Voith

I found this procedure for washing cars on youtube, and I was impressed by the process this guy uses..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mltj...eature=related


Now I want to know your little secrets for nice shiny porsche if you have any in your sleeve

jtsporsche

hes powerwashing the car? couldnt that be dangerous?
but i do love his attention to detail. and the fabulous hand job at the end

V2Rocket

er....






um.....

kandyinmyvan

The fact that he uses a depth gauge before using a rubbing compound blows my mind away. Wow.

Mamooguy

Buckets of soapy water, big sponges, topless women, lawn chair, big goofy grin.

Lizard944

Ok, snobby detailing critic here. I don't pressure wash. Too easy to force water past some seals such as CV boots and door locks. I always remove the wheels as there's no better way to wash the back side and get into the wells and calipers. The detailer in video says he uses an expensive "ph neutral shampoo" to wash. If he's going to be buffing/waxing, the only soap he should be using is Dawn dishwashing liquid, which will strip all of the old wax. I tape all rubber & plastic trim when buffing and tape anything that a pad may catch on. Basically, my client's cars look like I'm getting ready to paint them, rather than buffing. He uses a Maketa polisher. IMO, a Dewalt 849 rotary polisher is a better instrument. I follow this with a Porter Cable random orbital for micro polishing. Most people remove the handles from the polisher in order to do better figure "8" patterns.
If the GT owner only wanted a garage queen to "sip wine and stare at," then this detailer should've been bragging about how he wet-sanded the finish, before doing various buffing stages, in order to knock down the orange peel. Yes, some concourse fanatics will wet-sand brand new vehicles!!
He could've also layered the carnauba by applying, wiping off, then spritz with distilled water, reapply wet, repeat, repeat. Known as "spit shine," similar to the way military boots are done.
For carnaubas, I like P21S (S-100) for lighter finishes, Meguiar's #16 or #26 for darker finishes, and Collinite 845 insulator wax for winter-time protection. Well known detailer's "secret," is that the P21S carnauba costs around $40 to $60 for 6.2 oz. The EXACT same product is re-labeled as "S-100" and is sold at Harley-Davidson dealerships for $15 ! Same container, same manufacturer, same product description on label. Ok, I may have to live in exile now !

--Lizard

Reimu

Wow...

UDPride

work smarter not harder. i see people slaving for 80hrs on their car to prep it for a car show, then they get beat by a guy who shows up 10 minutes before judging and lose by a mile. its all in the tools and products. the people "who know better" can spot these folks as soon as they start pulling their autozone cleaning products out of their trunk.

that said, i just cant get the results i want with an orbital. i have one practically brand new if anyone wants it. the pads are just way too big and i cant feel the paint when holding a big appliance.

billthe3

my process:
park car in driveway
hose off and fill bucket with soap/water
wash car
get pissed off at how scratched up the paint is
only squeegy off the windows because I don't feel like spending the energy on drying the paint
park the car in either the sun or garage wet and go back inside to continue watching tv or whatnot


This sequence only happens at most once a month, but has been known to been as infrequent as 6 months. (yes, I didn't wash the car from october till late march this year)

Mighty Shilling

for my weekly wash:

-park car in center of driveway, turn on headlights, take out key.
-spray wheel cleaner on wheels. I use the BMW wheel cleaner gel, $6.00 a bottle, and won't hurt my anodized aluminum wheels. scrub wheels with a terry-cloth wrapped sponge. rinse.
-Wash headlights, rinse, scrub, rinse, and turn em off so they hide.
-rinse car
-soap from the windshield forward, and rinse.
-soap passenger side of car, windshield to the rear bumper. rinse just soaped area, rinse already washed area.
-soap driver side of the car, same method as passenger side. rinse entire car again.
-dry with synthetic chamois I got from griot's and absolutely love because it's awesome.

dillon410021

very cool and interesting and expensive

CurtP

I use the products and procedures from www.zainobros.com - their Z-16 works great not only on tires, but all rubber trim and gaskets. I even use it on the 951's spoiler. I only use their car wash on my rims - I never have a problem with brake dust after the initial detailing (which involves washing the car with Dawn dishwashing liquid, claying, and another Dawn wash).

However, for the interior, I prefer www.leatherique.com products.

Lizard944

Aye carumba!!

Ok, here's something for you cretin, vermin'

http://www.mrclean.com/sites/en_US/m.../autodry.shtml

Lizard944

Chris. Not sure we have the same definitions. An orbital (random) buffer is relatively small and uses pads from 4-6 inches in diameter. It's basically a modified finishing sander. Works by "jiggling" in random patterns. A rotary is much larger and can accomodate pads up to 10." Takes some practice to master, but it is the only tool that will remove moderate scratches and swirls.
I always follow rotary buffing with orbital to remove minor swirling "holograms" produced by rotary buffing. Orbitals are only good for final polishing and applying LSP (last step products), waxes and glazes.

Po924S

My steps:

Take rims off car (Only once a month)
Clean calipers and wheel wells
Wash car with ICE car soap
Rims/Tires
Dry with mircofiber towles
Back to Black on plastics
Clay bar
Windows with fine steel wool, and Invisible glass
Pull car into garage, turn the lights on
Wax with ICE

Interior:

Leather care
Vacuum
Cleaner on any vinyl's or plastics.

Done!