Detailing Chat & Questions Thread

[Paul.M]

What are peoples preferred pads at present?

I need to restock up and thought I would ask before going with my usual chemical guys hexlogic ones.

 

[Amos91]

Does anyone else ever mix a bit a snow foam in with their shampoo?

I only ask because I ran out of AF Lather the other day and only managed to get 1.5 caps into the bucket. Due to this, I decided to put a bit of Magifoam in with it and it created some great suds (normally find it fairly difficult in my hard water area).

Tempted to do it as an ongoing thing but wondered if there was any reason not to?

 

[Addicted]

Don't see the point if you snowfoam first imo

 

[Amos91]

Don't see the point if you snowfoam first imo

I rinse the snow foam off before washing with a mitt, just thought it might add a little extra lubrication to the shampoo.

 

[Gally]

See the whole reason I started using the 2 snowfoam method was to aid washing and less friction on the surface.

Snowfoam. PW off. Snowfoam and with mitt and 2bm wash car properly. Especially is the shampoo isn't massively sudsy anyway, I never found lather to suds that much or have that much lubricity in comparison to some old school shampoos.

If you use SF whilst hand washing there will be less chance of the car drying out as you go round in the better weather as it keeps the car wetter for longer so to speak.

When I was using original C1 on my Frp I used a tiny amount of shampoo through the lance and it covered the entire car then I washed with the mitt and 2bm and whatever shampoo was safe.

 

[Amos91]

Cheers Gally I'll do that in future, particularly with the warmer weather.

Only problem I seem to have is Magifoam keeps blocking my lance after a couple of uses. I always flush it through with water after use and it worked fine for a year when I had 1L of Magifoam & 5L of VP Advanced Neutral Foam.

Now back with Magifoam & a brand new gauze it blocks up after about 3 uses!

 

[Addicted]

Weird, I only use Magifoam, not had any blockages and I don't even rinse mine out!

Good idea RE snowfoam + shampoo, didnt think of that - I use Lather / BTBM and find its ok, but as you say not enough suds.

 

[Stay Puft]

I've just ordered a Das6pro, and the autofinesse kit.. is there anything else I should order alongside so I can just crack on with it as soon as it arrives?

 

[Gally]

Magi foam is the thickest SF though and they did hang the formula. Simply gumming up the gauze? Can be a bit crap.

Maybe try another once your magifoam finishes.

 

[Knuckles]

I've just ordered a Das6pro, and the autofinesse kit.. is there anything else I should order alongside so I can just crack on with it as soon as it arrives?

3m tape
Spray bottle to mist the Pad with water
Spurring brush/medium bristle tooth brush to clean the pad

...a creeper with a cushion to kneel on lol

I'm assuming you have everything to wash and decontaminate prior to polishing?

 

[Stay Puft]

3m tape
Spray bottle to mist the Pad with water
Spurring brush/medium bristle tooth brush to clean the pad

...a creeper with a cushion to kneel on lol

I'm assuming you have everything to wash and decontaminate prior to polishing?

My family recently moved house whilst i've been at uni and have left most of stuff including 5l of autobrite snowfoam so i need some more of that. I've got dodo juice shampoo, poorboys wax, just ran out of iron x. I've got microfibres etc, bought a lambswool mitt but that has fallen apart, was rubbish. Anything else?

 

[Amos91]

Magi foam is the thickest SF though and they did hang the formula. Simply gumming up the gauze? Can be a bit crap.
Maybe try another once your magifoam finishes.

Still got 3.5 litres left! What do you use? Tempted by some Bilt Hamber foam - heard good things about it.

Yeah it always knackers the gauze, normally soak it in white vinegar and it works again for a bit. Just a little inconvenient...

 

[JackJack]

Need some more shampoo what should i get out of these two?
http://www.i4detailing.co.uk/shop/valetpro-advanced-poseidon-car-wash.html

http://www.i4detailing.co.uk/shop/valetpro-concentrated-car-wash-shampoo.html

 

[Yellow Dave]

Any reason for those two? From i4d I'd rather britemax cleanmax

 

[Gally]

Yeah those are both a weird combo to narrow down to.

 

[Gus]

What are peoples preferred pads at present?

I need to restock up and thought I would ask before going with my usual chemical guys hexlogic ones.

I have only used Hexlogic , Meguiars, menzerna and 3m pads so dont have experience of all the different types.

Hexlogic pads alright but they are a bit thin, if they were thicker they would be perfect.
Meguiars - Awesome - only used the soft buff polishing pad but it is big and thick and works really well.
Menzerna - only have the old yellow, orange and white pads - used these a lot in the past and they last well and are pretty thick.
3m - use the finishing pads as they are awesome.

Id recommend trying the meguiars, they are a little more expensive though.

 

[JackJack]

Any reason for those two? From i4d I'd rather britemax cleanmax

Yeah price (for 5l) and i like valet pro products.

