Detailing

[MelsSS]

Is there a detailing section?

[[ChaosweaveR]]

No, usually the detailing stuffs go in this section.

What do you need to know?

[MelsSS]

Nothing thats what I do I thought I could help someone

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Nothing thats what I do I thought I could help someone

Ah, I see. I do a decent amount of detail work on the side myself.

[Frosty]

Okay, so what do you recommend for detailing interiors and exterior?. Perhaps you could start separate DIY threads.

[MelsSS]

I can do that

[Frosty]

I look forward to it.

[MelsSS]

I will have it up tonight.

[MelsSS]

Washing
Before spraying your car down with loads of water get your wash bucket set up.
If you can and have use two buckets one with clean water and one with your wash
solution.
First, put your wash solution right on your wash pad not in the bottom of your
bucket. Then spray water on the pad to create lots of suds. Then fill the other
bucket with clean water to keep your pad as clean as possible between soap
application. Also, you can get a grit guard to wash off the mitt in the clean
water bucket just rub your mitt over the grit guard to remove and dirt on the pad
and rinse dirt out of the pad.
Grit GuardNow rinse down your car and get all of the lose dirt off. You can wash
starting from top down, don't I repeat don't wash an area and hose off.
Wash the entire surface of the car and then rinse off the car. It's better
that the soap dry on the car than to have water drying on the car and have
water spotting. Try to wash your car in the shade or late in the evening
so to delay drying time of the soap. Once you have washed your car while the car is
still wet spay your entire surface of the car down with your choice of detail
spray and wipe the car down. This will help eliminate water spots and give
your car a little more protection. Always use a microfiber drying towel to wipe your
car down. Never use a bath towel because it will scratch your car.

Wheel & Tire cleaning
You can use you choice off wheel cleaner, but only spray a cold or cool wheel
and tire down with your choice of Tire and Wheel cleaner. A good all purpose
cleaner will remove all the
brake dust build-up without the acids and cheap butyls
found in most wheel cleaners that cause wheel damage (etching) and pollute
the earth. All Purpose Cleaner deep cleans tires, removing browning
and old tire dressing without leaching the tire's built-in wax protection.
Use a good wheel brush to scrub down the wheels and hose off and let dry.
Now your ready for what ever tire protectant you want.
Wheel Polish
Pro Tip! Many factory wheels finishes are called "polished" by the
manufactures, but in reality are clear coated. To determine what kind
of finish you have on your wheels take small amount of metal polish on
a clean applicator and gently rub on an inconspicuous area. If you get a
black residue you're wheels are raw aluminum and can be effectively treated
with metal polish. If you don't then the wheels are clear coated and
should be polished using our Polish for paint.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Taking a tire brush to the sidewalls of the tires is a good idea, especially if you like to gloss your tires often. If not, you'll get a nasty build up of gunk from the gloss, especially if you use a gel.

Most wheels that are clearcoated, I'll literally clay and wax like paint. Anything to help from brake dust sticking and getting baked onto the painted surface of the wheels, especially more if you have a very dusty set of pads.

I'm weird, though. I wash my car in "sections". I start with the front clip, body, then the rear, but I do the "top down" thing with how I wash it. I've always had shade, so I've never worried about water spots too much.

[Frosty]

Can I ask one of the moderators to edit MelsSS' last post and change the text color from black to white please? it is hard to ready without having to highlight the entire post or cutting and pasting it to a word processor.

Thank you!

[Ringo64]

Can I ask one of the moderators to edit MelsSS' last post and change the text color from black to white please? it is hard to ready without having to highlight the entire post or cutting and pasting it to a word processor.

Thank you!

done-zo

[MelsSS]

Why did it go dark?

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Why did it go dark?

The text is white on my end after Jimmy fixed it. It's fine on mobile as well. You can't read the text now? Take a screen cap, maybe it'll help us why it's now dark to you.

[Ringo64]

Why did it go dark?

You have to watch the font color, we use a WYSIWYG editor that will copy the font color and background color of what you copy from. It then will insert BBCode for the color and post it as that. That font color overwrote our default color for the forum and I had to go in and strip the font color BBCode.

To avoid this in the future you can tell the editor when pasting to strip all tags or prior to pasting here paste to a plaintext editor (such as Notepad) as that will strip them as well but keep your paragraphs and breaks.

[MelsSS]

Cool thanks

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Oooooh, I see what he originally did.

Don't feel bad, I've done that a few times.

[MelsSS]

Im the detail moderator on another site and I grabed what I have type before and just removed my product recommendations.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Always good to have another detailer frequent the forums. =]

[MelsSS]

The old pontiac forum I was on people just seemed to just drift away. When I saw the name Forever Pontiac I said I finally found a home!!

[[ChaosweaveR]]

The old pontiac forum I was on people just seemed to just drift away. When I saw the name Forever Pontiac I said I finally found a home!!

I've been noticing the majority of Pontiac model specific forums dying off. I still post on grandamgt.com, been a member since July 07, but I'd say only ten people are active on there anymore. Friends I have in the GP scene tell me the same thing with W-body platforms.

[MelsSS]

Very true Club GP has realy gone down

[[ChaosweaveR]]

I tried going on the Accord forums, but they're all jackasses there. I've never seen such uptight fanboys get mad over the fact that I put aftermarket wheels on my Accord and didn't lower it.

I only frequent here and grandamgt.com as far as forums go anymore.

[MelsSS]

Interior
Cleaning your interior can be a real challenge. So many products to
choice from, Leather conditioners, Fabric & Carpet Cleaners plastic
and vinyl cleaners and protectants. Whether you want a shiny dash
pad or somewhere in between.

Fabric seats and Carpet
I use a high quality cleaner the totally removes the dirt and oils
from daily use. Simply spray the product on and use a medium firm
brush and scrub a section at a time horizontal and vertical then respray
the same area again and wipe throughly with a microfiber towel. It will
pick up all the dirt the product lifted' then continue with the next section.

Leather cleaning
I use a high quality leather cleaner and a soft brush spray product
and scrub a section at a time softly not much effort in the matter
then wipe off with a microfiber towel now your ready for you protectant.

Leather Protectant
I use Zainos leather in a bottle just wipe product on and let dry I love this stuff and you will too .

Smells just like new leather!!


Dash Cleaning
You can use the leather cleaner to clean the dash.
PRO TIP! After cleaning with Leather & Interior Cleaner allow your
leather surfaces to dry completly and use your leather conditioner on all the
hard surfaces Dash, Door panels armrest.

Glass Cleaning
PRO TIP! All glass cleaners are sensitive to dirty towels. So, if you use
a towel that's previously been used for polishing or waxing, remaining
product residue is bound to leach out and smear your glass. Dedicated glass
towels are your best bet.

PRO TIP! Do you have hard to reach areas of glass inside your car? You
can stop trying to be a contortionist and make the job easier by laying your
towel on the back side of your hand to wipe.

Use a glass sealant its like wax for glaas use a microfiber applicator
put a good amount of sealant on your pad and use a cross hatch pattern
do one direction and then the other wait to hase over and use the glass
cleaner and wipe off.

[MelsSS]

I just tried Adams new paint sealant and it was the easiest on and off product I have used.

http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-1014-new-adams-liquid-paint-sealant.aspx