Best way to polish your car

[911virgin]

Ok, so you've just washed and dried your car.

What is the best way to polish it now?

 

Carnuba wax? Other wax?

What type of polishing cloth?

What do the experts here think?

[Niko]

[tomo]

 

[Frank]

2 hours ago, 911virgin said:

Ok, so you've just washed and dried your car.

What is the best way to polish it now?

 

Carnuba wax? Other wax?

What type of polishing cloth?

What do the experts here think?

That's such a big can or worms and so many options like how did you wash the car? did the detergent have any wax residue, double bucket, have you decontaminated the paint, you doing or have you done any paint correction etc.

Its a big job and from my understanding pretty complicated right down to what sort of orbital polisher you be using and so on.

F

[cafe_racer]

Anything involving an orbital I get a pro to do.

 

Aside from that if I am doing my yearly big deal wash...Once it is all clean I do.

 

Decontamination

Bowdens 3 way with rubber clay bar thing

 

Light abrasion

Bowdens cleanse and restore

 

Prep paint

Bowdens Flash prep to remove any residue

 

Coating

Bowdens Beaut Beads

 

Once I have done this its simple maintenance for the rest of the year.

I found this - good reference.  YOu can use various brands and the principles remain the same.  Get it clean, dry, decontaminate, cleanse, seal.

[911virgin]

wow, how long does that process take you??

[Frank]

That is polishing a 2006 987 for the 1st time in its life and came up awesome.

 

[ArthurK]

7 hours ago, 911virgin said:

Ok, so you've just washed and dried your car.

What is the best way to polish it now?

 

Carnuba wax? Other wax?

What type of polishing cloth?

What do the experts here think?

If you are starting with a car thats new its an easy process. Starting with an older car then you might want to consider getting it professionally detailed with some sort of paint correction. Once you have that done then I personally would get it ceramic coated and from there on you will have an easy life keeping it clean and glossy.

If you are game enough to do the paint correction, the initial purchase will run about the same as getting paint corrected. I have two units a corded and a cordless. Never used them once the ceramic coat went on. Its only for the cars I havent got ceramic on or helping out friends. 

Lets assume you have the paint correction in order then you can go two ways. Either do the ceramic coating yourself or pay someone to do it. I have done both and can honestly say its not that hard with some of the semi pro products out there doing it yourself. Just need to leave the car indoors for 2 days to cure if not longer. Once its coated then wash effortlessly and coat it with something like Nova Jet and Lustre to keep it looking schmick.

 

If you are game in doing the ceramic yourself have a look at these products:

https://detailingshed.com.au/collections/exterior-protection-bundles/products/crystal-serum-light-and-exov4

No affiliation  to the reseller, just bought from them multiple times and are extremely good to deal with. The product is so easy to apply and you cannot stuff it up. Have done 3 cars and its brilliant. Other cars have Gyeon professionally done and I dont see a difference

 

[911virgin]

Bowdens products getting alot of love

 

Armour All is not rated highly?

[ArthurK]

1 minute ago, 911virgin said:

Bowdens products getting alot of love

 

Armour All is not rated highly?

This is a bottomless pit of money spending! I am not wedded to one product or another and mix and match to what works best. I love:

P&S Brake Buster Wheel Cleaner - bloody impressive cleaner and you can see crap falling off the wheels. You can spray it on neat or put it in a foaming cannon

Gyeon Q2M Iron - great for fall out cleaning - spray it on and watch it turn purple with the car shedding crap

NV Nova Lustre and Jet - great for topping up the ceramic coatings hydrophobic properties and giving it a shine with Lustre

Angelwax Enigma Wax - makes dark cars really pop. Dont need much and it really goes a mile 

I can give you pages of stuff but the biggest fun is buying stuff and trying it out. Dont be scared to try it out, its half the fun.

[cafe_racer]

4 hours ago, 911virgin said:

wow, how long does that process take you??

