Good question, I use two things that are essential to a good cleaning and not adding any imperfections to those surfaces. I use a nice ultra plush microfiber towel and the Plexus plastic cleaner. This is the best cleaner for plastic in my opinion by far. It cleans, polishes and helps repel dust with its anti-static properties. Plus it leaves a streak free shine every time I use it on gauge screens, Navigation or DVD screens, plastic coated wood trim, trim and more. I really must insist that you use a nice clean ultra plush microfiber towel too. If the towel is dirty and you're wiping on the porous screen it might add micro fine scratches. This is my ideal combination of products to care for any plastic surface.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Greg,

This may sound silly but why is it that the "silky" feeling my paint had right after my wonderful detail job went away after running the car through a touchless car wash this morning? Are the chemicals in those things too harsh or would that have happened regardless of how I washed the car?

Barry

 

Barry,
IMO, and I am not Greg, it is a combination of the chemicals being to harsh and the actual jet force the chemicals are applied at. No matter what you will loose some of the smoothness, or wax protection, when you wash but washing your car by hand will help make it last longer. If you wash your car by hand with a good soap, one that is not too acidic/basic and has conditioners in it, it will break up the dirt/grime gently and then allow them safely to be removed. Thus, this is less harmful to the wax coat that you so tediously applied, prolonging the application lifetime. Plus, the conditioners in the soap you use will not only help safely remove the road grime, but it will help keep your car feeling smooth.

Kevin

P.S. Don't cheap out on the soap you use for the wash, and don't put in 1/2 effort. The wash is essential whether you are going to apply something to your paint or if you are just washing to keep your car clean.

P.P.S. For drying, in my experience, chamois are no good.

 

Barry you asked a great question and TeutonicCarFan had some good insight on the topic. The FMJ and Natty's will leave a perfectly smooth coat after you have polished like you did. The paint does feel super slick and almost silky as you describe, which I personally like too. But unfortunately this will fade inevitably in a relatively short period of time, but a strong layer of protection will remain. When the product flashes it looses some properties through evaporation and natural exposure to the elements. Taking your vehicle through a car wash will accelerate this process because you're using high speed water. The soap at car washes can vary in quality. Some soaps have strong stripping power like Dawn which will remove waxes and sealants. Soaps with conditioners do a better job of safely removing contaminates and not removing the wax or sealant. Most automotive shampoos have conditioners in them, all the soaps on my website have conditioners. Therefore the soap at the car wash may have been too "harsh" but this feeling will fade at some point. Hand washing would help the "silky" feeling last longer and do a much better wash in my opinion.

I hope that our answers helped clarify what may have happened. Let us know if you have any questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Thanks for your thoughtful replies.

When hand washing, I have been using Meguiar's Gold Class car wash detergent. I am learning that the stuff at the auto parts stores is just not good enough to produce the kind of results the people in this thread are looking for.

Would you say that the Meguiar's product falls into that category? If so, what products do you recommend?

 

‘Touch less’ carwash:
Touchless car washes today use Hydrofluoric acid as a first step and then an alkaline to neutralize the acid then high pressure water to wash cars. Hand washing is MUCH preferred, don’t use an automated car wash period, touch less or not, there are a variety of reasons: You should never, under any circumstances use a car wash that requires you to let another person drive your vehicle onto the ramps or into the wash, notice the disclaimer

“No responsibility for damage to customer’s vehicle.”

Local by-laws require car washes to re-claim or recycle water. This means they have two choices.
a) They can collect the water in tanks and pay to truck it away to a recycling centre.
b) They can filter and then recycle the water (dependant on how often the filters are cleaned/changed) will effect how much dirt content there is. Recycled meaning re-use the same water, which may include any road dirt/grit that is not filtered out is used to high-pressure (1,000PSI) wash your vehicle (somewhat similar to sandblasting) the final rinse is usually twice-filtered re-cycled water, this is to give the appearance of a clean surface on the vehicle.
c) To help clean the recycled water they use a chemical like Presidium Orthophosphate (TSP) and have the chemical formula Na3PO4. It is a highly water-soluble ionic salt. Solutions of it dissolved in water have an alkaline pH; this does a great job stripping your wax / sealant. TSP is generally not good for cleaning vehicles because it can corrode metal.

•To remove snow/sand/road dirt and grit without agitation (brushes etc) requires the use of very strong chemical cleaners.
•Probably the most important is that this type of automatic car wash use high-pressure water and strong alkaline detergent to clean vehicles that will strip the wax/polish
•You will also need to renew the vehicles sealant / wax to ensure the paint surface protection on a regular basis to counteract the effects of the harsh detergents.
•Also be aware of those that use ‘wheel guides’ as they will cause scratches / etching to the wheel surfaces, as many wash facilities will not accommodate either the tyre width or the clearance, thus causing sidewall damage
•Vehicle with lower than ‘standard’ suspension (Corvette C6 and other sports cars) should also be aware the wheel guides could cause body damage
•As an alternative in colder winter months I would suggest using a waterless vehicle cleaning product Protect All’s Quick Easy Wash (QEW)
•If you get a chance, attend a car wash / wax vendors symposiums where they give demonstrations of the different soap products that these type of facilities use, as a Chemical Engineer they scare me.. You'll come away a convert to never using them again, on any vehicle.

