How To: Detailing Your Starlet

GTdan

In The Closet
Right, well i got round to hand detailing Mikes (59bhp) Black EP82 on saturday.

I said i would do a write up to hear it is - pics will be added soon (need to blank plates out and upload).


1) Get the car in a decent open area - if possible free from direct sunlight - this will help you throughout the day (sadly i did it in direct sunlight...explanation to follow)


2) Snow foam the car - You can either use your pressure washer (should of got an attachment that clips onto the end of the lance), if no pressure washer, you can buy a Gilmour (around £50 new, £30 2nd hand) which works on the same principle but doesnt create as much foam.
The shampoo i use, is Tesco Pink Wheels car shampoo - its a great shampoo (smells great too!) costs £2.50 for a large bottle and suds extrmly well. Fill your container around 1/3 full, then top up with warm water - now foam away, cover all the car, top to bottom, side to side.

3) Once foamed -leave it to dwell for 5 mins or so, you will see the foam more or less dribble off the car, rince the car down completly, you will notice it will be far cleaner than you started!

4) Washing - You should use the 2 bucket method, this help prevents swirl marks and scratches to the paint work (fill one bucket with cold water, fill the 2nd with warm water with your shampoo - i prefer meguirs gold class(£15 a bottle but only need 2 cap fulls), foams well and good lubrication and glides over paintwork). DO NOT USE SPONGES!! These cars horrific damage, use a mit, preferably a sheep wool one - meguirs do one for around £12.
Dip the mit in the cold water, then into soapy water and clean a panel at a time - ie boot/wing/door (start at top and work down and around) after each panel has been done rinse the mitt off in the cold bucket, then hose down the panel you have just washed, this is good especially in hot weather as any soap left will dry onto your car. Repeat on each panel till you have done.

5) Claying - not a lot of people do this, as they dont see/feel the benefits of it, but all i will say is when you do it once, you will always do it. Your paintwork if clean, should feel like glass, but in most cases, our cars feel rather rough, claying, makes it feel like glass. Meguirs do a clay cleaning kit - around £20 you get 2 clay bars, towel and bottle of fluid. Fluid will last you around 6-10 cars depending on size and usage. (i only clay around every 8-12 weeks), so kit can last quite a long time.
Warm you clay bar up in your hands (depending on the size of the bar, maybe split in 2 , as if you drop it, bin it - do not reuse!!)
Again from half a panel to a panel at a time, mist on the spray fluid, and rub the clay bar across the surface, you will feel how rough it is, after a few rubs, check the bar for any grime (if first time you have done this, you will see its dirty) kneed the bar, so it looks clean again and carry on till you have completed the car (bumpers and all if you want - windows is up to you)

6)If you feel the paintwork, you will feel its like glass, and will look rather glossy, but you will probably have fluid left on the car from the claying process. Again wash the car using the 2 bucket method, for this wash i use a different shampoo (autoglym carh conditioner) this is less suddy, and you will notice the differnce as the mit will literally glide over the paintwork.

7) Once cleaned you need to dry it, not with the good old chamois, they have been replaced with towels, again these can be had from the meguirs range (water pocket towel i think) and are around £15, however there are other companies such as poorboys which is the same thing but blue for half the price.
Works in the same way as the chamois, it just absorbs more water,and leaves a streak free finish.

8) Right you will notice, all looking clean, bar the wheels and arches (yes we clean those aswell) Sadly my wheel wax didnt turn up in time for mikes wheels, so no photos im afraid.
Jack the car up and remove the wheel, spray the wheel in daisy all purpose cleaner from tesco, (secret product) DILUTE TO 4:1 in water (4 parts water, 1 part daisy), spray this on the wheel, i would do the inner wheel first as this is usually the dirtiest, aggiatate the solution with a wheel cleaning brush, larger one (similar size to bog brush) is best for the inner wheel, you will see all the tar and dust come off the wheel with ease.
Rinse down, and repeat if necessary, then move onto the front (inc the tyre itself)
You will probably need a smaller brush to go inbetween the spokes.
Once rinsed and dried, you now need to wax/seal the alloy. My preference is poorboys wheel sealent - costs around £13, and protects the wheel from uv rays, but also makes it easier to clean as it repels brake dust and road grime, apply sparingly using a microfibre towel, leave for a few mins, then remove using a different microfibre towel.
Microfibe towels from car shops can be very expensive, but for jobs like this, i use microfibre towels, but from the cleaning section (where you can buy tesco daisy from), usually 3 towels for 60p.

