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Detailing Tips & Tricks....

andyman

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ok thanks guys, well when i bought the products i got yesterday no-one had replied but anyway i bought,

1x meguires clay bar kit
1x meguires deep crystal polish
1x meguires deep crystal wax
1x can of plexus,

spent almost 7 hours doing it, the clay bar itself made the most shine i reckon, the polish is great and the wax makes it feel great and has great shine aswell and when you sit in front of it without the rego plates it looks unreal!!!!!, so much depth and vibrancy at the same time

with the wax i found aswell that it tends to mark or smudge the wax if you like so you have to buff that spot again, anyway i might buy something different next time,

the bad news is by the time i finished it it was dark so pictures were out of the question and i was at work at 6:30 in the morning so i came back to a car covered in dust and bird poop etc, anyway ill post up some pics next time i wash,
 

Scooter79

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Andyman, Deep crystal wax has a nice look to it but find that it's not the most durable product in the world. If you apply two separate coats that will help with it's durability. As far as smudges go did you let the wax cure for about 15 or 20 minutes first? A good way to check if your wax/sealant is ready to come off is swipe a small section with your finger. If it comes off without smudging it's ready. If it smudges leave it on a bit longer. Polishes don't need to set. Just apply and buff off.
 

minux

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Whats everyones fascination with meguiars?

I myself prefer to use Zaino products and a few different poorboys products. I've found these range of products have never let me down and always give me the BEST results.
 

Waghoon

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I have a dark blue VT Wgn that shines a bit of green in the sun light (factory colour, just cant remember the name). I normally wash with megauirs gold glass and wax every second wash with megauirs carnuba wax, also polish it about every four months with megauirs again. Whats this clay bar thing ive read about and how much does it retail for? Do u have to leave a wax on for about 10-15mins? Any advice would be much appreciated, cheers :thumbsup:
 

Scooter79

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Whats everyones fascination with meguiars?

I myself prefer to use Zaino products and a few different poorboys products. I've found these range of products have never let me down and always give me the BEST results.

Minux, nothing wrong with zaino or poorboys. I've seen some increadible results with both. Same goes for Menzerna, Pinnacle and Wolfgang. I guess my preference for Meguiars stems from the fact that I've been using it for so long and I know exactly what each of their products can do for me. I must say though that there is a big difference between the meguiars that is sold in your local auto stores and the Meguiars 'Mirror Glaze' range. Problem is that 'MotorActive' (which is Meguiars Australian distributor) only imports a very limited range of their mirror glaze products. Something like only four or 5 items. All the real good stuff remains in the USA. Here's the good part for me; I can purchase gallon bottles of the mirror glaze range from a store in the USA including shipping and still pay less than if I bought 946ml bottles of Zaino or Duragloss from online stores in Australia. Example is a Meguiars 6.5" foam buffing pad for my machine retails here for $35AUD. I can get them from the US for $13AUD each. Having said all that there's a few Duragloss products I'm dying to try out and this new Polycharger stuff looks like a good buy.

I wonder if Meguiars would be looked down upon if it was only sold in select stores and online, and you could buy Zaino in Kmart and supercheap. I think that has a little to do with the stigma.


I have a dark blue VT Wgn that shines a bit of green in the sun light (factory colour, just cant remember the name). I normally wash with megauirs gold glass and wax every second wash with megauirs carnuba wax, also polish it about every four months with megauirs again. Whats this clay bar thing ive read about and how much does it retail for? Do u have to leave a wax on for about 10-15mins? Any advice would be much appreciated, cheers :thumbsup:

Sounds like your doing all the right things. But do a search in the forum for 'Clay bar' and see what you get.
 

andyman

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ok i did this a week ago so i gave it a wash today, this is what my detailing efforts turned out like, find it here
 
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Cobez

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Hey guys, i was just wondering, i have a bottle of meguiars softwash gel, a bottle of step 2 polish and a clay bar kit and some turtle wax platinum wax.

Now, i am definantly going to wash, clay bar and polish my car, BUT is it an absoloute necessity to wax after a clay bar kit has been used or can i get away with polishing. My paint job is about 6 years old on a 1992 VP commodore
 

Scooter79

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Hey guys, i was just wondering, i have a bottle of meguiars softwash gel, a bottle of step 2 polish and a clay bar kit and some turtle wax platinum wax.

Now, i am definantly going to wash, clay bar and polish my car, BUT is it an absoloute necessity to wax after a clay bar kit has been used or can i get away with polishing. My paint job is about 6 years old on a 1992 VP commodore

Claying will strip any protective coating of wax leaving the paint exposed to the elements. If your paint still looks good then you can do without the polish and go from a claying straight to a wax. Also consider that by only applying the polish the effectiveness of that polish will be lost after just one or two washes because you haven't 'sealed' in the polish with a wax and will therefore be pointless anyway. If possible post some before and after photos in this thread. Direct sunlight photos are always better.
 

minux

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Scooter, What random orbitals would you recommend, brother wants to buy one but has no idea what to get. I personally prefer to pay a pro to do mine :p

Any brands/models to look out for, or links to a specific model?
 

Scooter79

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Scooter, What random orbitals would you recommend, brother wants to buy one but has no idea what to get. I personally prefer to pay a pro to do mine :p

Any brands/models to look out for, or links to a specific model?

Personally I use the GMC ROS150M. 500W motor and has a good velcro backing plate. Also comes with two backing plates, a 125mm and a 150mm. About $140 at Bunnings. Look for something that has a minimum of 5mm orbital throw. Any less than that and you may as well be working by hand. If you really want the ultimate orbital and money is no object then for about $560 will get you a Makita BO6040 which is your typical orbital but also has a switch for forced rotation as well as orbit. It makes it act a little more like a rotary but still has the user friendliness of an orbital.

Now a good orbital is only as good as the pads you use. My recommendation is the Lake Country CCS foam pads. 1 x light cutting (orange), 1 x polishing (white), and 1 finishing (grey or green). They're costly at about $30 each and you'll have to get them through waxit.com.au. Alternatively you could buy Meguiars softbuff foam pads but again are only a special order through some Autobarns. Tell your brother to avoid the big supercheap orbital. They're rubbish and never use a wool bonnet or pad on an orbital.

Finally you want to choose your products carefully. Harsh cutting compounds are for rotary use only. Orbital machines can't generate enough heat to break down the larger abrassives. If you want to simply make the car shiny then most off the shelf polishes will work with a polishing pad but if you have swirls or very fine scratches (much more noticable on darker coloured cars in full sun) then a swirl remover or cleaner/polish with diminishing abrassives is in order.

Doing it properly can get rather expensive but if it's more of an obsession like mine and do it every couple of weeks then it works out cheaper in the long run. I suggest you print this post and pass it onto your brother so he can read it himself. If you want to know any more just ask. I could talk about this stuff for days....

By the way what sort of rates does your detailer charge? I'm hoping to take my obsession full time in the future.
 
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