Ask a professional detailer...

how often do you recomend us washin our drying towels and our wash mitts? after every wash?

and how do we wash them?
using washing machine wit normal clothing detergent?

i heard detergint gives a thin coat over the towels and it will stractch up the paint, also how do we dry them? natural? or hand dry?

thanks

Originally Posted by gbn

E46's have a rough plastic dash and trim. Mine's black and picks up all sorts of dirt and scuff marks from shoes around the doors and kick plates. Any suggestions on cleaning this off. I tried using water and a microfiber cloth, but it's just not working.

Thanks.

For a cars interior one of the most versitile products on the market is 303 Aerospace Cleaner. It's safe to use on virtually any surface in the interior (carpets, mats, upholstery, leather, vinyl, plastic, rubber... also works good as an engine degreaser!) and it is a concentrate form. The 32oz bottle is good for 256oz - 320oz of dilluted cleaning solution so you get a lot for your $. Don't get this product confused with its brother, 303 Aerospace Protectant, which many people choose to put on for UV protection, after cleaning with the 303 Aerospace Cleaner. It also comes in a pre-dilluted form called 303 Cleaner & Spot Remover.

Originally Posted by The 330i

1. California Water Blade - I understand your fear/concerns because I have actually seen the damage (a very light scratch that could be removed by polishing, however) using a Water Blade. However, wouldn't it be the same with the Microfibre towels (or any other kind of towels)? That is, if I catch a rock or a big enough debris when drying with my towels, it scratches anyway, right?

The benefit to using a towel over the blade or CaliDuster is that the waffle weave design can help trap and enclose debris better than the alternatives. No method is perfect but I feel that this helps minimize your chance of scratching. Take a chamois, there's no nap or pile in the towel so you have a better chance of dragging debris across your paint. The waffle weave however has a better chance of picking up that debris and trapping it in the weave rather than keeping it on the surface. I hope I'm describing this so it makes sense. Like I said its not a cure all, and no matter how you wash and dry, you will still get some swirls and scratches, but I think its the best method that minimizes your chances.

Originally Posted by OHMYCAR

how often do you recomend us washin our drying towels and our wash mitts? after every wash?

Definately after every wash, otherwise you will still have the debris left over from the last washing and have a good chance of scratching / swirling up your paint!

and how do we wash them?
using washing machine wit normal clothing detergent?

Assuming you are using Microfiber, basic rule of thumb is NO Fabric Softener. Other than that follow the directions on the tag. Keep them seperate from clothes obviously. There are some microfiber "rejuvenator" solutions that you can pour into your washing machine when washing, but the verdict is still out there on how effective it really is.

George

Originally Posted by kpeng

Basically what I do now is wash with Meguiar's NXT Car Wash, dry, a coat of Meguiar's Show Car Glaze #7, a coat of Meguiar's NXT Wax, and then a final coat of Meguiar's Yellow Wax. I get pretty good results from this. Is there any way I can improve this? In your experience, how do the results of this process compare to that of say, Zaino, etc.

Personally I would have to say I would use the Zaino process over Meg's NXT and other Retail Products. Can you improve? Definately! Meg's and 3M would be the higher end of traditional autostores and retail stores but if you have a chance to try out some of the "Botique" brands I guess you could call them, I find their ease of use, durability, and end results are superior. Money not an issue these would be the steps I'd do to my vehicle for superior show quality shine, depth, gloss:

Wash / Dry using P21s Bodywork Conditioning Shampoo
Clay Bar using Clay Magic and Poorboy's Spray & Wipe QD
Re-wash / Dry
Menzerna Intensive Polish x2 (once with a cutting pad, once with a polishing pad)
Menzerna Final Polish II
Klasse All-In-One
Menzerna Finishing Touch Glaze
Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket
Menzerna High Gloss Acrylic Shield
Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket
Menzerna High Gloss Acrylic Shield
Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket
Menzerna High Gloss Acrylic Shield
P21s Concours Carnauba Wax x2

To compare the 3 steps you are doing, I'd suggest a polish, sealant, carnauba and point you in the direction of:

a) Klasse Twins (All-In-One + High Gloss Acrylic Shield) + P21s Carnauba
b) Menzerna Final Polish II or Finishing Touch Glaze + Menzerna FMJ + P21s Carnauba

I think either one of those two combinations would give your superior shine and durability and are my personal fav's! All 3 brands mentioned above are imported from Germany directly. P21s, Menzerna & Klasse.

The best part about the products I suggest and carry is that a little goes a long ways. We use less than 1 oz of product per coat of Klasse and Menzerna Sealants. And the jar of P21s Carnauba should last at least 20 coats when applied correctly. Many people over apply and more product does not mean better protection or shine. Less is more in the case of detailing products!

Hope that gives you some new ideas to try out, when you run out of the Megs lets step it up and get a comparison of the new products

Sincerely,

George @ Detailed Image

Finally!! A Detailing Sponsor.

Quick question, I have pretty bad swirls on my 96 S-class. Would I see a big difference if I used Poorboy's products without a buffer? Like the SSR 2/2.5?

