Detailing on a budget? - Saxperience

Davyy · 2nd April 2013, 09:09

Cleaned a car for the first ever time yesterday after borrowing a friends equipment/products, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Also, with the summer coming up I want to keep my car in a clean and tidy order so..

Can anyone recommend a good set of products and equipment for £50?

I'm not looking for top of the range gear, but 'good' value for money stuff.

I have literally nothing, not even a bucket and mit.

Thanks in advance.

m4tt274 · 2nd April 2013, 12:54

Go to Asda and buy and bucket, sponge, a squirty bottle and some of those kent car care cloths for about a fiver all in.
Find and old Tshirt and cut it up.
Go to halfords and buy a gallon jug of that turtle wax wash and wax shampoo stuff as its on half price. think i paid £10
Buy a tub of autoglym super resin polish, usually about £15
Buy a clay bar block, usually about £7

You can make your own clay bar solution using hot water and a dribble of the car wash and wax shampoo into the squirty bottle.
I use the old tshirt to apply polish and wipe up the clay bar solution.

Wash the car off.
Clay bar it.
polish it.

You dont need to clay bar every time, but im always amazed by what it takes off. And the autoglym SRP is awesome stuff.
You can do more, but it costs more and you start spending lots and begin to placebo yourself as the car looks no better really.

Davyy · 2nd April 2013, 12:58

I've seen the kits such as..

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/comple.../prod_915.html

Which i'll probably get soon, but was just looking for something including a bucket, grit guard, mit etc. Like a complete starter kit.

Davyy · 2nd April 2013, 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4tt274

Go to Asda and buy and bucket, sponge, a squirty bottle and some of those kent car care cloths for about a fiver all in.
Find and old Tshirt and cut it up.
Go to halfords and buy a gallon jug of that turtle wax wash and wax shampoo stuff as its on half price. think i paid £10
Buy a tub of autoglym super resin polish, usually about £15
Buy a clay bar block, usually about £7

You can make your own clay bar solution using hot water and a dribble of the car wash and wax shampoo into the squirty bottle.
I use the old tshirt to apply polish and wipe up the clay bar solution.

Wash the car off.
Clay bar it.
polish it.

You dont need to clay bar every time, but im always amazed by what it takes off. And the autoglym SRP is awesome stuff.
You can do more, but it costs more and you start spending lots and begin to placebo yourself as the car looks no better really.

Thanks for this though.

m4tt274 · 2nd April 2013, 13:05

Its cheaper to buy stuff individually as you get loads more.
That detailer kit wont last 5 cleans.

Ive used basically what ive just wrote probably 100+ times now and the result is always great.
Cleaned mine and a mates yesterday and they came up like this

After just a wash, clay then applying SRP with a machine polisher mine came up like this -

SnakeVTR · 2nd April 2013, 13:12

I always recommend Merguire's products, they are not the cheapest but still most of their products cost less than AutoGlym.

You can buy a claybar kit in Turtlewax from Halfords for about £15 and at the moment they have a 3 for 2 offer on cleaning products so you should'nt go over £50 and still have some decent cleaning products to show for it

SnakeVTR · 2nd April 2013, 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by m4tt274

Looks amazing mate, you have got to love black cars

m4tt274 · 2nd April 2013, 13:21

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUTOGLYM-S...item1c30eb7f80

I would buy that.

clay bar

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Valet-Pro-...item20cc795c73

Davyy · 2nd April 2013, 14:03

I was told the only place a sponge should be used is wheels though..

Prickle^p · 2nd April 2013, 14:09

I dont use a sponge at all. I use a mitt for the wheels, an old one.

