Keeping her clean

[ILStang]

I think you are over complicating things. Buy two buckets, two grit guards, a good wash mitt, and some nice microfiber drying towels and you should be fine. Put some car wash soap in one bucket (never use dish detergent) and clean water in the second bucket. Wash a section with the mitt, rinse it in the clean, repeat. Hit up autogeek.net for some great info and tutorial videos. Most importantly, enjoy the car.

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[sharp21]

Or get some rinsless wash and learn how to do that. Perfect for garage kept vehicles. I only use full soap and suds if she us real dirty, with two buckets. Otherwise I get better, faster results with rinsless

 

[BlueThunder]

Feel like I need to ask for some help here. I've only every used the scrub brushes and turtle wax/cleaner in a mop bucket at my station to wash my beaters.

With the Mustang, I'm seeing a bunch of terms I don't understand. Hell, I've never even waxed a car before. Never owned one worth waxing.

If anyone is able to break things down a bit and them maybe let me know what will keep my car looking new for decades, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

-Emt1581

It's all about finding something that works for you in your area. You're in PA so we have similar weather patterns of hot sunny summers and FU winters. Twice a year I do a strip wash (clay if needed), paint sealant application, followed by the normal Adam's H20 Guard 'n Gloss application and a waxing (once before winter gets really cold and in the spring before the real heat hits). Then just regular washes when it gets dirty with a quick application of Guard n' Gloss and wax as needed. For light dirt/water spots I just hit it quick with detail spray.

First and foremost, get 2 buckets as suggested and 2 wash mitts (I use one specifically for the body and one for the tires/wheels/that area). Get a good soap from a reputable company (I use Adam's). That's your basic wash. Then at least get a good wax (there are so many you'll have to do your own searching there). Those 2 things will be better than what probably 99% of people do to their cars.

 

[Nuked]

I like Chemical Guys, just gotta wade thru the marketing BS and overlapping product lines to find what you like. I have been pleased with the following:

Foam cannon with Mr. Pink (Amazon 16 dollar cannon works fine with my pressure washer).
Clay (I use the Yellow from CG w/ their luber)
Blacklight
Jetseal
Petes' 53
Use Hybrid V07 as a quick detailer/wipe down after routine washing.

I like the glass cleaner they offer and the All Clean degreaser (works great on engine bays, rubber floor mats etc). The VRP is good on the grayish black trim on rocker panels.

Not a fan of the diablo wheel cleaner or the Interior Cleaner. I prefer off the shelf Meguirs for those areas.

Hope this helps!

 

[Omega]

Different solution, but I got ceramic pro 9h coating applied. Spray it off and go.

 

[P51DNA]

3 bucket method with grit guards and adams 10" car wash pad
2.3 GPM/2700psi pressure washer, mtm foam cannon, shorty gun, 4.5 orifice 40 degree nozzle
I use CarPro Reset or Optimum car wash soap
RDP Wheel brushes, Lake Country wool wheel mitt, griots rubber cleaner, meguiars wheel brightener.

CR Spotless Water Systems for final rinse. Leaf blower to get most of the water off. I'll use a detail spray as a drying aid when not using CR spotless. CG Innerclean pretty much everytime she goes back in the garage. Leather cleaner/conditioner twice a year.

When it heats up (soon), I'll be using CarPro EcH2o waterless wash when I can, and normal method when needed. My car doesn't see many miles and usually doesn't get much dirtier than a light dusting.

My car and wheels are currently protected with CarPro Hydro2, wife car has collinite 476s. I'm wanting to do full refresh on mine when I get the time using single adaptation of polish angel cosmic 9h that's sitting on my shelf, but I just reapplied Hydro2 so I'm good till about the end of summer.

There's a lot of great info out there. AMMO and Obsessed Garage on YouTube are excellent sources as Labradog mentioned. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my car. I love watching Matt's videos. Even the junkman is still relevant. You don't have to get all crazy with foam cannons and cr spotless systems, but you should educate yourself on proper washing procedures to keep your car looking top notch.

 

[Ecoboosted]

subcribed

 

[Labradog]

Different solution, but I got ceramic pro 9h coating applied. Spray it off and go.

Coatings are often sold like that, but there is maintenance you have to do to them. And they don't totally prevent scratches and swirls like they would have you believe.

 

[Emt1581]

Is this the same as the Foamaster II just with a different name on the bottle?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bunnyk-Foamaster-II-95QGFMR-75QGFMR-Foam-Sprayer-Foam-Gun-/221731643558?hash=item33a03c60a6:g:5QkAAOSw-7RVHCPY

It's the cheapest foamaster I could find. The others are $45+.

