Right,

At the moment i'm a lazy beggar and i get my car polished/waxed etc by a detailer, but i want to give this a go myself.

Am already a member on Detailing world, but the amount of threads that come up on a search are unreal.

So, what i'm looking for is..

What wash/polixh/wax process to you use, and what products.

At the moment, i've just ran out of CG Wash'n Gloss, still have plenty Snow foam, and my new Karcher with foam lance.

I've no polish, wax, sealant etc...

So..

Gimme what you've got please.

I don't have the luxury of a foam/lance :( its all by hand

1) Cold water rinse.

2) Wash with Autoglym 'Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner' (ABSC) using the 2 bucket method. Rinse.

3) Clay if required.

4) Bug/Tar remover (Halfords )

5) Repeat step 2.

6) Dry.

7) Wheel arches (ABSC) scrub/rinse.

8) Autoglym Super Resin Polish (ASRP).

9) Autoglym EX-Sealant (AEXS).

10) Wax using Collinint 476s.

11) Repeat step10 (probably after the wheels and a bite to eat).

12) Cold water rinse the wheels

13) ABSC the wheels.

14) ASRP the wheels.

15) AEXS the wheels.

16) Poorboys World Wheel Sealant the wheels.

17) Repeat step 16.

18) Megs Endurance Gel on the tyres.

19) Armor All Protectant on mudflaps/rubber.

20) Rain-Ex the windows.

Let's leave the interior for another day!

Sorry about the specs on the first shot (light rain)

Excellent.

I had Poor Boys wheel sealant on mine, and to be honest, it didn't do a good job at all.

Here's mine when it was done.

Great 'mirror' shot! Looking good

I think Poorboys Wheel Sealant works well on top of AG Ex-Sealant. Also in the past, I've been guilty of going too heavy and ending up with pink 'rock'

"Little & often" now.

Sorry about the specs on the first shot (light rain)

Looking good and I love those old school Avez type A's(Iirc)

AG Ex-Sealant - is this the ag gold label stuff?

How much time/ money do you want to spend?

Looking good and I love those old school Avez type A's(Iirc)

Thanks, Bro! Euro bumper mods to follow!

AG Ex-Sealant - is this the ag gold label stuff?

Gold label. Autoglym 'Extra Gloss Protection'. Very thin and you just smear it on without applying any pressure. Wierd stuff, but like a layer of Gore-tex, pre-wax.

How much time/ money do you want to spend?

Time, i guess a good 4-5hrs is ok to work on.

Price, i guess around £50 to start with this month.

In all honesty mate people on DW go way OTT with some of the way they go off.

Stuck with Wash and Gloss. Its the best shampoo i have come across and have tried plenty but always come back to this.

2 buckets and a minimum of 1 grit guard is needed as is a good wash mitt. Either Microfibre or wool, use wool personally

Bug & Tar - Cheapo white spirit is the same stuff so i never splash out as i cover the area after with wax

Polish - If your doing it by hand stuck with SRP

Wax - If you want something cheap and good then Collinite and if you want to go with something Meguires #7 or Chemical guys EZ glaze to add a glaze for that little extra

Wheels - Think again that the Chemical guys wheel guard is a little better than the poorboys. Or if you want something different try some Jetseal 109 as they would look awesome after Jetseal but needs a minimum of 2 coats so can be hard work

Metal - Megs metal polish works well

Glass - Autoglym glass cleaner works well but dusts easily so can leave a mess so megs fast glass works well again

Anything else ive missed ill add on later

Nice car Johnny excellent mirror finish:thumbup:

Cheers for the input and the positive comments so far guys.

Matt, i know what you mean about DW.

Some are a bit OTT with the cleaning.

I just want something manageable, that's not involving a rotary/PC etc...

And can be done and dusted, start to finish in 4-5 hours.

Doubt your car needs claying looking at it so I would go for (in yor budget constraint for month)

foam

wash (2 bucket) Megs Gold class

Dry with an application of QD

wax Petes 53

OTT on DW..................surely not....................

what you trying to say Baker.

just because i have a mitt for each panel and use the 6 bucket method is OTT

what you trying to say Baker.

just because i have a mitt for each panel and use the 6 bucket method is OTT

Just the one for each panel ?

What about upper and lower door panels...

You amateur !

No they are separate as there is the bump strip in the middle

Good lad.

My grand plan of an big Easter clean/polish didn;t really work today. The weather has been too bad with too much wind and sleet about to be able to do it. Plus all the airbourne stuff from the wind would have just polished in and probably scratched!

It didn't stop me though. I managed to get a

- snow foam/2 bucket method wash

- auto glym aqua/express wax (first time I've used and its really easy to use and gets a good result - smells good too ),

- auto glym fast glass

- auto glym bumper care

- auto glym super resin polish on wheels

- megs endurance gloss on tyres

- hoover

- dust

- auto glym autofresh.

Quite a nice reflection (not great image as from mobile phone)

Oh yeah, x2. Once the Fabia was done, did my fiances Ibiza the same!

Time for a sit down and a :dtp: now

Is this where I post pics of the shiny car???

OK Go on then!!:

All shiners welcome !

Ryan, top effort buddy.

Water beading on mine after washing it the other day, shame its dirty again:(