Kris
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,631
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Mar 23, 2007 14:22:11 GMT
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I met the guy who was doing the detailing work, Paul Dalton, last year. I spent an afternoon with him and watched him detail a black Gallardo. I thought I was a bit fussy about keeping my car clean but this guy absolutley obsessed about it. He would only use natural sea sponges and boar's hair wheel brushes to wash cars, he used a £60 bucket with a filter in the bottom to prevent the sponge from touching the bottom and picking up dirt. He showed me the paint thickness meter he is using in the photos and the microscope that he uses to look at the blemishes in the paint. The 'Royale' wax that he uses contains about 75% carnauba and cost IIRC £7000 but that is refillable for 'free' for life. He warns the wax by hand and massages it into the car, very odd, but achieves a better result apparantley. I had a go with some of it and it is very strange to touch, you fingers just slide through it. One thing I did learn was to polish in straight lines and you eyes can pick up swirls in the paint easier than lines. When he'd finished on the car that he was working on, he hosed it off and I reckin within 30 secinds in was totally dry. Pretty impressive to watch, not sure I could be bothered with all that like. I think his top 'Pinnacle' detail was about a 50-60 stage process and he charged something like £6000 for it. He reckoned that there was a constant demand for him too www.miracledetail.co.uk/auto-detailing-home.html
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Mar 23, 2007 14:29:58 GMT
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I'm gonna send him a picture of the alfa for a laff, do u fink he will take the "bait"?
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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Mar 23, 2007 14:42:43 GMT
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Thats why you have to have special "wash mits" made of pure lambswool, microfibre cloths, double-bucket, no cross contamination, use filtered water to wash with, special "cleaning paste" not t-cut, and non-abrasive sealers rather than wax-polish. Then theres instant detailer sprays and all that to pep up your gloss mid-week... I've been through all this and spat out the other end, it's a complete mugs game but I will admit taught me some valuable lessons in saving my own time. Just a shame its come at the expense of quite a bit of money and semi-permanent damage to my car.
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Last Edit: Mar 23, 2007 14:43:07 GMT by MWF
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Mar 23, 2007 14:44:53 GMT
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That guy would keel over if he saw any of my cars... the mondeo is kept in a state of permenant filth (although in September, when it last got washed, I went whole hog and it did look really nice...) and the others are a mixture of dirt, moss and overspray from half-assed resprays.
Am very impressed with the finish and I guess if he has the cash and it makes him happy then nobody should be allowed to call him a tit and stuff for doing it...... I am dubious about the level of improvement though, I feel it's 50% better paintwork and 50% better photography. The 'after' shots have a lot more stuff to reflect, the 'before' shots are just taken more face-on so there's little to show off the reflection. Same with the headlamps, there's nothing reflecting in the second shot so it looks cleaner.
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Never trust a man Who names himself Trevor. Or one day you might find He's not a real drug dealer.
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Mar 23, 2007 14:46:56 GMT
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I will admit to having been out and shot a load of cash on what seemed like half the Meguiars product line a few years back.
I am actually pretty sold on the use of clay now.
But none of these ££ fancy polishes are any good IMO. All just more effort. I like the old solid wax like you used to get in those round tins. That was feckin ace. I have a pot of Simonize and it says "for automobiles, furniture, boats, caravans and all other uses!" Great stuff. Its about 30 years old, found in my dads shed or something. Other than that can't beat Autoglym.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Mar 23, 2007 15:00:31 GMT
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i once chatted to a guy at a show who had an immaculate 911, and he told me to polish with terry towelling (babies nappy material) - and when you do polish, polish in straight lines thats all i need to know - ill leave my dad to give his car a wash with fairy liquid and a gritty old spunge from the boot of the car
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SPLIT RIMS ARE FOR WINNERS
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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Mar 23, 2007 15:05:06 GMT
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he told me to polish with terry towelling (babies nappy material) *imagines streaky brown finish*
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1964 Rover P5 i6 1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak 1992 Micra K10 2001 BMW E46 316i 2002 BMW E46 330Ci 2013 BMW F31 320d 2018 BMW G31 530d
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Mar 23, 2007 15:10:01 GMT
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I worked @ Boots and they had terry towel face cloths in the discontinued bin at the staff shop. £1 for ten. I think I bought a fivers worth and they threw a few extras in. Thay are pretty cool for car washing and detailing.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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Mar 23, 2007 15:44:10 GMT
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I will admit to having been out and shot a load of cash on what seemed like half the Meguiars product line a few years back. I am actually pretty sold on the use of clay now. But none of these ££ fancy polishes are any good IMO. All just more effort. I like the old solid wax like you used to get in those round tins. That was feckin ace. I have a pot of Simonize and it says "for automobiles, furniture, boats, caravans and all other uses!" Great stuff. Its about 30 years old, found in my dads shed or something. Other than that can't beat Autoglym. Yeah I'm pretty sold on Collenite myself, I've got a tub of fancy stuff and really can't tell the difference. I like detailing spray though, means I can just wash the Sierra with some shampoo and quickly spray and buff the car with the detailer. I clay about once a year.
