About proper order of wax/clean mouldings/clean windows

**gto78** · 12-05-2004, 06:10 AM

My question is this, what is the best order of doing the overall job? I mean, do you wax/polish the entire car, then clean the trim and then clean the windows then the tires? Or do you do that in another order so you arent going back and touching up the painted area around the trim? My car has so much black trim on it that touches the paint it drives me crazy. If I clean the trim first then it still gets wax underneath the edges from waxing since the edges lift up real easily, so taping the trim protects the top of the trim but wax still makes a mess along the borders.

I dont know, I just cant figure out which is the easiest order. What do you guys like to do? same goes for the interior, clean the windshield first or the dashboard? Either way if I wipe the dashboard some aa gets on the window in the tight spots, if i do the window last then the glass cleaner gets onto the dashboard.....

**imported_WCD** · 12-05-2004, 09:26 AM

Surveys on car wash customers always point to #1...Clean windows. Clean windows come out in front of paint, vacuuming, etc. I think your question could be answered differently by many detailers. First off, is the detailer working for a profit? If so, then he/she is going to have a routine that works best..time is money. If it`s a person who enjoys taking his/her time on a personal car, then I suspect the routine will differ from week to week depending on what`s desired that day.

Having said that, on the exterior, I begin with wheel wells, wheels/tires, bumpers, and then glass. All are rinsed and then cleaned.

I then rinse the car and proceed to wash. Rinse again and dry.

I then do what is planned to the paint. If waxing, while it is setting up, I will dress the tires. I always do glass last. Some peoplel do the trim while the wax is on the paint. Thus, if any smears or drips onto the paint, the drying wax in under it and will thus be removed when buffing off the dried wax.

Regarding glass on the interior...I always spray the cleaner into a towel, never onto the surface (same goes for exterior glass). I wipe the glass and then pull the dry towel off of my shoulder and burnish to a clear shine with no streaks (most of the time). Since MF came out, I do not use glass cleaner nearly as much. A wet MF and one dry one do a great job. Especially on the outside because I cleaned them prior to washing.

There are some MF covered paddles that fit into tight corners when doing glass. That may work if you are getting streaks, or product, on the dash.

When done I pull the car into the sunlight and check the glass from every angle. Invariably, there are some streaks here or there that need a quick wipe.

Hope that addressed some of your concerns.

Robert Regan

**Accumulator** · 12-05-2004, 10:26 AM

These days I only use products that are trim-friendly. I don`t treat the trim with ERV dressings, I use the same LSPs as for paint. So it doesn`t matter if I get product on the trim

I do practice w-o-w-o to some extent though; I don`t let the product set up too long on trim.

OK, I`ll mask it if I`m using the rotary, and *occasionally* if I`m using the Cyclo, but not often. For big/thick trim, I`ll use a piece of thin cardboard as a "mask" to protect the trim and keep product away from it.

IMO if you`re getting product under the trim on a regular basis you`re using too much product (and most people use way more than they need of everything. When I *do* get some under it, I`ll use a MF or a sharpened (wood) applicator stick. Either works well and they are fairly safe especially if moistened with QD.

But again, I`d choose products that don`t stain trim and use them sparingly enough that it`s not an issue.

I do windows last since something might get on them during the other processes. I get them pretty good with the regular wash/dry though.

**gto78** · 12-05-2004, 11:39 AM

i mainly only detail my 350z and my fiance`s explorer. The problem i have with trim is on the roof, they for some reason put this rubber piece of trim about 6 inches into the middle of the roof, above the door, and it runs the length of the roof. It is very soft rubber and your fingernail will lift it about 1/4 inch. the machine immediately goes under it everytime. I try very carefully to avoid it, but everytime it hits and goes under, and then scrapes the polish off the pad and makes an ugly buildup that only comes off if i spend 10 minutes or more with MF towels and fingernails etc... The same rubber doesnt seem to stay black unless i use a black rubber replenishing product like back to black or something.

thanks guys

**Accumulator** · 12-05-2004, 01:14 PM

gto78- OK, I see. You might be stuck using the MF/QD then... Could you slip something under it to keep stuff from getting in there? Sorta the flip side when treating it, put something under it to protect the surrounding paint.

**gto78** · 12-05-2004, 07:11 PM

i think the best idea so far is to hold a thin piece of stiff cardboard against the rubber to hold it down against the paint, and at the same time prevent the machine from contacting it. or maybe a plastic putty spreader type of object. the rest of the car seems to be not so bad as long as i don`t hit it with the rotary. I hit one piece of rubber with the rotary and it dug down into it.

**gto78** · 12-05-2004, 07:22 PM

well today i made it a point to follow a specific pattern of events in cleaning the Exploder. I washed and clayed of course. Then I polished with the usual arsenal of stuff. I then sealed, then detailed the trim with some GM trim restorer, then I wiped the glass down inside and out. My final step was to QD the entire truck including the trim in some cases, just to get all the smears off the paint that were put there during the trim cleaning. I spray QD onto the MF towel to avoid any getting onto the glass. Likewise during the interior cleaning I spray onto the towel before wiping the glass. I was pretty happy with it, came out good.

**Accumulator** · 12-06-2004, 09:29 AM

gto78- Sounds like you`ve come up with a good procedure :xyxthumbs And yeah, spraying the cloth rather than the surface being cleaned (e.g., the windows) is a good way to do it.

**gto78** · 12-07-2004, 04:13 PM

thanks guys, I think I got the routine down a lot better, less time wasted now with doing things twice. Next weekend I`ll do it all over again, well some of it anyways. I didnt finish the interior the other day, and theres some spots that need polish touched up, but otherwise the exploder came out great.