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-   -   A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/102011-superb-car-cleaning-polishing-detailing-guide-778.html)

Happy to help. Descale is slightly more acidic (6) than Reset but is overall perfectly safe on coated paint. Again, not for daily or weekly use, only when you find hard water spots that need it.

You can over dilute Reset slightly to reduce its harshness until you get the other bottle. Gyeon Leather cleaner is excellent for leather surfaces.

We got our car pooja done yesterday. Panditji went full artistic and covered most of the bonnet with his paintbrush dipped in sandalwood+vermilion paste. Couldn't say much then but I cleaned the bonnet today and this small patch refused to go away. Tried with a wet cloth and buffed with a dry one but no change. Any suggestions?

Finally washed my car today with Gyeon Foam using JPT Pro Foam Lance. Just foaming the car and washing it with pressure washer was enough to clear up all the dirt and the car is shining again. :D Had purchased Car Pro Boa as well for wiping. The grey and orange one. Since I dont' have a leaf blower used the towels to dry the car off. One thing I did notice is these towels leave streaks. Another thing that is bugging me now is the Car even though detailed and ceramic coated it has a slightly hazy finish at certain parts when viewed with a mobile torch. I guess watching too much of the CCAD and pan the organiser videos on YouTube has made me desire for a near perfect finish :coldsweat

Never let them apply that stuff to the paint, it’s very corrosive and will swell the clearcoat if left long enough, I’ve seen cars where even heavy cut compounds failed to fully remove the staining left behind by this.

In your case it’s reversible most likely as it’s not been long, take it to a detailer and have them machine polish the affected area, use a medium cut compound like Menzerna 2000/2400. Protect with a wax/sealant afterward (apply to entire car ideally.)

With drying towels, to avoid streaks use a second dry towel after lifting water with the first one. If you continue to wipe with the first, you will get streaking. Even safer is to just dab, leave a few seconds and lift, then follow with dry towel. Leaf blower eliminates all this as well.

Phone flashlights are very weak and don’t show much, use a powerful LED light and you’ll see everything, haze can mean improperly applied coating or improperly corrected paint (fine swirls/holograms.)

Noob questions. It is not possible to wash the car everyday. So I am looking for dry wiping options. I have started using Jopasoo duster as I do not have access to Korean dusters. Now my questions are:

1.Is wiping with a wet 3m cloth better than dusting with a duster?
2.Some black sticky dots, that look like insect excretion cannot be removed by simple dusting. Can I use a wet cloth to remove only those?
3.I am getting Meguier’s dry wash and foam pads. Is dry washing once a week enough instead of wet wiping with water every 2 days? Or a combination of both are required? Car gets dusty, not dirty
4. Is it enough to run the windshield sprayer to clean the windshield or is it better to dust it with a cloth before spray cleaning?

Sorry for quoting myself. Had to suddenly go for work related matter. I live in an apartment, cars are very tightly parked with bikes and bicycles behind. So it is not possible to use foaming shampoo or car wash, or a leaf blower. Also no power chord is available near my car park. Hence Jopasu duster, even though AJ56 clearly says it puts minor scratches.
The only thing possible is to wipe the car, that too not bucket wash. Wet wipe by dipping, like the cleaning guys do. And of course spraying and polishing with no hindrance. What is the best way to proceed here. It is a new white Venue MT. It has factory paint with no coat or PPF.

Any suggestions for a decent economical leaf blower ? the black and decker 3030 seems to be not available on amazon and further seems to be quite expensive. How is this one https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09F9828MD/?tag=tbhp0e-21 or the Bosch GBL 82-270

After reading I have decided not to go with a waterless wash as I have no experience and probably would scratch the car badly. I am going with a rinse less wash, Proklear.

For this I have decided to mix half strength Sonax wiper fluid that is 5ml in 1 litre, spray the same from a bottle and wipe the windshield with a micro fibre cloth.

Since the car does not have any paint protection, which one would be better? Turtle Wax ICE Seal N Shine - Improved Formula or Meguiar's Ultimate Car Polish for Maximum Gloss & Durable Paint Protection? Amazon reviews say that the Turtle Wax product is a dust magnet.

Experienced members, please guide if I am doing it right.

Hi Folks,

I just got my new Virtus and went to get Wax polishing done at the neighborhood detailing spa (don't feel comfortable going for a Ceramic coat somehow). The person suggested going for a 'Teflon' coating instead as the difference is just 3k and it will give a much longer lasting protection.

'Teflon' is of course not real teflon, but one coat of macine polishing with the following compounds (paint polish followed by surface compound). He will apply the same on the glass parts also to make them water repellent (if I understood him clearly).





My question to the gurus here:

1. Is it harmful for a brand new car to undergo this process?
2. If no, is there any benefit of using these on a new vehicle? Will it protect the paint and make it easier to clean? Are there better compounds to do the same job?
3. How do I take care of the car after this? The detailer recommends coming once every two weeks for a water wash.

The issue I am trying to solve is that it is currently a dust magnet and I am avoiding using the building car cleaner as much as possible, so need something which will protect the paint and make it easy to clean / maintain.

Today I used 3M glass cleaner to clean the windshield and windows. I sprayed it directly on the windshield and wiped it off with a dry dry micro fibre cloth as advised by the 3m car care guy. I don’t know if I was doing something wrong, but it left streaks on many parts of the windshield. A small spray using Hyundai’s wiper fluid mixed in water removed the streaks.

