Simple DIY detailing advice?

Also, I see you never mention CLAYING, for anything to be effective you must clay, plus it will remove a lot of junk. No further advice from me as other have chimed in, but I suggest learning a lot more first then tackling your car. :)

Also, where are you located? perhaps an experienced member can walk you through the process in person.
 
cleanmycorolla said:
Also, I see you never mention CLAYING, for anything to be effective you must clay, plus it will remove a lot of junk. No further advice from me as other have chimed in, but I suggest learning a lot more first then tackling your car. :)

Also, where are you located? perhaps an experienced member can walk you through the process in person.
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I did also get a claying kit, it doesn't seem that difficult to do just requires a lot of patience. I feel like claying is a good example of the thing I didn't want to do, though. But waxing/claying isn't something you do many times a year so for that reason i don't mind giving it a shot.

Is there a good theory for breaking up a vehicle into "sections" for claying? Do you clay one square foot at a time or something like that? I'll try to watch some vids...

Also I live in McKinney, TX. I don't think I need anyone to come out, even though that'd probably be helpful. I can get by with help I get here and watching videos and most of all: learning from experience.
 
I'm in the minorty, probably, but I would not clay unless I plan on polishing. Claying can, and does, cause marring that needs to be polished out. Any other opinions on this?
 
Unless you plan to get into a lot of relatively loose contamination like mud, I don't see that much value in using a consumer grade pressure washer. They're rarely heated or have very high output volume, so the usual road film is unimpressed by their puny abilities. Nice to have, but not nearly as important as proper hand washing supplies.

voidpointer said:
Hmm, I don't have shady spots. What's the harm in washing a car in direct sunlight? Would early in the morning or evening suffice if I don't have shade?
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Washing in direct sunlight isn't too bad (keep wetting washed areas), but drying a hot car that wasn't rinsed with filtered water can be very difficult. Water spots will form before the water can be wiped or blotted off the paint. I try to wash during cooler periods, but if I can't, I wash outside and pull the wet car into my garage for drying.

voidpointer said:
Is it reasonable to save washing the wheels for last? That way I don't need to waste a bucket of shampoo & water. Most of what I'm reading says people empty the bucket used to wash the wheels before washing the body. Is there a specific reason people do them first?
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Washing wheels first also keeps wheel contamination from being hosed onto your freshly cleaned car.

Chloe92us said:
I'm in the minorty, probably, but I would not clay unless I plan on polishing. Claying can, and does, cause marring that needs to be polished out. Any other opinions on this?
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I agree. I doubt I'd clay (or Autoscrub) and be happy enough with the paint to skip polishing. It's possible the paint would look good enough that I wouldn't care, but probably not.
 
So then it seems the consensus is to not bother claying unless I polish. That's fair, honestly it seems like too much work anyway for me. I'm not going THAT far, for sure.
 
voidpointer said:
I did also get a claying kit, it doesn't seem that difficult to do just requires a lot of patience. I feel like claying is a good example of the thing I didn't want to do, though. But waxing/claying isn't something you do many times a year so for that reason i don't mind giving it a shot.

Is there a good theory for breaking up a vehicle into "sections" for claying? Do you clay one square foot at a time or something like that? I'll try to watch some vids...

Also I live in McKinney, TX. I don't think I need anyone to come out, even though that'd probably be helpful. I can get by with help I get here and watching videos and most of all: learning from experience.
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When claying with a quick detailing solution, I spray an area, clay, then wipe immediately so as to remove the lubricant. If it dries without wiping, it's got to be sprayed again to clean up. So that's why I do it in small sections.

Uninteresting side note- I talk with a McKinney resident on a beer brewing site, and lately have been talking about paint care, for which I've been mocked. Seems to have had an effect, though :)

" Today has been spent washing down beach stuff and putting it away then my car needed a good sharona-ing."
 
GSKR...

Very low Ph ??? Are you sure you mean that.. or did you intend to say a neutral ph..

