What to buy???

[a3_dan]

Hi dudes,

I want to buy some cleaning gear for my a3, i have a lava grey a3 and just want to know what best to use without busting my bank balance!

Any suggestions?

I was looking at the Werkstatt Arcylic kit on PB..Is this any good for all year round up keep?

Please can anybody help?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Dazmo]

Be more specific, are you after waxes, washes, interior cleaning products, sealents, tyre gels, micro fibre clothes, terry towels or everything?

 

[Hunty]

Hey Dan,
You can go mad in this field. I, like you, like to keep my car in excellent condition! Firstly, don't use a sponge or chamois. They both scratch the car's paintwork by rubbing the grit that is on there into the top layer. If you could get a wash mitt and a microfibre drying towel, you will dramatically reduce this! By also using the two buket method(bucket with soap, bucket with clean water to rinse your mitt after every panel to remove grit) you will reduce this even further. I know it may seem over the top, but when you look at a lovely car but it has spiders webs all over it, it spoils it.
I would seriously recommend claying the car to remove contaminants from the paintwork, it makes a massive difference, you'd be amazed!!!I use a DA polisher on my cars, which rermoves these swirls/cob webs with a [polish, but you can fill them with Autoglym super resin polish (AG SRP for short) Or poorboys world black hole by hand. Once you've done that, a good wax for longevity is Collinite 476s. This will protet your car for 6 months with a couple of layers. Then its a simple task of using a speed detailer once you've washed it at the weekend to enhance the gloss and maintain the protection. It may take you a few hours but this process would cost you over £100 done by someone else!
A decent washing guide
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27
Pick through the processes you want to use, but as a basic treatment, I'd go rinse, wash with mitt and 2 bucket method, rinse, clay leaving car wet and using detailer spray as lube, polish using SRP, wax using collinite!So a wash mitt, 2 buckets, microfibre drying towel, SRP/poorboys black hole or another filler, collinite wax or even Finishkare 1000p for a really glossy look!!! the werksat products are really good, but don't think they contain fillers, so any fine scratches/swirls will not be masked. However if you machine polish, werksat will enhance the finish massively. I'm sure some of the more seasoned detailers will give you their opinions in a little while.
Hope this helps, Sorry if this comes across as teaching you how to suck eggs, but was unsure how much advice you wanted.
Neil

 

[a3_dan]

Be more specific, are you after waxes, washes, interior cleaning products, sealents, tyre gels, micro fibre clothes, terry towels or everything?

Hi Daz, Im pretty much looking for a complete new kit. Just really want to get my car on a new standard to what i can at mo. As I currently just tend to use Autoglym and havnt even clayed my car as of yet and just really want to get stuck in and see what she looks like after a good weekender of detailing with some classier materials.

Hey Dan,
You can go mad in this field. I, like you, like to keep my car in excellent condition! Firstly, don't use a sponge or chamois. They both scratch the car's paintwork by rubbing the grit that is on there into the top layer. If you could get a wash mitt and a microfibre drying towel, you will dramatically reduce this! By also using the two buket method(bucket with soap, bucket with clean water to rinse your mitt after every panel to remove grit) you will reduce this even further. I know it may seem over the top, but when you look at a lovely car but it has spiders webs all over it, it spoils it.
I would seriously recommend claying the car to remove contaminants from the paintwork, it makes a massive difference, you'd be amazed!!!I use a DA polisher on my cars, which rermoves these swirls/cob webs with a [polish, but you can fill them with Autoglym super resin polish (AG SRP for short) Or poorboys world black hole by hand. Once you've done that, a good wax for longevity is Collinite 476s. This will protet your car for 6 months with a couple of layers. Then its a simple task of using a speed detailer once you've washed it at the weekend to enhance the gloss and maintain the protection. It may take you a few hours but this process would cost you over £100 done by someone else!
A decent washing guide
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27
Pick through the processes you want to use, but as a basic treatment, I'd go rinse, wash with mitt and 2 bucket method, rinse, clay leaving car wet and using detailer spray as lube, polish using SRP, wax using collinite!So a wash mitt, 2 buckets, microfibre drying towel, SRP/poorboys black hole or another filler, collinite wax or even Finishkare 1000p for a really glossy look!!! the werksat products are really good, but don't think they contain fillers, so any fine scratches/swirls will not be masked. However if you machine polish, werksat will enhance the finish massively. I'm sure some of the more seasoned detailers will give you their opinions in a little while.
Hope this helps, Sorry if this comes across as teaching you how to suck eggs, but was unsure how much advice you wanted.
Neil

Neil, The above info was great! Thanks for that. As mentioned above, I have been lazy since getting the A3 and have just been sticking to the Autoglym stuff. Havnt ever clayed the car, and just really want to spend a good couple of days detailing to get a excellent and long lasting finish which i can then just maintain from there onwards.

