Hello fellow detailers, does anyone know what happened to duragloss? I remember them having this really good wax / polymer type spray that really adds a whole lot of gloss to the paintwork

Dear Bryan,

You could actually skip the rinse phase and use an APC (All Purpose Cleaner) as a pre-wash and deliver onto the car using a pump sprayer. So your wash methodology could go something like:

1 - APC pre-soak/wash with pump sprayer
2 - Power wash dirt and pre-soak off the car
3 - Foam cannon attachment on power washer for a nice layer of foam shampoo on the car
4 - Wash mitt wipe down panel by panel, taking care to use a soak bucket for cleaning your wash mitt in between panels
5 - Dry and Spray wax in one step by using your spray wax as a drying-aid

The dilution rates for Meguiar's APC and Optimum Power Clean are quite economical and these APCs can be used for a multitude of tasks based on your dilution.

Greasy engine? 1:1
Rims? 3 : 1
Body panels? 5 : 1
Interior tasks? 10 : 1
All other tasks? 15 : 1

As for your Spray Wax, you could try Optimum Car Wax or Chemical Guys V07

Happy Detailing

-d

This post has been edited by daedalus: Mar 21 2016, 07:05 PM

Hello fellow detailer, definitely should wash your focus a lot more often yourself safely to reduce all those swirl marks cause by car washes with improper technique!

When it comes to shampoo, you'll really have to consider what sort of qualities you like in a shampoo, foaminess? detergency? lubricity? hand feel? scent? free rinsing? etc etc. The Meguiar's Gold Class is a fantastic shampoo with a great handfeel. Have you tried Meguiar's Hyper Wash? It has fantastic lubricity and handfeel, good detergency against road grime and rinses off easily to boot.

Another great shampoo is Optimum Car Wash. Regardless of which shampoo you decide to pick up, always remember to check the dilution ratios, the higher the dilution - the more economical your wash will be. Dilution ratios are also dependent on the quality of your water, the harder your water - the more you have to use. Also factor in your wash tools such as foam guns or foam cannons (foam guns 100ml shampoo concentrate, foam cannons 50ml)

Clay bars, you should try and pick these up from a reputable seller, but keep in mind that claying your car could potentially cause marring on your paint. It may be a good idea to follow up your claying with a one step polish. Claying your car will also strip off your wax coating but you can always use pour a shot of APC into your foam cannon or foam gun or wash bucket, that will give some degreasing ability to your wash. In this way you can wash and strip off the wax at the same time.

Another and probably more effective way to ensure that wax is stripped off, pour some APC (usually at a dilution of 3 : 1) in a pressure pump sprayer and pre-soak your vehicle and follow up with a thorough wash. Make sure you rinse your car down well as some APCs do not rinse free.

Polishing and compounding all boils down the proper technique. As long as you stick to a DA type tool and also polish and compound products geared towards newcomers, you should A-O-K

Waxes and sealants. In the past the best way to actually protect your car is by using a wax, but these usually don't last long and so they've come up with sealants which last a lot longer than waxes. So you either choose a wax or a sealant to protect your car from the elements. As to which you actually use, that really depends on your car care methodology. How often do you wash your car? How much time do you have when washing? Do you like doing it often or prefer to do it only once in a long while?

If you like washing your car often but don't have much time in your session, I would recommend using a spray wax. After every wash, just use your spray wax as a drying aid along with your microfibre towel / waffle weave, this will give your car the protection that it needs until your next wash which isn't too far away.
If on the other hand if you only prefer washing once in a long while, use a sealant which will last a couple of months. You can always use a wax as a topper on your sealant but ensure that you check with the manufacturer of your products, some products aren't meant to be topped or won't play well with other products.

Use a detail spray for your clay lube or if you are a fan of waterless washes, your waterless wash concentrate properly diluted will also make an excellent clay lube. A shampoo is also possible if it has very good lubricity.

