criticize my technique

S

Skotter

New member
Well this is my second year of detailing, just wanted to know of any suggestions for my current method of cleaning...



Hand Wash and Dry - NXT Wash with a chenille(sp) sponge

Door Jambs Cleaned - super clean in tight areas, rubber treated with nxt

Tires Dressed - meg's hot tires

Interior Vaccum - 2hp shopvac

Dash and Vinyl Cleaned - meg's vinyl and rubber cleaner

Windows Cleaned Inside and Out - sprayway inside rain-x outside

Plastic Trim Dressed - nxt (don't really like this stuff, suggestions?)

Chrome Cleaned and Polished - nxt chrom polish

Paint Cleaned - either Heavy/Medium/Fine cut cleaner or DACP depending on paint

Polished - meg's SMR2.0

Glazed - meg's show car glaze

One Coat Wax - NXT

Interior Shampoo - super clean on tough spots and a little green machine...



well, any thought/suggestions/concerns? Any feedback would be appreciated...
 
I would detail in this order: interior, engine bay, exterior. I think your product arsenal isn't too bad. I would use a sheepskin mitt for the body of the car. For your plastic trim, I think 303 Aerospace Protectant would do the job. This is actually good for vinyl, rubber, plastic, fiberglass, and leather.



Hope this helps. :xyxthumbs
 
Excellent, I'll have to see if they have that locally, hopefully, i hate ordering stuff...thanks for the input :)



more is always welcome
 
A tip i was taught by the autoglym school when i spent a short time as a valeter around 5 years ago was this,



If your using a polish that dries to a haze, apply it early on. Leave it on the car while you do all the windows, tyres and trim etc. Then the last thing you do is take the polish off. The reason for this is that all the overspray from your window/trim sprays etc lands on the polish haze and gets wiped off when you remove the polish. If you do it the other way around it lands on your freshly cleaned paint.



Obvioulsy this works better with products like autoglym which dry to a haze and is not really a detailing technique, but more of a 3 cars a day valeting technique.
 
Skotter said:
criticize my technique
Click to expand...
Ok, if you insist, your techniques sucks! How's that? :D ....Just kidding!





But seriously folks, your plan is good. I would tweak it a little bit though.



*** Hand Wash and Dry - NXT Wash with a chenille(sp) sponge :up



*** Door Jambs Cleaned - super clean in tight areas, rubber treated with nxt

A cleaner/wax like Meg's or AIO will clean the jambs and make dirt stick less but takes a bit of extra work to remove compared to a spray-on cleaner.



*** Tires Dressed - meg's hot tires :up



*** Interior Vaccum - 2hp shopvac :up



*** Dash and Vinyl Cleaned - meg's vinyl and rubber cleaner :up



*** Windows Cleaned Inside and Out - sprayway inside rain-x outside

NXT glass cleaner works great and will probably be easier to find since you're already getting other NXT products.



*** Plastic Trim Dressed - nxt (don't really like this stuff, suggestions?)

Meg's #38 has been highly recommended but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.



*** Chrome Cleaned and Polished - nxt chrom polish :up





--- insert claying here. ---





*** Paint Cleaned - either Heavy/Medium/Fine cut cleaner or DACP depending on paint

#4 Heavy Cut and #1 Medium Cut cleaners are for rotary use only. #2 Fine Cut has been reformulated for hand, orbital, DA and rotary but isn't commonly on the shelves yet. Be sure to read the bottle closely.



*** Polished - meg's SMR2.0

*** Glazed - meg's show car glaze

I assume you mean #9 Swirl Remover (version 2.0). #7 and #9 are either/or products so you don't need both. If you're using DACP or new #2 you don't need the cutting capacity of #9 (which is really small anyway) so just getting #7 is fine. If you don't need as much cut as #2 or DACP you can try #80 instead and skip the #7 altogether.



*** One Coat Wax - NXT :up



*** Interior Shampoo - super clean on tough spots and a little green machine...

Haven't tried Super Clean, you probably want to dilute it a lot for carpets and upholstery.





PC.
 
