Car cleaning/polishing newbie
Discussion
I d start by looking at the Forensic Detailing Channel on YouTube. There will be a video for newbies wanting to polish their car.
For me, I d forget Halfords offerings and go for a Das 6 pro polishing machine, and some Scholl concepts s20 black compound. A green hexlogic pad works well on my BMWs.
Others will have differing opinions!
Edit
For me, I d forget Halfords offerings and go for a Das 6 pro polishing machine, and some Scholl concepts s20 black compound. A green hexlogic pad works well on my BMWs.
Others will have differing opinions!
Edit
Edited by _Hoppers on Friday 30th May 17:38
Edited by _Hoppers on Friday 30th May 17:39
_Hoppers said:
I d start by looking at the Forensic Detailing Channel on YouTube. There will be a video for newbies wanting to polish their car.
For me, I d forget Halfords offerings and go for a Das 6 pro polishing machine, and some Scholl concepts s20 black compound. A green hexlogic pad works well on my BMWs.
Others will have differing opinions!
Edit
Thanks mateFor me, I d forget Halfords offerings and go for a Das 6 pro polishing machine, and some Scholl concepts s20 black compound. A green hexlogic pad works well on my BMWs.
Others will have differing opinions!
Edit
Edited by _Hoppers on Friday 30th May 17:38
Edited by _Hoppers on Friday 30th May 17:39
Forget about a machine polisher & polish for now, focus on the basics of washing & keeping your car clean, no point polishing if you cant maintain it & you end up down the local car wash a fortnight later. If you have a Halfords voucher I'd go:
Two of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/mat...
At least one of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/mat...
One of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/mat...
One of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/spo...
A set of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/spo...
Then one of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/spo...
I'd then get a cheap snow foam canon off ebay then start looking at products, the Autoglym polar range is great for DIY wanting value for money
Two of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/mat...
At least one of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/mat...
One of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/mat...
One of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/spo...
A set of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/spo...
Then one of these
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/spo...
I'd then get a cheap snow foam canon off ebay then start looking at products, the Autoglym polar range is great for DIY wanting value for money
Fundamentally, try to let the products do the work of loosening/lifting muck as much as possible, try to avoid putting anything contaminated or dirty back on a panel (so for example, using a second bucket to rinse/wring out before getting more clean soapy water loaded up from the first bucket), and be aware that in particular aggressive circular scrubbing motions can introduce those fine scratches that especially on dark cars show up badly in bright sun.
But a lot of the stuff is personal preference when selecting one of many viable products or techniques to do a given task.
E.g. rather than a wash mitt, I like the noodle sponges that are effectively a wash mitt sewn over a sponge - like using a microfiber mitt in terms of what's touching the panel, but the sponge inside lets it hold a lot more water.
Of what's available in Halfords, I'm of the opinion Meguiar's is about the best, but Autogylm is good too.
If you're happy to mail order it opens up a vast range of other options. Bilt Hamber stuff is often excellent and very good value.
But yes, Forensic Detailing's videos are a good place to start as mentioned.
But a lot of the stuff is personal preference when selecting one of many viable products or techniques to do a given task.
E.g. rather than a wash mitt, I like the noodle sponges that are effectively a wash mitt sewn over a sponge - like using a microfiber mitt in terms of what's touching the panel, but the sponge inside lets it hold a lot more water.
Of what's available in Halfords, I'm of the opinion Meguiar's is about the best, but Autogylm is good too.
If you're happy to mail order it opens up a vast range of other options. Bilt Hamber stuff is often excellent and very good value.
But yes, Forensic Detailing's videos are a good place to start as mentioned.
Forgot to say, if you've got good, unkerbed wheels, taking them off, getting them absolutely, perfectly clean, and then ceramic coating them is a worthwhile investment of time. It makes every wash for years afterwards massively easier, and having clean wheels is an easy cheat to make a car look cleaner even if you've not touched the rest of it.
And on the subject of wheels, most ArmorAll products are ones I'd avoid, but their aerosol tyre foam is actually very good.
And on the subject of wheels, most ArmorAll products are ones I'd avoid, but their aerosol tyre foam is actually very good.
The Autoglym range is still very good for the average person, wash the car first and then apply magma all over to get rid of bonded contaminants.
Wash again and then check for tar spots, remove these with tar remover, wash these areas down again.
A bit long winded but does not take long, you have a fairly ggod base for polishing then.
Use Autoglym silicone resin polish next and when done add protection of your choice, the quick spary waxes are ok and you could use their polar seal going forward if you get a foam cannon.
Their polar range does make things a lot easier.
May be a big spend at the start but you will have the kit and it will last a while.
Wash again and then check for tar spots, remove these with tar remover, wash these areas down again.
A bit long winded but does not take long, you have a fairly ggod base for polishing then.
Use Autoglym silicone resin polish next and when done add protection of your choice, the quick spary waxes are ok and you could use their polar seal going forward if you get a foam cannon.
Their polar range does make things a lot easier.
May be a big spend at the start but you will have the kit and it will last a while.
Bit of a beginners guide here..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAGLsxK88Tw
detailingworld.co.uk is a good forum to learn and discuss the topic. For full details on machine polishing look for some old posts by Dave KG, he made some guides for both rotary machine and DA (dual action) machine polishing back in 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAGLsxK88Tw
detailingworld.co.uk is a good forum to learn and discuss the topic. For full details on machine polishing look for some old posts by Dave KG, he made some guides for both rotary machine and DA (dual action) machine polishing back in 2008
Edited by The Gauge on Sunday 1st June 16:40
heisthegaffer said:
_Hoppers said:
I d start by looking at the Forensic Detailing Channel on YouTube. There will be a video for newbies wanting to polish their car.