If using a neutral ph car shampoo at the correct dilution is it your experince that the method of application impacts the finish differently.. ie 2 bucket vs foaming..
To date IME it hasn't.. But i can imagine folks using a crap ton of product in a foamer (more than in a bucket 0 and perhaps the dwell time of the foamer vs the bucket wash being different... combined perhaps this may have resulted in issues ??

Cheers
 
voidpointer said:
So then it seems the consensus is to not bother claying unless I polish. That's fair, honestly it seems like too much work anyway for me. I'm not going THAT far, for sure.
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Claying (or any process for that matter) ought be done when there is a need (perceived or otherwise)...
In the case of claying its off the back of either a baggie test.. or on lighter colours being able to see the contamination on the paint.

IME claying a new car IS necessary (as in a baggie test shows surface contanination) , and if a fine clay is used and sufficient with a good lube then a polish often is not necessary (on harder paints anyway.. )
Once done with a good durable sealant, regular washing (weekly for insdtance) and occasionaly re application of the sealant.. the re occurance of the fallout is generally slow.. (depending where you live and where the car lives etc).
As such once a year is more than enough... but if i did the baggie test and it was smooth i certainly wouldn't clay..

For me personally I use iron-x, then test and if required then clay.. then re test.. until smooth.. once the paint is clean and LSP applied, i will then use iron-x as a maintenance step maybe twice a year..
I very rarely have to re clay after this.. perhaps the odd spot as and when i see or feel something on the paint..

All the best
 
On all the cars I have done the only time i have ended up with noticeable marring is when the clay ran onto a dry patch, ie my error, or if a spot on the paint was warm... (black / dark colour paint.. )....

All the cars i have done though have been european, (Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Renault, VW), and generally on the lovely to crazy hard scale...

I imagine on known softer paints (Subaru??) this may be a lot harder to avoid..
 
shadwell said:
if i did the baggie test and it was smooth i certainly wouldn't clay.
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Yep. It's really a conditional process. I don't do anything to the paint just for the sake of saying I did it, like applying sealant weekly, or changing motor oil every 3000k. If it's needed, it's needed; the baggie test makes it easy to tell when it's decon time, and a swirl check determines the need for polishing. Performing unneeded decontamination or polishing is detrimental to the paint in the long run, IMO.
 
Do you find yourself sneaking out to look at and admire your new car? Feel a 'Pride of ownership' like never before?

If yes. You are not alone. We are car people.

You'll want to clay, polish, seal/coat. Then just maintenance wash as needed. A pressure washer (even consumer grade electric) will be all you need to knock off bugs, dust, dirt, ect. A two bucket wash once in a while. While not needed, foam cannons are useful and fun, lol. Or rinseless. I doubt rinseless is sufficient for outside daily driver honestly, but I haven't tried it. I have a pressure washer and just enjoy the entire process.

You REALLY should consider doing it because its a daily driver un-garaged even if you didn't answer yes to questions above, lol.

Also be prepared to get addicted. Looking at your car and thinking wow, looks awesome, I'm so proud..... but what if it could look BETTER. Then you start to take pity on friends and family's neglected rides. Seeing the change you can make is gratifying. Not a bad way to get your blood moving and stay off the couch either.
 
As CanyonCarver stated..... be prepared to get addicted..... most of us started out like you.... just simple but effective washing methods to keep our ride looking respectable and not after "show quality" work..... well..... hold on to your wallet.... if married, get ready for "what did you buy this time"?

Welcome to the abyss!
 
I am very tired and did not take the time to read all the answers, I apologize if I repeat stuff that was already said.

So here is what I will suggest to you:

1. Do get a pressure washer with a foam cannon/gun attachment. This is the best investment you can make in maintaining you car.

2. Learn how do to a proper 2 bucket wash (well it should be called 3 bucked since you need a 3rd one for the wheels).

3. Understand the whole process even if you do not plan on doing every part of it. So the full process is: Wash, clay, compound, polish, apply last step product (wax or other).

4. If you maintain your car correctly, you don't need to spend much time doing it. You should decide on your maintenance regiment in advance and try to stick to it as best you can.