 

Greg,
A few questions here. I was just wondering what wax you prefer to use when you are detailing, either a customer car, or your own car. I have heard nothing but good things about souvern but I noticed on the detail you did, the one I asked you about a few days ago, you used Natty's. I was wondering, in your opinion, if you do the extensive process properly and apply wax frequently is it necessary to go with an 80 dollar botth of souvern, or a 50 dollar tub of Zymol Creme, or even a 34 dollar tub of concours P21S?
Also, after the complete deatil you performed on that black MB, what do you suggest they do in a month. Just apply wax? Do you think they should use the Menzerna FTG and then wax? Or perhaps the Acrylic Jacket and then wax? Or is there another route they should take?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Well, I guess you told me. Just kidding. Seriously though, thank you for the info. I had no idea. Being armed with that information, I don't think I'll be going back to any automated car washes. It's hard sometimes to find the time to do a hand wash but it sounds like it's better to leave it dirty than to "erase" all the hard work spent detailing.

 

Sorry for the repost but I didn't know if you saw it

Greg,
A few questions here. I was just wondering what wax you prefer to use when you are detailing, either a customer car, or your own car. I have heard nothing but good things about souvern but I noticed on the detail you did, the one I asked you about a few days ago, you used Natty's. I was wondering, in your opinion, if you do the extensive process properly and apply wax frequently is it necessary to go with an 80 dollar botth of souvern, or a 50 dollar tub of Zymol Carbon, or even a 34 dollar tub of concours P21S?
Also, after the complete deatil you performed on that black MB, what do you suggest they do in a month. Just apply wax? Do you think they should use the Menzerna FTG and then wax? Or perhaps the Acrylic Jacket and then wax? Or is there another route they should take?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Kevin you asked some great questions and I think I'll preface each on of these answers with it depends on the owner. Each person has a different amount of time available to do their detail and resources to commit to the detail. As for the carnauba waxes I really like the souveran paste wax, especially on darker colored vehicles. Its my favorite carnauba wax and would recommend to anyone who can afford it. I think the Natty's Blue also looks very good and is probably a better value considering the price. I really like the P21S Carnauba Wax on silver or lighter colored vehicles. Whats good about most of these products is that you get 15 - 25 applications so on a per use basis they are a relatively good value IMO.
As for that black MB there are so many different options that all work, again it depends on your goals. Since there is a coat of sealant on the paint you don't have to seal it regularly, while thats an option. If you're going to regularly care for the vehicle you can wash/dry and then apply a nice carnauba wax or spray on product like the Menzerna High Gloss Acrylic Jacket. If you're goig to use the Menzerna Finishing Touch Glaze I would recommend sealing the paint after to seal in the glaze. The High Gloss Acrylic Jacket is a great product but I probably wouldn't follow up with that becaues it will remove some of the previous layers while leaving a layer of sealant behind. This is a great one step product. The combinations could go on and on, I would need to know more about the specefic person and I could give them advice that would best fit their needs. If you want me to help you develop a maintenance routine, let me know.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

That soap is safe and it has conditioners in it. There are other ones that have more conditioners and a better lather IMO. One of my favorite shampoos is the Poorboy's World Super Slick and Suds. It has lots of lubricity and a rich lather that makes washing relatively easy. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Greg,

Great thread. Thanks very much for the detailed info. What do you recommend for plastic convertible rear windows? Slight hazing on my '01 SL but otherwise in good shape at this time.

Also what do you recommend for convertible top cleaning, maintenance and UV protection for color protection?

 

To clean the plastic window you can use the Plexus plastic cleaner. I also use this on plastic screen in front of the gages, dvd/nav screens, plastic trim, etc.

However if the plastic is faded and tarnished you might want to try a set of polishes. I have used the Poorboy's World SSR 2.5 and SSR 1.0 before and it really made the plastic transparent again.