Mine after a run of Collinite wax. Beading i had this morning

m4tt274 · 2nd April 2013, 15:04

I have a wash mitt truthfully, but it cost like £13, a sponge is like 50p and when i have used them i cant tell the difference.
I dont really get the bead thing, i get what it shows, asda wax makes a good bead, but the car looks good Prickle

moxy89 · 2nd April 2013, 17:08

Can see your paint work getting fucked

Just go for this...

http://car-chem.com/store/Car-Care-E...ing-kit-noodle

Yates · 2nd April 2013, 17:34

sponge is quite harsh and gets shit stuck in it so easy, it will wipe the grit you are washing off all over the rest of the car, maybe not notice in normal light but in other light you will see the fain scratches

i went to pound shop and got some cloths and buckets, then go on i4detail and see whats on there, you can always get 10% codes off and it comes pretty quickly.

as its all been done, for now i wouldnt bother with polish, just maintain it how it is, no point in clay bar either for now. get some good wax i like the ag hd stuff for dodo juice purple haze, keep that up and will be awesome over summer, i dont let mine get mucky. once you have waxed it use some sealant and then wax again over the top, maybe a few days inbetween

save up some money for further down the line, then get the polish and clay bar with that, but as said as you have it up to a good standard now from using other bits, there is no real need to polish it or clay bar it any time soon imo

moxy89 · 2nd April 2013, 17:41

Just leave it dirty before you ruin all my hard work haha

m4tt274 · 2nd April 2013, 17:43

Was this car really swirled and marked?

moxy89 · 2nd April 2013, 17:49

Wasn't to bad but wasn't the best I've done by all means

Jayzlife · 2nd April 2013, 17:50

I'm guessing matt has a lot of swirls in his paintwork, I wouldn't advise what he said.

Sponges arnt good I would avoid. Get yourself a mitt even if it's noodle mitt from Asda it will be miles better than a sponge. Ideally you want a lambs wool mitt.

2 buckets is a very good idea aswell, B&Q etc sell them cheap. One with just water and one with warm water and shampoo solution in. The water is to rinse your mitt in after going over each panel etc and this will get rid of the dirt picked up so your not running over and over your paintwork.

Start off and build your collection up as you go buy cheap, buy twice. I would go for some decent products and just build on that.

Look on:-
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

Also look into the process and steps required when washing your car as this is very important.

Rinse/power wash/Snowfoam > Wash > Rinse > De-Tar > Rinse > Clay(once very 6months is more than enough) > Polish > Wax/Sealant

That's a pretty simple one to follow which will give you good results.

Good products names to look out for:-

Auto Finesse
Dodo Juice
Autosmart Tardis
Bilthamber (clay bar)
Demoshine 50/50 with water for a cheap clay lube and also a good QD(Quick detailer)

Don't forget the wheels aswell I would recommend Bilberry wheel cleaner and a decent wheel brush followed by some Poorboys wheel sealant, good cheap product.

Waxes and sealants are very important a good budget wax is AGHD wax which can be had for about £25 on Amazon/EBay sealant wise I would say Tough Coat by Autofinesse very easy to use and very good results from it.

SRP from autoglym isn't a bad product for the price but I would rather have Auto finesse tripple which is only £8.

Taking all that into account along with some mirocfibres, drying towel, applicator pads, tyre dressing etc you are looking £100+

There must a lot of good threads on here with good advice in. Detailing covers a broad area and a lot of people have different opinions on certain products. I wouldn't waste my money on turtle wax products or t-cuts etc etc.

If your on the Cliosport forum get over in there detailing section as it is one of the best on the net. Great advice and people with huge experience.

moxy89 · 2nd April 2013, 17:51

How it left me

m4tt274 · 2nd April 2013, 17:54

No, my cars paint looks freshly sprayed minus the stone chips on the front, ive found myself getting into detailing more and more. He just said he wanted a good result with everything coming in under £50 after saying that he himself has never washed his car. I doubt he will jump in at the pro end straight away.

Jayzlife · 2nd April 2013, 17:56

I wouldn't tell someone to use a sponge even if they are on a budget as he will just make his paint worse therefore end up spending more in the long run to bring it back upto scratch. Just because something is cheap it doesn't mean it is good.

Start off with the processes and steps involved and with the right equipment to begin otherwise you will soon find your self needing a pro detailer or buying a DA/Rotary to correct it.