Here is a simple one I would suggest to you since your car is new:

First detail should be a pressure wash, 2 bucket wash, clay to remove all contaminants, apply a solid layer of protection (either a coating or a good quality sealant).

Afterwards, every week do a pressure wash of the car. If you notice it is still dirty after it, do a 2 bucket wash followed by a spray wax. If you want to save time, there is a product called Hydro2 by the company CarPro. It's a spray sealant that lasts about 3 months. Very quick and simple to apply and will protect every part of the car.

If you decided to go the coating route, after 2 years polish the car and re-apply.

If you decided to go the sealant route, after 6 months, clay the car and re-apply. The best time to do this is spring and fall.

You don't need to be an expert to maintain your car well, just need to take the time to learn each step and do it on a regular basis. Once your car is either coated or has a good sealant applied to it, it will be much easier to clean because the dirt will have a hard time binding to the surface. So your pressure washer will be able to remove about 90% of the dirt without you having to actually wash the car with a microfiber mitt. The nice thing about it is that it will prevent damage to the paint since most of the damage comes from washing and drying the car.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube about every aspect, just search for the terms I listed and you are all set.

If you have questions you can search the forums or simply ask us.
 
Calendyr said:
Afterwards, every week do a pressure wash of the car. If you notice it is still dirty after it, do a 2 bucket wash followed by a spray wax.
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Can you elaborate on the pressure washing process? Whenever I go to the coin-op, my car is still dirty afterwards (I never use the brush). Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I've thought about bringing my own wash mitt but I wouldn't be able to rinse it out as if I were hand-washing. I don't want to cause scratches because of too much dirt built up in the mitt.
 
derass said:
Can you elaborate on the pressure washing process? Whenever I go to the coin-op, my car is still dirty afterwards (I never use the brush). Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I've thought about bringing my own wash mitt but I wouldn't be able to rinse it out as if I were hand-washing. I don't want to cause scratches because of too much dirt built up in the mitt.
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I've never seen a pressure washed car come away as clean as a hand washed one. There's always at least a slight film of road grime on the lower portions, if not the entire car. Once the chunks are removed, it's hard to beat hand washing for fully removing that film layer. IME, a pressure washer that has enough heat, pressure, and soap to reliably remove the film is also removing some of the wax or sealant on the car, but there may be some sealants or coatings that hold up better than the products I've used.
 
derass said:
Can you elaborate on the pressure washing process? Whenever I go to the coin-op, my car is still dirty afterwards (I never use the brush). Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I've thought about bringing my own wash mitt but I wouldn't be able to rinse it out as if I were hand-washing. I don't want to cause scratches because of too much dirt built up in the mitt.
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Once the car is protected, a simple foam coat followed by a pressure rinse should remove most of the dirt. When you rinse, you want to have the nozzle close enough to the paint to detach the dirt. Depending on the power of your pressure washer that distance will vary. For my unit, which is 1700 PSI, I would say that is about 2 inches away. You can practice without the foam coat and see at what distance the dirt is removed by using only water.

If you don't let the dirt accumulate and bind to the paint (by washing every week) you should not have a problem. If you wait then it becomes harder to remove.
 
scuff said:
I've never seen a pressure washed car come away as clean as a hand washed one. There's always at least a slight film of road grime on the lower portions, if not the entire car. Once the chunks are removed, it's hard to beat hand washing for fully removing that film layer. IME, a pressure washer that has enough heat, pressure, and soap to reliably remove the film is also removing some of the wax or sealant on the car, but there may be some sealants or coatings that hold up better than the products I've used.
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That's true, a pressure washer will never remove 100%. You have to decide what is acceptable for you. For me, since my DD is out on the street 24/7 and there are trees everywhere so the car is dirty only hours after I wash it, pressure washer is good enough most of the time. When I want to get it perfectly clean for what ever reason, I do a 2 bucket wash with spray wax drying.

But I must say that Reload has some amazing dirt repelling action on my paint. I am quite impressed with that sealant.
 
voidpointer said:
Hey everyone!

