OK well my first detail has begun. Tonight I washed the car with Dawn. Than I pulled the car into the garage and clayed the whole car. The clay was a little dingy and the surface may have been slightly smoother when I finished but to tell you the truth it seemed very smooth before I clayed it. So in the morning I will wash it with Mystique and than begin the adventure of learning how to use my PC polisher. I am going to apply Amigo than Epic. I really didn't want to stop tonight because after the claying the finish really looked bad but it was getting kind of cold. When claying the car I ended up only using maybe 1/8th of the bottle of detailing spray. I didn't dry the car aftger I washed it so it was pretty wet to begin with. That is the correct process isn't it?
Good to hear you got started I would have dried the car after washing, just so there where no mineral deposits(Water spots). That said, you can use extra soapy water as a lubricant when claying, rinsing as you go, then I don't bother to dry, as I always wash the car again, like you. One way to feel what the clay removes, is to do the baggy test. Before claying, put your hand in a plastic bag and run it over the paint, you will feel the bag get caught on surface contaminants. Then clay an area, and repeat the baggy test, and it should feel smoother. You can't really use to much lube, and soapy water is pretty cheap. I tend to use QD only when spot claying small areas, like bad bird poop. Let us know how tomorrow goes, and remember, :useless Mark
I used Prima Slick about half diluted with water the last time I clayed and it worked fine. Clay Magic's lubricant is great. To me, clay isn't about making the finish smoother, although as mentioned you'll be able to notice it better with the baggy test, but just about removing contaminants from the surface. Even if you can't feel them, you see them on the clay so you know it's working. Amigo is usually used as a final step before waxing, after something like Swirl is used to polish out swirl marks. Did you jump right to Amigo because your finish was already in good shape?
Wow that completely wiped me out! Evewrything started out good. Washed with mystique, dried it and than taped the car all up. Taping probably took at least an hour. Than for the fun part. I got out my new PC and started applying the Amigo. I was about half finished when disaster struck! It started pouring rain. ARGHHH. So I pulled it into my garage, completely dried the car again and started over redoing everything with the amigo. Next came the Epic.I let the Epic sit for about 1 1/2 hours. I removed all the tape, man thats a lot of tape. and I used a fluffy micro fiber to remove all the wax. By this point it was dark outside and I had been working under a couple of halogen lights so this morning I need to check it out in real sun light and see if there are any spots to touch up and also I need to Black wow the trim, clean the glass and wax the wheels. I havent figured out what I want to use for tire dressing so I dont have anyhting yet for that. Hopefully I can pull it outside between the scattered showers were supposed to have today and take some pics. Now I dont want to drive it HAHA. I will definetly be driving my truck this week on the days it rains.
Can't wait for some pics. The longer the Epic sits before buffing it off, the better. I try for overnight. If you BW before starting, you don't have to tape as much. Mark
I used to use More Shine Less Time, or 303. These days they get whatever Discount Tire puts on them when they get rotated. Yep. Just tape cracks where you don't want polish to get trapped. Anything that gets on the trim wipes off pretty easily if you have BW (or almost any freshly applied trim sauce) on it. Just don't let it dry.
Here are the mandatory pics One part I didnt do was the roof trim. I tried Black Wow but everything I tried using to apply it left tons of lint in the trim and it was tough to get it out. So I need a applicator that doesnt leave anything behind. All taped up and ready to go. After The Amigo glaze. Can't hardly tell where the roof ends. This is a black roof but it is so shiny it is hard to tell. Shiny Thats it for now. I can see why it is so expensive to have a car detailed. Hopefully I will get quicker and a little more organized.
Hi folks, First post for us, and new owners of a gorgeous '06 gray body/silver roof S. I know this is trivial in light of the more meaty posts I'm reading, but our mini came with a dice ornament on top of the antennae. It was lost recently at a car wash (wife is heartbroken, kicking herself). Does anyone have a lead on where we could track one down? We've really scoured the internet but amazingly we can't find one. Really appreciate the help. BG
nice! Assuming their vinyl I'd suggest taping off the edges of the bonnet stripes. Makes getting to the paint adjacent a little more worry free
Congratulations on a nice job! I can see why you would just be using Amigo, that finish is pretty new still. For putting BW on the drip rails, I use a thin MF cloth that is advertised as being great for cleaning glass. OctaneGuy sells thin MF applicators that should do the trick, too.
I tried the skinny applicator that I got from Octaneguy. It absolutely fell apart,well it just embedded so much lint into the rail that I couldnt even get it out with a tooth brush. I need to try a foam pad like you used Mark.Thanks
That's strange. The MF Skinny's are lint free. I've used mine for a long time and they haven't fallen apart. I went over your last 3 orders and you didn't order a MF Skinny, so I'm not sure which applicator you are talking about. These are the MF Skinny's https://www.showcarsupplies.com/shopexd.asp?id=149&bc=no Foam pads work well to as do microfiber towels. Richard
I wore through a MF Skinny after a lot of use and the little slab of foam can start to do that but this skinny has a lot of miles on it and most people would just throw them out before they get to this level of use.