the contaminants that sit on the surface of your car, take road tar for example, the first time you use clay you will notice that the small blob of tar doesn’t come off as one whole piece, but reduces in size with each pass, once the tar is gone take a look at the clay you will notice long streaks on the surface this is where it has slowly abraded the tar down.

If you buy Meguiars Clay you get a nice box with two products inside one is quick detailer (which I think smells like something from the dentist) the other is a bar of Clay (see pic)



Unwrap your bar of Clay and cut it with scissors onto three equal pieces put the other two into a plastic bag and keep for another day. Two reasons for this, one, you only need a bit of Clay, and two, if you drop it on the floor which most of you will, if you have never used it before, you still have two more pieces that you can use.

Your car must be washed and dried before you should use clay. Firstly you need to warm the Clay up a bit, bend it, fold it just get it moving in your hands when your happy make a thickish pancake shape, as you can see, one piece is more than enough.



spray some quick detailer onto your hand some on the Clay, both sides. This stops it sticking to your hand, now this is important, do not rub Clay on any part of the car you haven't sprayed with quick detailer first. Spray all over the area you are going to work on don’t go much bigger than 18" square and never ever press hard let the Clay do the work (if you do press hard you will be left with Micro marring, and holograms) you will see that just moving it back and fourth over the surface will shift all the rubbish that has built up. When you first start you will hear a gritty sound as you move the Clay back and forth, keep going, it will get quieter the more rubbish you remove, have a look at the clay, "Nasty"



Don’t be tempted to turn the Clay over and continue, you need to FOLD the Clay in half so that the dirt gets trapped inside, simple rule, You should always have a clean peace of Clay touching your car and a clean piece of Clay touching your hand, always fold it never turn it, and if you drop it on the floor bin it. You can also use Clay on windows which alot of people don’t know. Another little tip is you will notice that you run out of quick detailer well before running out of Clay, if you spray a small amount of quick detailer on your fingers and then rub them together you will notice its like oily water, this is to lubricate the surface of your car so the Clay never grabs at the paint, Quick detailer is made up of 98% water so a little trick is to fill your empty bottle of quick detailer with water and add a tiny tiny tiny amount of car wash solution this works just as well as the real stuff but doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

After you have Clayed you car here is the boring bit, before you can clean, polish and wax you need to wash you car again, I know I know, but this is important.

On a side note, depending on how often you drive your car, clean your car, store your car overnight you should only ever need to Clay your car about once every 3 to 6 months (so very cost effective).

Other tips,
1:- Keep old bits of clay as you can use them in the same way on your wheels
2:- Take a look at the third pic down (above) notice that my thumb is at the side of the clay this is so I can actually feel the surface of the car with my thumb, which is far more sensitive at finding contaminants, then using sight alone.

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Picture 1 and 2 shows part of a washed, clayed and washed again car, "oh no" look at those cobwebs.





Picture 3 shows what I will be using to get rid of those cobwebs. Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner (Step 1 in the Deep Crystal range) all of these products are available from Halfords.



Picture 4 shows another paint cleaner Scratch X. this is more for those deeper scratches that you can’t get rid off. (I didn't need scratch x today as the paint is in good condition i.e. no big scratches)



Picture 5 shows an applicator pad that I will apply the product with, notice the amount that I’m using, you will also notice the paint cleaner contains a meth’s solution which you will smell the first time you use it. This helps it to cure much quicker so that you can get onto the next stage faster.



Picture 6 two things to notice 1: - I have taped off part of the panel so when I’m finished I can show you a side-by-side comparison and 2: - which is more important the circular swirls of paint cleaner before I have buffed it off.



I will try not to be to confusing but you really need to work the product in. Use a cross hatch manner by constantly overlapping, work left to right then right to left as you work down the panel then up and down then down and up as you work across the panel, constantly moving the pad in a circular motion see diagram below. work the product untill it's apperance changes
(it should go slightly glossy)



There is no need to wait for it to dry, as this has no benefit, just buff off with something soft and clean, preferably a Micro fiber towel (see pic), repeat this process again for better results, this is when a PC comes in handy.



Picture 7 shows Deep Crystal Polish (step 2 in the Deep Crystal range), this is a pure polish, which is rare as most polishes have either a wax or a cleaner in them, which we don’t want,



Repeat the above process again with the polish but use a new applicator pad, same again no need to let it cure (dry) as this has no benefit just buff off. Again if you repeat this step over and over the end result will be twice as good
Picture 8 shows NXT Generation Tech Wax not the Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax (step 3 in the Deep Crystal range) that you all probably assumed. Apply the wax in much the same way as you have for the other products, however you must let wax cure (Dry) as this helps protect the paint.



Next tip, I will try and teach you the swipe test to tell if the wax is ready to take off. Place one finger on the wax and swipe down only about an inch, if it leaves streaks of wax its not dry but if it swipes clean get buffing, and yes repeat this step a few times to achieve the best results and to ensure the best coverage.

And there you have it no cobwebs or for some of you greatly reduced cobwebs. See pics below





Also let me just point out this is very time consuming and you will be left with arms like Popeye, DONT be tempted to get a electric buffer from Halfords as these spin on one axis and will burn your paint.

Some will say that the applicator pads are expensive for what they are, just try one you will never go back to using dusters or old rags, and the great thing is you can wash them in soapy water, let them dry and start all over again.

Important, do not use the same Applicator Pad to apply different products equally do not remove products with the same Microfibre (this is why they are usually sold in packs of three)

Other wax to try
Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Wax Spray (good for wheels)



And Meguiars Gold Class, excellent on dark colours



Well I know its a lot to take in but I hoped you have learnt something, if I can be of any more help or people are interested in having their cars done by myself or even a one on one lesson let me know I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.

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