Weekly/Fortnightly wash is a quick 45min thing of ust foam, then two bucket wash then dry.

 

This big thing though is a half day affair, 6-8hrs.  But that's once a year, and usually over the Christmas break.

[911virgin]

10 hours ago, Frank said:

That's such a big can or worms and so many options like how did you wash the car? did the detergent have any wax residue, double bucket, have you decontaminated the paint, you doing or have you done any paint correction etc.

Its a big job and from my understanding pretty complicated right down to what sort of orbital polisher you be using and so on.

F

Sorry, I should have been clearer in describing my situation.

I had an excellent professional paint correction then waxing .

So what's the best way to maintain this now after a two bucket wash....I used armour all detergent which has carnauba wax in it but I  will be using the Bowden's wash/ wax combo detergent moving forward, based on expert advices here

4 hours ago, cafe_racer said:

Weekly/Fortnightly wash is a quick 45min thing of ust foam, then two bucket wash then dry.

 

This big thing though is a half day affair, 6-8hrs.  But that's once a year, and usually over the Christmas break.

Wow eight hours.....you get family or friend to help or is that a solo eight hours? Sounds quite  exhausting

[smit2100]

18 hours ago, 911virgin said:

Ok, so you've just washed and dried your car.

What is the best way to polish it now?

 

Carnuba wax? Other wax?

What type of polishing cloth?

What do the experts here think?

Creature of habit

Seems 6-8 hours is  a common theme.  Tend to start very  late afternoon, have dinner, back into it after dinner ,  tunes on and into early hours of the  morning

Last century tech - by hand 

1) Wash and chamois dry   - 1.0 hrs

2) 3M clay bar with  meguires (4 litre wash) 1 in 5 dilution  lub mix   - 2 hours

3) Klasse all in one sealant  - meguires foam pad  and micro fibre towel off 1 - hour

4) Klasse polish   - mequires foam pad  and micro fibre towel off  1 - hour

5) Poor boys carnuba wax (mircofibre  polshing pad and microfibre cloth  - 1 hours

Not into circle work, prefer to move along  horizontally working roof down . to drivers side panels  and work anticlockwise around the car  

However, under Lockdown and more than a few youtube detailing videos,   looking forward to moving across to the higher tech solutions and going to the shinier side with less physical  effort  on low tech budget when I can get  back into Fort Perth.  (Good way of burning the midnight oil during Self quarantine  / isolation ???????).

1) Wash using Ebay snow foam nozzle / bottle and adapter on my pressure clearer and 4l  meguires wash diluted and then chamois dry - 45min

2) 3M clay bar with  meguires (4 litre wash) 1 in 5 dilution  lub mix   - 2 hours

3) Cut -  Going Swart DA for under $200 and a chem guys 6"  hex logic  orange pad.   with Merzna cutting compound

4) Polish  Swart DA a chem guys 6"  hex  white hex logic pad  with Merzna polish compound 

5) poor boys carnuba wax by hand

Interior   - Meguires Green all purpose cleaner (1 gallon container) - 1 to 4 mix in spray bottle,   hit everything , leather (high amount of scrubbing with horse hair brush wipe off with microfibres)  Everywhere else same diluted mix and small detailing brushes microfibre waffle weave cloths  - 1 hr with vaccum

 

Black plastics external and engine / frunk / boot  area - Stoner Tyre Shine applied with a paint brush and micro fibre cloth - 1 hr

Tyres - Stoners tyre shine

[911virgin]

5 hours ago, smit2100 said:

Creature of habit

Seems 6-8 hours is  a common theme.  Tend to start very  late afternoon, have dinner, back into it after dinner ,  tunes on and into early hours of the  morning

Last century tech - by hand 

1) Wash and chamois dry   - 1.0 hrs

2) 3M clay bar with  meguires (4 litre wash) 1 in 5 dilution  lub mix   - 2 hours

