[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

The thing is I would be doing one at a time using the jack provided by VW to lift the tyre, remove it and clean the wheel well and put the tyre back again.

El.

The jack in our car is meant for short usage only.
I assume you will take more than 30 min per alloy. I don't know if that would be safe. The jack stand in the post above is heavy duty and that is the correct way to do it.

I don't want to discourage you but basky's approach is for professionals who have the right equipment.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

The jack in our car is meant for short usage only.
I don't want to discourage you but basky's approach is for professionals who have the right equipment.

How short could be the time frame? Never discouraged always motivated to buy something new to substitute it.
Any idea how much the 3.5 Tonne jack would cost?

[basky]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Well you just made my day. Even I have a Vento TDi Highline pearl black. I'm also planning to clean the wheel and arches like you have done on all 4, coming Sunday.

Want it to be something like this : Black Vento by Night?


or

By Day

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

The thing is I would be doing one at a time using the jack provided by VW to lift the tyre, remove it and clean the wheel well and put the tyre back again.

Do one at a time. Use the scissor jack which comes with the car. Just chock the opposite side tyres to prevent any movement of the car while you work on it. Get one pair of Jackstands if you have the space. Else, just place a couple of old tyres under the car - to prevent the car from crashing down if your jack fails.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Did you get it done from some car washing shop or have you done it yourself?

I do it here. Am fed up with sloppy work at the 'service station'. Maybe you will find specialists who do a good job in your town. If you are feeling lazy, give it to them and sip a tea meanwhile.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Did you even wash the engine bay? Did you even remove the under hood cover which is provided in TDi?

Yes the engine bay is made sparkling clean. Pressure washer is essential for that. The sound deadening mat can be removed easily to clean up the inner part of the bonnet. Just dont lose the clips. Maruti's clips are cheap and easily available. VW will slit your throat.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

What are your suggestion as I would be doing it all by myself? Any special agent used for agitating the brake dust to clean the alloys?

By all means do it yourself. Better: Throw a car wash party and call in friends to help. You can return the compliments another weekend.
Special solutions? Always a solvent/detergent combination followed by a pressure wash. Solvent could be Diesel and the detergent - household liquid soap (only for the underbody & wheels - not on paintwork.) If you manage to get a branded product, it may be easier to use and enviro friendly. Enjoy yourself while at it.

Originally Posted by S_U_N

The jack in our car is meant for short usage only.
I assume you will take more than 30 min per alloy. I don't know if that would be safe. The jack stand in the post above is heavy duty and that is the correct way to do it.
I don't want to discourage you but basky's approach is for professionals who have the right equipment.

The max you should is to invest in a pair of jackstands - not very expensive. You can get smaller and cheaper trolley jacks or bottle jacks. Else stick to the scissor jack which comes with car. Prop up the car (after lifting with any jack) with the jackstand or at least a couple of old tyres to be safe.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

How short could be the time frame? Never discouraged always motivated to buy something new to substitute it.
Any idea how much the 3.5 Tonne jack would cost?

Unless you are working on an SUV, dont waste money on very heavy jacks.

Just remember that all jacks can and do fail - often with dramatic consequences. Just Play safe and have fun.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by basky

Want it to be something like this : Black Vento by Night?
Attachment 857332

or
Attachment 857333
By Day

Thanks for the valuable information. Have the same plans.
As I have no jack stands would rather use two scissors jacks(one from my Vento another from dads Fiesta), that should be the fail safe if one goes kaput. Spare tyre under the car as another fail safe.

Once VW workshop head told me to never wash the engine bay because of the electrical parts that may go kaput, what are your thoughts basky?
Can the sound deadening mat can be removed without breaking the clips and how to remove them?

Plan to clean all 4 tyres and than
Exteriors.
>>Washing the car with Amway Car Shampoo
>>Claying the car with Mothers clay bar and ONR made clay bar lubricant
>>Removing swirls with Meguiars SwirlX remover and some scratch removing
>>Final step waxing with Collinite 915, 2 coats.
>>Cleaning of engine bay.

Interiors
>>Vacuuming of car interior and conditioning of leatherette seats with Amway Leather polish.

Looking forward to your reply basky and tough day tomorrow.

[sohail99]

Ancient engines will go kaput when exposed to water!

Now a days all electricals in the engine are thoroughly water and weatherproofed unless some mods are made that compromize those seals!

Maintaining those seals will ensure longer weather and waterproofing of the engine electricals!

Still, as a precautionary measure, I use an aluminium foil or a polythene to cover up the alternator and ecu before pressure washing the bay!

But I dont need to do that frequently as I quick detail(with onr in qd dilution) my engine bay every 2 weeks and dress all the hoses, wires, rubber bushes etc. And my baby being a garage queen is mostly always clean!

[basky]

CAR WASH CENTRES
What I dislike about 'Car Wash' centers here is this typical scene. They are washing two cars and two motorbikes at the same time. Between them they have two towels. The sequence is this-
1. The underbody is washed first : See the beedi smoking attendant at work.

