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

We are surely "infecting" more folks with "the bug". Great to see folks participate and enjoy the learnings and share them too!
Sohail is the pioneer, one who ventures out into the unknown,we are just duplicating his findings, and nirmals red beauty has surely won the hearts of us all in this round ;)
Gotta get my ride out in the sun to take some snaps but the sun is rare to come these days! As i write this, hear the rain drops outside, got the car covered as far as possible so saves some trouble, gotta get myself a proper cover though.
Notorious- i really wish could have your results too, wish it happens soon and DTDC folks do something:Frustrati
Vasoo- will post on my ownership thread, best is to meet up for my class scheduled for sept mid and learn first hand!

Oh man, you guys are raking some nice stuff with the works and my poor white beauty is getting ill treatment from the public at large. Some moron thought car boot was the place to lean and he/she must be wearing some silly jeans with rivets. I feel like crying, there are hell loads of small scratches in the rear with some tiny foot imprints on the top.

Please people, cars are not your baby's playground and please dont lean on cars. It hurts the owner. :(

^A touch sensitive alarm might take care of that! I too am thinking of getting a loud one which goes off with just a touch!!!

btw I hope Scratchout took out the scratches and stuff!

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Anyways, today the sun was shining bright so I decided to take some pics of the bonnet I did yesterday(with P21S carnauba wax)

Damn after nearly a week I felt the sun on my skin and it definitely felt nice!
My i20 was also happy, her paint warm to my touch! ;)
This is the first ever monsoon for her so I was kinda overprotective
Hope she doesn't mind!:D

I was surprised to see that the bonnet was nearly 88% swirl(random micro-scratches) free!

Some brilliantly maintained cars there and the bug does bite some people hard :D

Anyone know where I can get wd40 in chennai? The diesel removed around 90 to 95% of the black marks, but for the remaining 5 to 10% and to achieve the clean look before waxing wanted to pick it up from somewhere. Is it available on gp road?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MutantX (Post 2037555)

Pras which brand of cockpit cleaner did you get? they had turtle brand and also another brands such as abel. I wasnt sure how good this abel brand is, hence I opted to wait for some feedback before buying them.

The Abel brand is from Abel Bonnex SA. It is a french company which was acquired by Turtle Wax and is now a subsidiary of TW. The products are bcked by TW.

More information here : Turtle Wax, Inc.: Information from Answers.com

Rgds

Quote:

Originally Posted by pras.oct25 (Post 2039450)

Why cant you use something like Sonax Auto Polish To clean and prep the paint for waxing ???

it will only cost you around 350-400 !!

Thanks guys ! I was taken aback at the depth of the gloss that Collinite brought in, it was on top of 3 coats of NXT 2.0 which was cured at 24 hour intervals !

Im testing now to see how well & for how long the Collinite stays on !

Blackasta - Thats some serious shine ! We can see all the ridges on the coconut tree & even the expressions on the doggies face :D

Sohail - Wonderful wet look ! Your beauty is glowing, can see all the specks sparkling away in the sunlight !

@ Nirmal : Your "Red" BEAUTY looks wonderful. Need to attempt the same at my end.

I was wondering we generally polish only the sidewalls of the tyres and not the thread zone. Are you sure it will not have any effect on the thread when we polish the same.

Love your efforts anyway

Well could not resist trying my hand out at the only area, rather one of the two, where have not ventured out.
Taking inspiration from the pioneers(sohail and nirmal), did a wheel well detailing. It was messy to say the least! Had a brush and a hose pipe, but i think its the least return on a detailers investment of time and effort. I will probably stick to doing this in a jiffy with a hose pipe and a brush as just ONE drive in the bangalore roads has put all the hard work to almost nothing.
One good thing that came out, learnt that should clean the tire treads well and then apply gel for a longer lasting effect.
I think its better for me to direct my efforts where they count the most, which does include the alloys and tire treads. Have shown the cleaning guy how to do it, so will give me a few bucks more and ask him to clean the wells once in a while ;)
Meanwhile- gotta give my trained eyes a rest as each time i get into a small detailing session- maybe its just running the duster over, i can see those swirls that are hidden, and some few new ones too!
Looks like i may end up with a DA sooner than i expect if do not learn to ignore!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sohail99 (Post 2039390)

Hi Sohail,

That's one the best maintained i20 I have seen..clap:

What brand of micro fiber do you use ? I see an yellow one in the picture..

Thanks

Sateesh

This Gentleman writes a step by step guide on how he polished and restored his cars paintwork to look as good as new. The article is really detailed and has pictures to explain each step as well. A real eye opener and a fun read, i think, for anyone who is really serious about taking care of their car. Enjoy...

here's the link:

2006 Acura TL in Nighthawk Black Pearl (part 1) – Detailed Image

Quote:

Originally Posted by csateesh (Post 2040310)

Hi Sohail,

That's one the best maintained i20 I have seen..clap:

What brand of micro fiber do you use ? I see an yellow one in the picture..

Thanks

Sateesh

Looks to me as if Megs Supreme Shine, even that is very well maintained:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by csateesh (Post 2040310)

Hi Sohail,

That's one the best maintained i20 I have seen..clap:

What brand of micro fiber do you use ? I see an yellow one in the picture..

Thanks

Sateesh

Thanks! really appreciate it!:D

btw I was using the MF cloth that came in with collinite845( I think its the 'cobra' brand one)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkh (Post 2040410)

Looks to me as if Megs Supreme Shine, even that is very well maintained:D

Actually I started with megs supreme shine which I had washed and ziplocked. But, for some reason it started linting!(very fine lints reflecting sunlight abnormally!)

so I had to switch towels.

Boiled the supreme shine towel in water for like 15 mins and its as good as new!:D