I've been wanting to post this thread for a long time... i know everyone has little tricks and things that they use when they are detailing... tricks that seem obvious, but might not be to everyone. for instance...

recently on my black car it's been hard to keep water spots off when...

To check the paint while surface prepping, I like to pull a large sheet of plastic wrap and lay it on the paint. If you glide your fingers over it, it really magnifies the bumps...

And its useful to protect your windows, etc. from splatter (of polishes) too!

To know if a vehicle has clearcoat or not...........
Take a good paint cleaner and rub the body pannel. If the vehicles paint color comes off on your towell, then it is NOT clearcoated.

I buy gobs of those little 4 1/2 by 3 in sponges when they are on sale. I use them for application of wax, polish, vinylex, etc. Lots of times I just pitch after use. But if I want to reuse for the next time I just keep each one in a little zip lock bag so it stays moist. Sometimes I'll label the bag like Vinyles etc.

Great thread

I buy several cans of compressed air at office supply stores, and use them to lightly blow water out of the cracks and crevasses after washing & drying. Works great if you don't have a leaf blower, or are detailing away from home

Just don't hold them upside down or any akward angles

How many of us have side moulding that has white chalked?

Well One Grand provided me with a way to bring back the black and to prevent the chalking look!

You need a toothbrush or detail brush
One Grand Interior Leather Cleaner
Your choice of moulding protectant

Do this before you wash the car*

First spray the toothbruth or detail brush witht he Leather Cleaner (away from the car). Work the cleaner into the moulding all around the car. Then wash the car.

After you wash and dry the car dress the mouldings the difference will amaze you. This will also prevent wax from getting on the moulding again!

Oh!!! One more thing Clay, Clay, Clay before every wax!!!

Good Luck and Happy Detailing!
Craig

FlyGuy - Nice to see a BMW like yours with a few toys.

StyleTeg - I just read a post suggesting using a vac to suck the water out of the crevices instead of using the compressed air cans. Isn't that kind of expensive?

I use a couple of kitchen pump sprayers for Z6 and homemade glass cleaner (see picture). The mist is very fine, and the small size of the sprayer makes it easy to slip into a pocket if you should happen to need both hands for a moment. Click the picture to see the Pampered Chef version . . . you can find them in kitchen stores, Wal-Mart, Target, etc. for less than $10.

click pic


Tort

Unfortunately, this doesnt work real well with a white car! First most towels are white...But, even if you get a non-white towel, odds are the product will be white! Either way, its damn hard to distinguish between the white product and the white paint on teh towel.

Use a black towel and rub a product that isn't black, like Klasse AIO or 3M SMR for dark cars.

But I said I have a WHITE car......Most polishes are white, so its hard to differentiate between the product and the paint.

3m SMR for dark cars a polish that is dark in color and Klasse All In One is tan in color, so if you use a dark towel with one of the products you will be able to tell if your car has a clear coat.