GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

How do you detail your car?

Boscogn

Go Kart Champion
Hi People,

I've been putting off detailing the inside of my car I usually just wipe it down real good and vacuum after washing the exterior. I do see now that I need to get on the dash and headliner, visor, panels and cupholders/shift boot.

So I'm curious to know what products you use and how often and in what order if any?

My leather seats seem fine but am curious if there is a product people use to keep them strong and wear resistant? I've been using a rubber protectant on my door seals including trunk, sunroof and hood as a means of proactive maintenance.

I'd also like to get into really detailing my exterior however I have a couple scratches that are pretty deep (suspecting shopping cart or another car door) and a fair amount of small bb sized dings on my front bumper, fog lamps and headlights from road gravel I presume.

I'm having a hard time finding the line between respectable effort and buying everything and having a pro finish. I'm just looking to take care the paint and interior without worrying too much about it being perfect.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

zrickety

The Fixer
I don't know if you have kids, but my fine line went out the window. I use meguire's leather and Black Magic interior protect (uv blocker). I'm not a detailer by any means, but they have kept the interior nice.
 

Boscogn

Go Kart Champion
Thanks for the tips. @zrickety, No kids yet but married with a healthy work schedule. I'd be good if i could keep detailing to a solid 2 hours.
 

ENGLND

Passed Driver's Ed
I do the following once every 6 months, then just a quick wash every week. Prep is the key to a good finish so don't skimp on the early stages:

1. Wash with dish soap (removes EVERYTHING, even old wax etc)
2. Iron-X
3. Clay
4. Polish
5. Wax/Seal, depending on what product you like.

If I notice the car not beading after a while, I'll top up the wax.

For wheels, use a quality non acidic cleaner and then some wheel sealant. They won't need anything more than a normal wash for the next 6 months or so.
 

Boscogn

Go Kart Champion
Yeah I really need to pay more attention to her. I've only ever wash her maybe once a month and use wheel cleaner on rims and exhaust tips. Looking for something to keep my tires looking good and worried by lack of waxing could be detrimental to its paint down the road. I have 53k miles. I just need to pull the trigger on a reputable kit and spend some time detailing

Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
 

ChrisB1

Go Kart Champion
When I do a full detail, I usually do something along these lines once a year:
1. 2 bucket wash
2. Apply TRIX, let it dwell properly, wash car again
3. Clay bar and wash each panel with plain Optimum No Rinse
4. Apply Hyper Compound with my Flex 3401
5. Apply Hyper Polish with my Porter Cable 7424 XP (it spins faster than the Flex)
6. Re-wipe each panel with ONR and make sure the car is dry and as scratch free as I can get it
7. Apply Optimum Gloss Coat by hand
8. Top with Opti-Seal within an hour, just in case it rains. (Note: It always rains when I do this to the car, no matter what the weather forecast is)

After that, the car is usually good to go for another year.

I'm currently looking for other products, but Optimum is usually a time saver compared to using something like the Meguiars 105/205 polish which requires an IPA wipe down prior to application of the last stage protection. They also dust a little more than the Hyper twins and will stain your plastic/rubber trim, which is more time to deal with with regards to removing the dust and masking off the trim.
 

Misanthropy

New member
I do the following once every 6 months, then just a quick wash every week. Prep is the key to a good finish so don't skimp on the early stages:

1. Wash with dish soap (removes EVERYTHING, even old wax etc)
2. Iron-X
3. Clay
4. Polish
5. Wax/Seal, depending on what product you like.

If I notice the car not beading after a while, I'll top up the wax.

For wheels, use a quality non acidic cleaner and then some wheel sealant. They won't need anything more than a normal wash for the next 6 months or so.
For your step 1

Go to youtube,
get on channel waxmode
lookup his video about dish soap
realize that if properly applied, your sealant or wax won't be stripped by it.
Cry from all these years of believe this tale, like i did. I do believe that it will strip some of the oils but clearly it doesn't remove everything


As for myself, as mentioned on another thread, i used to use mother's 3 step california gold system, only to find out that it barely had any cut power in it and yes it did get decent results on my suby (soft paint) but won't get me anywhere with the vw

So what my detailing is gonna look like once i get my proper random orbital is gonna be

- wash
- iron-x and rinse
- clay (i'll skip it as i already clayed last weekend with Mothers 3-step coming to sad realization that it only adds shine, does nothing for swirls and scratches) and wipe
- apply m105 and wipe
- apply m205 and wipe
- re-apply mothers california gold carnauba wax (that actually DOES work and beads like a mother(seewhatididthere)focker

Thereafter during summer its going to be
- wash
- clay
- wax

unless i see swirls coming back then its going to be
- wash
- clay (if needed)
- apply m205
- wax

Might even consider getting chemical guys' VSS Scratch & Swirl remover to try it on, cause i wanna start detailing cars here and there on the side. Somewhat for fun more than the money.
 
Last edited:

Jcarollo765

Ready to race!
With lots of love:wub:
 

Saabstory

.:R32 OG Member # 002
I make sure the cupholder is clean...

Can't have my coffee lacking a place to rest while I commute...
 

green hell

Ready to race!
Thanks for the tips. @zrickety, No kids yet but married with a healthy work schedule. I'd be good if i could keep detailing to a solid 2 hours.

2 hours?

optimum no-rinse wash and wax (plenty of videos available, works on all surfaces)
any wax-as-you-dry product (or optimum spray wax, which isn't listed as waud but works in the application)
maybe another coat of spray wax or detail spray - megs ultimate (either) is good
meguiars ultimate tire spray

i do this about every two/three weeks.

2~4 times a year i do a full detail, clay bar, polish, sealants, blah blah blah.

the modern spray waxes are very good (appearance and longevity), and if you have a healthy base layer down then your car will look good all year.
 

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
Optimum No Rinse wash, or whatever random traditional rinse wash you want with a quality microfiber mitt and Optimum Spray Wax. Wash it once every week or two and use the spray wax once a month. Use 1z on interior panels with a vacuum cleaner and a variety of brushes to get into cracks. This shouldn't take you more than an hour a week.

I stopped using the Optimum Spray Wax and changed to Meguiar's microfiber DA pad system using D30116 wax with DMF6 finishing discs on my cheapo Harbor Freight polisher. Frequency is once every couple of months. With the DA the wax goes on super fast and this particular wax wipes off quick and easy.

Once every year or two I'll decontaminate with D30016 correction compound with DMC6 cutting pads. Count on spending an entire day to do this, it doesn't go fast unless you're a well practiced professional.

A lot of car enthusiasts are very fussy about all the steps they take to care for their car, and if that makes them happy I'm happy for them. Personally, I know that if I don't keep it as simple, easy, and quick as possible I won't do it as often as I need to. For most of my car's life it was washed with Optimum No-Rinse and followed on with Optimum Spray Wax, and I have received a lot of comments from people on how my car doesn't look nearly as old as it is.
 
Top