Advice for winter preperation

[waynec]

Hi I'm abit of a newbie when it comes to detailing. I'd like to give my paintwork a little protection before the salt gets down. I'm not looking to go all out detailing just added protection.

I have buckets, microfibre cloths, a mitt and some autoglym srp.

I'm going to pick up some clay and lube so what I'd like to know is once I have washed, clayed and polished, what is the next step?

What's the difference between sealant & wax? Should both be used or just one?

Any recommendations?

[saxova]

I'm going to pick up some clay and lube so what I'd like to know is once I have washed, clayed and polished, what is the next step?

Polish should come last;

Wash
clay
wash
wax or sealant (both seal the paintwork)
Then polish.

Good wax is meant to have a durability of 3 months, so only need to do a normal wash to achieve a good shine. Or if your going to any meet's, top up the shine with polish.

:y:

[Miller_VTR]

No mate polish is always done before waxing or sealing.
Wash, clay, wash again, polish and then wax or seal!
Clay lifts all bonded contaminents, polish removes scratches and imperfections as such and then you seal or wax to protect your lovely paintwork!

[holdawayt]

I'm going to pick up some clay and lube so what I'd like to know is once I have washed, clayed and polished, what is the next step?

Polish should come last;

Wash
clay
wash
wax or sealant (both seal the paintwork)
Then polish.

Good wax is meant to have a durability of 3 months, so only need to do a normal wash to achieve a good shine. Or if your going to any meet's, top up the shine with polish.

:y:


Dont listen to this, compeltely wrong.


Wash
Clay
Wash
Dry
Polish
Glaze (optional but recommended)
Sealant (optional but recommended)
Wax


Polish is just an abrasive so why on earth would you use it after wax? It would just remove the layers you've put on lol.

Use Collinite #476 and your paint will be nice and protected throughout winter. Works on wheels too.

Tom

[waynec]

Yeh was thinking that the srp is quite an abrasive polish and would take the wax straight back off.

Thanks for the replies, I might try the collinite 476, can you get panel pots of these as a tester?

What's the best clay to get in abit of a budget?

[holdawayt]

Not sure about Collinite testers, but it's not too pricey and lasts years. I've had my tub since last january and I've got about 3/4's left.

I just use meguires detailing clay kit. Cheap and cheerful and does the job.

[slow-norris]

i got a 50g claybar from ebay and put some warm soapy water in a spray bottle cost me less than £6 and worked a treat :y: take ya time when claying though and do a thorough job (wont have to do it again for a long while then) oh and keep it well lubed up or u'll end up going over and over again trying to get bits of clay of ya paint :wall: as previousley said wax is last and try lots of thin coats rather than 1 thick coat u'll just end up with horrible swirly type wax marks on ya paint that are a pain in the arse to get off :y:

[rorz_vts]

I wouldn't say srp is abrasive it's full of fillers and hides/fills swirls alot more than it corrects if it corrects at all.

Also about the soapy water ^^^ what did you use as soap out of interest please don't say fairy, also I wouldn't do loads of layers it's been proven that any more than 3 and your just removing other layers that you have put on.

To the op - once you have washed, clause, polished, I would recommend going over once or twice with a glaze, mainly only if you haven't corrected the paint and just used a filler based polish, then use a sealant to lock in the goodness and enhance the finish, then use a wax to seal the car and this will then take the brunt of the crap weather but leave everything underneath looking good.

Also the difference between a wax and sealant is..
A wax is a hydroPhilic basically likes water and makes it stick ( this is the key thing for beading and making bigger/taller water droplets
A sealant is hydrophobic and makes the water sheet off the car (if it's stationary you will still get beading)

The way I do mine for the winter is:
Rinse
Snowfoam - apc all the badges and locks etc when the foams on,
Rinse
Wash- 2bm with dodo juice btbm
Rinse
Clay - born slippy and ultra fine polyclay from cyc
Wash
Dry
De-iron the body - wolfs deironsier
Wash
Dry
Tape up
Polish - menzerna
Go over with dodo juice lime prime lite
Glaze - poorboys White diamond or black hole depending on colour
Seal - chemical guys, wet look finish
Wax - dodo juice hybrid supernatural = fantastic for the price and has lasted now 8 months on my car and is still going strong off 1 layer, I normally do 2
remove tape

I normally start on the interior and do the engine whilst washing and the wheels are taken off the car and done separately, once I've done all the body I then do the windows and bump strips. Only do it this way as I can make sure I'm not spoiling the paint work and it suits my way of working

[slow-norris]

Also about the soapy water ^^^ what did you use as soap out of interest please don't say fairy

LOL no i didnt use fairy :homme: iirc it was half a tea spoon of turtle wax shampoo (i think) :A: did the job anyway :y:

i didnt meen literally loads of layers :wall: think i put 2 or 3 layers on mine but its good to know that its waste putting anymore on :y: cheers

[TypeRDavid]

Bilt Hamber imo is the best value for money clay bar out there.

[waynec]

Cheers, some very helpful info in there!

I'll be getting the bilt hamber clay and alot cheaper than I thought.

Can't wait to get a start on it now

[saxo_gray]

I'd recommend colinites 476s for a winter wax, really good level of protection and nice shine results too :)

[TypeRDavid]

Coli is great, but Finish Kare all day long for me, can be used on bodywork wheels, pretty much anything, all in one versatile product, and its as cheap as the Coli.