Advice on products please

[caveman]

Hi All

My name is Mike and live in the UK

this is my first post so go easy on me!

I found this site by accident, and i am now glad i did, i didnt think there were so many car detailing people out there as i considered my self a bit in the minority!!



My Dilema is this:



I own a Ford Focus Zetec (ZX5 in USA)

In Metalic Panther black



And want to give it the best deep shine possible with the products i currently own if possible. I put about 20k (miles) a year on it and its stored outside in the elements alot of the time, and with the weather and roads in the UK the bodywork takes some hammer.



At the moment i use 3m perfect it III

Fine compound (occasionally)

Finishing glaze



But also have a range of products.



Auto Glym Super Resin Polish

Auto Glym High Gloss Finish

MER

Turtle Wax Colour Magic

:nixweiss

Meguiars Gold Class Wash

Meguiars Gold Class Wax (clearcoat)

" " Deep crystal Polish

" " Scratch X



I must note that i have just been bought the meguiars range by my wife so havent tried them yet.



Any Advice on how best to use these products and in what order to use them would be appreciated.

I am also going to start from scratch ie Dawn and clay to get a good starting point.



Thanks in advance

Great site keep up the good work.



Mike.

[Lowejackson]

Mike, welcome to Autopia. If you want a perfect looking car this is the place to be. I would recommend that you download the ebook from the front page as it is an excellent source of information.



Autoglym is good but bin the Turtle Wax. In the UK we can get many great products, 3M, 303, Plexus etc etc. Have a look at www.iauto.co.uk they sell the Dr OK Wack range (strange name great products).



Given your choice, I would stick with the Autoglym. If you dont have any damage to the paint I would wash, clay, Super Resin and then add Extra Gloss. Leave the Resin and Gloss on for as long as possible before buffing. Get some foam pads to apply the products and use MF towels to remove. You cannot ever have enough MF towels BTW.



F355 recently posted some nice pics of a car done with Autoglym http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18778&highlight=autoglym



Steven

[Accumulator]

gibbo01-Welcome! The products you have should work fine. After your wash and clay, use the 3M PI-III to get out any swirls, etc. If you need to, use the Scratch-X on tough ones. Everything Lowejackson said is good advice. Use your AutoGlym SRP and EGP and give them plenty of time to cure. They are great products and will serve you well.

[caveman]

So the AutoGlym products i have are better then the meguars i have just had bought for me DOH!!

oh well.

when you say let them cure are we talking an hour or so or less?

i detaill mine in a heated garage at work aprox 24 degrees all the time so is quite warm. would this adversly effect the process or help it cure better.

and what are these MF towels used for drying or detailing



Cheers



Mike

[Detailing NY]

Originally posted by gibbo01



i detaill mine in a heated garage at work aprox 24 degrees all the time so is quite warm

Cheers

Mike



24 degrees is warm to you! i work in that weather and it does not feel warm to me :D

Welcome

NYD

[caveman]

LOL

Cheers

24 is like a summers day to us!! :D

i wear shorts and shades when i am in the garage detailing!!!



Mike

[caveman]

http://www.madhatter-motorsport.co.uk/gallery.htm



Link to car showing Autoglym SRand HG

[Accumulator]

gibbo01- The microfiber towels are VERY soft and generally work better than all-cotton ones. Not sure what your options are over there, though.



Your 24 degree (degrees c, right ;))shop should be fine for the Autoglym stuff. I let the SRP dry for less than an hour before removal, but overnight before a second layer (optional). Yes, I know it`s a "cleaner" but I "layer" it anyhow, just apply the second coat GENTLY as per the Autoglym literature. If you prefer, you can certainly just do one coat of SRP and move on to the EGP, which I believe requires a few hours to properly set up. Or wait until the next time you wash the car to apply the EGP. I`ll defer to Lowejackson for details on the EGP, as I top my SRP with wax.



BTW, I keep calling the High Gloss "Extra Gloss Protection". Sorry if I`m wrong about this. I`m doing this from memory and I haven`t used any Autoglym stuff, except the SRP, for ages.

