Necessary to clay bar if I`m going to use megs 105?

[bennylava]

I guess "better safe than sorry" might apply, though I don`t know anything about the Autoglym wax. (Heh heh, INSERT my usual skepticism about what people say about a particular product imparting "gloss" ) If you have a bottle of [somebody`s Polishing Oils Removal Product] on the shelf then you`d be covered and I can`t imagine such stuff going bad. FWIW I`ve never had to strip any oils from HD Polish for the LSPs *I* use, but that might not be relevant here.

More free education from autopia. This is great! Then again, I`m not sure if they teach courses in detailing at a school somewhere. But I love this stuff because it all just makes perfect sense to me. I`ve always been the overthinking type, and detailing satisfies all the stuff I always suspected, but people would tell me I`m "overthinking it".

As for the Autoglym, yeah really its another boutique wax. $60 for a small amount. But I always like to try the high end versions of things. As far as proof goes, some guy got a gloss meter tested a whole bunch of them, and the autoglym beat out all the other top end ones. So eh, I guess going with that one is as good a choice as any when it comes to the boutique waxes.

Next question! Many waxes claim to last 6 months, or close to 6 months. But is that still true, when you go through the touchless car wash? Or are they saying 6 months, with perfect hand washing technique? And what if you go through a touch car wash? The ones that have the big brushes. How long will a good wax stand up to that? The reason I ask, is the wife drives a Toyota 4 door that we do keep in good shape. But, the car has 200k miles on it. We don`t plan to keep the car forever, and hand washing that thing all the time is not even close to being on my "to do" list. She doesn`t want to do that either, and we`ll probably sell the car when it gets 350k, maybe 400k miles on it. And just start the process all over again, with another low mileage Toyota 4 cylinder.

So while we do take care of the car, its not like with my 87 Silverado or my 94 Mustang GT. I`ve got no plans to sell those vehicles, so I take much better care of their paint than I would with an A to B work car that I know I`m just going to sell once the mileage gets high enough that it starts to become a risk. So I`d just like to know how well these good waxes generally stand up to power washes, and the automated brush washes. My guess would be, not very well. I`d guess that you can take that 6 month number, and slash it down to 2 or 3 months.

[Stokdgs]

Benny,
Glad you like Detailing because if you didnt, you would not want to be doing it.. It is more of a "labor of love" than anything..

To answer your question, if you use the best "wax" product out there and apply it correctly after preparing the surface correctly - AND -
never take it out of your garage, then yes, you can probably get 6 months out of it..

All the car washes use major strong soaps on purpose, to be able to get everything off your paint in 1 pass..
So anything short of a good Coating is only going to be able to hold on so long before it goes away..

Perhaps a few months, depending on how many times it gets attacked at the car wash, but not half a year in my experiences with Client`s best efforts to "take care of their AMG Mercedes when it leaves my shop, etc.. "
Dan F

[bennylava]

Ouch. So probably just the touchless then, and skip the brushes at the oil change place she takes it to. It stands to reason that the touchless would be better than the brush car washes. I`m sure its not great but at least you don`t have those brushes rubbing the dirt from somebody`s bro dozer into your clear coat. I`ll take whatever I can get when it comes to that, cause I ain`t hand washing that car! Except before I polish and wax it.

Can I get away with using these towels to buff off the compound and the polish? How about to degrease after polish? Trying to save money again.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029T0S70...517483167&sr=1

[Stokdgs]

BennyLava --
Yes, anytime you do not get the car wash brush-torture-option, you are making less work for yourself when it comes to correcting the paint again..
I know about washing cars you dont like to; when I was married last, I had 5 vehicles in the garage and circular driveway all the time, and very little to no help keeping them clean.. That is why I went to Optimum Coating once I had vetted it for a few years..
Then, life was so much easier...

The Eurow towels look ok, but no one can tell for sure until you try them out.. If they work out for you, then of course, you can use them for cleaning after polishing, but if you only have so many, you can also use others that are absorbent and not going to scratch your beautiful corrected, paintwork...

Just do this one thing -- look - at the towel surface each time, before you place it on your paintwork, and try to spot - anything - on that side that is not the same color, pattern, etc., of the surface, and pick it out...

Used to be the best microfiber towels came from Korea; not sure if that is still the case today..

The only towels I know are bad for paint are the yellow Costco towels..

