DC52NV

Did a quick detail of my TL a couple weeks ago and thought I'd share some pics and list of products used. I'm still fairly new to detailing so any feedback would be appreciated.

Products used:

PB APC 4:1 for tires
PB S&R for wheels w/ Daytona Speed Master wheel brush
PB BS for dead bugs
Duragloss 901 for washing car
Adam's wash bucket w/ grit guard
Homer's Home Depot bucket w/ grit guard
P&S Sales sheep mitt
DP Krystal Vision glass cleaner
Optimum Opti-Seal
PB B&B tire dressing

On to the pictures

TommyP

iTrader: (2)

Nice job! Beautiful car!

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

very nice. never heard of most of those products so i'm guessing they are good? lol

ive been a detail freak for a while now, every few months i do a full polish/claybar/wax, when i rotate my tires i take the wheels off and completely clean them and use poorboys wheel sealant which works great. gotta love the dealer ready treatment!

DC52NV

Thanks Tommy! I've had her for over 6yrs now and still has that showroom shine.

DC52NV

Thank you. PB=Poorboy's so you've actually heard of most of my products. Lol

Which products do you use for when you clay/polish/wax?

jonathan923

iTrader: (2)

very nice job, my fav year TL

BoostedBeaner

My fav year model too. Beautiful car. I need to get better detailing equipment. Grit guard and such

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

hmmm lemme think

poorboys wheel sealant for painted wheels
turtle ultimate black series tire shine (or something like that)
meguiars wheel cleaner for painted wheels
turtle wax car shampoo
turtle wax compounds
some sort of wax i found at a car show that works good
white microfiber wash mitt
still rockin the shammy to dry
microfibers, terry cloths, random orbital buffer
tuff stuff for the recaro seats and headliner
turtle wax carpet shampoo
mothers 'back to black' trim restore/detail
eagle quick wax
invisible glass window shine
adam's double wash buckets & grit gaurds
leaf blower to help dry the car/grilles/rims/tires/mirrors/window jams etc (it REALLY HELPS!)
turtle wax ice interior detail spray
febreeze new car deoderizor
mothers clay bar kit...

thats about all i can remember for now all good stuff, most of it you can just get at autozone, i don't go all out on the premium stuff except for a few things that just work better. if i won a million dollars id get everything possible from adams and never drive my car again

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

yes, the grit gaurds in the double buckets is the best thing you can do to protect your car from scratches. if possible, never go through a car wash. (yes even in the winter time, i'd say its better to have a dirty car than to have a clean scratched up one)

heres a post i just wrote a few hours ago, just gonna copy/paste it

dude it will put you on another level of loving your car.

i'm a big detailer though, to a level of unmatched fetishism.

anyway, waxing is really nothing to worry about, its polishing to be careful with, if you havent done it before. the best process to get your car in the best possible looking condition, short of wetsanding/reclearing, is as follows:

you need a lot of things but provided you only have the buffer already, you might need up to $50-$80 worth of polish, wax, pads, microfibers, claybar, etc...

wash car in dish soap solution to remove wax. wash it perfect.
dry it perfectly.
use a claybar to remove all surface contaminants and dirt trapped in paint. (takes 1.5-2.5 hours at this point). definately claybar it before polishing. i've found claybarring doesn't smooth out your paint like many say it does

the only way to properly wash your car by hand is a two bucket method. make sure the car is wet before washing, and try to get soap on there without touching it, to allow the soap to soak up the dirt off the paint, and all your wash mitt does is push it gently off of the surface, rather than rubbing it out.

tape off your trim if you deem it worth it, getting polish on your window trim and grilles and tires can be really hard to get off and can damage the finishes. same goes for wax. either this or be careful around all these areas for ease of removal/detailing in the end

polish. depending on how many little swirl marks are on your clearcoat, you need to get fine compound to a medium compound. cutting compound would be necessary for a car with lots of haze marks. after a cutting compound you polish again with a fine compound. its like sanding smooth but with compound basically. this is all only going to work well if you have a random orbital buffer or something like that, and a few good pads which also vary between fine to coarse fibers for polishing.

