Suggestions on my detailing shopping list

[x1nick]

I have had my black 2003 Audi A3 for almost 4 years now and while it still looks good when cleaned I have noticed many swirl marks appearing and many light scratches from idiots in car parks!
My previous cleaning strategy has been:
- Rinse the car with the hosepipe
- Wash each panel (starting with the roof working down) with a sponge and a single bucket
- Rinse each panel as I go
- Let it dry on it's own
- Polish it using micro fibre clothes and Autoglym polish

Almost bought an A5 last week but have seen some sense and have now decided to keep my car for a year or two. Figured I will spend a fraction of the cost of an A5 on making my car look a little better

Currently every panel is covered in various light scratches which I think can be sorted with a bit of work, but I have 3 slightly more concerning marks.

All three images should be clickable to very high resolution images! (5-6MB!), please excuse the excessive tree sap all over the car! Was forced to park under a tree the other night and haven't had chance to clean this yet.

Passenger door - appears something has been closed on and marked both the door and frame down to the metal!



Rear passenger side panel - no idea what caused this but again down to the metal and looks like it may be rusting!



Drivers door, two scratches crossing over each other, one deeper than the other. (will try re take this photo as seems more focused on the hedge)



I have set myself a budget of £300 for everything I need and starting to feel like this is too low! Especially if I am to fix the above marks.
Anyway after spending hours researching reviews into various products here is my current shopping list, hopefully in order of use to clean the car

Pressure washer - Nilfisk C120 £99.99 - can be found slightly cheaper but those additional accessories may make this useful for other things too! - from eBay
Snow foam - Auto Finesse Avalance 5L - found many positive reviews about this I figured the slightly extra cost could be worth it - £29.95 from Amazon
Lance - Autobrite lance - Everything I have read says buy a good one, still not 100% on this one really - £41.48 from Amazon
Wash mitt - Dodo Juice Tribble - Seems to have good reviews, should I buy two? - £12.50 from eBay
Shampoo - Dodo Juice Sour Power - So many mixed reviews on shampoos, any suggestions? - £7.49 from Bears wax factory
Buckets - ScrarchSheild 2 bucket set - Probably could get this cheaper! - £27.95 from eBay
Alloy cleaning - I currently use Autoglym Clean wheels and seems to work ok
Alloy brush - BWF Alloy brush - Any suggestions here? - £3.75 from Bears wax factory
Drying towel - Dodo Juice Orange 60x60cm - How many are needed to dry a car? - £12.95 from Bears wax factory
Meguiar's Clay kit - Still not sure on this, some say not to clay at all (Have also read some positives about 3M clay from eBay) - £20.70 from Amazon
Polish - I already have some Mer polish and some Autoglym super resin polish, do I need anything different?
Microfiber clothes - BWF branded - Was going to get a few of these, but would like some suggestions here - £0.89 each from Bears wax factory
Wax - Angelwax Dark Angel - £34.95 from Bears wax factory
Alloy sealant - Angelwax Bilberry - was this or the Poorboys alloy wheel sealant - £12.95 from Bears wax factory
Rain repellent - Angelwax H2Go - Seems to have a few good reviews - £4.95 from Bears wax factory

This comes in at £311.39 so slightly over budget!

Any suggestions would be welcome

 

[Jonathaan]

All of the above looks good m8, but to remove them scratches and all swirls on panels ideally you need a DA and then various cutting compounds.

My m8 did mine for me last year and it came out beauty! Below is a link to a few shots he got and that was just after the correction, we then moved onto adding glaze and a wax on top.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.601723176518858.1073741837.520453884645788&type=3

 

[Dave-S3]

My advice would be to ditch the pressure washer lance and snow foam, its not necessary for the home detailer (IMO) anyway & get a duel action polisher kit from CYC, the menzerna one is a good buy here: DAS-6 PRO Dual Action Polisher - Menzerna Intro. Kit - Clean Your Car

Hope that helps, The problem is if you can feel a scratch or mark with your finger nail, even only slightly, its too bad to polish out and needs body shop attention basically, even a professional detailer won't be able to sort it, for deep chips the chipex stuff seems to get good reviews on here, the door edge and mark on the rear panel will almost certainly need a body shop/smart repair to get them sorted out, you might be able to get them looking better with a polisher but thats about it!

 

[x1nick]

Have looked at various polishing machines and read a few mixed reviews. General consensus that if you don't know what your doing with one you will probably make things worse.
Main reason for the snow foam was because I need to buy a pressure washer for the patio/drive! But then again the snow foam and lance is adding £71 to my shopping list alone!

Just having a read into chipex and some of the photo'd results I'm seeing seem a bit too good to be true. Think I'd be a little too worried about this as I don't have a steady hand and could even be classed as having two left hands
Might take it to a body shop and see what they suggest, could imagine it going into the £100s just to fix those 3 marks though!

 

[Brodster]

I make up detailing bags for beginners with everything you need to start detailing your car and all contained within a nice handy sized bag. Look at the link below to see the basic one. I can throw in a nice pot of Dark Angel for you as that is the best wax Ive ever used for darker cars.

The Detailing Barn - www.brotek.co.uk

 

[Dave-S3]

Have looked at various polishing machines and read a few mixed reviews. General consensus that if you don't know what your doing with one you will probably make things worse.
Main reason for the snow foam was because I need to buy a pressure washer for the patio/drive! But then again the snow foam and lance is adding £71 to my shopping list alone!

Just having a read into chipex and some of the photo'd results I'm seeing seem a bit too good to be true. Think I'd be a little too worried about this as I don't have a steady hand and could even be classed as having two left hands
Might take it to a body shop and see what they suggest, could imagine it going into the £100s just to fix those 3 marks though!

