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

Hi All, a newbie trying his hand at detailing here. I completed the following steps on the hood of my car -
> Dusted it completely
> Washed it with water
> Clayed it using Mothers clay bar and Quick detailer.
> Applied Formula 1 wax and using the applicator started spreading it in swirls till it went dry.

Unfortunately, though the Hood is now smoother to touch and feel, the shine is nothing to speak of. Is my application of Formula 1 wax right to get the desired result? Please correct me and help me achieve the desired results please:

Quote:

Originally Posted by aravind.anand (Post 3158783)

Washed with water? No shampoo used. Use Amway Car Shampoo or if you could lay hands on Meguiars Hyperwash, even better. Use a wash mitt and a drying towel for drying.

Use only micro fiber towels for car paint surface. A normal Rs. 10 roadside available will cause more trouble than any benefit. You could get yourself Eurow Microfibers, VFM product.

Later get Meguiars clay bar, far better than Mothers after you have exhausted the current one. Discard Formula 1 wax, its one of the worst. Your 1.6S deserves better. Get a bottle of Collinite 845 or better I would suggest is move to sealants such as Black Fire Wet Diamond. Waxes aren't suitable for Indian environment condition.

You could get Duragloss 105 which is currently available. Blackfire is hard to source.

After you have washed, clayed, compounded and applied paint sealant, to maintain the finish use Optimum No Rinse Wash & Wax(ONR) in a ratio of 1:25(ONR:Water) as quick detailer(QD). Just mist on and wipe off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aravind.anand (Post 3158783)

Unfortunately, though the Hood is now smoother to touch and feel, the shine is nothing to speak of. Is my application of Formula 1 wax right to get the desired result? Please correct me and help me achieve the desired results please:

Are you sure the Forumla one wax you are using is genuine?

There are lots of fake Formula one products in the market.

More details in this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post2642358

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3158845)

Use only micro fiber towels for car paint surface. A normal Rs. 10 roadside available will cause more trouble than any benefit. You could get yourself Eurow Microfibers, VFM product.

Is this better than Jopasu micro fiber and 3m's? I am currently using Jopasu and Sonax's micro fiber. I was thinking of going for 3m next time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parthasarathig (Post 3153856)

My personal preference is Hyperdresser 1:4 for tyres, trims and engine bay for that matte or satin finish. And PERL for my faded trims to make them look newish. You can try out 50ml sample of PERL and dilute it to see if you like the look it gives. Same for HyperDresser if your supplier agrees to give in small qty or else youd have to buy an entire gallon.

Finally go with the one that gives you the look you prefer.

Hi Partha,

I personally don't like the glossy finish on bumpers/plastic trims. So Meg's Hyper Dressing is the product to go for. Though the 1 gallon size on most places was a little worrying.

Found a smaller bottle of Hyper Dressing on Vicky.

http://www.vicky.in/shopping/car-car...per%20dressing

I've a can of STP One Step Tire Care lying around. Thinking of trying that on a small section. lol:

Rgds.

PS : I'm not affiliated to Vicky.in in anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumar_gautam (Post 3160175)

It seems the smaller bottle is only a bottle that is being sold and not the hyper dressing liquid itself :). If you find a smaller quantity, please do post a link.

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3158845)

Washed with water? No shampoo used. Use Amway Car Shampoo or if you could lay hands on Meguiars Hyperwash, even better.

Later get Meguiars clay bar, far better than Mothers after you have exhausted the current one. Discard Formula 1 wax, its one of the worst. Your 1.6S deserves better. Get a bottle of Collinite 845 or better I would suggest is move to sealants such as Black Fire Wet Diamond. Waxes aren't suitable for Indian environment condition.

You could get Duragloss 105 which is currently available. Blackfire is hard to source.

After you have washed, clayed, compounded and applied paint sealant, to maintain the finish use Optimum No Rinse Wash & Wax(ONR) in a ratio of 1:25(ONR:Water) as quick detailer(QD). Just mist on and wipe off.

Hey El Lobo, thats a fantastic direction for a newbie. I bought a huge one litre bottle of Wurth shampoo, but left it at Chennai, and came to Coimbatore, thus had to wash with only water.

Next action is to discard the Formula 1 wax and get the Collinite 845 ( hoping that that is the one I need for super gloss finish.

A big thanks for your fantastic directions :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluevolt (Post 3158851)

Bluevolt, you just made me feel a wee bit more depresssed! I checked the product I bought, there is no sign of any hologram or anything to check. But it says Original with USA's flag at two places on the tin stupid: Now gotta replace this with a more appropriate and real one ( Collinite 845 most probably ) Thanks for the pointers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by aravind.anand (Post 3160413)

Next action is to discard the Formula 1 wax and get the Collinite 845 ( hoping that that is the one I need for super gloss finish.
A big thanks for your fantastic directions :)

Follow these simple steps and work your way to shining glory.

1. Wash the car with a PH neutral car shampoo. E.g. Meg's NXT.
2. Dry the car properly with good towels. Don't let the shampoo dry.
3. Clay the car (you have done that)
4. Try to remove any surface impurities further, by Meg's Ultimate Polish. This thing has mild abrasive properties and you must use a lot of elbow to get the perfect finish.
5. Apply a wax on top of this , 845 would be great. Applying wax is in itself an art. Too thin, you are going to miss the protection and the look. Too heavy, you'll end with marks/smearing.

You may have a look at my ownership thread for a more detailed process and review, if you wish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aditya_rao (Post 3160332)

It seems the smaller bottle is only a bottle that is being sold and not the hyper dressing liquid itself :). If you find a smaller quantity, please do post a link.

Cheers

Thanks for pointing it out. Guess I got too excited seeing the small quantity which does not seem to be available anywhere.

Might not be a bad idea to get 3-4 people together & get the gallon & split it evenly.

What do you say? :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackasta (Post 3160659)

How's vicky.in in terms of buying car care items? Any feedback from bhpians?

I've bought from them a few(5-6) times.

One order was delivered late & sent from some other dealer directly, coz they went out of stock of the item. But they called & informed me about it. And gave an option to either cancel or continue with the order.

Another time, they went out of stock of Meg's Glass Cleaner. But again called & gave options to go for Armor All or Sonax which they had in stock.

Other 3-4 times, no issues at all. Prompt delivery, well packaged, genuine products.