once you deem the paint scratch free as possible without removing too much clearcoat, wax!
this is also best done with the buffer to make sure you really impact the wax onto the paint, as it essentially builds on top of your clearcoat to protect it. i usually do two coats in a full detail like this, otherwise i just add a coat of wax around once to month to big areas like the hood and fenders for added protection and gloss.

after this you should try to only wash your car using a two bucket wash method and also preferably with a foam gun. this is the best way to protect your paint and keep it looking fresh at the same time. you can't get the best of both worlds by going through auto washes, or by just quick detail spraying it. a proper wash including fully cleaning the rims inside the wells and all and handdrying (leaf blower helps ) takes me about 1-2 hours and a full detail can definately take all day depending how much polishing you do and how diligently you work. i'd say 6-8 hours. your hands will be very sore at the end of the day but its worth looking at it and it looks better than when you got it from the dealer!

DC52NV

Thanks everyone. 2 bucket method with grit guards really does minimize swirls. Really puts it into prospective when you dump out the rinse bucket and you see brown water and sand particles.

Supercharged Guy

iTrader: (1)

Awesome looking car man, I've loved the TL's

BoostedBeaner

Copied and saved Adam

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

good to know someones gonna put it to use!

here's the deal for using the two bucket method, in a little more detail:

a) go to ebay, buy two grit gaurds for around 15-20 bux
go to home depot and get two 5 gallon buckets, the gaurds will fit perfect in them, the buckets are like 2 bucks each

first rinse off, and clean your wheels. use a spray for best results, and use a few things: tire scrubber, extra wash mitt (NEVER use the same mitt for two jobs) and another wash mitt or scrubber for the inside of the wheels, and wheel wells.

fill one bucket with clean water only
fill the other with the soap solution.


the main thing about this process is that you are touching your paint as little as possible.

get the car wet, rinse off as much dirt as possible. do not touch it yet.
soak up soap suds in your wash mitt, and wring it out over the paint, as stated before, having soap on the car ebfore touches it will lift dirt off the paint.

once you got as much soap on the car as possible, resoak your mitt in the soap water, go over small sections, starting at the top, and move the mitt in one direction only. don't swirl. dont scrub back and forth, this could move dirt back and forth across your paint!

between sections, put your mitt in the clean water bucket and rub it on the grit gaurd to release dirt off of it. also rub your hands over the mitt to ensure cleanliness. the grit gaurds keep all dirt from being moved around and back onto your mitt. they are great

resoak and do another section, and so on and so forth.

use a second mitt for the bottom half of the car and the back bumper where the most crap sticks to on our cars.

rinse.

there is a method called the 'sheeting teqnique', where you take the nozzle off the hose and set the flow to a steady smooth stream. run the hose across a section, the water collects and pools off together, leaving less water on the car. if your paint is smooth enough, more water will sheet off, leaving almost nothing behind!

take a leaf blower (better than an air compressor which can shoot oil on your paint) or hair dryer (not too effective) and blow off your rims, mirrors/etc where water holds. you can also use it to mostly dry off sections of the car.

then dry, carefully, making sure your shammy is clean from the last time you used it.

use detail products/etc and you are done! enjoy your perfect car

DC52NV

Great write up. I have a homers bucket from home depot but I don't like how my grit guard is loose in there. It floats up to the top of the water. My Adam's bucket fits it snug so it stays in place. Can't beat the price of the homers bucket though.

DC52NV

Did a wash, clay, wash, polish, seal and wax today.

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

wow nice! what kinda sealant?

DC52NV

Thank you. I used Opti-Seal. Excellent WOWA (wipe on, walk away) product.

jzehren11

iTrader: (6)

Sub'd

ampzor350

iTrader: (4)

Too much work... Just take it through a automatic wash, the ones with the brushes and all that fun stuff and call it a day....

... I only kid.

I enjoy washing and cleaning my car. It's like a hobby to me even though I'm not that great at polishing, damn black car.