Learning to wash and polish

Hello all,

Have had my cab for a few days now and am already getting pains in my chest at the sight of raindrop marks on the paintwork.  

Am very new to this kind of car ownership so not familiar with the best techniques for cleaning, waxing, polishing, etc.

Any advice would be great as I can't bear to see her get soiled by the weather!

Cheers,

Alex

Hi Alex.

It depends in how much time you got and what you want to spend.

Im very anal when it comes to my car.

I would start by investing in the folliwing.

2 buckets.

Lambswool wash mit.

Good shampoo.

Clay bar kit.

Polish.

Wax.

Drying towel.

Goid quality microfibre cloths.

Quick detailer (spray).

I use 1 bucket with my shampoo in and one filled with clean water.

Everytime I wash a panel I dip the mit into the clean water, that way any dirt isnt going into the water that I clean the car with.

I then towel dry the car (much better than a chamois I think) but I pat it dry rather than wiping it (less chance of marking the paint.

Once a year (depending on the miles you do) I would clay bar the car. This will get rid of any dirt that a wash wont. Make sure to use plenty of lubricant.

After that I would give it 1 or 2 layers if polish followed my 2 layers if wax.

For times when I dont polish or wax I just wash the car and while its wet I spray the car with quick detailer and dry as normal.

The quick detailer us also good for getting rid of water marks.

As for what products to use irs trial and error untill you find something you like.

Ceri.

i might get shot for this… hope not*

have a look at this thread over on GolfGTi forum - detailing section

it explains in a lot of detail how to clean, clay, polish, seal & wax your pride & joy

any questions just ask back on here and we will do our best to answer your queries.

cleaning & detailing can be a very expensive and addictive hobby… but with the right products and advice you don't need to get carried away.. there are a lot of online suppliers that provide much better quality goods at relatively less costs than a certain UK motor accessory superstore chain  :wink:


*if putting the link up is a no no then I am quite happy to copy all the information into here

Ceri

Glad you wrote that it saved me the pain

Alex he is spot on, the products I use are -

Turtlewax shampoo
Mer alloy wheel wax
Harley car wax from the US - on ebay
Autoglym super resin polish
Autoglym paint renovator - to remove swirls, like a mild T cut then use the super resin polish to protect
Spautopia glass cleaner - great website Spautopia
Tardis tar remover - ebay - brilliant for stubborn stains on paintwork etc

You must use the lambswool mit or similar and 2 buckets

Cheers Chris

Nice write up, im sure ive read it before.

I agree it can be very addictive.

Ive been into detailing for a while now.

The key to it all is in the prep work.

And on that bombshell im off to wash the car :-)

and if you're left wondering what the hell clay is then have a look at Claying - whats that then?

its one of the first things I will do to any car that comes into my possession and it provides very good results


mk1 rivage - clay by Guy Frankland, on Flickr

Guys

I am off work after a shoulder op last week and bored but I can sense the all day clean coming tomorrow on the golf just by writing/reading about it, with my left arm only of course !!

If  my recovery takes longer than planned I will blame this thread.

Cheers Chris

Thank you very much folks, such quick and helpful responses.

Seems like a daunting task to a newbie like me, but I am ready to embrace the challenge with open arms.

Cheers,

Alex

its not that daunting.. if you put in a day or so's work now, especially to clay, polish and use sealants/waxes your weekly wash process will become MUCH quicker and easier and return better results

I have used all kinds of polishes in my time.. I used to valet cars professionally with a friend of mine and for the last 20 years I have been anal about the finish on my pride and joy.. (Whatever it was at the time).. But instead of waving off on a tangent about that.. I shall instead strongly advise the finest wax I have ever used in all the years of searching and trying different waxes.. I have used all the best autoglym waxes (super resin and Ultimate deep shine) and although pretty good, nothing can touch the Meuiars NXT tech wax.. The liquid one is about £15 but worth every penny and using the applicator pad supplied, you barely use any compared to other waxes.. To remove and buff off, use a high quality micro fibre cloth (The best ones I have ever used are from Costco).. The advantage of this wax over the autoglym products is no dusty residue and in my opinion, a deeper even shine.. As mentioned already, the clay is meant to be a great product, however, I generally carefully tcut with a damp cloth, 1 panel at a time (when I first get a car) then keep on top of the waxing..

Tyres = Autoglym instant tyre dressing (applied with a small sponge) I prefer this over other tyre dressings because although tyre slik is a good product as are some of the glossy products, they all leave loads on the tyre and can be difficult to remove once they have built up.. So the autoglym, with its new tyre look as opposed to shiney shiney shiney look of other products, wins hands down for me.

Interior plastic dressings.. There is nothing worse than shiney slippery dash sprays.. They get all over the glass and basically gunk everything up with dust stuck in the gunky spray.. So armour all semi matt finish protectant, applied with a cloth is by far the nicest and most original finish you can get without ruining your car with sticky gunk from a spray.. Try it, you will not be disappointed..

Glass cleaning.. Do not use any of these products boasting anti fog and such like (Astonish with anti fog for example).. It is nigh on impossible to get them streak free in my opinion.. Don't use micro fibre cloths either because they tend to leave tiny fibres all over the glass (although there are special glass micro fibre cloths) I have used newspaper and glass cleaner, with great results, however if you want clean hands, you are fine with something like a piece of old cotton t shirt, but I find that using one for cleaning the window and a clean dry one for finishing off, the way forward (fold it in on itself to create a nice pad).. The meguars NXT glass cleaner is pretty good, but so is windolene.. So no need to buy expensive products..

Interior dash cleaning.. Get a soft bristled paint brush (a 1" to 1 1/2" should be fine) wrap insulation tape around the metal below the bristles so that when you are tempted into the deep nooks and crannies, you won't be scratching anything.. Use in conjunction with the vacuum cleaner obviously and you should be able to give all your vents and hard to reach areas that brand new look..

Good tips there walt, used some myself in the past.

I've never used Meguiars NXT tech wax or any of their range so may well swap after I get the car back. Also need some for the X Trail to get the swirls out of the black paintwork and have had Meguiars recommended for that too.

Paid members can get discount from this company The Ultimate Finish on their cleaning products.

Some brilliant tips here, guys, thank you.

Have made a couple of purchases, got my lambswool wash mitt coming in the post today along with some flunkeys and microfibre cloths.

have a free day on Monday so plan to spend a good number of hours giving her the first proper clean.

can't believe the wealth of experience and knowledge that is on here, being new to the forum and new to Mk1s in general. all very welcoming and helpful, so thank you very very much, you are making the task seem less daunting and more exciting.

cheers,

Alex

Yep very helpful as always guys :-)

Just worth mentioning, there are micro fibre cloths and then there are micro fibre cloths if you know what I mean.. The yellow ones from costco really are by far the best.. Slightly bigger than average and thicker in density.. Your run of the mill ones are ok.. But once you try the costco ones, nothing else will do..

Good point there Walt.

You can have the best polish / wax in the world but if your cloths aint good then whats the point.