Early spring clean (loads of pics)

[Toosh]

Hi everyone. Thought it was about time i gave the Migraine a bit of spring clean, well it has been about 6 months since i last did it
Got my brother round (for help) as he has his own mobile valeting business (for an added bonus i can use his products aswell)
I hope your computers dont crash as ive done a Detailing World type documented process
Heres what we did. Enjoy.

Pre-sprayed lower half with All Purpose Cleaner (APC)

Rinsed

Foamed and left to dwell while we tackled the wheels

Wheel cleaned with soft brushes for the faces and Autosmart Smart Wheels

Panel gaps and badges cleand with APC and soft a soft brush

Rinsed

Washed using wool mits and the 2 bucket method

Rinsed

Clayed while wet using Autosmart Re-glaze as lube

Bonded contaminants removed after 1/2 the bonnet

This was after the boot

Continued around the car leaving a smooth as glass finish.
Re-washed and dryed with Microfiber drying towels

Chosen for its durability and protection against bird bombs (Bloody Seagulls). The wax of choice today was...

Tyres dressed and windows cleaned. Phewww done.

A few before and after piccies












Got to have a few reflection shots

Its meeeee


Thanks for reading. Any comments welcome

[sav0]

for doing such a good job you can pop round and do mine

[busternlouie]

Those before and after shots are amazing. How much would your brother's firm charge for all that if it was a customer's car?

[Toosh]

for doing such a good job you can pop round and do mine

As i said earlier ive not done it for 6 months and you think your going to get yours done.......

Those before and after shots are amazing. How much would your brother's firm charge for all that if it was a customer's car?

Yeah to say im impressed with the finished result is an understatement.
Price's -
Exterior valet £25
Wax upgrade £10
Clay all over including glass £25

[andywills]

whats the crack with this clayed with autoglaze? never seen that before?

[nickbell69]

Tidy job that very impressed, inspired me to get out and give it a good seeing to!
As Andy asked too whats with the claying? What's involved and why?

By the way in the before and after shots couldn't help notice your brother at the back of van doesn't seem to have moved was his mug of tea in there?

[T9LFA]

Looking good.

Liking the matching number plates as well (Your car and your brothers van)

I tend to clean the cars every weekend, but that looks alot more proffessional than my set up.

Whats the 2 bucket method? and whats claying?

[Toosh]

Hey, cheers for the comments guys I used to be one of those people who cleaned the car every weekend but i think i have burnt myself out and now lost enthusiasm for it. But now what im going to do is maybe try and keep on top of it now its looking so good

The two bucket method is when you have one bucket filled with nice soapy water and the other bucket is just filled with plain water. The idea is you put your wash mitt in the soapy water and wash part of your car then you put the mitt in the bucket of just water to rinse the mitt of all the trapped dirt. Then back to the other bucket you go to get a load of soapy water on your mitt.

Claying the car is to remove bonded on particles (stuff like tree sap and brake dust). You know when you have washed your car but it still feels rough when you run your fingures across it, well the clay bar is the best way to get rid of them.

Im not the most technical guy in the world i know but if you want to know more details this is a great site. https://www.polishedbliss.co.uk Tonnes of car cleaning advice on there

[Ray]

good prices for a valet, wax and clay job.
nice matching plates too on the cars.

[Toosh]

Hi everyone, im back again cleaning the Megane, well it has been 6 months since i did the above.

This time i basically did the same as above (i wont bore you again with the process) but after the claying i did this.

As you can see in the sunlight there is swirling in the paint which is very fine scratches. I didn't like it.


So we masked up the plastic areas to protect them from the polish.


Out came the machine polisher. You need to go really slowly when machine polishing.


After one pass the fine swirling had gone.


We did this over the whole of the car and it now looks amazing. The black is really deep in colour and it sparkles like ive never seen before.
This photo doesnt really do it justice but it really does look like a different car now


Sorry the write is not very detailed, All comments/questions about machine polishing are welcome but i'll have to ask my brother if your questions are too technical

[dougieCC]

Very nice job, looks great. Dont have the guts to use a machine polisher, will stick to clay for now. How long did it take.

Alan

[Toosh]

Very nice job, looks great. Dont have the guts to use a machine polisher, will stick to clay for now. How long did it take.

Thanks Dougie. Its the first time ive ever done machine polishing, i was watched very closely by my brother telling me mostly not to go so fast as it leaves holograms

I think it took about 2/2.5 hours. I think a pro will probably do it quicker depends really how many times you need to go over it, as we were pushed a bit for time we only went over mine once.