9 Weeks to Win! (Week 6)

[Paul@Autopia]

To celebrate the new look of Autopia.org we`re going to be doing a giveaway for the next 9 weeks, just like we did last year!! This week we`ll be giving away a Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection & Blackfire Waterless Wash!









How to Win:




1. For a chance to win, walk us through your winter detailing regimen. How do you prep for winter time & how to you keep your car clean during the cold weather?

2. Only one entry per forum member. You can post as many times as you want, but only one entry per member.


3. Normal forum and website RULES apply to all entries.




Winners will be announced on Friday, October 9nd 2015.




Good luck everyone!

[XxBoostinxX]

Wash the car normally until it gets in the 40s consistently. Then I just do waterless washes in the garage.

[PA DETAILER]

Several coats of PRIMA HYDRO MAX.
Glass coated with DP GLASS COAT.
Wheels coated with DP WHEEL COAT.
Exterior trim WETS.

And pray for a mild winter. When it does break in the winter/after a bucket wash, i will add hydro wax as you dry.

[ShawnF350]

Once the kids go back to school after Labor Day, I begin to access what each of my cars need.
I usually accept any imperfections until spring at this point .....

Wash with PoorBoy`s SS&S
Clay with Clay Magic (fine grade)
Apply a few coats of my LSP over a few weeks (This year it will be FK1000P)
Continue hose washing until a wash session that my hands are totally numb or the car glazes over with ice and frozen suds.
After every wash I wipe the vehicles down with a Spray Poorboy`s QD+
......once we see Ron posting snow storm maps of the East Coast I then......
begin using a Self Car Wash with heavy gloves to spray any salt residue off the car and when I get home do hose free washes in the garage and a spray wax.

Winter is usually when I order even more stuff from Autopia praying for spring to come.

[pheerix]

I`m already not going to win this contest. We don`t have winter here so I do nothing lol.

[Ronkh]

Wash car normally
Drive car

[Oldfordisbetter]

The garage queen stays parked, doesnt get anything till spring.
my beater just gets an undercarriage rinse and quick wash when its above freezing. That being said this winter will be my first winter that I can wash inside, so hopefully it can happen more frequently.

[haagendasz]

We don`t have winter here but rainy season.

I usually prepare my cars with normal 2 bucket wash with Megs Gold. Class Shampoo.
Followed with claying the exterior thoroughly.

After that I use Carpro Eraser to prepare the surface for LSP

And then I use Collinite 476s, my trusted LSP for rainy season.

Usually they hold well for 3-4 months.

If it rain so hard and my car is dirty with some muds I hose down the muds and use ONR every night or in the morning.

Normal 2 bucket wash every weekend regardless how many times I use ONR after it rains.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[RDKC]

My normal routine? Go through the touchless every so often.

Plan on doing a good wash this year and putting a couple of coats of FK1000P (still need to order it) on it. Sadly, never had a garage big enough to actually do anything in (doesn`t help that when I had a house with a garage I drove a crew cab dually and the wife`s was lifted) so I`ll probably be limited to a thorough rinse at the local touchless or a self wash when they`re open.

Other than that, anxiously wait for spring.

[jtford95]

I will take it thru the car wash when really bad. Or the self service wash. Or an ONR wash in the drive way.Game plan is to compound, polish and wax or seal. Haven`t made up my mind yet.

[Van185]

Wash with Chemical Guys Honeydew, Nanoskin paint, polish, sealant, top with 845 or Midnight Sun. Try to keep all the salt and sand washed off. In the WNC mountains that is a task.

[donbeezy]

southeast texas weather here, just new coat of wax/sealant for the winter. only thing that changes during winter is using the hot water for buckets instead of cold water

[Rod73]

Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint sealant
Wolfgang Fuzion

My it`s too cold but I don`t like scratches wash: pres oak with Blackfire Waterless, wash with D114

[rlmccarty2000]

South Georgia. Same old foam gun plus two bucket method. Same types of LSPs. The only change is right around late February/early March when the wind picks up and it is too cold for me I use Pinnacle rinseless as needed. Not enough cold weather around here to make many changes. Shorts and a t-shirt at Christmas. Got to love it!