Happy detailing,

-d

This post has been edited by daedalus: Mar 27 2016, 07:50 AM

Congratulations on your new car! Spray waxes can easily last up to a month and is easy enough to apply by just misting onto the panel and buffing it off. Meguiars and Optimum make pretty good spray waxes.

A good shampoo will take care of your plastic bits and exterior paint. A water based dressing will protect your plastic trims. Don't forget to use the 2 bucket method and grit guards when washing your car. A good mitt is also essential!

Happy detailing

-d

This post has been edited by daedalus: Mar 27 2016, 02:18 PM

It's very important when purchasing products to actually see what your car care methodology is. For example, if you're going to wax once a month, a good spray wax will easily last that duration. However if you're only going to wax once every 6 months, it would be better to look for a good paste wax such as collinite or maybe even a liquid sealant.

Also you have to consider that spray waxes have come a very long way, there are spray type waxes out there that was made to compete directly with paste type waxes. For example, Optimum Car Wax has been claimed to include UV absorbers / protection.

Spray waxes are easily applied and most spray type waxes are very slick which is good - and it stands the reason why detailers the world over love using spray waxes as a type of drying aid. Using a drying aid is also a good idea as it will help prevent the swirl type damage on your car.

So to surmise, methodology and technique is important. Happy detailing!

-d

Hello fellow wash enthusiast, you'll find a number of sellers on this forum for both consumer and professional oriented products and if they don't have the professional ones on the list, just ask them if they can bring it in (I'm sure they can)

When it comes to shampoos, don't sweat the labels because often times the great difference between consumer grade and professional grade is the dilution rates and packing sizes. Just do the math and you'll realise the professional ones are much cheaper in the long run (even as a hobby).

As for your APC, you could try Meguiar's APC and the stuff really is concentrated for economy but I am not too sure if they are available on the shelf. Truthfully I haven't purchased car care products from the store for some time. You could also try Optimum's Power Clean (as universally loved as Meguiar's APC), look up the dilution ratios for the particular tasks that you want to accomplish. Don't worry too much about the rubbers, eventually the UV from the sun eats them up anyway - just use a good trim dressing on them.

There is quite a big difference between polishing and compounding. To put it simply though, compounding products are for heavier corrections and polishing products are for minor imperfections. You use a compound on a heavily swirled car when you want to achieve heavy paint corrections, the compound will remove swirls quickly but will also haze and marr the paint somewhat. So you must always follow up compounding with polishing.

Sorry I digress but to answer your question, you should probably use a machine such as a DA polisher if you want to use ultimate compound - because if you don't, you'll probably end up with gorilla arms! Should you try with a polish product first? As a rule of thumb, always remember to use the least aggressive method with the least aggressive product with the least aggressive pad with the least aggressive setting on your DA machine. It's quite difficult to explain as compounding and polishing is truly a craft. For a more in-depth explanation and the science behind this craft, hit up buffdaddy on google.

Our fellow wash enthusiast above has probably adequately answered your question on diluted no rinse as a QD. Remember to contact your product manufacturer or trawl the forums for the correct dilution ratio.

Mitts, cloths etc. One way to decide on if you should put them together for a wash is by their Material and Soilage. General rule of thumb is to not mix the cloths you use on your painted surface and the cloths you use to clean your rims / tires because of the difference in soilage - you don't want to mix the really dirty ones with the relatively cleaner ones.

What do you use to dry your car? Waffle weaves? I used to wash my waffle weaves together with the other microfibres but later on they weren't as soft anymore. Admittedly though, I'm not sure if that's because of any other factor and I could be wrong about not mixing different materials together but I've kept them separate since then. You could probably wash the polishing cloth, waxing cloth and mitts together but it's important to get the residue out of the cloths first as you wouldn't want any leftover on your mitts or in your washing machine for that matter.