3) Klasse all in one sealant  - meguires foam pad  and micro fibre towel off 1 - hour

4) Klasse polish   - mequires foam pad  and micro fibre towel off  1 - hour

5) Poor boys carnuba wax (mircofibre  polshing pad and microfibre cloth  - 1 hours

Not into circle work, prefer to move along  horizontally working roof down . to drivers side panels  and work anticlockwise around the car  

However, under Lockdown and more than a few youtube detailing videos,   looking forward to moving across to the higher tech solutions and going to the shinier side with less physical  effort  on low tech budget when I can get  back into Fort Perth.  (Good way of burning the midnight oil during Self quarantine  / isolation ???????).

1) Wash using Ebay snow foam nozzle / bottle and adapter on my pressure clearer and 4l  meguires wash diluted and then chamois dry - 45min

2) 3M clay bar with  meguires (4 litre wash) 1 in 5 dilution  lub mix   - 2 hours

3) Cut -  Going Swart DA for under $200 and a chem guys 6"  hex logic  orange pad.   with Merzna cutting compound

4) Polish  Swart DA a chem guys 6"  hex  white hex logic pad  with Merzna polish compound 

5) poor boys carnuba wax by hand

Interior   - Meguires Green all purpose cleaner (1 gallon container) - 1 to 4 mix in spray bottle,   hit everything , leather (high amount of scrubbing with horse hair brush wipe off with microfibres)  Everywhere else same diluted mix and small detailing brushes microfibre waffle weave cloths  - 1 hr with vaccum

 

Black plastics external and engine / frunk / boot  area - Stoner Tyre Shine applied with a paint brush and micro fibre cloth - 1 hr

Tyres - Stoners tyre shine

Wow, that is a ton of work..... I am going to leave it to the professional detailer!🥴

[MFX]

On 15/02/2022 at 06:53, 911virgin said:

Ok, so you've just washed and dried your car.

What is the best way to polish it now?

 

Carnuba wax? Other wax?

What type of polishing cloth?

What do the experts here think?0

I am not an expert, but in your situation where you already have a good polish and wax, you just wash it with your preferred method (2 bucket, foam, what have you), and then you can periodically top up the wax again. You may also note that chamois are also frowned upon these days. Most detailers recommend just using some clean microfibres to dry the car. I just buy a stack of them and stick them and put them in the washing machine when I am done.

When you get to the stage that you need to clay bar the car again is when I would think about something else. You know when you need a clay bar when you have washed the car and if you try to slide a clean microfibre cloth over the bonnet, if it doesn't glide like it is on slick ice it is covered in tiny contaminates. 

If you need to clay bar your car it is time to strip everything off and start again. To strip it all off I have been taught to wash the car with dishwashing liquid. Then clay bar which is not too bad, and usually takes me 45mins or so. Hopefully you don't really have swirl marks or anything to tidy up, as actual polishing is something you need to be more careful with. 

Wax is near on obsolete now with the new 'ceramic' coatings. You can use one of the products @ArthurK mentioned above. I have actually used Mothers CMX Pro which is a simple spray on 'ceramic' coating (you can get it at Supercheap) on a couple of my cars now and it is quick and easy (takes me about 30mins with the clean car) to apply and it lasts 6-12months at least and the water still just beads off it. 

 

[911virgin]

6 minutes ago, MFX said:

I am not an expert, but in your situation where you already have a good polish and wax, you just wash it with your preferred method (2 bucket, foam, what have you), and then you can periodically top up the wax again. You may also note that chamois are also frowned upon these days. Most detailers recommend just using some clean microfibres to dry the car. I just buy a stack of them and stick them and put them in the washing machine when I am done.

When you get to the stage that you need to clay bar the car again is when I would think about something else. You know when you need a clay bar when you have washed the car and if you try to slide a clean microfibre cloth over the bonnet, if it doesn't glide like it is on slick ice it is covered in tiny contaminates. 