[TheAverageMan]

I am a practical man. I have a daily driver Honda Fit 2015, in Pearl White, garaged at night. Marring and swirls are hard to see on it. This is my 2nd time to do a full real preparation on my car for winter (California "rainy weather", cold weather, lots of morning dew)

Keep it simple, keep the car clean, live with a few swirls or marring, maintain value, and of course, be a little vain to outshine the other cars. All the following steps are in chronological order or what I did around September 15 in preparation for a California "Winter". My first time since being bit by the detailing bug.

Microfibers.

• Costco yellow MFs
• Chinchilla MFs
• Glass low ply towels from Microfiber Tech

Preparation

1. Coin Op Spray down and rinse all light dust off.
2. Bring it to my house and onto the driveway still wet.

Tires

Tools and Chemicals

• 3D Yellow Degreaser 1:4, 1:10, 1:20
• High volume foaming trigger sprayers
• Stiff tire brush for the rubber
• Expanding garden hose
• Brake dust brush
• Tire brush from Autozone for the rims

Tire steps

1. Spray inner rims with 1:4
   
2. Spray 1:10 onto the rubber
   
3. Use 1:20 to keep it all wet, and for the face of the rims
   
4. Scrub the inner rims with brake dust brush
   
5. Scrub the rubber down with a medium stiff brush
   
6. Scrub the face soft brush
   
7. Rinse and repeat to the other 3 tires
   
8. Bring the car inside a close garage

Wash and Decontaminate

Tools and Chemicals

• Nanoskin Fine grade sponge
  
• Meguiar`s D114 1:128 and 1:256
  
• Garden sprayer 52 oz from Home Depot low pressure pump
  
• Presoaked Costco MFs in D114 1:256 solution (Garry Dean method)

Wash Step

1. Spray down with D114 1:128 solution everywhere
   
2. Top to bottom rinseless wash with presoaked towels

Decontamination Step

1. Spray D114 1:256 solution
   
2. Nanoskin Fine sponge until smooth, including the glass
   
3. Dry the car and remove dried on D114 (All it needs is a light buff with a quick spray)

Glass
I do this only to the windshield, side and back glass get a different treatment later.

Tools and Chemicals

• Low ply glass MFs wrapped around a MF sponge
  
• Zep 1:32 ammonia free glass cleaner
  
• Costco MFs
  
• Rain X Water Repellent
  
• Wal-Mart Terry Cloth applicator pad
  
• Meguiar`s D156 Spray Wax

Glass Cleaning Steps

1. Spray the whole windshield
   
2. Vertical lines with low ply glass on half a windshield at a time
   
3. Immediately buff with a Costco MF, flip and buff again
   
4. Do 2nd half of the windshield
   
5. Grab a fresh Costco MF for each side and buff again

Glass Treatment

1. Rain X onto a white terry cloth applicator
   
2. Apply onto windshield in a circular motion all along, then trace the outline of the glass
   
3. Wait a few minutes, buff off.
   
4. Repeat for a total of 3 layers (No joke, I like to over do this)
   
5. For the final buff, it starts to get harder to take off, so I use D156 to help

Tire Dressing

Tools and Chemicals

• Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax
  
• Meguiar`s D156 Spray Wax
  
• Opti-Bond tire gel
  
• Wal-Mart MF applicator pad
  
• Detailing store generic tire dressing applicator sponge crescent shaped thing

Tire Dressing Steps

1. Apply Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax to the rims face and crevices with MF applicator (I can`t reach the back barrel)
   
2. Repeat ULW onto all tires
   
3. 1st layer of Opti-Bond Tire Gel to the tires
   
4. Repeat OBTG on all tires
   
5. Grab a Sprite cause I`m thirsty, plus to let the ULW set a bit more
   
6. Spray D156 onto the face of the rim to buff off the ULW
   
7. Repeat on all tires

Sealant and Wax
I hand apply sealants and waxes, using a backing plate as a grip to the circular pads (Found this easier than using a DA). I give at least 30 minutes between each layer of sealant and wax to set up. I even went out for dinner with my family after applying the Paint Protect, and came back to finish the job.

