My cleaning/polishing routine - any good?

Swalsey

Swalsey

Member
Hi all,

After washing and polishing my cars since I got my first 4 years ago, I'm now trying to educate myself on 'proper' cleaning, (clay, polishing and waxing). Currently, I wash with 2 buckets, Autoglym shampoo and a microfiber sponge, then polish with Autoglym polish. I have never considered waxing on top of this until now...

So what is the best routine for getting the paint to it's best and keeping it there? Perhaps:

Wash
Clay
Polish
Wax

???

My paintwork is OK but could be better... can I take swirls out by hand?

Thanks,


Antony
 
Hi Antony, theres some good tips on the valeting forum already if you have a scan through some of the threads. For everything you ever wanted to know about car cleaning look at detailingworld.co.uk

You can remove swirls from paintwork by hand, although its a lot of hard graft and you need a good quality cleaning fluid that lightly cuts the surface, then concentrate on small areas of bodywork before moving onto another.
For best results you need to machine polish the swirls out before applying top coat, but this can go awry if you are heavy handed or don't keep the mop head moist (I've seen some real messy results in my time - on the positive side, Audi paint is very hard and any mistakes can be rectified.)

Again, theres lots of video 'how-to' on the process through detailing world. And there's some good instructions including video on swissvax.co.uk.
The process you aree using sounds pretty good to me. You need to experiment with what is good for you and your budget when it comes to detailing products - and many cheaper materials do the job just as well as the more expensive.
 
For me yes use the clay but only when you have to, i normally use mine just after and just before Winter, and then during the summer to remove fly's and tar (but only on them areas) once you have got it to a std you will/should only need to top your wax up, normally every two washes (once you've got a good amount on).

I will start about now getting mine ready for the summer

Wash and clay, then polish and wax
Then for the next month i'll wash and wax(Megiuer's NXT gen spray wax) once a week and then during the summer i'll wax it every two or three washes.

I use a very good shampoo which helps to keep the waxing down to just that

Can't do too much to mine at the mo as i'm waiting for the bonnet to be painted so don't want to put to much polish on and course any problems when it gets painted

Cheers Phil
 
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