2. They proceed on to the paintwork with the same unwashed cloth with the soap & bucket routine.


BACK HOME

Getting rid of the Brake dust with a degreaser followed by shampoo and a pressure wash. See how useful a retired tyre is - second life actually. Saves the alloys and our backs.


The Detailer's best friend: The humble toothbrush. Keep a collection including kid's brushes - soft and very useful in tight corners.


Engine wash with the sound deadening pad removed. Removal is straightforward - the clip expands when inserted. Just compress the V shaped clip and remove it.


Post engine wash


The Vento is loaded with badges. De-badging makes the rear much neater.

[el lobo 6061]

"Detailing is not a hobby but a passion, but a very labor intensive passion" - El.

Prologue :
It had been 4 months since I had worked on my Vento Pearl Black. The car finish was getting marred with each and everyday. Car wash guy just doesn't learn proper way of washing. Gave him good quality microfibers( MF ), but the damage was already done.
Swirls all over because he used the same cloth to wash the tyres to wash the body.

I knew I had to do something about it. Told him to wash only twice a week to keep the damage minimal. The dust here is just too much(read Sanpada, Navi Mumbai). After one day of wash the car looks like it had been in a desert storm.
My heart pained a lot. I knew something had to be done about it.
Started reading and watching videos on car detailing to get hold of what steps are done one after another.
Than came purchasing right products needed to repair the damage and do a proper detailing. Meguiars SwirlsX remover for the swirls and Mother clay bar for claying.

Today's detailing session

Dilemma:
I wanted to clean Vento's wheel well and tires. For which I thought would jack it up with two jacks and keep a spare tyre for fail safe. First surprise, Vento's jack is different. Its not a scissor jack but a half scissor jack. Basky could tell what is the technical name for it.
It was written on it, use jack for small duration. If wanted to work on the wheel well, use jack stands. So as safety first, dropped the plan till I get proper jack stands, read Torin and a Karcher pressure washer, or whatever it is called.

Start of session 10 am:
As the car was all covered in dust, splashed water onto it to get rid of the dust. Once that was done, next step used Amway car shampoo and 2 bucket method with MF to clean the car. Dried the car using Viking 6.25 sqft drying towel. Viking towel is really very good water absorbent.

Next step: Claying
Used Mother 80 gm clay bar for claying and ONR(Optimum No Rinse) to make my very own lubricant in the ratio 1:16(ONR:water). Used 1lt of lubricant for claying. It was quite hot today, even tough I have a covered parking.
Claying removed quite a lot of contaminants which cannot be removed by shampoo.
Used only half of 80 gm clay bar to clay the whole car. Claying made car surface very smooth and it is highly recommended to do it.
Clay bar after claying a certain section.



Next Step:Masking.
Did the masking of the plastic parts outline, door protector and window sill. Used ABRO masking tape for the purpose, costed Rs. 30 for 1" by 30 mtr.





Next step: Swirls & scratch removal.
Used Meguiars SwirlsX swirl remover to get rid of the swirls. SwirlsX is quite a potent liquid, as it even got rid of scratches which previously couldn't be removed by Formula1 Scratch Out.
I can't imagine what the Meguiars Ultimate Compound would be like. SwirlX removed 90% of swirls and car looked like new after it was done.
SwirlsX is very tedious to work with. Used Viking applicator pad for applying it. Did a good work. After applying SwirlsX in circular motions let it haze. After it has hazed just use a MF to clean the surface.



Next Step:Sealant
But as luck has it OptiSeal is not available anywhere and stock for another sealant would arrive in mid Jan'12. So this step was skipped.

Next step: Waxing.
After all scratches were taken care by SwirlX, started waxing using Collinite 915 Marque d'elegance. Applied a thin layer and after it hazed cleaned it using a MF. Finished the work by 4 pm with lunch included.

Final result & a small photo shoot.





So now works start for procuring a sealant, Torin 2 Ton jack stands and Karcher pressure washer for the next detailing session. It would be bigger compared to this one.
Couldn't get time for cleaning the engine bay, next weekend.

Reagrds,
El.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by basky

The Vento is loaded with badges. De-badging makes the rear much neater.

How do you do a clean debadging without scratching the surface?

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Detailing is not a hobby but a passion, but a very labor intensive passion

Thanks, El, for the detailed explanation. Makes me want to do it too. But for the want of time...!

[rajeev k]

@Basky
You have a lot of good tools and tackles and the time you spend on your ride is appreciative. Great DIY portfolio. Worth emulating.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Next step: Claying
Used Mother 80 gm clay bar for claying and ONR(Optimum No Rinse) to make my very own lubricant in the ratio 1:16(ONR:water).

Slight mistake my be over here. For making super slick clay bar lubricant make a ratio of 1:64(ONR:water) and for making a quick detailer make ratio of 1:16(ONR:water). Optimum No Rinse is a well worth product.

Originally Posted by nileshch

How do you do a clean debadging without scratching the surface?

Thanks, El, for the detailed explanation. Makes me want to do it too. But for the want of time...!