Thanks in advance bro.

Edit: The swirls look almost exactly like these, what did you use for this car?

Originally Posted by m3on20z

Finally!! A Detailing Sponsor.

Quick question, I have pretty bad swirls on my 96 S-class. Would I see a big difference if I used Poorboy's products without a buffer? Like the SSR 2/2.5?

Thanks in advance bro.

Thanks for the warm welcome

The beauty of the Poorboy's SSR compounds and polishes is they work great by hand or by buffer. The benefit of doing it with a buffer is you can heat the paint up more and help break down the polish a lot easier. Also a buffer will give you more even coats of application as you tend to be inconsistant by hand because you are using various levels of pressure on your fingertips and fatigue generally kicks in after a couple coats. A buffer such as the Porter Cable 7424 is a solid investment for the serious detailer. Will save you time, money and yield better results in the long run!

Will you notice a difference by hand? Definately!

If your swirls are that bad like in the picture don't even mess around with the SSR 2, jump right up to the 2.5 . The SSR 2 is nice but you would need many coats to take care of paint that was in that bad of condition. Also, since you are doing it by hand, you will want something a little more aggressive since you won't be able to heat up the surface as much as a buffer could.

That particular car we used the SSR 2.5 with a wool pad, followed by another coat of the 2.5 with a foam polishing pad, followed by a coat of the SSR 1 with a foam polishing pad. Then sealed it with Menzerna FMJ and topped it with P21s Carnauba... It got the works!

Here's a couple more before and after pics of that car just to show how bad it truely was!





And of course the after shot:



Let me know how you make out with that S-class!

George

i got bird crap on my car and it dried up, washed my car and there are still marks on it... what should i do?!?!

Originally Posted by Freshaznboi88

i got bird crap on my car and it dried up, washed my car and there are still marks on it... what should i do?!?!

Clay and polish it with a light abrasive to help remove the etchings of the bird droppings. Something like the Poorboy's SSR 2 or 2.5.

George

Hi George,

I have 325I 2001 red colour, I think non-metallic(314 hellrot colour code) and basically it looks ok, but I want to make it look better and shiner.

What products/steps would you recoomend withoud spending a fortune?
Please let me know if I can order everything from your online store!

thanks,
Andrei

Is there a way to fix this without having to repaint the bumper? Lots of highway use has done this. I'm not expecting a miracle product to clear this to showroom condition but something to make it look "better":




My hood also has some dings and stuff to it too. In the sun swirl marks are seen easily. I'll probably get it all repainted one day if nothing can be done to this rough finish. Does my car need to be clayed if I run my hands over the sides and the trunk and I don't feel any bumps on the paint?

^I'm with him on that too.

What product do you recommend to remove light scratches and the like?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by andrei06

Hi George,

I have 325I 2001 red colour, I think non-metallic(314 hellrot colour code) and basically it looks ok, but I want to make it look better and shiner.

What products/steps would you recoomend withoud spending a fortune?
Please let me know if I can order everything from your online store!

thanks,
Andrei

I think one of the best single step products you can do would be to invest in a bottle of Klasse All-In-One... It is a chemical polish that will liven the paint as well as give you protection for 4+ months with its acrylic layer. Cost per coat isn't too high, you use less than 1 oz of product per coat and only 1 coat is required. To really make your paint jump layer a carnauba wax on top of the Klasse for an extreme wet look and lots of depth! P21s gets my vote for being one of the top carnauba waxes available.

If you try to order from our site and you are in Canada it won't let you process the order, its set up for US orders only at the moment. I can however take the order by phone or via email or PM whatever you prefer.

George

Originally Posted by rovert

Is there a way to fix this without having to repaint the bumper? Lots of highway use has done this. I'm not expecting a miracle product to clear this to showroom condition but something to make it look "better":
My hood also has some dings and stuff to it too. In the sun swirl marks are seen easily. I'll probably get it all repainted one day if nothing can be done to this rough finish. Does my car need to be clayed if I run my hands over the sides and the trunk and I don't feel any bumps on the paint?

Trevor - The best thing that I could suggest to you for your front bumper would be a fairly aggressive polish / compound followed by a lighter abrasive polish. Something like Poorboy's SSR 2.5 followed by SSR 1 like the special we're running on our home page for $25 including 2 microfiber applicators and 2 microfiber towels, and both SSR's I mentioned. The reason the SSR 2.5 and 1 will work is that there are abrasives in the polish and it will help wear down the clear coat to the same level as the scratches and swirls, thus removing them. It is not a temporary fix like some waxes with fillers that will just hide them temporarily, when you buff down with an abrasive polish you will in fact remove them (until new ones appear of course!).

Another great combo is the Menzerna line with Intensive Polish and Final Polish II. This are designed to work best with a buffer. I don't know if you plan on doing it by hand or with a buffer? By hand the SSR series is more versatile. Both bundles are around the same price but with our summer special on the SSR series thats a much better bargin at the moment.

