Detailing Clinic Sydney - 11th Oct

[Jarred]

*cough*pictures*cough*

[MissVuks]

Totally agree with gti... Thanks mickey for organising it, a big thanks to the guys for running the show and being fantastic teachers hehehe i would know.

Mike was extremely easy to understand and a natural teacher! the fact we all had a turn to torture LOL i mean polish mickey's car was a great addition to the day..

What i learnt today

- Use two buckets when washing to eliminate the chances of moving all the contaminants all over your car. One for your wash product (about 40 degrees i think it was) and one to rinse your washing mitt. We were told lambs wool or microfibre is best. I the bucket starts getting low (under 50%) get a new bucket of water otherwise u run the risk of bringing up those nasty contaminants that will scratch your car. When your not using your mitt, let it soak in the rinsing bucket and never push your mitt to the bottom of each bucket.

- Microfibre drying mitts are the go and do a much better job than chamois clothes. Chamois have a tendency to drag those contaminants along and yeah mess up your paint.

- Never wash in the sun - always in the shade so you car is nice and cool and you can move onto claying, polishing, waxing if necessary.

- Work panel by panel, never in a circular motion. Horizontal and vertical motions are best.

- When claying - make sure the bar has plenty of lubrication. If it starts gripping you need to spray the area again. When you move onto a new area, fold your clay in half to produce a new clean area of clay. If you think you are going to drop your clay bar, work with a towel under you. The clay should be nice and sticky and stick to your palm.

- If you drop your clay bar - BIN IT! unless you like the look of swirl marks keep it LOLLLL

- When your clay bar starts looking dirty and discoloured, it can be relegated to other areas of the car e.g windows, wheels etc.

- When polishing with an orbital gizmo loll - spread the product on a low speed, work the polish on a higher speed with some pressure, horizontally and vertically for a few passes till the polish product kinda disappears (cant remember the exact terminology, someone else might remember). Wipe off with a microfibre cloth.
-Work the car is sections, and you may have to use varying types of polish depending on the severity of the swirl marks and the same principal applies in the technique. Its actually quite easy and id be confident doing my own car if and when the time comes.
- When polishing too, you will need to tape off and protect all other areas of the car. Tops of headlights, around any black plastic etc. Dan taped mickeys car (water wiper jets, top of VW insignia, tops of the lights) with some 3M tape and they placed cardboard on the windscreen as product may come off as you polish.

- After polishing, the car needs to be cleaned (either washed again or with a cleanser) of any left over residue from the polish before it can be sealed and/or waxed. Polishing leaves the car bare and it needs protection..

- Waxing - you need to choose what kind of look your going for so that depends if you need a synthetic or natural wax. i bought some dodo juice soft wax (ahhhhh smells so good) massage into the car with your hands, wait until the oils evaporate and the surface of your car looks hazy, buff off with the correct buffing cloth.
- Repeat the next day to increase shinyness and protection. You might need to give it a quick wash and dry off before applying more wax. 2 layers of this stuff should last 2-3months Mike and Dan said. The more layers you apply the better it will look and the more protection you will get - but two sounds like plenty with a top up here n there if you are pedantic. I think they mentioned of Optimum car wax spray or something...

Thats what i learnt during the workshop - i bought lots of products but they are very much worth it!

Weather permitting i will be waxing my car tomorrow with my dodo juice wax the stuff smells awesome and does a fantastic job..

If anyone wants to add or correct me - go for it... that was my understanding and interpretation....

[Jarred]

Thanks for adding Lora. If only I had a car that was worth waxing!

[Soundofav6]

Thats very kind of you to share miss Viks.

I suppose it is only logical to give a quick rinse after polish to get the dust off. I would never have thought to reapply wax again the next day either.

thanks for the tips, thanks for the WRITE UP !!!!!

[rayray086]

Yeah, good summary! Dropping the clay bar is so bloody annoying. I end up cutting off the bit that touched the ground to save the rest of the clay

[Preen59]

Great day yesterday. I learned a lot and the guys used very easy to understand terminology. Clearly they make their money from seeling the products afterwards, but that's the smart way to do things really.

I spent (like most of us) 250 bucks on products, but i think it was worth it. I guess i'll find out today... Hehehe.

By the way, big thanks to Mickey for organising it, thanks to Mischa for forcing me into coming, and thanks to Lora for the write up.. Due to the fact that Steve and i were fasionably late, we missed the washing thing.

Now, onto washing, polishing and waxing the cad dogg... I can't wait to see the difference..

[Mrk_Mickey]

Fantastic day guys! I'm really happy with our turnout and I'm even more happy to now know everything I need to know to get my car looking like it SHOULD! (No more swirls guys)

*HATS OFF* to Lora for the write-up That was just about everything we covered! The only thing I'll add is never wear hand/wrist jewelry and if you want to wash your car to get rid of wax, use a more intensive washing chemical

I bought 200 bucks worth of stuff from the shop and I gave the car a nice bath yesterday. I can really tell the difference in how I washed before and now I'll be buying the Meguiar's G220 when it comes out early November, with the Menzerna range polishing kit. Here's hoping my swirl marks don't get worse before then!

Thanks again guys, great day. Good to see so many interested in keeping their dubs clean

[Mrk_Mickey]

Oh....and thanks everyone for the free bonnet correction! hehehehe

EDIT: Oh again - Steve, chime in and load up the pics

[gti]

Nice read Lora. I too brought lots of stuff and also stuff for my latter interior that seems to show the dirt more (I knew these were the consequences of buying a car with latter interior and a black car). Can't wait to use the Dodo wax. Smells great. I'm planning on using the leather care I brought yesterday too when the weather cools down.
Mickey....did you get something to replace the boot polish!?! lol

[No457 Snowy]

Sounds like a great day, the 2 bucket principal is a good one that a lot of people miss, another good precaution is to use a grit guard in the bottom of each bucket.

Snowy.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Mickey....did you get something to replace the boot polish!?! lol

No way Alana, shoe polish FTW!! I'm fastidious with my bumpers being as black as they can be. They're always blacker than anything else on the car, and that's because I use KIWI SHOE POLISH and basically paint the shoe polish on it. Works a treat for textures plastic, I'm telling you now!

[DMS_Dan]

Thanks for coming guys. It was a good day. You were all very well behaved lol

If you have any questions further to what you learnt make sure you call the guys at car care products or call or PM me

[gti]

No way Alana, shoe polish FTW!! I'm fastidious with my bumpers being as black as they can be. They're always blacker than anything else on the car, and that's because I use KIWI SHOE POLISH and basically paint the shoe polish on it. Works a treat for textures plastic, I'm telling you now!

I think it's pretty funny and yes I did notice how black the bumpers etc were.

[Preen59]

Here's some pics..

Washed the Caddy...





Tar etc..





Got out the goodies..



The clay bar- Doing the bonnet. It's hard to see, but there's some serious impregnated bug guts that came off on that bar i couldn't get out any other way..



After the clay bar..







After that i hit it with the polish, washed it again, then the wax.. Currently waiting for the wax to set.. More pics once i've finished...

[DubSteve]

Currently waiting for the wax to set.. More pics once i've finished...

Make sure that you rub it in just like your going to make love to the car