For debadging use a dental floss and a hair dryer for heating the logos/letters. Dental floss for prying through the logos/letter. I think any compounding product can be used for removing the adhesive.
When will your Blue Teutonic beauty be making shore at Mumbai? Can have a detailed photo shoot with the two best color on Vento, for now my car is at its best.

[swarnava.m]

I have this query regarding car polish. Most places I've visited or most people I've spoken to, talk about wax polish. The common opinion that goes around (or so it seems, to me) is that wax polish is the best, and can do wonders in keeping your car looking like new.

However, this one guy I spoke to at Dupont (they mainly specialize in body work) said that wax polish is the worst for your car, since the wax particles stay on the body, and while they do work well w.r.t. giving a great shine to the car, while parked in the sun, they melt in the heat and react with the paint. This has a detrimental effect on the paint in the long run.

Instead, he suggested to use Silicon polish, and said that though it is expensive compared to wax polish, it does a much better job overall. Primarily because it does not harm the paint of the car, and also because it has a reflecting characteristic which gives a much better shine to the car. In fact he said that he himself uses only silicon polish, and showed me some of the finished jobs he had that day. I must admit, they really looked admirable (and some of the cars were pretty old).

I would just like to hear some of the experts shed their views on this, whether this opinion really holds good or not...

[~~VinZ~~]

I am planning to do a detailing on my 2 year old Black punto Em Pk this or next week. Initially i was considering to get it done from 3M which will cost me 4400.00 for the 1 year guarentee package. Then i heard about waxoyl from my friend, he suggested to go for waxoyl.

Exactly when my confusion started on hte options i saw one more option at Reliance Auto mart in HSR layout. They had Paint rejuvenation for 1500 (though i am not sure how good they are)

I stay in HSR layout and i have 3M and Reliance automart close to me and not sure where i can find waxoyl.

Any suggestions?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by ~~VinZ~~

I stay in HSR layout and i have 3M and Reliance automart close to me and not sure where i can find waxoyl.

Any suggestions?

3M any day. They are professional and use Meguiars products. Always ask the detailing shops which products do they use and what all steps they perform for preparing the paint work. Cheaper job is not always the best because of inferior products used.
3M may be costly but you will get peace of mind job and that to with a guarantee, what else would you want.

[basky]

MEN IN BLACK

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

"Detailing is not a hobby but a passion, but a very labor intensive passion"

Prologue :, Today's detailing session,

Dilemma:
Its not a scissor jack but a half scissor jack. Basky could tell what is the technical name for it.

Eh? Sorry. Dont remember now as I used the Trolley jack. (Car is out of town with my son) If it is a groove, it is meant to avoid flattening the seam.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Next Step:Masking.
Used ABRO masking tape for the purpose, costed Rs. 30 for 1" by 30 mtr.

I got better results with the 3M tape. With ABRO I required additional cleaning to remove the adhesive residue, post removal.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

So now works start for procuring a sealant, Torin 2 Ton jack stands and Karcher pressure washer for the next detailing session. It would be bigger compared to this one.
Couldn't get time for cleaning the engine bay, next weekend.

Just buy anything solid for the jackstand. Karcher is expensive. I have their spray extractor too - works like a dream in cleaning the insides of the post vacuuming.

Thanks for the beautiful narration peppered with photos. Your English teacher would be proud! So are we. Am sure many (Men in Black) will follow your footsteps. As all your effort was manual, it is more commendable.

Originally Posted by nileshch

How do you do a clean debadging without scratching the surface?

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

For debadging use a dental floss and a hair dryer for heating the logos/letters. Dental floss for prying through the logos/letter. I think any compounding product can be used for removing the adhesive.

Answer as above. To be rid of the remaining adhesive, I use a solvent like ICI's Silicone remover - a pre paint prep solvent. Effective but not harsh.
It also helps if you have a Porter Cable to polish off finally.

Originally Posted by rajeev k

@Basky
You have a lot of good tools and tackles and the time you spend on your ride is appreciative. Great DIY portfolio. Worth emulating.

Thanks Rajeev. My wife calls me a tool maniac who cant resist possessing any tool I see. She is partially right. Yes I started with a pair of pliars and a screwdriver and have an essential collection now. Will share the photo of the collection once I manage to bring it all together as my older son borrows quite often. He too has the bug and has added many tools to our common little collection.

With the right tools, it is easier to work faster. Doing work for friends, partly offsets my cost of the tools and the boys who provide most of the muscle. (Better use of my sweat).

With so many TBHPians into DIY, my suggestion is that small groups (max 12/ group) are formed in each city to pool in and buy and share these tool. Have DIY meets to move things faster.

Why 12? - about that many weekends in 3 months.

[amit_mechengg]

i regularly use collinite 845 1-2 layers after polish and swirl removing process.

i have observed that even though collinite 845 gives very good and long protections it does not withstand swirls.

what i mean is the collinite coat gets swirled very easily.

even wiping with jopasu duster causes lot of marks on this layer.

havent faced this with turtle wax or any other wax