Wash the top with soap that has conditioners (automotive shampoo has conditioners, while soaps like Dawn don't). After a nice wash I blot dry the surface with the microfiber towels. Blot drying is just pressing down with the towel and then lifting it up and moving it to another area to repeat, instead of dragging it across the top and possibly leaving lint behind (far less likely with a microfiber waffle weave drying towel). After the top is cleaned spot treat any areas with the 303 Cleaner and Spot Remover or 303 Convertible Top Cleaner (same exact product, just marketed differently). Spray the area and let it sit for 1 –2 minutes and then scrub lightly with a clean scrub brush to break up any stains. I spray stains heavily and other areas I just lightly mist, then work the brush from the middle towards the outside. After you have thoroughly cleaned the top and its completely dry tape off the edges of the convertible top. Now your ready to use the 303 Fabric Guard to protect the top from sand, moisture, mildew, bird droppings, pollution, contaminates, etc. Hold a rag near the area your spraying to ensure there is no over spray onto any other part of the vehicle. Spray carefully across the convertible top in a logical pattern to evenly coat the surface with the spray. If you spray it on the paint, wipe it up right away. To help prevent over spray I will sometimes cut the bottom out of a shoebox and spray in the middle of the box, to help prevent overspray. After I spray an area I'll wipe it into the top with a clean rag. These two steps should clean the top well and keep it well protected.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if you need other recommendations.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Greg,

Thanks very much for the detailed information. This forum has been quite an education. I hardly know where to start. So much to do, so little time.

I'm going to need to reread this entire forum and formulate a game plan. Keep up the good instruction. BTW, really like your website.

 

Thank you for your kind words about our posts here and our website. We put in a lot of work to offer top quality customer service and reliable detailing information. To help you better understand the detailing process I think you'll gain a lot from reading our How To section on our website. It takes you through the entire process (wash/dry-clay-polish-glaze-sealant-wax) and how to do these steps with a buffer or by hand. Detailing is very fun and rewarding when you start to understand the process and get some fantastic results. Let me know if you have any questions and if there is anything I can do to help you.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Thanks Greg,

Looks like I have a holiday project on the books.

One other question, just got an '07 E (white). What kind of routine/schedule do you suggest to keep it looking as good as it does now? Also dealer offer free handwashes. What are your thoughts?

 

Congrats on the new purchase, very nice!!! Your detailing routine really depends on your detailing goals. For some people waxing twice a year is great while other people make it a weekly event. Also some people just wash and wax while others do a much more involved process for maximum results.

There are infinite combinations of products and processes for a detail but I'll list one that would fit for such a new vehicle. This process is my ideal combination for solid protection, great shine, while keeping the routine relatively simple.

Nov - Wash/Dry, Clay Bar, Menzerna FMJ, P21S Carnuaba Wax
Dec - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
Jan - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
Feb - Wash/Dry, Menzerna FMJ, P21S Carnauba Wax
March - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
April - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
May - Wash/Dry, Clay Bar, Menzerna FMJ, P21S Carnuaba Wax
June - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
July - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
August - Wash/Dry, Menzerna FMJ, P21S Carnauba Wax
September - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
October - Wash/Dry, P21S Carnauba Wax
Nov - Wash/Dry, Clay Bar, Menzerna FMJ, P21S Carnuaba Wax

This is just a sample schedule and I can help you get a set of products that will work great for all of your vehicles. Let me know if you'd like me to work on that for you.

As for dealerships free hand washes, I'm VERY skeptical of their quality. Not that all dealerships are bad, but to do the job right requires the right products, knowledge and care for a vehicle. Washing and drying is where most swirls are added so we try and make sure to use super clean wash mitts and drying towels. Many dealerships use brushes, dirty towels, dirty water, dirty wash mitts, etc. If you are conscious of swirls and other imperfections in the clear coat I would avoid dealership washes unless you have direct knowledge of thier procedure that instills confidence in you.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Understood re: dealer. Thanks very much for the schedule and the offer . I'll look over the info and your site this weekend and be in touch.

 

greg, among other products, I am interested in getting PP#9 (FMJ and Souveran). I look forward to seeing the FMJ with an application of Souveran on it. My question, I buy products frequently and have rarely used a full can/bottle/what have you, and I am wondering if the deal with the package can be reworked with the 16oz pack of FMJ? Case in Point, I just bought a whole line of Zaino and now I am off to a line of Menzerna. I do this though because I like to try all the products out there and have different products on hands for different cars. Thanks, if you don't want to post on the thread just PM me

 

I think the 32oz FMJ and Souveran bundle is a much better overall value, but I understand your point about using a lot of different product lines. PM sent has been sent.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

hey greg. can you put a package together for me that includes every thing i need with one of each type of good product for washing, clay bar, polish, glaze and sealant. and a wax. can you put together a package for me that includes one of each type of thing.

 

Glad to hear you're ready to take your detailing to the next level. I already have some great ideas for you. Before I send you a package I have some questions so I best select a package for you. Can you tell me the basic condition of your car and what color it is? Do you intend on applying this by hand or with a buffer? If you have a buffer, which one specifically and what pads do you use? If you don't have a buffer would you like information about our safe and easy to use Porter Cable 7424? Once you give me that info I'll PM you with my recommendations. Thanks for the inquiry and I look forward to hearing from you.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

my car is like a aqua blue. there are some pics in the 202 thread. I am planning on buying a buffer as well.

 

I sent you an e-mail with my recommendation, let me know if you have any questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Ive tried a few times myself and taken to the dealer detail shop as well....cant seem to get the brown stripe from the seatback.

Ideas? Seen this before...?

Thank you