New paint, 1st shopping trip results (with pics) - opinions please

[imported_Nate]

Ok, so I am shopping for when I get my newly repainted car back. I need to learn how to keep the paint perfect. I got some good stuff here, and maybe some questionable stuiff, please critique.



I was told Megs gold class wash is good, I got this gallon for $10.99 at Walmart.

Then I found The Absorber for $8.47 at Walmart, and it costs $19.99 everywhere in Canada:

I read that some people like the MF towels available at Target, so I grabbed some. I don't know the difference between the different types I grabbed. I need some for waxing and polishing I guess, but don't know much about how I do that stuff yet. The "polishing cloths" feel waaay smoother than the others, like they wouldn't be very absorbant.

Then I grabbed the Megs versa-angle body brush, because the Autopia book says its great:

And then it came down to finding a wash mit. I wanted the Megs deep pile chenille mit, but couldn't find it anywhere. I went to Autozone, Pep Boys, Walmart, and Target. And at Eshine.ca its out of stock. So I had to settle at the last store for this one. Please tell me if this thing is bad, I won't use it. It said "genuine sheepskin" on it.

And then I also wanted to get Megs quick clay kit, but couldn't find anywhere... I saw the Mothers California Gold Clay kit though, is it any good?





Thanks guys!

 

[CelicaLover]

yeah, the mothers clay kit is pretty good. All clays are basically the same its mostly user preference. Good pick with the gold class wash. I use it myself and am very pleased with it. Enjoy your new paint.

 

[drew.haynes]

I'll comment where I have experience. The Target towels... great. The Gold Class Wash... love it. The absorber... not ideal unless you are 100% sure you COMPLETELY removed every dirt particle while washing... any particles left behind will just drag on your paint as there is no "nap" to lift the dirt into. I prefer the Target Vroom drying towel or the Viking drying towel (K-Mart or some Autozones). As far as polishing cloths being smoother... they have less nap so that they give more "bite" for taking off hazed waxes and polish residue.

 

[imported_Nate]

I'll comment where I have experience. The Target towels... great. The Gold Class Wash... love it.

Cool :2thumbs:

The absorber... not ideal unless you are 100% sure you COMPLETELY removed every dirt particle while washing... any particles left behind will just drag on your paint as there is no "nap" to lift the dirt into. I prefer the Target Vroom drying towel or the Viking drying towel (K-Mart or some Autozones).

Hmm, well why is this a problem with The Absorber in particular? I thought it worked pretty much exactly like a natural chamois. And normal chamois doesn't have any nap either, right. I hope I don't regret using it.

As far as polishing cloths being smoother... they have less nap so that they give more "bite" for taking off hazed waxes and polish residue.

Cool, so I wil luse the polishing cloths when removing waxes, or removing Klasse Sealant Glaze type products? Good to know :2thumbs:

 

[drew.haynes]

Hmm, well why is this a problem with The Absorber in particular? I thought it worked pretty much exactly like a natural chamois. And normal chamois doesn't have any nap either, right. I hope I don't regret using it.

It isn't actually. You'd have that same problem w/ any chamois. But like I said... Target Vroom drying towel.. it's on sale for 6 bucks here. The Viking is 10-11 at k-mart. The Viking is slightly better IMO, but both are good. If I sheet the water off my car first (go over the car with no nozzle on the hose, zero pressure) and then wait a min and go at drying it... I can dry my entire Trans Am w/ one of those drying towels.



EDIT: And yeah, that's what the polishing cloths would be ideal for. In other situations they'd be like the chamois.. no real nap, just drag dirt... but any dirt you unfortunately may miss while washing is definately gone after you just finished polishing, so that's a good time to use them. They can be used on glass too, but I just end up using a normal MF towel, even though I do have glass polishing MF towels.

 

[velobard]

Looks good for the most part. For the sake of convenience, I've gone to washing my car most of the time with Optimum No Rinse Wash (used to use QEW). Occasionally I will pull out my cheap Walmart foam gun with some conventional soap I got at Advanced Auto. I don't know anything about the Megs body brush, but I personally wouldn't use any brush on the paint other than perhaps the (rather expensive) boars hair brushes I've read about. Soft as it feels, it still seems to be asking for swirls IMO. Perhaps you could still get away with it if you barely touched it to the paint, I don't know. If you really want to use it, try it on a limited area a for a few washes and examine that thoroughly before using it on the whole car. The wool mitt should be fine, in fact I'd recommend more than one for each wash so when one has gone over enough dirt you can pull out a fresh one.



I wouldn't personally use the absorber, I'm pretty well sold on WW towels and it takes very little to dry a properly waxed car when you take off the hose nozzle and flood the surface to rinse it. I feel WW's are more effective and safer since they do have some nap to hold any contaminents that might be on the paint.

 

[drew.haynes]

I'm gonna second most of what he said. The brush... maybe wheels or something. If it's intended for paint... I'd still be afraid to use it on paint.



As far as waffle weave towels.. they would be really good, but at the same time... like I said, either of the OTC options I mentioned can dry my entire car also.

 

[imported_Nate]

Darn, they had a wheel brush and a body brush. This is the body brush. The Guide to Detailing said it was a great brush and it won't scratch paint. I think I will use it along the rock gaurd paint below the doors, and see how it does down there. It has the softest bristles I've ever felt in my life, and great rubber grips.



I guess I will try to find a waffle weave drying towel too.

 

[Accumulator]

IMO the flagged bristles of the bodybrush are soft enough, but there are two potential problems: 1) a bristle might've had its flagging messed up during manufacture and/or 2) a bristle could lose its flagging when it's used.



I used flagged-synthetic-bristle brushes on my wheels for a long time, but switched to BHBs when I had some flagging wear away. The unflagged bristle(s) marred up my wheels something awful. Note that I inspected the brush before each use, I just missed noticing the bad bristle(s).



So just be careful....or get a BHB FWIW, spraying the suds from a foamgun through the bristles while you wash, and just "jiggling" the brush (as opposed to making large "swipes" with it) is a *VERY* safe and gentle way to wash, perhaps the most gentle method I've tried yet.



On the Absorber/Chamois issue, *if* you get all the dirt off you shouldn't need the nap and there shouldn't be any problems. That can be a mighty big "if" in practice, though, so again, be careful.