After previous use and recent research on this and the Detailing World forum, thought I'd post some info on a few excellent and very reasonably priced detailing products which will last a long time and which produce superb results:

The process can take a while to do properly and due to time constraints, just a couple of panels can be done at a time (takes me about 1.5 to 2 hours to do a couple of panels but the paintwork on ours which was good to start with has come up silky smooth and like glass).

To get the best results, advice to me was to ‘de-ionise’ and ‘de-tar’ before using a clay bar, so this is the process that has worked for me:


* Carefully rinse, shampoo/wash and rinse the panel with your preferred product (a wash mitt is more kind to the paintwork than a traditional sponge)


** Iron X
Then spray Iron X onto the panel and leave for a few minutes. Metal particles that have bonded to the surface are highlighted by the Iron X fluid turning purple/ red. Then, wipe a damp sponge over the panel to remove these contaminants before spraying the panel clear with water again.

Note - Manufacturer claims are that Iron X can also put a stop to corrosion

Iron X De-Ioniser 500 ml spray = £10

Can be bought from/ product details on - http://www.carpro.uk.com/


*** Tardis
Then spray Autosmart Tardis onto the panel. This is a professional strength tar and glue remover that safely and effectively removes bonded organic contaminants from all exterior vehicle surfaces. Just wipe the Tardis covered panel with a Microfibre cloth or spray Tardis onto the cloth and then wipe the panel. Once finished, rinse/ shampoo the panel.

Autosmart Tardis - 5 Litres = £21

Can be bought from/ product details on - http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/autosmart-tardis.html


**** Bilthamber 'Regular' Claybar
Then use the BH Clay Bar (instructions say it can be cut into 4 pieces and overall, used for 4 to 5 cleans. DW UK users say you can actually cut it into 8 pieces though to make it go further; and you can).

No lube spray is required as this bar is designed to be used with water.

BH 'Regular' Clay Bar = £9.90

Can be bought from/ product details on - http://www.bilthamber.com/


After using the clay bar, panel shampoo/rinsed, microfibre clothed dry and then used Farecla G3 scratch remover if necessary followed by Autoglym Super Resin Polish although the polish/ finishing products are a matter of preference.

Good advice PLD118
For others who don't want to spend the money on things like ironx a bit of WD40 does the same job but use a throwaway cloth or kitchen towel IME

Autoglym bodywork shampoo is quite good as well in 2.5litre tubs and lasts a hell of a long time as its quite concentrated too
meguirs wool wash mitt is really good, i have a much older one that is now starting to fall to bits but does an amazing job dont forget to chuck it in the washing machine after every other car wash to really get all the gubbins out of it and use the 2 bucket method, or as i do use the hose to rinse the wash mitt before putting back in the soaps bucket  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Cheers. I've heard reference to WD40 before.

And... for APC or multi purpose cleaner/ whatever they're called... DW UK recc 'Daisy' which they say is superb and can be bought for about only £0.70 in Tesco (lemon in a spray bottle)

On cost...

I bought a 5 litre drum of Tardis for £20 several years ago and it's still 2/3 full.

Likewise the Iron X which has only just ran out and so I replaced it for a tenner.

Not used a clay bar for about 10 years but the BH one seems to come up trumps on many recc's (there's 3 different types of BH clay bar and the 'Regular' one seems to be all things to most people!

And all of the companies I used as per the above, are very reputable/ delivery is within a day or so (just check though as you might be able to get most products from one supplier/ keeping the delivery cost down which averages about £3 from each company for standard deivery)

I am wanting to do something like this to my car, but am a noob when it comes to this amount of product use. Can you use a clay bar on solid paint? I am worried about leaving marks. There are marks on my paintwork from washing in the past, I take it a mechanical polish is what is needed to remove them? Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Yes, you can use a clay bar on solid paint.

Just wash thoroughly and dry. Then use the 'bar with a spray mist detailer or water, one panel at a time.

A mechanical polish (with something like Autoglym Super Resin Polish) will be more effective than done by hand, but you need to know what you're doing. There's plenty of YouTube help available, or go onto a good detailng supplier's site, such as PolishedBliss for instructional videos.

Then a good wax sealant after that. I use Autoglym High Definition Wax, but other makes are available.

Then there's the black plastic, glass, tailpipes, wheels...

All worth it though and very therapeutic. Si. <This is my name.

I eat rat poison.

A man ain't truly been insulted until he stands buck naked in front of a woman and she didn't even notice. Or care.

A Costco random orbital polisher is about £25-30 and combined with AG Super Resin Polish can create stunning results. Can be done by n00bs too as long as you follow some simple rules:

Clean the car throughly before
Mask up everything you're not going to polish a you WILL get polish on it even if you're careful
Let the machine do the work, don't press down on it
Only do a 12" to 18" square area at a time

The super resin polish has barely any cutting power and tons of fillers. So it couldn't remove your clear coat unless you applied it with sandpaper. The fillers do what you'd expect, they fill the scratches instead of cutting down the clear to remiv the scratches. Personally on the Range I refer fillers as it means you're keeping a nice thick clear coat for if you ever get bramble rash.