Here's my order in which most of my vehicles are done in:



Remove Floormats/Bag Personal Belongings

Wheels/Tires Cleaned

Doorjambs Cleaned

Exterior Cleaned/Dryed

Clean Floormats

Blow all Cracks and Crevices with Compressor(Interior/Exterior)

Vacuum

Dress Door Seals

Clean/Dress Interior

Extract

Dress Wheelwells/Tires

Dress Trim

Polish/Wax

Windows

Final Vacuum

Replace Floormats

Final Wipedown of Doorjambs

Apply Air Freshener

Replace Personal Belongings
 
#7/#9 are either/or products? Are you sure? Not criticizing what so ever, just curious. :confused:

I learned today (finally) that the #7 is just a glaze (no cleaners/abrasives) and that #9 indeed has abrasives.



Thanks



Jim
 
Hand Wash and Dry - NXT Wash with a chenille(sp) sponge

* Try a sheepskin mitt and drying with a waffle weave towel (I think you can get them at wally world)



Door Jambs Cleaned - super clean in tight areas, rubber treated with nxt

* Try a QD spray, makes doorjams go a lot easier for me.



Tires Dressed - meg's hot tires

* definetly switch to Mother's Reflections tire care, I cannot reccomend this product enough (best looking tire shine I've EVER seen, IMHO)



Interior Vaccum - 2hp shopvac

*solid.



Dash and Vinyl Cleaned - meg's vinyl and rubber cleaner

* I use a Mr.Clean magic eraser first, then follow up with a dressing. As far as OTC dressings go, Meg's new Interior QD is hard to beat, in terms of looking like new.



Windows Cleaned Inside and Out - sprayway inside rain-x outside

*good stuff, I usually use sprayway inside and out and dont bother with rainx, but to each his own.



Plastic Trim Dressed - nxt (don't really like this stuff, suggestions?)

* I love Poorboy's trim restore for this, but if you have to go local, Megs pro #40 is damn near as good in the short run (it doesn't last like the TR).



Chrome Cleaned and Polished - nxt chrom polish

* If you can get Blu-Job or Simichrome locally, go with them instead. IF not, NXT polish is pretty good stuff.



Paint Cleaned - either Heavy/Medium/Fine cut cleaner or DACP depending on paint

*if you go by rotary, fine. If you go by PC, switch to DACP followed by #80.



Polished - meg's SMR2.0

*I dont have any experience with this specific product, but I've been pretty happy with Meg's pro lineup, so go for it.



Glazed - meg's show car glaze

* excellent glaze, but if you're going to glaze the car, don't top it with NXT or Reflections, use Meg's pro #26 (available at most competent autoparts stores) instead. It'll bond better, and it contains no cleaners.



One Coat Wax - NXT

* Try Mother's Reflections, its a similar product to NXT but I like it better. Or the NXT paste, its better than the liquid IMHO.



Interior Shampoo - super clean on tough spots and a little green machine...

* Try using Folex as a spotter instead of CSC. Its available at target, and it doesn't leave the car smelling like a brothel :) .
 
Hand Wash and Dry - NXT Wash with a chenille(sp) sponge

I hate mitts, is there a better kind of sponge?



Door Jambs Cleaned - super clean in tight areas, rubber treated with nxt

Gonna switch over to final inspection...



Tires Dressed - meg's hot tires

I like the finish on this, and it's available local...Maybe i'll switch over to ordering online...



Interior Vaccum - 2hp shopvac

i wanna get a 5hp



Dash and Vinyl Cleaned - meg's vinyl and rubber cleaner





Windows Cleaned Inside and Out - sprayway inside rain-x outside

haven't cared much for liquid cleaners, is there any advantage/disadvantage??



Plastic Trim Dressed - nxt (don't really like this stuff, suggestions?)

I dislike #38, it attracts dust and turns the trim brown, gonna give #40 a shot on it...



Chrome Cleaned and Polished - nxt chrom polish I used to use mothers and would highly reccomend nxt..