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Mar 23, 2007 15:49:23 GMT
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i washed my car, it was october. Or possibly November. ;D
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Mar 23, 2007 15:54:03 GMT
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I washed mine,.. the day before Retro Cars Show last year ,.. technically Rmad washed my car,... I'd not washed it before that ... Will be making it neater this summer though
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Mar 23, 2007 15:55:25 GMT
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god blesses my car with a wash all the time . . . he's quite a guy !
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SPLIT RIMS ARE FOR WINNERS
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Mar 23, 2007 16:15:23 GMT
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The closest I normally get to washing my car is hosing the winter salt off it
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Mar 23, 2007 18:37:25 GMT
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MEGA DULL POST WARNING: I'm pretty sad so I enjoy washing cars. Planning to do some cheap valeting work on other people's cars this summer (Retro Rides mega discount, details to come I suppose) but more for my own enjoyment, I'm not a professional but I enjoy making an older car look shiny and smart. Once you've done at the end you feel a real sense of achievement. I'll never have a car in concours condition, but it makes me happy to see an older car in regular use with well looked-after bodywork. For all my cars what I've done is spent pretty much an entire day cleaning them as a one-off. I'll rinse/wash, clay bar, polish, thin coat of wax, rinse/wash again and then a final coat of wax. Other things like back to black, tyre dressing, etc. are sorted as I go along. Once you've done that, it's easy, because all you need to do is wash it every so often (a doddle on a well-waxed car, mud doesn't stick as well and it is much easier to dry) and re-wax when you notice it isn't beading up as well as it used to (every 2-3 months or so for me). The shine will always be there as long as the wax remains, so I've never been bothered about a car getting dirty after a good clean, because I know all it will take is 30 minutes to get it looking as good as new again, rinse, wash, dry, done. The wax/polish confusion, I had to research this when I got my first car, with all the two-in-one type products available it wasn't very clear so hope this helps someone..... Polish is a pretty harsh tool which removes paint to restore colour and get rid of scratches, certainly something you shouldn't be doing every week, something you do as needed. Wax is a protectant and is what stops the car getting scratches in the first place, it also makes the bodywork shine. In theory, if a car is kept well-waxed there shouldn't be a need to polish it ever, obviously in the real world you might scrape a hedge or something. In which case, polish the area affected, then wax over it to re-protect it. In the spirit of sites like Autopia, have an old ACTION SHOT, really goes with the rust and wonky mirror: Finally with regards to brands and stuff, I have to say I noticed a difference with some of the more expensive products but the main difference is that it just takes less time to do the task in question. In my experience, the end result tends to be the same whether you use a £14 bottle of Zymol or a £3 tin of Triplewax, doesn't stop some people getting really elitist about it though!
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Mar 23, 2007 18:39:30 GMT
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i'm all for cleaning and polishing but isnt this a bit ,well,excessive?
OCD -maybeeee ;D either that or he's a very lonley man who hasnt discovered birds booze or the lewd side of t'internet yet.
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Mar 23, 2007 18:43:05 GMT
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Yeah, I agree. I keep the Mazda washed and waxed and its not even a retro or a modern (its an inbetweenie). Its just what you do with a car whith decent-ish paint.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Mar 23, 2007 19:10:19 GMT
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Blimey, I NEVER wash my cars, EVER. Except when they arrive home for the first time. I reckon I've hand washed a car maybe a maximum of 6 times in 12 years of driving, and gone through a car wash once I think. If I'm not driving then I'm mending them or resting, working or sleeping, no time or interest to WASH them .
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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Mar 23, 2007 19:23:38 GMT
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I stick it in the free car wash at work about once a month, about as much effort as I'm ever going to give
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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Mar 23, 2007 19:25:18 GMT
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My Rover 216 gets a good seeing to once in a while (usually for something important....), the GT gets wet and has a good scrub every so often (saves the paint falling off) and the others will have the moss scratched off at some point....... I know a car looks nice when polished properly.....but WHY!!!! ?!!! this?
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Rover Metro - The TARDIS - brake problems.....Stored Rover 75 - Barge MGZTT Cdti 160+ - Winter Hack and Audi botherer... MGF - The Golden Shot...Stored Project Minion........ Can you see the theme?
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Shortcut
Posted a lot
I won't be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.
Posts: 3,037
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Mar 23, 2007 20:24:39 GMT
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I don't understand... THis is clearly a 12 inch PowerBook but THIS is obvioulsy a windoze XP screen shot There IS somethng else confusing me about this post but I can't work out what.
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This space available to rent. Reach literally dozens of people. Cheap rates!
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