I want to get this and a grit guard or two ordered, some soap, towels and then I'll do more research on polishes/waxes/etc.

Thanks

-Emt1581

 

[Omega]

Coatings are often sold like that, but there is maintenance you have to do to them. And they don't totally prevent scratches and swirls like they would have you believe.

The only maintenance I have to do is a 1 x year checkup at a vendor. 9H, my level, is a lifetime product.

This type is not one of the ones that has to be reapplied every few months. It cost a good bit but this stuff is crazy.

I have no affiliations with this company, but I'd love to have. Now that it's nice out I'm getting ready to take my bikes in for treatment too!

[ame]

 

[P51DNA]

Ceramic pro and all of the 9h coatings are good for up to 24 month depending on conditions and maintenance. They require maintenance just like all the rest. Ceramic pro even makes a maintenance spray called sport for this purpose. You should be using it much more than once a year to extend the longevity of the coating and it's hydrophobic effect

 

[PatrickGT]

I wrote this whole thing, and it's posted in another thread.. but, here you go again, my terribly oversimplified detailing process that should be a guide but not a guidebook!

Mostly related, hopefully helpful:

I can speak to this from an application and livability stand point. I will also say that these high silica coatings are exactly what you want to help prevent the swirls (but really you are doing the swirls yourself, more on that in a sec).

I have applied the following:

*I have applied nearly every single "ceramic" coating, synthetic sealant, and natural wax on the market by now


From an installation standpoint, and this might piss a few pro detailers off, but these are all probably easier to use than a traditional sealant. They self-level, you apply very thin coats and barely buff before it self-levels, and a couple of them (CQ and 22PLE) can also be applied to plastic trim so you don't even need to worry about taping anything up.

HOWEVER

If you don't have the surface properly prepared to receive the coating, you're going to have an awful time. You simply cannot apply this to "washed and clayed" paint, as you haven't really done a damn thing yet to prepare the surface other than washing your car and picking at a few specs with the clay that you either didn't get or introduced more scratches with.

So here's my method to prep, there are others but there aren't really steps here you can skip:

-Pre-treat car by removing loose dirt with a pressure washer (I use a Karcher something or other).
-Continue pre-treat by blasting car with foam cannon
-Rinse it off again, because you don't want soap drying anywhere
-Wash your wheels with dedicated bucket and brushes/mitt. I use 3 sizes of wheel woolies, a DI nylon 1" brush, and a lambswool wash mitt that is dedicated to wheels in a bucket that I use for wheels only. This is important as the metals/ceramics/asbestos/other stuff in your brake pads is not good for your paint.
-Wash your car using the two-bucket method (youtube if you don't know) with grit guards and a specific wash mitt that ONLY TOUCHES YOUR PAINT. THis mitt does not touch: Wheels, underneath the car, the underside of your side skirts, exhaust. This is important, see above.
-Spray on some IronX. This stuff smells awful. The cherry flavor smells like a sulfur fart after eating cherries for 30 days. The lemon scent smells basically like vomit. It is worth it, though. What this does is remove iron filings and other metallic contaminants from your paint before you pick them up in your clay and scratch them around your car (I believe I mentioned this earlier). You'll spray it on, then see it turn purple red color when it is working. Spray some on a dedicated wash mitt or sponge (don't you dare use the one I told you to keep clean earlier) and lightly wash the car with the IronX. THis is particularly important on all horizontal areas as well as behind the wheels where hot brake dust can embed itself in the paint. Rinse.
-You could clay your car now, because IronX isn't going to get the bird droppings and bug mess off, only metallic particles. You'd be wasting a lot of time, though. I recommend one of those new foam bars or a nano skin wash mitt here, it knocks the time down to about 20 mins because you are just washing your car and not spraying on QD, claying a square, wiping it off, repeat. Just wet the car, get some soap, and wash it with your mitt. They are reusable. Just do this. Save the clay for getting around badges and in crevices, but otherwise you won't need it anymore.
-Wash your car again. I know, what a water waster... but you're preserving paint here so you gotta spill some milk. This ensures everything is properly washed off the paint, including what you loosened in the previous step.
-Dry the car, completely. Microfiber waffle weave towel, leaf blower, air compressor, terry cloth skirt while you twerk it dry... just get it completely dry including in seals etc.
-Tape off your trim (if your car isn't dry, this will fall off)
-If you are interested in doing any wet sanding, mopping, denim pads, etc.. now is the time. Ask questions on this specifically if you need to.
-Polish stage 1. You can argue back and forth with me and anyone else all day about what polish to use here, but I use Meg's 105 and I don't care what you think about that. I have some menzerna stuff I could cut with, but why? I like the Meg's because it breaks down way better, consistently, and let's be realistic here... you're doing a fist pass, this is not the area to show us all how you like to waste your money on a 2x more expensive polish that you're just going to polish over in the next step. Or maybe it is, I dunno, kinda depends on your self awareness I suppose.
-Polish stage 2. I use Meg's 205 here. I will accept arguments as using 205 is what leads me to doing a 3rd stage, however; it does break down better and more consistently than the competition and it allows me to go to a better polish after so it's fine unless you have a consistently better way. Not a huge fan of the dusting of the 205, either...
-Polish stage 3 and final: Menzerna SF 3800 Super Finish Plus. This product has very little cut, very high gloss. It will make the paint super smooth and slick, which is what you were going for when applying your coating. Do your final polish with this, make sure you are breaking it all the way down though and not being lazy because I made you polish 3x... remember all that time I saved you on that awful clay? This is where you get your mirror finish. You absolutely want this on your darker metallic, you can make your own decision on the lighter and brighter colors but I would say you need to do this step on Magnetic, Guard, Black, Ruby, and any of the darker blues if you actually want depth when you are done. If you don't, or you have a light color, skip it. Oxford White will buck this trend as I'd absolutely do this step on that car simply because that finish relies solely on reflexivity and no depth.
-Clean all of the polish out of any badges, seams, anywhere. All of it. Get it completely clean, and you should have taped off anyway so you should be good.
-Remove tape
-Wash the car (I'm calling the city on you!)
-Do an IPA wipedown. I get 90% isopropyl alcohol from the grocer's and dilute it 50:50 with distilled water, use a very deep nap microfiber towel and clean off all polish oils. This seemingly frivolous step is absolutely crucial to getting your coating to bond.
-Get the car completely dry. Completely. Even drier than you thought you had before your polished and the vibration caused your mirrors to drip. Super. Dry. If you have to wait a day and then do another IPA wiepdown, that's your issue. It has to be dry, or you won't bond the sealant.

