Team-BHP - A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide

A few quick questions albeit newbie ones

- Would you guys recommend a good rubbing compound or claying the surface prior to waxing ? Which is better for my cars clear coat finish ?

- Just picked up a bottle of scratch out ? Good stuff ? Or should i stick to the good ol' 3M?

- If claying is indeed better, where can i get a good clay bar in BLR ?

Thanks :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ash_vtec (Post 1972148)

Clay - polish - wax. Bare minimum care required if you love your car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sohail99 (Post 1971037)

@Remington - If its a daily drive, then I'd recommend 2 coats of collinite(considering that its the best pure wax available here)

if you can source stuff from abroad(a friend or family member coming from US etc.) then getting a sealant through them is definitely recommended!

also, regular washing by 'car wash guy' actually induces swirls(paint defects) in your paint as his technique is definitely defective!(rubbing a dirty wet cloth on the car! its actually painful even to imagine that!!)

I'd recommend you wash your car using the 2 bucket technique - How to Wash Your Car (ShowCar style!)

to minimize any paint defects from creeping in!

General method for a new car is - Wash(2-bucket method) > wax(collinite or if possible, a sealant and then collinite after 24 hrs of curing)

you can apply 2 layers of wax with 24 hrs between the 1st and the 2nd coat to ensure even coverage of the whole vehicle!

a good quality car cover(Polco Tyvek) and a duster(jopasu car duster) will go a long way in maintaining that 'just out of showroom' look!(as it'll minimize the need for washing the vehicle)

remember, maintaining a new car is much more easier than restoring a paint full of defects later on!(if its a DIY)

Thank you Sohail.
Yes its a daily use car.
I will go by your recommendation. I am seriously considering ordering Collinite; just received a reply from sanjay@bringingbest.com with the pricing details.
Sohail thank you once again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by -NUT-case (Post 1971837)

All the solutions i tried did not work. Things i tried
Dishwash solution
Lime
Vinegar
Tile cleaning acid
Colin glass cleaner.

I had tried toothpaste, and I THOUGHT it left a lot of scratches. But looks like I had not cleaned the paste properly across the screen and it LOOKED like scratches.

In between I did regular cleaning of the inside windshield.

Now while driving through the rains, I find that my windshield is clear on both sides. So the toothpaste did work.

I used only my finger and the normal white Colgate. You might get better results with a Microfiber cloth.

In another experiment, I cleaned my house mirrors with Microfiber and it was horrible. It just spread the water around without cleaning. So I used a normal Indian cotton towel and the mirror was simply gleaming after that. Was a tad confused, but looks like the indian towel is indeed awesome for mirrors. No scratches too.
Tried with a tamil newspaper too, but it did not seem to work that well.

Maybe I'll use a combined approach for the windshield.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkh (Post 1971194)

Check this
Amazon.com: Klasse All-In-One Polish and Sealant: Automotive
and this is the AIO:
Amazon.com: Klasse All In One 10 oz.: Automotive
They don't look like the same product or are they! IF the first one is a polish+sealant, better to use that.
I saw the sealant and glaze( silver bottle) that is recommended. Read a few reviews where they mentioned, can be skipped. Also there is a kit, where AIO is sold with another sealant, so adding another sealant may work, though i agree that should stick to only the same brand pairs. Thinking of adding BF sealant on AIO or AIO+NXT and then Collinite

They are the same. It is sold in 10oz, 16oz, 33oz,.... bottles. You see the sealant application needs good amount of physical effort to keep the streaks out. The All-in-one name will tell you that you can use just that if you do not want to spend time detailing. If you want the best results and are a "detail-head" (which I'm sure you are)you must use the sealant. Autogeek also recommends DP sealant with AIO. In fact they sell kits where Klasse AIO is combined with Pinnacle as well. IMHO same brand pairs do a good job.

Let us know how your combinations work out.

Rgds

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brix (Post 1972396)

I had tried toothpaste

In another experiment, I cleaned my house mirrors with Microfiber and it was horrible. It just spread the water around without cleaning. So I used a normal Indian cotton towel and the mirror was simply gleaming after that. Was a tad confused, but looks like the indian towel is indeed awesome for mirrors. No scratches too.
Tried with a tamil newspaper too, but it did not seem to work that well.

Maybe I'll use a combined approach for the windshield.

OH! did i leave out toothpaste. Well i did try with Colgate white toothpaste. But it did not do the job. I had to rub with finger on teh same spot for nearly 5 min to get the glass clean. So it was not practical. But that is how i found out the coating in the glass could be cleaned at all.

Microfibre is not very absorbent. So it is not very effective in drying. But it is effective in cleaning the glass of dirt.

I have used newspaper with good results. Normal indian towel (preferably an old and clean one) is the best. But it tends to leave some cloth fibres behind.

How i do it is first use a wet microfibre to clean the glass nicely and then use a dry indian towel to wipe the glass dry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nirmaljusdoit (Post 1972707)

Nut case/Brix,

When i use microfiber cloth to wipe off the Megs Ultimate quik detailer, it comes off clean & the surface is dry ! I some times use it post washing to remove the remaining water droplets too & it picks them up without any scratches.

Which brand micro did u use ?

It works very well on paint for me too and for wiping off a few droplets but not for drying a wet surface. We were talking about using it for glass .

I have zwipes, mothers and megs microfibre.

My father had bought eurogold liquid wax along with windshield shiner and other things from a petrol pump last year. Instead of buying a 3M premium wax I thought I might use this however I was not sure how this totally liquid wax thing would work. The directions on the bottle say that I'm supposed to mix 1/4th of it in water and apply on the car. Since this will be all liquid what exactly am I supposed to do. Just apply it and rub it off or keep rubbing it in. Very confused with this liquid eurogold wax.

Quote:

Originally Posted by -NUT-case (Post 1972739)

It works very well on paint for me too and for wiping off a few droplets but not for drying a wet surface. We were talking about using it for glass .

I have zwipes, mothers and megs microfibre.

Strange ! I use the Megs micro for cleaning my car glasses & havent faced any issues ! Will try mirrors at home & see if i face the same issues.

I used Zwipes MF too (but not the one for Glass cleaning). Its not good for mirrors.

As far as I have seen - Microfibers are superb to clean the LCD screens. Just spot wet them and your Monitor is back to Factory condition.

For mirrors, its the well used Indian cloth towel(not terry) and the small cloths used to clean spectacles that work superb.

For windshield, slightly wet Jopasu MF / Indian cotton towel / squeegee's work fine.

For the car body - MF are excellent for waxing purposes.

Looks like a few interesting posts on Micro's. Well a few months back had posted here and on a dedicated thread about Micro Fibers- my finds and collection
I use 3M cloth( blue one- not sold outside) and that is absolutely fantastic- for body as well as for Glass
For detailing- Megs is superb- not as good for wiping off wet car
I have a few more- those are special ones for wax removal and buffing. Megs also works very well for wax removal in fact.
Norton( a lesser known one) is perfect for glass cleaning(better than the rest)
Have posted pics there too. Its an ocean as far as micro fibers are concerned!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sohail99 (Post 1973475)

If a glass is super dirty, then I use a terry towel for the first pass(with the glass cleaner)

and then a lil' bit of sealant and buff off with a softer mf cloth! (now the glass beads water like crazy! :D)

I don't know how good an idea it is to use sealant on glass. Might leave a coating which might cause glare at night .

I also tried MF wet with detailer to clean glass. Results in super clean glass. But stopped doing it for the same reason as above.