DIY Car Washing and Polishing

[Dell99]

I finally tried the claybar method, however i would like to know there are some baked in marks there that can't come out. Meaning.... i can see the baked marks, and i tried scrubbing it a few times

[Dell99]

any ideas on how to remove em

[riruiz_88]

damn this is good stuff mate

[riruiz_88]

ok im ready to give my car the care it needs 2morrow. what i wanted to know was, when i am applying glaze/polish to the car, how long should i leave it on before i wipe the polish off?

[aaronng]

ok im ready to give my car the care it needs 2morrow. what i wanted to know was, when i am applying glaze/polish to the car, how long should i leave it on before i wipe the polish off?

Glaze/polish is not a wipe on and leave to dry product. You have to work it in with some elbow grease and when it is all worked in, you wipe it off immediately.

[riruiz_88]

fair enough then, so how do i know when it has fully worked in? as for wax, approx how long does it need to be on before wipe off?

[aaronng]

fair enough then, so how do i know when it has fully worked in? as for wax, approx how long does it need to be on before wipe off?

Do 1/2 a panel at a time and when it looks nice and spread out evenly, I go over it once again (without adding anymore glaze to the pad). Wipe off immediately after that.

For wax, it depends on the weather, but I leave it for 15-20 minutes.

[riruiz_88]

my car turned out pretty good, actually better than i expected but there is definitely room for improvement. just want to know something, with the micro fiber cloth, how am i able to wash this because as you know wax and water do not mix? and aaronng what product do you use for your windows, because the one i used was a cheapy one and it smeared? preferably meguiars? dont look good

[steve88]

use one cloth to apply (polish) and one to wipe off (buff). also you know youve polished enough when your polishing so hard that its starting to actually buff off (then that means ur wiping too hard and prob need more polish)... also, try using sealent as well as wax i found my car too stay clean for about a month that way! (sealents meant to last longer but im a bit of a noob when it comes to applying it, so surely once im good at it it'll last longer)

[aaronng]

use one cloth to apply (polish) and one to wipe off (buff). also you know youve polished enough when your polishing so hard that its starting to actually buff off (then that means ur wiping too hard and prob need more polish)... also, try using sealent as well as wax i found my car too stay clean for about a month that way! (sealents meant to last longer but im a bit of a noob when it comes to applying it, so surely once im good at it it'll last longer)

I disagree with using a microfibre cloth to apply polish/glaze or sealant. First, you quickly load up the microfibre cloth and it works no better than a cheap discount shop cloth. Second, you end up killing the microfibre cloth and it doesn't perform like it should the next time you use it. Use a foam or microfibre application pad instead.

[aaronng]

my car turned out pretty good, actually better than i expected but there is definitely room for improvement. just want to know something, with the micro fiber cloth, how am i able to wash this because as you know wax and water do not mix? and aaronng what product do you use for your windows, because the one i used was a cheapy one and it smeared? preferably meguiars? dont look good

Use a liquid laundry detergent diluted in water. The #1 rule when washing microfibre is to never use softener. Even those dryer sheets. Other than that, you can use hot or cold water (I prefer hot to soften the wax), scrub it good with your hand, toss it into the spin cycle and then optionally into a dryer.

For windows, I use Meg's NXT glass cleaner. I think it is important to have a 2nd clean cloth to wipe the windows after you first work the glass cleaner in. Try using 2 cloths with your glass cleaner before going out to buy the Meg's cleaner. If it works, you save money.

[riruiz_88]

yeh i know only apply the polish/glaze and wax with an applicator pad. its actually easy . but the above post/s dont really help me with my original question. i want to know what the process is on how to wash the micro' towels but without damaging them?