2-3 coats of SRP will make most cars look fantastic. Use some ultra gloss sealant and lots of layers of wax after and you'll not see scratches for 3-4 months. 
07 Supercharged - Still breaking her in!

Boot soundproofing part 1 - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15612.html
Custom exhaust - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15296.html
18" wheels for Brembo equipped cars - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15052.html

Contraband,

The processes I've referred to are really easy to do, just time consuming and there's no way I could ever find the time to do an entire car in one go... And tbh, you might be scunnered/ fed up doing it by the end, hence for me, it's not a race, its once per year, 'bite size chunks' covers the therapeutic part and also probs means having done a better job in the long run!

Detailing World is littered with people going to extreme lengths to pamper their cars and from that, there are so many techniques, opinions and products, it can get plain confusing. The hardest part I found was deciding which/ the best value products to spend the money on.

One way to have a go, might be to get the Iron X, Tardis, Clay Bar, Scratch remover and Polish and do your worst panel by hand, see how it comes up and then if you want/ need to machine polish, you can move onto that.

Again, the BH clay bar works with water so no need to buy lubricant spray. i actually have the hose with spray gun by my side and use that instead of a spray bottle (seems easier to me and can get loads of water on the panel).

So far, I've done front door, front door sills, front wings and the front bumper, all by hand. I was going to use a heavy duty rotary machine polisher on each section too but it has not been necessary so far. What I did notice was that on each of the stages, some contaminants or marks came off that the previous stage didn't remove so they do all do different things.

All sounds geeky but once you've got the stuff and done it once its very straightforward/ just another way of looking after your car!

What's a good wax then please. I usually stop after using AG SRP (I've got AG Ultra Gloss but stopped using it as I couldn't see the benefit for the extra time taken to apply)?

Thanks

Cheers gents. I will need to stock up on a selection of products and give it a go.  Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Tha AG Ultra Gloss is particularly suited to dark colours which is why you won't notice any visible difference on yours, Ryan.

I noticed a distinct difference between using SRP and SRP High Gloss on my black E55 and my old adriatic blue RR, for instance. The High Gloss gave a better, deeper shine.

The AG HD wax seals the polish in. It's a moot point whether there's any visible difference other than the beading is lovely and very tiny, but it's an extra layer of protection and does work well in my opinion. And it's a lovely sensual experience to apply by hand and smells nice.

I must do my S/C when I get her back from the dealers.... Si. <This is my name.

I eat rat poison.

A man ain't truly been insulted until he stands buck naked in front of a woman and she didn't even notice. Or care.

I have a Java Black L322 and as much as I like AG SRP, I use Poorboys Black Hole show glaze on top of the SRP and then top that off with Poorboys Natty's Blue paste wax, both of which are for dark/black coloured paintwork. Both products were bought from Shinearama, a detailing studio in Altrincham. Both of the Poorboy's products are very easy to use.

I have panel tested the products against each other and the SRP & Poorboys combo seems to produce the deepest shine v the SRP and Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection (EGP) - However I can't comment on it's use on other colours.

If anyone on this forum has not had a look at the Detailing World forum, you should do. It's a mine of information whatever colour car you have.
Chris

Any decent wax is usually fine, I use the same as J90 which is the Poorboys stuff. If I am in a "Clean and shine then get a beer" mood I do the following:

Snow foam the car (using a cheapy cleanyourcar.co.uk hose sprayer)
Spray the wheels with AutoGlym wheel cleaner
Have a beer
2 bucket wash
Run a sponge over the wheels
Rinse thoroughly with the hosepipe
Spray with AutoGlym AquaWax
Dry with a big microfibre towel
Have more beer while running over the car with a polishing cloth (only takes 5 mins and leaves a great shine)

This keeps the car looking nice and shiny and can all be done in an hour if you get a wriggle on. It also doesn't remove any of the machined on wax and the AquaWax helps top this up a little. So I can get away with a polish every 3-4 months and this little clean is once every 1-3 weeks. 
07 Supercharged - Still breaking her in!

Boot soundproofing part 1 - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15612.html
Custom exhaust - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15296.html
18" wheels for Brembo equipped cars - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15052.html

All helpful replies.

ASP, when you refer to snow foam with a cheapy spray, do you mean the plastic bottle type:
"Super Spray - Hose end sprayer" Price £9.95" @ cleanyourcar.co.uk ?

According to the website, you plug it onto the end of the hose and snow foam the car, which seems cheap compared to £50 ir £60 for the metal equivalents, so what's the difference/ do they actually last ?

Thanks

I wish I'd tried one of the cheaper hose end sprayers first before shelling out on a snow foam gun for £50. I now only snow foam the car if it is really caked in road grime and dust (winter months). During non winter months I give it a good rinse off first followed by the two bucket, woollen washmit method.

My next FFRR will be silver in colour!!
Chris

Aye... black, white etc... all popular but silver never really 'goes off' imo.

Wears the dark and winter well and sparkles in the sun with less effort.

Found a horrendous looking, finger nail catching, child caught a bike pedal on 2 panels the other day and thought paint would be required but 30 minutes with Farecla G3 scratch remover applied with a Heavy Duty rotary polisher and finished with AG SRP = gone... not sure a darker colour would have been so forgiving