[caveman]

The garage is an industrial drying room at work at a constant 24 it is used for drying our product after it has been made, and seen as its my domain i get to park under the heaters!!



As for the curing time to b honest i put on SRP and take it off within the hour and have the whole car done in an hour!!



then i put HGP or EGP on and leave for about an hour and repeat this approx 4 times throughout the night! maybe i should use it less and leave it longer say two hours!

[Accumulator]

gibbo01- It sounds like you have good products, a good place to work, and first-hand experience doing the job. I don`t really worry about letting the SRP cure too long either; you can tell if you start to take it off too soon.



Is there anything you DON`T like about how your car`s turning out? As in some specific aspect of its appearance you`d like to improve? It all sounds good to me!

[Lowejackson]

With layering the Extra Gloss, I found the best results come from letting each layer cure for a few days, but if you have no problems with multiple layers in one day, dont change it. You can add wax to either Resin or Gloss, but you cannot do Resin+wax+Gloss.



MF towels = Mico Fibre towels. The best thing since sliced bread.



Steven

[Paintxpert]

Welcome Mike, good to see more UK people are sitting-up and taking notice of such an amazing place :xyxthumbs



I recently applied Autoglym Super Resin and have been applying Extra Gloss for the past 3 weeks, and have just topped it with One Grand Blitz wax, with amazing effect :D So you might find good results from doing this and topping it all with your new Meguiars Gold Class Wax, although you might have to re-apply the Megs wax once every 2-3 weeks as durability is supposedly crap.



There is a list somewhere of all the places we can get the best stuff in the UK :)



Could do with a nice UK sticky admin/mods ;) :D

[caveman]

That sounds like a good idea

My car looks pretty good but as usual with most people when you catch it in the wrong light there appears to be smudges/Hazes where i have polished! and im always looking at ways to improve its appearance and spend a fortune on products



So if i put SRP on first 1 coat or Megs Deep crystal polish??

Then as many coats as possible of The gloss

then top it off with the gold class wax that should be about right?

I have no problem re applying every 3 weeks as i do it every week anyhow.



Could do with knowing what MF towels are the best and available in the UK?



Cheers



Mike



Anyone tried Zaino in the UK yet??

[Paintxpert]

I know what you mean Mike, which is why I always follow up with some Quick detailer spray or plain old H2O and a MF, which gets rid of any streaks, residue etc.



There arent really any MFs in the UK AFAIK, we recently did a small order from the US for some really HQ MFs. Get them from the US, just dont go too mad as you`l incurr some heavy shipping and duty/vat charges.



www.microfibertech.com is where I ordered from.



or try www.pakshak.com (theres many more, though you need to ask if they ship to the UK).



You might want to try some Megs Swirl Free Polish (dont bother with the deep crystal rubbish, its horrible) if you have some swirls to deal with.



Then 1 coat of Autoglym SR.



Then 2-4 coats of Autoglym EG.



Then top with Megs GC wax, occasionally.



:xyxthumbs

[Lowejackson]

I am not an expert on Meguars but it seems the professional range is the one to get, the consumer stuff gets very mixed reviews.



If your car already has extra gloss then I would top with some wax and see what you think.



As for MF towels, this is a hard one. Maybe one of the other Brits could help more. Most of mine are from the USA. They can be bought here, what you are looking for is towels that are plush. Halfords sells some (dont buy the heavy duty), but they are a bit rough - good for engines, glass and wheels. Some small DIY places sell them. Tesco sell some but they are not great. Betterware, QVC and other mailorder places sell them.



The Meguars pads are great for applying products and they are nice and cheap. You will also need to get a wash pad, Halfords sell a fluffy one for about 2 pounds. Do a search on the 2 bucket method of washing your car. I really recommend the shampoo from Iauto, it is far better than the Autoglym. For products like Autoglym Bumper Shine, a cut up dish washing pad (for non stick pans) is perfect.



Steven