So once you've properly prepped your car, you just grab the applicator you bought with your coating and follow the instructions. 2x2 sections, back and forth motion (I like to go with the wind flow for this, it probably doesn't make a difference but if you haven't caught on that I'm a bit nuts about detailing then you haven't been reading), buff lightly, let settle. Don't drive your car for 24 hours, I personally wait 72 but see above right? If you used the 22PLE or CQUK then you can also coat your tail lights, reflectors, and the trim on your mirrors/skirts/etc. Don't be afraid, but also don't apply it unevenly or it will show. IF you mess up somewhere, just add more product. Seriously. Get your applicator, put a few dabs on, and redo the area. Much like super glue it will release and heal itself, so what are you afraid of? ;)

SO now you're going to take a step back to admire all the hours of hard work you put into your car... and you will be disappointed. Your coating will look distorted, it won't 'pop' or have that 'glass like' appearance. It will look kinda dull, and basically kinda crappy. Just wait. After 3-5 days all of your prayers will be answered and you will know you made the right choice.

After your full cure time (varies by product but no more than 5 days), you can apply something like CQ Reload or another top-coat (22PLE has a finish coat as well but I forget that name too, it's good though. Match your products, also). I actually like to do the following on dark cars, particularly black ones which I traditionally only own: Apply, BY HAND (the palm and fingers with no gloves or applicator, use your hand damn it), some carnauba wax. Your body will help warm it for proper distribution, your skin will feel any imperfections or areas of concern (but really just how smooth your car feels now) and it is a better method to apply. Do the same thing for leather conditioners, except don't use those on your Mustang because you have top coated leather and you're smarter than that right?

So these coatings will last 12-24 months in the TX and AZ sun. I garage my cars, so they see more like 24 months. Oddly, you are still very much protected at this point from UV and environmental droppings but it starts to dull and you'll want to redo it anyway because you haven't detailed your car in 24 moths and that makes you feel depressed. You just notice the shine is dulling, maybe you see a swirl or two (that you caused) or you just notice the hood doesn't look the same as the vertical sides... either way, strip and redo... but 1-2 years is serious performance and you shouldn't be complaining about that though I'm sure some of you still can and will. I have a preference for the CQUK over the 22PLE (the opti isn't really the same these days imo, but I still use the lens coat) simply because it performs the same and costs half as much, for this reason it is the market leader. The UK formula is important as well because it is actually a stronger bond with higher silica to combat their constant rain which also happens to work very well in the sun for the same reasons.