 

[Hunty]

Autoglym stuff is good buddy, better than some, you'll be amazed when you've clayed it, its a must, the meguiars smooth surface kit is what I started with and is still one of the best I've used, sonus green is the one I'm on at the mo which is as good as the meg's one! A good claying twice a year will do it the world of good. But a good wax or sealant is also a must. Good luck, there are lots of options out there and there's no real wrong option, as long as you wash, clay, polish, seal then protect, you'll be fine and your car will look tip top! Maintain with a detailer spray, job done. The werksat prime is your cleaner/polish/part sealant (known as an All in one (AIO)), jett is your sealant, glos is your detailing spray and also enhances your glos when you've applied the previous 2. Very quick to do, great results! Good luck buddy

 

[rowdyboy]

Hi mate, I posted some pics on here about 6 months ago of my dolphin grey A4 using Werkstatt. Have a search back and you will find them. The pics arnt the best quality but the results in real life with this kit are amazing, highly recommended.

 

[JD09]

Still not a fan of this stuff and would always favour Chem Guys Blitz, but this is all down to experiences and personal preference. With a sealent, you can't easily go wrong.

The main stay of the shine comes from the work put in before the Last Stage Protection (aka LSP), i.e. the polishing stages. A good machine polish/hand polish followed by a sealent will see much greater gains in looks and gloss, than just a sealent and/or wax.

 

[chris432626]

Polished Bliss do some kits, Hunty's comments are a good guide. Do some searches for the detailers that spend 4 days on a car!

 

[Hunty]

JD09 is bang on, the hard work in the polishing stage sets the foundation for the shine, wax's and sealants can only do so much. Shame you're south london and so far away, I could have given you a hand with my DAS6. Maybe some other member will volunteer there help?

 

[JD09]

Polished Bliss do some kits, Hunty's comments are a good guide. Do some searches for the detailers that spend 4 days on a car!

You see, this was the only good thing about my Clio. It's paint was so soft I could get round it in a day or so.

Audi? No chance!!!

 

[a3_dan]

JD09 is bang on, the hard work in the polishing stage sets the foundation for the shine, wax's and sealants can only do so much. Shame you're south london and so far away, I could have given you a hand with my DAS6. Maybe some other member will volunteer there help?

Thanks mate. I might actually have one knocking around my shed. If so, i will get that beast unleashed!

I want to take the wheels off and give them a real good seeing too also whilst im at it. Any suggestions of a decent wheel cleaner that you use?

I was also thinking about refurbing my hubs and calipers whilst im down there, anyone done this? By this i mean giving them a fresh lick of paint, maybe just black or silver, i dont want them standing out in anything loud like yellow etc ... Just want to tidy them up as there looking a bit ropey and have a bit of surface rust.

 

[Hunty]

Valet pro bilberry wheel cleaner is good( http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wheel...bilberry-wheel-cleaner-1-litre-/prod_499.html ), depending on how dirty and contaminated they are depends on how much you dilute the solution. You'll need a spray bottle to dilute it in to and apply it, get some tar remover as well if your taking them off. And you can clay them as well, that should bring them up well! then use some SRP (versatile stuff, useful to have) to polish them and some wheel sealant and bob's your uncle, a set of clean and well protected alloys! There's a new thread about wheels in this section, take a look. Just found a guide about getting old aloys to look like new. Take from it what you want, but its quite definative! http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9560

Take the wheel off, Clean off the calipers with brake cleaner, can get it from halfords, then paint with hamerite metal polish. You can take them off , but personally, its more hastle than its worth, just paint them as far as you can with a brush, who cares about the back. But you may, so thats entirely upto you. Thats what I did anyway. I'm sure there's probably a better and more professional way to do it, so hopefully someone will come along to rubbish my methods. It stayed on my MX5 though no probs.

 

[a3_dan]

Valet pro bilberry wheel cleaner is good( http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wheel...bilberry-wheel-cleaner-1-litre-/prod_499.html ), depending on how dirty and contaminated they are depends on how much you dilute the solution. You'll need a spray bottle to dilute it in to and apply it, get some tar remover as well if your taking them off. And you can clay them as well, that should bring them up well! then use some SRP (versatile stuff, useful to have) to polish them and some wheel sealant and bob's your uncle, a set of clean and well protected alloys! There's a new thread about wheels in this section, take a look. Just found a guide about getting old aloys to look like new. Take from it what you want, but its quite definative! http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9560

Take the wheel off, Clean off the calipers with brake cleaner, can get it from halfords, then paint with hamerite metal polish. You can take them off , but personally, its more hastle than its worth, just paint them as far as you can with a brush, who cares about the back. But you may, so thats entirely upto you. Thats what I did anyway. I'm sure there's probably a better and more professional way to do it, so hopefully someone will come along to rubbish my methods. It stayed on my MX5 though no probs.

Cool, thanks for info yet again, looks like i have a few bits and peices to start buying (pay day wed- whoooppeeee)

What colour would you folks recomend going with calipers? bearing in mind my car is the lava grey, i think! LOL

 

[WX51TXR]

This thread provides a good overview of a basic, affordable routine, and is specific to Lava Grey...

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showth...tine-for-mid-tone-metallic-pearlescent-Audi-s

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