For me, I d forget Halfords offerings and go for a Das 6 pro polishing machine, and some Scholl concepts s20 black compound. A green hexlogic pad works well on my BMWs.
Others will have differing opinions!
Edit
Thanks mateFor me, I d forget Halfords offerings and go for a Das 6 pro polishing machine, and some Scholl concepts s20 black compound. A green hexlogic pad works well on my BMWs.
Others will have differing opinions!
Edit
Edited by _Hoppers on Friday 30th May 17:38
Edited by _Hoppers on Friday 30th May 17:39
I'm just a hands on DIYer that likes clean paintwork and wheels, weekly washing and the odd treatment with one of the many DIY ceramic coatings the need for all that polishing faff disappears.
As for those cheaper ceramic coats, was recommended and as an experiment tried Car Plan No1 Super Gloss on the cab of of my new truck when i got it April last year, took 20 minutes, despite twice a week on average washing with industrial TFR via hot steam cleaner the coating remained effective until October time when i recoated, can sometimes be daily washing during the winter and the second coating lasted until March when i redid for the 3rd time, by March the beading effect was vanishing to be fair but trying to find the right winter dry day with the paint clean on a vehicle in 24/7 used wasn't easy.
The paint feels silky to the touch and looks fresh compared to the other vehicles and dirt doesn't stick to it to the same degree, there's probably another coating in the one bottle so by the time thats used up that £12 odd will have protected the paint for something like 2 years having covered some 150k kms so far.
Have used that and a more expensive coating on our cars, same good effect, from my amateurish use i find the Car Plan stuff more forgiving of my very unprofessional application technique, i just apply like one would any window cleaner, sparing spray on panel spread and rub it in so to speak with one cloth then polish dry with clean cloth, takes but a couple of mins per panel.
For wheels, if ingrained dirt one of the many iron fall out removers with a bit of agitation will do the trick without damaging the wheel paints, once clean the weekly wash with whatever you use to wash the car does the trick.
Good point above about clean wheels making the car look clean, the same goes for windows plus clean windows and mirrors makes driving far safer and less blinding in the sun or from the assault of 2 million watts of headlights everyone now apparently needs to drive to the supermarket.
As for those cheaper ceramic coats, was recommended and as an experiment tried Car Plan No1 Super Gloss on the cab of of my new truck when i got it April last year, took 20 minutes, despite twice a week on average washing with industrial TFR via hot steam cleaner the coating remained effective until October time when i recoated, can sometimes be daily washing during the winter and the second coating lasted until March when i redid for the 3rd time, by March the beading effect was vanishing to be fair but trying to find the right winter dry day with the paint clean on a vehicle in 24/7 used wasn't easy.
The paint feels silky to the touch and looks fresh compared to the other vehicles and dirt doesn't stick to it to the same degree, there's probably another coating in the one bottle so by the time thats used up that £12 odd will have protected the paint for something like 2 years having covered some 150k kms so far.
Have used that and a more expensive coating on our cars, same good effect, from my amateurish use i find the Car Plan stuff more forgiving of my very unprofessional application technique, i just apply like one would any window cleaner, sparing spray on panel spread and rub it in so to speak with one cloth then polish dry with clean cloth, takes but a couple of mins per panel.
For wheels, if ingrained dirt one of the many iron fall out removers with a bit of agitation will do the trick without damaging the wheel paints, once clean the weekly wash with whatever you use to wash the car does the trick.
Good point above about clean wheels making the car look clean, the same goes for windows plus clean windows and mirrors makes driving far safer and less blinding in the sun or from the assault of 2 million watts of headlights everyone now apparently needs to drive to the supermarket.
Edited by Smint on Monday 2nd June 07:44
95% of the youtube and alot of forum posts are all bigging up their mates products or freebies
id say start off with a decent honest brand like autogylm /bilt hamber , its plenty good enough to practice your technique on
and dont get convinced you need a 100% blemish free finish , save some clearcoat for the future as you will need it
id say start off with a decent honest brand like autogylm /bilt hamber , its plenty good enough to practice your technique on
and dont get convinced you need a 100% blemish free finish , save some clearcoat for the future as you will need it
As mentioned above the DAS 6 is good for the actual polishing.
I'd use the halfords voucher to buy some good cleaning supplies and protection for after the polishing is done. You really need to the paint to be spotless before starting to polish, the car will need a thorough wash and clay bar to remove contamination from the paint, if you dont, that contamination will be rubbed into the paint by the polisher and scratch it up more.
Loads of resources on polishing, choose a pad and compound to achieve the amount of cut that you want.
Remove the polish from the paint by washing the car again with a suitable shampoo / degreaser (lots of polishes contain waxy solids)
Apply your chosen wax or ceramic coating
I'd use the halfords voucher to buy some good cleaning supplies and protection for after the polishing is done. You really need to the paint to be spotless before starting to polish, the car will need a thorough wash and clay bar to remove contamination from the paint, if you dont, that contamination will be rubbed into the paint by the polisher and scratch it up more.
Loads of resources on polishing, choose a pad and compound to achieve the amount of cut that you want.
Remove the polish from the paint by washing the car again with a suitable shampoo / degreaser (lots of polishes contain waxy solids)
Apply your chosen wax or ceramic coating
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