I just joined the community so I apologize if I'm asking questions that are too basic. I'm not a detail pro or anything; really I know very little about cars other than oil change and driving it. Growing up, my dad always taught me to wash a car with a garden hose, brush, and dish soap.

However, it didn't take much self research to figure out that's not recommended. I bought a new 2016 Mazda 6 GT and I want to start detailing the exterior myself, mostly to save money from getting it professionally detailed.

Honestly, I realize some people here might be super picky about detail process and probably rightfully so. However, I don't want to spend 3 hours detailing my car once a week. I don't want to end up buying thousands of dollars of equipment. I just want to do some basic exterior but effective cleaning. Based on what I've read, it seems like I can get by with an electric pressure washer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SPX3001-Electric-Pressure-Washer/dp/B00LX8Z03K

For washing, what I've learned so far is that you can wash the whole car with the pressure washer + car shampoo inside it. Once you do that, use a lower pressure (without shampoo) to rinse it off. Then dry it. I never had luck with soap in the pressure washer containers. To me, it is just backwards that when you apply soap you need to use very low pressure; so I graduated to a foam cannon 3 years ago.

As far as polish goes, I've heard you can do it 2-4 times a year. For manual brush wash, I'm not sure when I would need to do it, but it sounds like only when too much dirt has built up and the pressure washer won't be enough. For me, as a hobbyist with 4 cars.... 1-2 times per year is more than enough for me!

My only confusion is with foaming. I see several videos where people attach a foamer to the end of a pressure washer to spray soap on the car. Is this separate from the normal water+shampoo mix that it sprays? It seems optional but I'm not sure. That's a foam cannon and what I use.

Any thoughts or advice? Again I want to keep things simple. At the end of the day, automobiles and professional detailing aren't a hobby of mine. I just want washing my car to be effective (both in results and cost) and efficient/quick/convenient. I certainly don't want to damage my paint or factory polish either.

Thanks in advance for practical advice.
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Here is my no-frills and practical version of detailing to avoid spending lots of time and $$ but also to balance that out with quality products that give you good results and awesome durability!!! I also inserted some pointed comments above to round out our collective mindsets and get them closer together.

1. Ditch the power washer for now and go with a foam gun. Use the initial $$$ on good wash, polish and prep products
2. DO clay and decontaminate the vehicle; especially a new car. You will be surprised at what you find lurking under there. You would need to more than likely clay once per year but the decon can be every 1-2 years unless you live near industrial areas and rail yards
3. Stick with OTC products in the beginning. You may wind up wanting "more" afterward but with your vehicle being new the paint conditiion is already in fine shape.

Here is my suggested product list:

1. Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo
2. Mothers Clay Bar Kit
3. Optimum Ferex Iron Remover (the decon)
4. Ultima Waterless Wash Concentrate (good for waterless washes)
5. Klasse AIO
6. Optimum Spray Wax

You will need wash buckets, spray bottles, microfiber cloths, applicators, nitrile gloves (to keep the odor from Ferex off your skin) and such... I'll leave out those details to keep my response shorter. The process is simple:

1. Wash vehicle well but no need to dry it
2. Decontaminate with Optimum Ferex (1 panel at a time, 5 min. per panel - spray and let dwell, watch in amazement what comes off, work it in with a MF applicator, spray again and let dwell again, then hose off thoroughly and move to next section)
3. Clay
4. With a foam or MF applicator apply Klasse AIO. You may wind up needing 2-4 applicators as these will become saturated
5. Top with Optimum Spray Wax (spray direct on an applicator and then apply to the vehicle; this will work best when working in direct sunlight. I tend to apply this product in early morning or evening)

Unless you live and drive in extreme areas you should get 3-5 months of durability easily and you would wind up spending around $120-$150 on everything. And the less extreme areas of the world you will see more towards 5 mos. easily. As far as maintenance goes you can wash your vehicle with soap or an Ultima WW dilution; and even top again with Optimum. At some point in time if you want more pop, then go with 2 coats of Klasse Sealant Glaze for step #5 and you will be amazed.
 
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