Yeah id guess around £300-500 at a body shop for what i can see there! No a dual action polisher isn't a machine polisher which can make things worse, from what I've read on dual action polishers you can't go wrong! Its also worth remembering that SRP and the likes are polishers that only fill the marks they don't "cut" them out..

 

[manor13]

Pressure washer - Nilfisk C120 £99.99 - have one myself good PW
Snow foam - Auto Finesse Avalance 5L - do you need 5L try 1L to see if you like it and see below
Lance - Autobrite lance - get onto detialing world as discount plus foam for not much more and its probably better than AF stuff
Wash mitt - Dodo Juice Tribble - mitts are much the same megs are a good basic choice
Shampoo - Dodo Juice Sour Power - good and DJ B2Bmild is better
Buckets - ScrarchSheild 2 bucket set - worth it don't be tempted to buy "brand name buckets they dont make them they just add a sticker"
Alloy cleaning - AW bilberry is good and the original.
Alloy brush - BWF Alloy brush - spend some money on wheel woolies ar daytona speed master
Drying towel - Dodo Juice Orange 60x60cm - dear buy the blue ones with the red edging cheaper better
Meguiar's Clay kit - Still not sure on this, some say not to clay at all (Have also read some positives about 3M clay from eBay) - £20.70 from Amazon- clay cloth same price'ish or look for bilt hamber clay
Polish - I already have some Mer polish and some Autoglym super resin polish, do I need anything different?
Microfiber clothes - BWF branded - costco yellow cant go wrong
Wax - Angelwax Dark Angel - £34.95 see brotek
Alloy sealant - Angelwax Bilberry -
Rain repellent - Angelwax H2Go -

 

[x1nick]

Yeah id guess around £300-500 at a body shop for what i can see there! No a dual action polisher isn't a machine polisher which can make things worse, from what I've read on dual action polishers you can't go wrong! Its also worth remembering that SRP and the likes are polishers that only fill the marks they don't "cut" them out..

Slightly more than I'm willing to spend!

I may look at getting a dual action polisher in the future, not sure I can use one due to having carpal tunnel syndrome and the vibrations may cause me to cry like a baby haha

 

[x1nick]

Pressure washer - Nilfisk C120 £99.99 - have one myself good PW
Snow foam - Auto Finesse Avalance 5L - do you need 5L try 1L to see if you like it and see below
Lance - Autobrite lance - get onto detialing world as discount plus foam for not much more and its probably better than AF stuff
Wash mitt - Dodo Juice Tribble - mitts are much the same megs are a good basic choice
Shampoo - Dodo Juice Sour Power - good and DJ B2Bmild is better
Buckets - ScrarchSheild 2 bucket set - worth it don't be tempted to buy "brand name buckets they dont make them they just add a sticker"
Alloy cleaning - AW bilberry is good and the original.
Alloy brush - BWF Alloy brush - spend some money on wheel woolies ar daytona speed master
Drying towel - Dodo Juice Orange 60x60cm - dear buy the blue ones with the red edging cheaper better
Meguiar's Clay kit - Still not sure on this, some say not to clay at all (Have also read some positives about 3M clay from eBay) - £20.70 from Amazon- clay cloth same price'ish or look for bilt hamber clay
Polish - I already have some Mer polish and some Autoglym super resin polish, do I need anything different?
Microfiber clothes - BWF branded - costco yellow cant go wrong
Wax - Angelwax Dark Angel - £34.95 see brotek
Alloy sealant - Angelwax Bilberry -
Rain repellent - Angelwax H2Go -

Thanks for this!

Have looked over at detailing world and found the group buy for the foam lance and dropped them an email. Works out much cheaper than buying from amazon!
Had a look for B2B

Will get the B2B shampoo instead.

Have found a slightly cheaper bucket set on eBay for £22.99 probably should just go out and buy some buckets and get grid guards for £5 a pop

Daytona speed master - £20+ for a brush! wow will see how my budget looks towards the end of all these changes

Changed towels to the blue ones and going to get two

With regards to clay, had a look at the bilt hamber products and they come in soft, medium and original for about £14 for 200g which should I be looking at considering this hasn't been done before.
Thinking I should be using the original for the first clean then soft on all future cleans?
Would this be a suitable lube for claying Car Chem Clay Lube Quick Detailer 500ml

 

[manor13]

trust me there good brushes, I used to sell two big buckets and and grit guards with wash & rinse logos deliv for 21.99 so if they are big then £22 might be an ok price. the lube is fine. the only diff between soft and reg is the reg needs more needing to make it compliant soft's easier to work with they recommend only water with their bars as well.

 

[x1nick]

Didn't get the brushes in the end, maybe will in the future but my turbo is being replaced next week so would rather not spend any more

Anyway all the new cleaning products turned up and due to the weather I haven't had chance to give the car a clean. Quickly cleaned the windows and applied two coats of the Angelwax H2GO, this is by far the best product I have ever used. Words can't explain how good this is!

Thanks to everyone who offered their advice

 

[Leebo310]

Bit late with the input I know but I'd get the g3 clay mitt from Halfords mate instead of a clay bar. Cheaper anyway plus it's so much quicker (and easier) to use. Less chance of marring.
Good choice on the ab lance from dw too, it's an excellent product and if you got the package with the magifoam then that's really good stuff. I'd say a snow foam (or at least some form of pre wash) is the most important thing in the whole list. Idea is to get as much dirt off before you ever touch the car with a mitt so a snow foam and/or citrus pre wash are essential in my opinion.
With regards to a DA, they are a lot easier to use than a lot of people make out. It's like anything, you just need to do your research and take your time! Don't expect instant results and you'll be fine.
It's definitely worth a purchase though, the results that you can achieve really do look impressive!
You'll be surprised at what scratches and marks you can remove as long as you take your time.
Good luck mate!