With all towels, for sure I have the best results washing them separately, using a soap made for microfiber towels only, and every so often, I fill the rinse thing up with distilled white vinegar in the rinse cycle and this always helps the towels to do better in my experience..
Dan F

[Accumulator]

Bennylava- You might compare/contrast this with what Stokdgs posted

My `00 Tahoe gets used *hard* year-round and the FK1000P on it lasts for many, many months. But then it`s washed my way every time and that probably makes all the difference. Heh heh, I derive *ZERO* pleasure from washing it, begrudge every second I spend on that [thing], but it needs done.

Also, *my* wife`s daily (`00 A8) has a lotta miles on it too, even more than the Tahoe, and IMO (she might disagree) it actually gets treated *harder*. But it`s still very, very nice (it`d take an Autopian to find any faults). Same reason; I wash it exactly the same as my most pampered garage-queen. Well, and she doesn`t abuse stuff the way some folks do.

I don`t really mind doing the A8 or my S8 (they`re just easy for me to do, probably familiarity), but I`d *always* rather expend my resources in other ways, especially hate spending the time on such stuff. As I`ve posted before, I don`t actually derive much pleasure from Detailing, but like so many things in life, I don`t have to like it, I just have to do it and I do things properly. Hopefully, people who do it professionally *DO* derive pleasure from it, otherwise both they and their customers are probably in for trouble.

[bennylava]

I know that I wouldn`t derive much pleasure from doing other people`s cars. But I probably will from my own cars. Cause I want that awesome shine that puts all the other cars on the road to shame. Even some of the best cars out there, don`t look as good as they should cause the owners don`t take care of them in a manner that keeps them looking their best. Likely cause they don`t know how or can`t be bothered. I want people (and myself) to see mine and just think "Man it looks good". When you have something that is really nice, you just appreciate it every time you look at it.

[Accumulator]

bennylava- Yeah, I *was* pretty into the whole thing for a good long time so I do understand people liking it. And yeah, I absolutely *DO* appreciate having my stuff (pretty much all my stuff) in nice shape.

While my wife really appreciates the compliments she gets on her A8, it just doesn`t register with me. Another of my numerous, uhm...eccentricities...I guess

[Fishroes]

Sir Accumulator, when the weather warms I will come to your house with my lawn chair and some beer and watch you wash my tundra so I can pick up some tips and tricks!! LOL

[Accumulator]

Fishroes- LOL is right, not enough [anything] in this world for me to wash something other than ours And if you saw the process, you`d undoubtedly say what the few others who`ve seen me wash said..."NO. [FREAKIN`]. WAY. I`D. DO. THAT. EVER. YOUR`RE. NUTS.

Heh heh, maybe one reason (besides my simply not letting people in my shop ) nobody watches me wash is that nobody`d want to sit there for all those hours, especially since I`m down under the vehicle for so much of it.

Although, seriously, I`m working on streamlining the process, gonna get my wash regimen more efficient now that I`m all dialed-in on it being effective. I really don`t like having to spend so many hours all the time (my wife`s car needs washed a lot). Just placed some orders for more/duplicate wash routine stuff to further implement the "redundant systems" approach.

[bennylava]

Fishroes- LOL is right, not enough [anything] in this world for me to wash something other than ours And if you saw the process, you`d undoubtedly say what the few others who`ve seen me wash said..."NO. [FREAKIN`]. WAY. I`D. DO. THAT. EVER. YOUR`RE. NUTS.

Heh heh, maybe one reason (besides my simply not letting people in my shop ) nobody watches me wash is that nobody`d want to sit there for all those hours, especially since I`m down under the vehicle for so much of it.

Although, seriously, I`m working on streamlining the process, gonna get my wash regimen more efficient now that I`m all dialed-in on it being effective. I really don`t like having to spend so many hours all the time (my wife`s car needs washed a lot). Just placed some orders for more/duplicate wash routine stuff to further implement the "redundant systems" approach.

I`d probably agree with them about the underside of the car. But not the body, engine, or interior. But I do wish there was some service somewhere, where perhaps a machine steamed the whole underside and got it nearly spotless. That I would use once or twice per year. I don`t live in a dirty area, but I`d still just like everything fairly clean down there. But not enough to do what you`re talking about lol. Its not the amount of work I`m concerned with, its the fact that after merely a month of driving, its starting to look like it used to. Even if it is still technically cleaner, it starts to get that dirt coating under there again.

