Not detailed in over ten years...

[Ben85]

... so for the last ten odd years I've driven company cars so not even thought twice about cleaning it.

The last car I took pride in was my Subaru Impreza.

I'm after some advice on products. Last time I used things I use to use mostly meguiars, do they still make good quality stuff?

I'm borrowing my mates ds polisher in the new year so that will hopefully bring the car back up to a good standard.

And what's the deal with snow foam? Is it any good and at what stage of the process do you use it? Do you spray it on then off again or mitt over the top of it?

Cheers Ben.

 

[DrEskimo]

Yea Megs stuff is still decent. I like trying other products though just to see what works for me and what doesn't. Depends how much you want to spend...!

Happy to give you some recommendations on certain products.

A really good polish combination for Audi paint I have found is the Megs D300 (Microfibre cutting compound) with a microfibre cutting disc. Cuts well and is very easy to work with. Followed up with something like Megs 205 and a black hexlogic pad would be great.

Snow foam is a 'pre-wash' step. The idea is to spray on at the start, let it dwell to soften any dirt on the car, then rinse. Theoretically it's better than rinsing alone as it softens the dirt up and gets more muck off before you do any contact washing. You can also use diluted traffic film removers, like ValetPro Citrus prewash or powermax TFR. These are a bit stronger, so can be detrimental to any waxes on a car if not used at the right dilution ratio, but are easier to apply and rinse off than having to use a power washer with a decent foam cannon. I personally find foaming good fun though..!

You can foam again afterwards to give you more lubrication when contact washing the car, but its not common.

 

[Ben85]

Ah ok cool. I've got a katcher k2 pressure washer so I'm guessing they'll do a foam attachment.

Would compound be machined on a damp car?

And is the meg 205 a wax?

 

[DrEskimo]

Ah ok cool. I've got a katcher k2 pressure washer so I'm guessing they'll do a foam attachment.

Would compound be machined on a damp car?

And is the meg 205 a wax?

Yea search on eBay and you can find a relatively inexpensive foam lance. Just make sure it has the Karcher adapter to connect to your Karcher lance. Wouldn't bother with the one that came with the Karcher, as it is pretty poor.

Nah you want to make sure the car is dry and completely contaminate free. I would hit it with a tar remover product and a Iron X product to remove as much contaminates as possible chemically. Then you follow up with a clay bar to remove any remaining bonded contaminates. Clay bars are awesome. Once that is done, fully dry the car and ideally get it in a garage with a good light source to carry out the paint correction. Compounding will remove the majority of the defects (swirls, marring, etching) and then polishing will refine the finish and get rid of any micro-marring installed by the compounding stage. Search JunkMan on youtube and check out detailing world for tutorials. Highly recommend testing out on a scrap panel (preferably an Audi with the same paint) to work on your technique before doing your own car. Honestly, it's quite difficult to do damage with a DA though.

Nah Megs 205 is like a final jewellers polish. Once you have polished, you will then want to apply protection of your choice. A wax, synthetic wax sealant, or a ceramic based sealant. Again, plenty of info on the web for their pros and cons.

 

[Bristle Hound]

@Ben85 - Plenty of info on Detailing World if your brave enough lol
Decent place to start on there is here IMO -
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=2d2ccca42ca528e8f8618cc39b7cbade&f=17