9) While the wheel is off the car (do this while you have just applied the wheel sealent but not removed) You can if you wanted spray this stuff on before you clean the wheel, spray more diluted daisy into the arches, then rinse out with a pressure washer (its up to you whether you do this first before you wash the car) but if you are careful, you wont get any dirt/water on the car as its the arches you are cleaning.
Once power washed out, apply more daisy, and rub with a brush, you will see the black road grime, disappear and be left with a greyish plain surface.
If you want too, you can hose out again, then wash the arches with a sponge to make sure they are extra clean.
Once cleaned, dry with an old sponge, and apply some foam of protection, this helps it not to get as dirty, you can also tell if it needs re undersealing!! i use autoglum bumper car, i apply using a small sponge and rub it into the arches and plastic trim. Then take off with a cheap microfiber towel.
Your arches will now be very clean indeed and you can put the wheel back on.
Of course, repeat on the other 3 corners, it takes around 15-20 mins per corner, inc doing the wheel, but is worth it.

10) You now need to polish the car, the polish i use is used by the majority of detailers around the world, autoglym super resin polish, as well as polishing the paintwork, it also has fillers in it, which over a few passes,will help fill those nasty swirl marks (better results if using a polisher).
Apply a small amount of polish to the cloth, and rub in a circular motion, taking your time and applying a medium amoiunt of pressure to the cloth, you should see the polish break down into dust - this is good.
Once left to haze, if in direct sunlight, this will be alot quicker, remove the polish on there, again using another microfiber cloth.
You have now done your first coat.
I always do 2 coats of polish, as it will go over places that you have missed, and will help fill swirl marks (which are more distinct on darker coloured cars).

11)Once done your 2nd coat of polish, you need to seal the paintwork, this helps prolong the glossy finish the polish has brought up - not alot of people seal it, as they dont know they have too, and wonder why in 2 weeks, its lost its shine.
I use Poorboys Sealent (you have a choice of EXP and EX, one for dark and other for light coloured paints).
I apply this using a damp foam applicator pad, again this is the same process as the polish, but do not remove this, leave it for around about an hour to haze up, the longer you leave it, the more time the sealer has time to do its job, and it gives a better shine.
Its up to you if you want to do another coat of this.

12) whilst the paintwork is sealing, you can do other bits of the car. Polish the exhaust tips, i prefer autosol, around £5 per tube, it removes any tar particles on the exhaust and brings up to a stainless steel finish.

13)dress the tyres - i use blackfire tyre gel, expensive at £15 a bottle, apply using a sponge, so you dont consume as much, gives a much longer black finish compared to back 2 black.

14) by this time its been nearly an hour of the sealent drying, so take a brew brake and admir your work so far, we are nearly done.

15) remove the sealent using again a microfibre cloth, it will be a little hardwork removing, especially if its sunny, but results are worth it.

16)with the paintwork sealed, we just need to apply a wax of your choice, my prefernce at the moment is Poorboys (love their products) Nattys paste wax, its not a liquid wax like turtle wax, and its not a proper hard wax, somewhere in between. Again like the sealent, apply using a damp foam applicator, apply in circular motions and sparingly to the car.

I do the whole car, it gives it time for the wax to haze, again remove using a micrfiber towel, and apply a second coat.

Once removed, sit back and admire, the gleaming beast before you - you would of never seen it so clean. The only draw back of this, is that if not using a rotary polish (only use if you are extrmly confident and know that your paintwork is thick enough to withstand it, as you will remove a few microns of paint doing this,especially if used on a cutting pad) you will see any imperfevtions on the paintwork, ie dents, stone chips and swirl marks. However, this is outshadowed hugely by how clean she looks.
Its up to you how often you clean her, but the wax will bead and last for a good 4-6 weeks, so just top up accordingly.

The whole process, if doing it on your own will take around 6-8 hours, and will hurt your arms and legs, but its well worth it.

This has took me a good 45 mins to write up, and apoligses for any spelling mistakes but my eyes are now sqaure. I will add photos shortly, tonight or tomorrow, to help illustrate the points detailed above.
I am sure i have missed some bits out.

I hope this helps.....i will do another one about cleaning your engine bay over the next few weeks.
 

mcleod

Member +
i thought it was nicks car parked up and you were gonna be tuning or sumat. lol you was doing it an hour after i first drove past.
rep added good sir
 
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