So now all you have to do is maintain the shine, which is easy if you really do the 2-bucket method properly which is a 3 bucket method anyway:

1. Wash your wheels with DEDICATED media, DEDICATED bucket. I use Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner and regular wash soap (I think I use some Gold Class? It honestly doesn't matter and CG stuff is kinda junk FYI, just don't use Dawn).
2. Rinse your car. If you don't have a pressure washer and are unwilling to get one, use your hose and get a better job so you can get a pressure washer.
3. Foam cannon? Maybe. If your car is really dirty. If it is just a thin coating of desert moon dust like mine you probably don't need to do this but once every several washes to get wheel wells etc.
4. Buckets. You should have 2 left. They should have grit guards. They should NEVER EVER EVER be used for anything but these tasks. Label them, one for rinse and one for wash. Never use the rinse bucket to wash, or the other way around. Just keep them separate, learn it now, train yourself and you'll be fine. Use a dedicated wash mitt, I use only lambswool and I get them from Detailed IMage. I like the ones with the thumb because they are more versatile for getting smaller areas. You're only going to use this a few, maybe 10-15 times, on your paint before you throw it in with your wheel stuff and trade out your old one for new. Just get used to it. Sure, it costs you a few bucks but it's less than paint and remember you are doing the swirls yourself, they don't just happen from nowhere no matter how hard you try to justify yourself.
-Wash your car. Wash one section (like half the hood, half the roof, the trunklid) at a time from the top down. Always cleanest to dirtiest so for example if you have someone take a dump on your hood and then the rest of the car is clean you'd want to wash that first, and also stop pissing people off because that's hella aggressive and I'd like to know what you did to them to get this reaction.
-Rinse. You should be rinsing as you go along, then do a final rinse with your sprayer, then take the sprayer off the hose and do the sheeting method. This involves pouring undiffused (regular hose) water on your car top-down and allowing the surface tension of the water to pull itself off of the surface. Science!
-Dry. Blow out your grille, mirrors, any areas that trap water with a leaf blower or compressor. Dry the car with the microfiber waffle weave towels that I mentioned earlier that you don't ever use for anything else and never wash with anything but other microfiber with no fabric softener (if you're reading this and have done any of these things, throw out your towels and get new ones because you've ruined them). The goal is to touch the paint as little as possible with your drying towel (throw away your absorbers and other junk, please) and still remove all the water. Touching = swirls, that you cause from your own actions (you need to know that).
-Dry door jambs, under hood, trunk area, etc
-Pull car back in garage and do a final wipe on anything that has drips.
-Enjoy

That's about it. If you have any specific questions or issues that you feel I could help with please feel free to ask.

So you should read that, and then probably have questions.

 

[speedaholic]

[MENTION=24815]PatrickGT[/MENTION]; Amen dude!

Op, you can close the thread now...

 

[P51DNA]

Thanks to Patrick for putting in the time to write all that. Good info.

It's probably not worth mentioning but I disagree with a few things. One, why are you rinsing the foam off the car before using the two bucket method, two why not recommend a high quality ph balanced soap with good lubricity (they're not all the same). I don't see the issue with leaving soap on the car. I'd much rather have it on the car than our hard tap water. Three, I don't agree with washing the car again after polishing. Understanding the importance of getting the polishing oils off the car before lsp, you're risking introducing swirls back into your freshly polished paint. Not with the right technique and methods right? No I still think the risk isn't worth it especially with no protection on the car. This also eliminates the need to wait for the car to completely dry again. Which youll have to use towels for cause the leaf blower wont be to effeftive with no protection on the car (more risk of swirls) .Fourth, and this is more of a question, but I've always heard to use much lower % of ipa than 50. I dilute to 11% and the stuff is still very strong. But I belive ipa or car pro eraser will remove the oils.

 

[speedaholic]

Rinsing after the foam cycle ensure that the dirt lifted by said foam is completely removed.

The dried soap could leave a film that reduces the compound and polish efficiency.

I do agree that an IPA wipedown (dilution percentage is debatable, ymmv) after the final polish should be sufficient, as long as there isn't a spec of dry polish to contaminate/intrrfere with the coating.

Patrick's meticulous process should be performed only with top quality new or barely used media too prevent/minimize marring after the polishing stages. If executed with proper technique, the results should be no less than stellar.

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