Cleaning help

Really?

Firstly set a amount for time you want to spend doing it.

Then based on that set a budget.

Skys is the limit.

I've moved it to the right section for you

If you've been putting it through a car wash, the car will have loads of swirl marks.

Id avoid a cash wash from now on and do it yourself to save the paintwork, and your wax etc would last longer if you put any on.

assuming you have swirls, id use 'poorboys white diamond shine' to help mask the swirls, and give the car a good wax for protection.

Depends how bothered you are. What do you want? Just a quick wash?

Assuming you have no cleaning gear then i'd start with a couple of buckets, a decent wash mitt and some shampoo! If you want a basic kit then try an all in one product like autobrite cherry glaze or auto finesse tripple....and some wheel cleaner, and tyre shine...the list goes on.

You'd still need to be more specific, as said above; the sky is the limit.

You can go down the machine polisher, pads etc and that's quite a bit of money, then you've still got to buy all the products, wash mitts, bucket etc etc.

so you need to decide in what you actually want. An £80 autoglym bag, £35 autoglym wax and a mitt and bucket should do the trick to starting off though, it has all the polish, window cleaner, tyre shine etc in it

revvin_k said:

Assuming you have no cleaning gear then i'd start with a couple of buckets, a decent wash mitt and some shampoo! If you want a basic kit then try an all in one product like autobrite cherry glaze or auto finesse tripple....and some wheel cleaner, and tyre shine...the list goes on.

Click to expand...

^^ This. Although saying something like 'money is no object' in a detailing thread is going to see you very broke, very quickly .

Firstly get your wash method sorted.
2 buckets
1 good quality wash mitt
1 shampoo (I like Megs Gold Class)
1 or 2 drying towels (pat dry)
1 Trim Gel and or Tyre Shine

Spend some time working on your technique. Then it's time to start looking at products for polishing/waxing/sealing. But by this point you'll have a better idea of what needs to be done and how much time/money you want to put in to this. It's great spending £££'s on products, but if you buy the wrong ones and/or use them badly you're gonna have no fun and still an average looking car.

If you want it mint to start with and then maintain it, then take it to somewhere to get it detailed and paint corrected, but budget upwards of £250 for that.

I'd recommended googling 'two bucket method' for starters

my advice would be,

snow foam,
decontaminate the car, iron and tar/bug inc rims
wash using 2 bucket method with grit gurads
clay inc rims
paint correction stage
wax/seal inc rims
seal/rubber protection
treat plastics
treat windows anti rain/fog inside
treat tyres

move to the inside.

stand back and think of paying someone else to do it next time.