Tools and Chemicals

• Meguiar`s Paint Protect 365
  
• Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax
  
• Wolfgang Fuzion
  
• Meguiar`s D156 Spray Wax
  
• Chinchilla MFs
  
• 5 inch backing plate
  
• Meguiar`s Finishing flat pad
  
• LCC Black Finishing pad
  
• LCC Blue Finessing pad

Sealant and wax steps

1. Meguiar`s Paint Protect + Meguiar`s Flat Finishing pad
   
2. Do the whole car, wait a while, and buff off.
   
3. Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax + LCC Black Finishing pad
   
4. Do the whole car, plus the trim, wait a while, and buff off.
   
5. Wolfgang Fuzion + LCC Blue Finessing pad
   
6. Do the whole car, wait a while, buff off
   
7. Take a break

Finishing Touches
I do all of these at the end of the waxing stage.

Tire Dressing

• 2nd layer of OBTG

Final glass cleaning

• I use D156 and Costco MFs to clean the back and side windows, since it is nearly impossible to streak with, as long as I buff with a dry MF after
  
• I also use D156 on my side view mirrors
  
• I don`t care about the over spray, since I do a final buff on the entire car after anyways

Door jams

• D114 1:128 on all door jams and crevices
  
• D156 on all door jams and crevices as well

Engine

• D114 1:128 everywhere in the engine bay, with demoted MFs
  
• D156 everywhere in the engine bay with demoted MFs
  
• OBTG 1:1 in a spray bottle on black tubes or rubber stuff using a Wal-Mart MF applicator or demoted MFs.

Final Buff

• Use a lot of fresh MFs (Chinchilla or 520 purples), with one spray of D156 as a "primer" to buff the entire car

Final Tire Dressing

• 3rd layer of OBTG

Go to sleep


Interior
As for the interior, I did it on a separate day, it was pretty simple, so I won`t go into much detail.

General Interior

1. Take out all my carpet mats, brush until spotless, and vacuum.
2. Vacuum everything inside very thoroughly
3. Wipe down all plastic with Meguiar`s Natural Shine using MFs and MF applicator pads from Wal-Mart
4. Simple Green 1:20 APC on the steering wheel and shift knob
5. Wipe down interior glass with low ply glass MFs, with Zep Ammonia free glass cleaner, buff with Costco MFs right after

Interior windshield

1. Tricky devil, but I have a way to get it streak free.
   
2. Set yourself in the drivers seat with the Stoner`s Wand, bottle of Zep glass cleaner, four Costco MFs, and two low ply glass MFs
   
3. Place the low ply MF on the wand, spray lightly once or twice, then wand the interior windshield up and down until you get to a little bit more than half the windshield
   
4. ASAP, take off the low ply glass MF, and put on a Costco MF, and repeat to buff off the residue
   
5. Repeat again with a 2nd Costco MF on the drivers side.
   
6. Repeat process while sitting in the passengers side for that side of the window
   
7. Enjoy the streak free windshield glass, and don`t touch it again until summer time.

Deodorize

1. Spray Zep Air Deodorizer on the chairs and back area.

As for maintenance, I would follow the same routine I usually do every week or so.

Interior
(No kids, so it`s just me and my wife in the front all the time, plus we keep the back seats folded down all the time.)

1. Vacuum as needed, which is usually just the two front seats and front floors
   
2. Spray Zep Deodorizer on the seats in case we ate somewhere that left a food smell on our clothes which transferred into the car.

Tires

1. D114 1:128 Spray onto rims and wipe
   
2. D156 spray onto rims and buff
   
3. Opti-Bond tire gel 1:1 onto tires, leave it over night

Exterior

1. I keep a 5 gallon bucket with folded MFs in it, soaked in D114 1:256.
   
2. Rinseless wash every week when I have time, sometimes I have to skip a week.
   
3. I clean the windshield almost every day, or every other day, depending if there`s a lot of dust on them or if I was on the highway and have weird splatters. I use Zep`s 1:32 ammonia free glass cleaner and D156 to buff.
   
4. Clean the wiper blades too, since dust collects on them
   
5. Spray wax D156 everything, including the windshield, using a LOT of towels to keep residue streaks off the glass.
   
6. Buff all D156 off with fresh MFs.

That`s my cleaning routine that I did this year, my first time, plus my usual maintenance. Can`t believe I just wrote all of that here for the past two hours or so, recalling what I did.

I`m a Meguiar`s fan out of their cost effectiveness, and all, plus a cheap OTC cleaner person, like with my Zep and Simple Green.

Enjoy the detailing guys. Was fun writing this one.