Pour a shot of your favourite APC into a soak bucket with some water and soak your polishing and waxing cloths, that should get rid of any residue. You'll have to play around with the dilution rate or maybe even use the APC full strength as a soak, the type of cloth and wax / polish product you use plays a role in the duration and strength of the soak. This method will also take off soilage on your cloths that you use to clean your tires / rims.

After soaking your cloths you can machine wash them, again pour a shot of APC (again you'll have to play with the dilution ratios for the specific cloths and soilage you're dealing with). Do not use any fabric softener and if you're using laundry detergent, I find the liquid ones a lot better than the flakes.

Happy detailing

-d

This post has been edited by daedalus: Mar 28 2016, 07:07 AM

What's your wash technique / methodology like?

Hello fellow wash enthusiast, looks like you're pretty disciplined when it comes to washing. I don't think you'll be putting in any major swirls any time soon.

Make sure to go in straight line motions and not circular motions that way you won't go over the same area if you have any debris on the sponge, it will also save your energy for other tasks. Using two different pails is good, make sure you have grit guards in them, if you don't - then just be extra careful not to touch the bottom of the pail. No problem with using a single microfibre sponge or mitt for the entire vehicle.

Keeping separate wash tools for paint and tires / wheels is smart, your task will be much easier if you use an all purpose cleaner on them followed by light agitation. With the APC, cleaning rims feels more like brushing teeth clean rather than brushing stains off the carpet.

Always remember that hard rubbing of the exterior paint of your vehicles may cause some marring. When possible, use a bug remover (in the case of bugs) or APC which works well on bird poo and various other stains. If the APC or bug remover fails, you can try using a light polish and a microfibre applicator pad to get stubborn spots out of the paint, always remember to use the least aggressive product and very gentle pressure on those spots.

Your question on rinsing the car off before washing the tires, well that depends on how hard the water is in your area. If the water is hard then you really do not want to leave any water on your car to dry, hard water dries away and leaves behind minerals on your car, that's what causes the water spotting on cars. Soapy water on car, that depends on the product that you are using, you'll have to get in touch with the manufacturer to properly ascertain if it can be used in that way. If you are unsure, then it would be better to rinse off the residue and dry the car before anything else.

It really depends on what your preference is and the amount of time you actually have, personally i like doing the wheels first in every wash session. That way I won't have to worry about accidentally bringing any dirt or grime onto the paint - because I haven't done any washing to the paint yet.

No issues with just wiping or dragging the microfibre cloth to dry the car. If you're really worried about instilling any scratches during the drying phase, just use a good quick detailer / waterless wash / spray wax as a drying aid. The drying aid will provide the necessary lubrication to help your microfibre glide over the surface.

Happy detailing

-d

It isn't right calling yourself a cheapskate, detailing can easily become an expensive hobby / therapy (costs less than seeing a real head doctor). There are people who spray down their cars with shampoo and then proceed to clay, as long as you know your way around your claybar / block / mitt / cloth I don't see any reason why that isn't a possibility. Make sure you use a very slick shampoo for that though.

If you're worried about the costs, you could always purchase professional grade shampoos or detailers, they cost a lot less than purchasing the 500 to 1000ml ones available off the shelves. Another way would be to use rinseless wash concentrate, with the proper dilution ratios - one concentrate type product can be used as car shampoo, quick detailer, clay lube, waterless wash etc. Streamline your product usage, buy in bulk and INSIST on getting a bulk discount!

I've never used the PG sealant and I am unsure on how to advise on that. What exactly is it? Is it a liquid sealant that replaces paste / liquid waxes? In general a layer of wax or sealant on your paint will probably make it easier to clean as contaminants (such as bird poo) would be sticking to that rather than on the bare surface.

I'm really not sure on what the price of PG sealant is, I guess the only way is to actually try it out. Should you decide to try it out, let us know what the results are!

Happy detailing

-d

Not impossible but the surfactants in the shampoo will break down the dirt and grime from the surface making it easier to wash. Also the lubricity helps prevent scratches while washing.

At a price of RM30 and below, there's no harm trying out the product. Let us know how it works out!