If you need to clay bar your car it is time to strip everything off and start again. To strip it all off I have been taught to wash the car with dishwashing liquid. Then clay bar which is not too bad, and usually takes me 45mins or so. Hopefully you don't really have swirl marks or anything to tidy up, as actual polishing is something you need to be more careful with. 

Wax is near on obsolete now with the new 'ceramic' coatings. You can use one of the products @ArthurK mentioned above. I have actually used Mothers CMX Pro which is a simple spray on 'ceramic' coating (you can get it at Supercheap) on a couple of my cars now and it is quick and easy (takes me about 30mins with the clean car) to apply and it lasts 6-12months at least and the water still just beads off it. 

 

hey MFX

this is great sensible practical advice, thanks!

what is your preferred car wash detergent (not the dishwashing liquid)

 

i think the next detail with the pro i wil get ceramic coating- it sounds like its easier to maintain and lasts much longer  ie years vs months with carnauba

[MFX]

Just now, 911virgin said:

hey MFX

this is great sensible practical advice, thanks!

what is your preferred car wash detergent (not the dishwashing liquid)

 

i think the next detail with the pro i wil get ceramic coating- it sounds like its easier to maintain and lasts much longer  ie years vs months with carnauba

I just use one of the off the shelf things, Mothers, Armorall whatever. I am definitely not a detailer, and I usually just give the car a quick 30mins wash and that is it. If you watch Larry's videos at Ammo NYC, he has some good tips on how to wash your car and do the least amount of damage. 

[911virgin]

thanks MFX

will check that out

[Peter M]

Virgin,

You have a 993?  I would add to whatever process you decide on to blow out the windscreen seals front and rear at the completion of every wash as they are very prone to rusting in these areas.

For those with anodised Fuchs, don't ever clean them with anything stronger than soapy water followed by Vasoline or something like Autosol Anodised Aluminium polish.  You'll only use something stronger than soapy water once.....

My wash routine is very low tech.  Ideally using rainwater:

• Wash the mud and dust off with the hose taking car with the mud trap points.  (In front of the rear wheels/behind the doors for the pre 964 cars for example)
• Use a soft brush and soapy water on the wheels and inner mudguards/mudflaps.  (I buy whatever 5 litre carwash is on special)
• Soap up the car all over with a detergent dispenser on the hose
• Use the hose with detergent dispenser to keep the area I'm using my wash mit on really wet and soapy.  Dispenser in one hand, mit in the other.
• Rinse off
• Apply Autoglym Aquawaxwhile still wet (Eternally grateful to @Niko for this tip)
• Ideally drive or blow out the windscreen and frunk seals (Ideally leave the frunk open for a few days afterwards as the seal traps water)

I'm finding Aquawax harder and more expensive to get so am open to a alternatives if anyone has a suggestion.

[D2000]

On 16/02/2022 at 10:16, Peter M said:

 

I'm finding Aquawax harder and more expensive to get so am open to a alternatives if anyone has a suggestion.

I used to use aqua wax but now use Gyeon Wet Coat (https://www.carcareproducts.com.au/gyeon-q2m-wetcoat-500ml.html - they sell it in bulk too). 
 

Amazing stuff. Wash car, spray it on, rinse it off and dry the car. I use it on my 2007 Audi which has never seen a clay bar or polisher and is parked outside, and it beads water for weeks (probably months).

[Raven]

Menzerna and autoglym polish,s and wax,s , rupes pads , microfibre towels and polishing cloths .

And my tip for the day dont buy a black car .........Black is a hobby not a colour 

[Niko]

On 16/02/2022 at 10:16, Peter M said:

 

• Apply Autoglym Aquawaxwhile still wet (Eternally grateful to @Niko for this tip)
•  

I'm finding Aquawax harder and more expensive to get so am open to a alternatives if anyone has a suggestion.

https://www.waxit.com.au/collections/autoglym

Try this company, seem to have some great stuff.   Local also.