 

[Yellow Dave]

I'd still not bother with the VP shampoos. A gallon of cleanmax doesn't work out all that much more expensive per litre. Or try AF lather, £7 a litre when buying bulk

 

[Adam93]

Any recommendations for a good durable tyre dressing ? Not sure what to purchase at the min but something around the £10 mark but could stretch an extra couple of quid

Read good reviews on Gyeon, gtechniq but quite tempted to go for Frost's offering, 500ml for £9.

 

[Amos91]

Any recommendations for a good durable tyre dressing ? Not sure what to purchase at the min but something around the £10 mark but could stretch an extra couple of quid :tongueout:

Read good reviews on Gyeon, gtechniq but quite tempted to go for Frost's offering, 500ml for £9.

I've tried a few others but think Meguiar's Endurance Tyre Gel is best for durability. Looks good too!

 

[Yellow Dave]

Megs endurance

Gyeon tire is very good provided the tyres are fully decreases and dry for application. If not it's no better than any other short lived dressing

Sonax tire gels not bad either when applied to a fully dry tire

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Does the tyre need to be "prepped" in any way before applying endurance? Last few times I've used it I've not been happy with its endurance...pun intended.

I've recently been trying to shrink down my collection so I've been using up a load of stuff I'd acquired over the years. On my last wash, I used up some AG tyre dressing and it seemed to looked better for longer than the megs did.

 

[Gally]

What do you deem acceptable for a water based tyre dressing?

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

What do you deem acceptable for a water based tyre dressing?

Hmmm I'm not sure. How long should they be lasting? Maybe I'm just expecting too much

 

[Yellow Dave]

AG dressings looks lovely right up until the weather forecasts rain, then it falls in in preparation for bad weather!

 

[imprezaworks]

I quite like the autosmart one and the megs one

 

[Gus]

Does the tyre need to be "prepped" in any way before applying endurance? Last few times I've used it I've not been happy with its endurance...pun intended.

I've recently been trying to shrink down my collection so I've been using up a load of stuff I'd acquired over the years. On my last wash, I used up some AG tyre dressing and it seemed to looked better for longer than the megs did.

Even on a brand new tyres I was only getting 2 weeks at the most with Meguiars endurance. It smells so so nice though, probably the nicest product smell ever. I always use it as it looks great.

 

[Gus]

You know the 2 roof rails on a clio, I took them off for the first time the other day as I had a load of polish splatter down the gulleys on them, whent hey were off there was loads of s**t , powder and dust etc under it. does anyone know if its safe just to pressure wash it clean - it wont leak into the car will it?

 

[V6Dan]

My favourite is Dr beasleys tyre conditioner but it doesn't get mentioned much by others.

 

[Yellow Dave]

New tyres need degreasing more than a used tyre. They're far from clean when they come out of the factory

 

[Daniel]

You know the 2 roof rails on a clio, I took them off for the first time the other day as I had a load of polish splatter down the gulleys on them, whent hey were off there was loads of s**t , powder and dust etc under it. does anyone know if its safe just to pressure wash it clean - it wont leak into the car will it?

You're fine. They're cosmetic trims only.

 

[imprezaworks]

I'm looking to use the done and dusted stuff tomo. Now I'd like to give it a coat of vanilla ice wax and then the D&d. Do you I need to strip the current protection and start again, or give it a few coats of the above?

 

[Scrooge]

I'm looking to use the done and dusted stuff tomo. Now I'd like to give it a coat of vanilla ice wax and then the D&d. Do you I need to strip the current protection and start again, or give it a few coats of the above?

Yes, you're better off stripping back. Applying new protection to old layers of protection can be pointless as the new stuff can only be as durable as the previous which will have started to lose its bond with the paint.

 

[imprezaworks]

Thought as much.

 

[ben lee]

Vanilla ice with done and dusted over the top looks very nice.

 

[imprezaworks]

Yep just tried it

 

[Eunan]

So I want to paint my brembo's red! Firstly what is the better option...do I need to take the calipers off and spray them or can I paint them whilst they are still on?? And what is the best paint to use??

 

[-Jamie-]

Detailing?


Never mind, You can get a decent enough job with them still on the car but if your after the best finish taking them off and doing it properly is by far the best way. Ive just repainted the Brembos on my Megane from Red to Black and used the VHT Primer, Colour and Clear as it should stand up a bit better to the heat that the Carbotech pads generate.


If your taking them off and doing them properly i would recommend getting them painted properly mind you along with a rebuild. I done them myself as they will probably need re done again at some point after anothers year of hard abuse and track work.

 

[Gus]

So I want to paint my brembo's red! Firstly what is the better option...do I need to take the calipers off and spray them or can I paint them whilst they are still on?? And what is the best paint to use??

Wrong section, should be in suspension, brakes and wheels but yeah, much much better taking them off the car to do a proper job

 

[sburrell93]

Does anyone have any tips before I give the new daily (honda civic) a quick machine polishing? 'Tis VERY swirly. I know the paint is soft so don't want to go at it too much. Especially without a paint depth gauge.

Thinking about trying a white hex pad with something like tripple or lime prime at first and see how much it actually does. Car is black though so I want to do my best to avoid marring or leaving buffer trails.