Paint Cleaned - either Heavy/Medium/Fine cut cleaner or DACP depending on paint

Oops, I used heavy cut cleaner on my PC on my car, turned out awesome, any reason it's for rotary only? I almost always use DACP on customers cars...



Polished - meg's SMR2.0

Glazed - meg's show car glaze

One Coat Wax - NXT

With each of these steps the paint gets much deeper and reflective. How come not nxt after glaze? I was using #26 but nxt lasts longer...



Interior Shampoo - super clean on tough spots and a little green machine...

ugh, i learned to dilute after the first time when it took me forever to get the soap out:shocked







Any more advice/answers would be AWESOME...gonna go try to take a pic of my hood..
 
Skotter said:


Plastic Trim Dressed - nxt (don't really like this stuff, suggestions?)

I dislike #38, it attracts dust and turns the trim brown, gonna give #40 a shot on it...
Click to expand...

This is my favorite interior dressing.

You can use the #40 on all interior plastic. On of the things that I like about it is that it is also a cleaner and protectant. Something to be aware of is that this will leave your interior vinyl with a high sheein. If you wipe it down with a MF it will have less sheen but this is not a product that will leave your dash with a matte look. I don't know if I would use it on exterior plastic because it does not hold up well if it gets wet, it gets splotchy and runs in experience.
 
Sounds like you live somewhere hot, because otherwise the interior carpet cleaning should come a lot earlier on, giving it chance to dry while you are busy with the rest of the car.
 
It's been in the high 80s recently, gets well over 100 usually, I don't work alone, so the carpets get done while I polish the oustide... Gotta go to napa before i go pick up a car this morning.
 
**** I hate mitts, is there a better kind of sponge?



Itâ€â„¢s really a matter personal taste. Me, I like chenille and I donâ€â„¢t like mitts so I think the chenille sponge would be a good choice.





**** Interior Vaccum - 2hp shopvac

i wanna get a 5hp



As do we all!





**** Windows Cleaned Inside and Out - sprayway inside rain-x outside

haven't cared much for liquid cleaners, is there any advantage/disadvantage??



Sprayway is a liquid, itâ€â„¢s just in a metal can with propellants. If the only trigger sprayed glass cleaners youâ€â„¢ve tried are the typical âہ“householdâ€Â� types I think you be pleasantly surprised by Megâ€â„¢s, Eagle One or Windexâ€â„¢s Automotive glass cleaners. Not to talk you out of Sprayway, itâ€â„¢s good stuff. Itâ€â„¢s just not always easy to find locally.





**** Paint Cleaned - either Heavy/Medium/Fine cut cleaner or DACP depending on paint

Oops, I used heavy cut cleaner on my PC on my car, turned out awesome, any reason it's for rotary only? I almost always use DACP on customers cars...



Theyâ€â„¢ve been around since the days of single-stage paints. When clearcoats became the norm they found that the old #4, #2 and #1 didnâ€â„¢t leave as fine a finish on many clears unless they were worked in with the heat/speed of a rotary.





**** Polished - meg's SMR2.0

Glazed - meg's show car glaze

One Coat Wax - NXT

With each of these steps the paint gets much deeper and reflective. How come not nxt after glaze? I was using #26 but nxt lasts longer...



NXT is fine after a glaze. Itâ€â„¢ll have no problems bonding; theyâ€â„¢re made to work together as a system.





**** Any more advice/answers would be AWESOME...gonna go try to take a pic of my hood..



Iâ€â„¢ll just repeat myself; clay.





PC.
 
kleraudio said:
#7/#9 are either/or products? Are you sure? Not criticizing what so ever, just curious. :confused:

I learned today (finally) that the #7 is just a glaze (no cleaners/abrasives) and that #9 indeed has abrasives.



Thanks



Jim
Click to expand...
Yes, #7 is a glaze and #9 is a glaze with some very mild abrasives.



So if you use #9 thereâ€â„¢ no need to follow it with #7.



If youâ€â„¢re doing #7 after using some other cutting product like #2, DACP or whatever thereâ€â„¢s no need to squeeze in the #9.





PC.
 
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