[Accumulator]

bennylava- Perfectly reasonable..everybod`ys gotta figure out what`s worth doing/not. A big part of my being nutty about the undercarriages is probably 1) knowing the techs who work on my vehicles...want to do right by them and that means not taking them dirty stuff, and 2) since all our vehicles are now "older" and can`t really be replaced, it`s simply critical that I keep them as nice as possible, especially areas where things can get out of hand if neglected. E.g., having rusted fluid lines fixed on the `93 Audi (all hand-fabricated as parts are NA) was one big, expensive hassle.

That "twice a year, like with steam" might be worth DIYing, just once, to see if it makes a worthwhile diff to you. Maybe it`ll stay nicer than you think, maybe it won`t. But if nothing else you`d get one good, clear look at/understanding of the condition of things down there. That`s how it started with me, back before I went off the deep end with it.

[bennylava]

Yeah I`m working on some sort of a plan with all of that. At some point I am going to buy one of those high end steamers. Great for cleaning neglected engines, and even some interiors. But I gotta make sure I get one where the temperature, and the PSI are adjustable. Cause I want to be able to use it on as much stuff as possible.

Next, I want to come up with a way to work on the car with the bottom facing sideways. Not real common I know, but They have these odd things that are more common in europe. IIRC it attaches to the lug nuts, and then you roll the car sideways. Some latches will click into place preventing it from rolling back down. Its a weird deal, but I still want to try it. I`ve used regular lifts, and while they`re great for working on some stuff, sometimes the only real advantage is, that you`re not laying down. Cause you`re still working above your head, which starts to hurt after a bit.

Here`s one of the sideways lifts. I`d clean the underside that way.

Eastwood?s Tilt-A-Car | Toolmonger

[Accumulator]

bennylava- Ya know...when I bought my pricey steamer, I found that I used it a whole lot less that I`d expected! Maybe that`s just me, but I thought I`d mention it.

Yes indeed, being a sucker for the Eastwood Company I`m familiar with that tilting thing! That`d be cool all right, though I wonder just how good an idea it`d really be...one of those things where I`d have to spend my money and then see for myself...uh-oh, it might sit around unused like my RaceRamps and that steamer usually do!

[SWETM]

Man that car lift brung back some memorys A friend of mine and I could not find a car lift over the weekend to change an exhaust system. We didn`t want to lay on the cold concrete in the winter. So we tipped the car over on a some tires sideways as that lift lol It`s was a winter beater dd. But we didn`t damage anything or any dents. Think it was just luck lol. When I worked at the sawmill I loaned the fork lift and used as a car lift. And PW the undercarige of the car it worked great when we were 2 of us to do it. Did not get wet either since the whole side of the car was free so started against the fork lift and worked backwards. But when I had to wash the timbertruck I drove that weight 52000kg. And was standing from under it and inside it get that fire hazard of dust away. Then the rain suit came on and you can emagine how I looked after that lol. Fun times lol

This spring when the road salt is off the roads I will rent a diy garage with car lift and a PW at the gas station. And get that cleanded up and ad some corrosion protection where needed. Take a look at the brake pipes and other things. Think I will do a test spot somewhere under with a wax from Bilt Hamber named Auto balm. It has corrosion inhibitors in it. And when the wheather gets a little warmer I will do a little mini review on it here I think. It has a really great filling ability combined with good gloss and longevity. The use of it is on cars that maybe not can get correction or have stone chips or other chips of bare metall that needs that kind of protection.

[Accumulator]

SWETM- It`s kinda funny...back when I had a lift I hardly ever used it. Now that I don`t have one I`m all about getting underneath and going nuts on the undercarriages

Yeah, that BHAB supposedly has some *incredible* filling abilities! I`ve been tempted to try it on the cars that can`t be corrected any more. I`ll be interested to hear how it works for people these days...have`t heard of it for a while. Hmmm...wonder about topping it with my FK1000P, that might really be something. (Meanwhile, I`m using up a lifetime supply of 1Z WaxPolishSoft and I do mean a LIFETIME supply.)

And yeah, guys use forklifts for all sorts of seemingly crazy stuff, like lifting bodies off frames. I thought it was simply NUTS until more and more people said how well it worked. Still not about to try it though!