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Detailing - Keeping your car looking amazing
Basics
Keeping your car looking amazing is fairly simple and doesn't take too much time but it's important to understand why paying the guys at the supermarket £5 to give it a quick wash with a dirty sponge once a month will ruin your paint
Key things to remember are:
It's a lot quicker to put scratches in your paintwork than it is to get them out
A bit of wax every now and then won't hide months of neglect
The steps are as follows:
- As often as possible
- Wash
- Every 3-12 months depending on season
- Clay - deep clean of the paint, leaving a spotless (but completely unprotected) finish
- Polish - remove light scratches and put the shine back into the paint
- Wax/Sealant - builds the shine and provides the paint with protection from the elements
- As necessary
- QD (Quick Detailng spray) - use it to remove bird droppings etc and give the car a quick polish
Washing
The key to washing your car is to remove dirt, grime and salt without creating a lot of scratches in the paint. Done correctly this is the most important point to keeping your car looking good and the no. 1 rule is:
Do not use a sponge to wash your car
Claying
Courtesy of RRUK - full thread here
The clay bar process involves 2 items, a soft putty like clay and a lubricating spray.
You spray a small part of the body panel with the lube spray and then glide the clay over the surface back and forth, then across back and forth. It's the easiest thing to do ever.
What happens is that your paintwork gets contaminants bonded in the paint surface that washing and polishing cannot remove, such as tree sap, insect residue, traffic film, tar etc. You can't generally see it, but trust me, its there. While the contaminants are there, your paint is never truly clean and your polishing and waxing is flawed. The clay picks it up off the surface.
When you look at the clay afterwards you can see it all. If you put a small sandwich bag on your finger and run it over the freshly washed paint you will feel tiny bumps, its these that the clay removes. You can also use it on glass and your alloys.
And after RRUK has pulled the invisible dirt out of his paint