If the pits are thru the clear and you can see primer, then there isn't much you can do other than repainting it. But it looks like you have some surface scuffs and light scratches that the SSR 2.5 and 1 could do a job on... It would be the same products I'd recommend for removing swirls on your hood.

As far as your paint being clayed if it feels smooth to you than it doesn't sound like your paint needs to be clayed yet.

I think I answered most of the questions asked. If anything needs to be cleared up let me know!

George

Originally Posted by Detailed Image

I think one of the best single step products you can do would be to invest in a bottle of Klasse All-In-One... It is a chemical polish that will liven the paint as well as give you protection for 4+ months with its acrylic layer. Cost per coat isn't too high, you use less than 1 oz of product per coat and only 1 coat is required. To really make your paint jump layer a carnauba wax on top of the Klasse for an extreme wet look and lots of depth! P21s gets my vote for being one of the top carnauba waxes available.

If you try to order from our site and you are in Canada it won't let you process the order, its set up for US orders only at the moment. I can however take the order by phone or via email or PM whatever you prefer.

George

thanks a lot George!

Andrei

What product would you recommend for a white car? They're a bit harder to get that glow.

Also, any remmedies for removing black spots on plastic in the car? Like the stepping part at the door. I always hit it with my shoes and I have these black marks that won't go away. I tried using Simple green that didn't work.

not sure if you know how to do this, but i decided to DIY cover my wood trim with CF vinyl. The finish looks great..only problem is no matter how many times i cover the piece i get little airpockets. I start from the middle and work across making sure its tight and flat..doesnt make a difference. do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to put this vinyl on. Its the 3m 6 yr guarentee outside use..so it should last and should hold pretty well.

thanks in advance

Jason

I've been waiting for a thread like this!!!

I have a question, but will need a pic to describe my problem.
I will post my question tomorrow, just wanted to subscribe to the thread now!.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by djsway

What product would you recommend for a white car? They're a bit harder to get that glow.

White cars are definately a little bit harder to get the paint to pop but still achievable. Pending on what the paint needed in its prepwork stages:

Wash / Dry --> Clay (optional) --> Polish

Pending on if you had bad swirls and the condition of the paint I would suggest a different product if it were in good condition vs needed some restoration. Bad condition I'd suggest a light abrasive polish such as Poorboy's SSR 2 or SSR 1. In good condition I'd suggest a chemical polish such as Klasse All-In-One.

--> Glaze

After the polishing step, a finishing glaze would be a big step to use to really enhance the gloss and appearance of a cars paint. My favorite glaze would be Menzerna Finishing Touch Glaze and for $12.99 its worth every penny!

--> Sealant

You obviously want to give your paint some underlying protection so the next step would be to choose the right sealant for you. 3 of my favorites (in order) are Menzerna FMJ, Klasse High Gloss Sealant Glaze, and Poorboy's EX Sealant. The sealant will give you 4-6+ months of underlying protection for your paint.

--> Carnauba Topper

Layering a top coat of carnauba will really make the paint scream and give it that super wet look many people try to achieve. My favorite one is P21s Concours Carnauba Wax, very easy to work with and it last a long time!

Here's a picture of a white car we did recently and this is missing 2 of the steps... This included, clay, 2 coats of polish, NO Glaze, a sealant, NO Carnauba just to give you an idea.



Here's a pic of a red car that we did those steps too... look at the depth and the perfect reflection of the car in the passanger rear door. This is on a day with overcast too, no good sunlight



Also the Jaguar in post 1 w/ the reflection of the hood had the same treatment I just mentioned!

Originally Posted by djsway

Also, any remmedies for removing black spots on plastic in the car? Like the stepping part at the door. I always hit it with my shoes and I have these black marks that won't go away. I tried using Simple green that didn't work.

Those areas that get abuse from shoes are tough especially if you actually scuff the plastic / vinyl. My goto product for those situations is 303 Aerospace Cleaner. If that doesn't work you can try something stronger, such as 3M adhesive & mark remover, but you have to be careful what surface you use it on b/c it may do more harm than good.

Look for our e46 package bundles coming out today for products! It will be linked in my sig for easy finding

George

Sorry about the pix, I know they are not the best quality but at least you get the picture.
Anyway, I tried removing these scratches with Scratch-X but that didn't work. When I wax the car using Meguiars NXT wax, the clear coat looks great but you can still see the scratches. Any suggestions?

Forgot to ask about best way to apply touch-up paint to remove paint chips such as the ones you see in my pix below.

Originally Posted by JRoz

not sure if you know how to do this, but i decided to DIY cover my wood trim with CF vinyl. The finish looks great..only problem is no matter how many times i cover the piece i get little airpockets. I start from the middle and work across making sure its tight and flat..doesnt make a difference. do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to put this vinyl on. Its the 3m 6 yr guarentee outside use..so it should last and should hold pretty well.

thanks in advance

Jason

Sorry, this doesn't have to do with my field of specialty but I have some shops I can ask around to try to come up with a solution. I'll get back to you.

Originally Posted by Detailed Image

I think I answered most of the questions asked. If anything needs to be cleared up let me know!

George

Thank you sir. I'll take your advice on the Poorboy's special.