I think you used more than the required quantity of glass cleaner. That's why it left streaks. They could be removed with a damp microfiber cloth as well

Gentlemen, as pretty much everyone knows, It's sale season.
I am considering picking up a spray wax.
Shine is not a major consideration - My indica is white, and no matter what I do, or what i use, it looks the same. I get it mostly machine washed once a month or so at our local wash place.
I am seeing different waxes at different price points - I know the higher priced ones are more durable, but will they survive a machine wash - or several over so many months?

Waxes are generally less durable than synthetic sealants. You can try something like Turtle Wax ICE Seal N Shine which is generally considered to last for a few months atleast while still being cheap.


That towel leaves streaks because there is too much water on the car. Use a waffle weave microfiber towel to remove most of the water and then follow up with the fluffy car pro towel and there will be no streaks at all. Or just use a leaf blower first.

Teflon has been outdated for years and I'm reasonably certain this "detailer" has no clue what he is doing. Both the bottles you posted are abrasive compounds meant to correct scratches and swirls on the paint. Neither are going to leave a coating and neither will protect your paint.

Yes it is harmful for a car to undergo this process for no reason as it takes off a layer of clearcoat each time it is done. A good detailer will do his best to take off only the smallest amount possible when compounding and polishing a car and he will apply a wax, sealant or ceramic coating after it is done to protect the paint.

1) Both methods will scratch, lightly dusting will scratch slightly less than wet wiping with a towel, dry wiping with any pressure will scratch the most, almost like taking sandpaper to paint.

2) Most likely those are tar deposits, spray some quick detailer and wipe the area down, followed by a tar remover to break down and remove the contamination.

3) Touchless washing will be the safest, failing which spray into a towel and wipe (waterless wash), flipping to a fresh side every panel (half a panel for larger ones), you will need at least 8-10 towels to do this and you will still inflict swirls but it’s still much better than the other methods mentioned above.

4) Always remove dust from glass and wiper blades before using the wash and wipe.

Avoid the Bosch as it doesn’t have enough power, it will work will but take very long to dry. The other one you’ve linked is a cordless blower which can be used if you don’t have access to electricity, if you do have access then stick to 3000W corded machines for the best performance.
There are many 3000W blowers on Amazon that should work. Order one which can be returned and check.

You need a pressure washer to do a rinseless wash correctly and safely, in your case given the extreme limitations, I would suggest driving to a local car wash once every few days and have them do a contactless wash with foam cannon and a pressure washer and use their compressor to dry.

Turtle seal n shine in a decent sealant that will protect the paint, wipe down with 25% IPA after washing before applying the sealant. Meguiar’s ultimate polish and no protection, it’s a mild abrasive meant to remove defects, ideally with a machine polisher.

Better than wiper fluid, use 25% IPA solution mixed with distilled water in a spray bottle. Don’t spray directly on the windshield, use two towels, spray into the first and wipe with the second.

Please go to a professional who knows what he’s doing, they can burn/irreversibly damage paint on a new car otherwise.

A compound is used before a polish, not after. Also, you don’t need to compound a brand new car unless it has deep swirls/scratches. There are many other steps in paint prep between washing and machine polishing, like clay, tar and ferrous removal, etc. do not skip these.

1) It’s not harmful to machine polish, provided the detailer knows what he’s doing and uses a gauge to assess how much paint he’s removing, anything more than 1-2 microns is not needed on a new car.

Repeatedly machine polishing every few months is definitely damaging and uncalled for unless one refuses to wash the car safely, thereby re introducing swirls and scratches.

2) polishes and compounds have no ability to protect, they are abrasives designed to remove paint defects with a machine. To protect, use a good quality ceramic coating or at the very least a paint sealant. Better compounds: Menzerna 400, Menzerna 2000, 3D ACA 500, Carpro Clearcut. Note: these are heavy-medium cut compounds only used for deeper defects generally not needed on new cars (with exceptions.)

3) Contactless washing, safe contact washing with a ph neutral shampoo in a foam cannon with preferably soft water, etc.

First of thanks a lot for your reply. Was hoping that someday you would reply when you get time. For the above mentioned point do I remove the dust with a dry towel or duster first before wiping? Now I have bought a hand pump sprayer, the garden variety and spray RO water on the windshield and the sunroof to get rid of the dust, then spray the wiper solution (which I will change to diluted IPA as advised). Then wipe it dry with a micro fibre towel.

Any recommendation for a good dashboard cleaner for regular cleaning that is mild and does not leave a strong smell?

You have cautioned against the rinseless wash due to lack of a pressure washer, shall I go back to the dry wash that you have mentioned (with the Meguiar’s product, that I had asked)?

I am planning to buy the black and Decker cordless leaf blower. Let me see if it cleans more or puts more dust from the surrounding pillars and walls. Mine is next to the entrance wall. ( Hopefully after cleaning the walls a few times with the blower, the car will get cleaned more than dust falling from the walls!)

And finally

Being new to this I do not know what a quick detailer is. I can search on the Net but dot want to get it wrong. Can you name a few specific products. I have read that many people use a diluted Proklear for this purpose before using a tar remover. Is that okay?