Hi there
Well I had my car detailed about a week ago, mainly focusing on paint correction. Here is a 50/50 shot of my wing, you can clearly see the paint corrected area and the untreated part:-
Now my car has perfect swirl free paintwork all round thanks to Matt for detailing my car. However now my biggest worry was how do I keep my car clean but whilst at the same time preventing the swirls from returning. So I set out by speaking to professionals, posting on forums around the world to find out how others go about avoiding marring their paintwork. I was already washing using a two bucket method and using a meguiars lambswool mitt and meguiars water magnet towel so as you can imagine you'd think that was OK. Well I could certainly have done far worse but if I want to keep my paint swirl free and my car looking like this:-
I needed to make sure adjustments to my pre-wash, washing and drying methods to help prevent swirling and possibly completely avoid it. So now I have gathered all my research, carried it out I would like to share with you all what I think will keep your cars swirl free and improve the appearance of your car.
Here is my guide in steps:-
Hardware required
1. Hosepipe / pressure washer
2. Super Spray, Gilmore or soap gun/attachment for pressure washer
3. WATER!
4. Two large buckets and both preferably with gritt guards in the bottom
5. Two lambswool mitts, Meguiars are one of the best here as are natural.
6. Shampoo, something ideally PH neutral and one thats gives lots of suds, Meguiars NXT, Chemical guys maxi suds II are fine etc.
7. One or Two very large Eurow or Sonus Der Wunder Waffle weave Microfibre drying towels (Not Meguiars water magnet).
8. One or Two medium Eurow or Sonus Der Wunder Waffle weave microfibre drying towels, again not Meguiars.
9. Meguiars Quick Detailor
10. Did I miss anything?
Step by step guide
1. Hose the car down with clean water and if necessary increase pressure on more soiled areas but always try to avoid to much pressure.
2. Then if using something like super spray, gilmore gun or pressure washer with soap gun cover the car in soap from hose pipe/pressure washer and allow soap/suds to penetrate for 60 seconds and rinse off.
3. Now with one of your buckets add a couple of cap fulls of your shampoo and fill with warm water, this is your clean bucket. Put both your clean lambswool mitts in here. (Have this already done before you start the whole procedure though.)
4. Now fill the second bucket with warm clean water, this is your rinsing/dirty bucket. (Have this already done before starting the procedure)
5. Now take one of your mitts and start wiping over the car from the top and work your way down, try to use hardly no pressure and prevent swirling motions. When you need more soapy water first rinse your mitt in the rinsing bucket and then soak your mitt back in the soapy bucket and clean more panels, keep repeating this process.
6. For the bottom half of the car, say bumpers and lower use the second mitt and again wipe using as little pressure as possible and when you need more soapy water first rinse in the rinsing bucket. The idea is to keep the water in the soapy bucket as clean and gritt free as possible.
7. Once done top up your soapy bucket close to the top and now give the clean car another quick going over using the first original mitt and soapy clean bucket using the same methods as above.
8. Now rinse the car so that all soap is removed from the vehicle.
9. Remove the gun, super spray etc. from the end of your hose pipe as now you want free flowing un-interrupted water. Now rinse the car again sheeting the water off. By using this method your car will require little drying.
10. Now go in and grab a quick drink.
11. Get one of your large Sonus or Eurow Waffle weave towels and dry the windows with it which will make the towel slightly damp and help it absorb water better.
12. Now place the towel over the paint work as if laying a table and pat the towel down gently onto the paint work and leave for 5 seconds. Now without applying any pressure just pull the towel from the paint towards your and away from the bodywork. Repeat this process for roof, bonnet, boot, wings, doors, rear quarters etc. This is called the patting tequnique.
13. Now using the smaller waffle weave towel(s) use the same method on bumpers etc. For harder place wipe water away but by using a method that the only pressure applied is just the wait of the towel itself.
14. Sometimes during the drying process say in between every other wash before you lay the towel on the bodywork give a quick spritzing of Meguiars quick detail as this helps lubricate the paintwork and re-inforces your wax protection. Now pat dry and pull off the towel applying no pressure.
15. Now be amazed at how stunning, water mark free and more importantly swirl free your car looks.
I hope this maybe of use to some people here and I used this very teqnique on my car today and needless to say the results were impressive, the car looks better than it did when it was detailed last week and under artificial lighting there are still ZERO swirl marks.
This method makes drying incredibly easy via using the sheeting of the water method with open-ended hosepipe and then the patting drying method with either the Eurow or Sonus huge towels.
Also if your thinking thats just too much and time consuming to do, don't be fooled. As by doing the above you will at least half your drying time. I was able to pre-wash, wash and dry the Mustang completely in approx one hour. But then I spent a further 2 hours cleaning my wheels via another method I have.
Thanks for reading.
Gibbo
Well I had my car detailed about a week ago, mainly focusing on paint correction. Here is a 50/50 shot of my wing, you can clearly see the paint corrected area and the untreated part:-
Now my car has perfect swirl free paintwork all round thanks to Matt for detailing my car. However now my biggest worry was how do I keep my car clean but whilst at the same time preventing the swirls from returning. So I set out by speaking to professionals, posting on forums around the world to find out how others go about avoiding marring their paintwork. I was already washing using a two bucket method and using a meguiars lambswool mitt and meguiars water magnet towel so as you can imagine you'd think that was OK. Well I could certainly have done far worse but if I want to keep my paint swirl free and my car looking like this:-
I needed to make sure adjustments to my pre-wash, washing and drying methods to help prevent swirling and possibly completely avoid it. So now I have gathered all my research, carried it out I would like to share with you all what I think will keep your cars swirl free and improve the appearance of your car.
Here is my guide in steps:-
Hardware required
1. Hosepipe / pressure washer
2. Super Spray, Gilmore or soap gun/attachment for pressure washer
3. WATER!
4. Two large buckets and both preferably with gritt guards in the bottom
5. Two lambswool mitts, Meguiars are one of the best here as are natural.
6. Shampoo, something ideally PH neutral and one thats gives lots of suds, Meguiars NXT, Chemical guys maxi suds II are fine etc.
7. One or Two very large Eurow or Sonus Der Wunder Waffle weave Microfibre drying towels (Not Meguiars water magnet).
8. One or Two medium Eurow or Sonus Der Wunder Waffle weave microfibre drying towels, again not Meguiars.
9. Meguiars Quick Detailor
10. Did I miss anything?
Step by step guide
1. Hose the car down with clean water and if necessary increase pressure on more soiled areas but always try to avoid to much pressure.
2. Then if using something like super spray, gilmore gun or pressure washer with soap gun cover the car in soap from hose pipe/pressure washer and allow soap/suds to penetrate for 60 seconds and rinse off.
3. Now with one of your buckets add a couple of cap fulls of your shampoo and fill with warm water, this is your clean bucket. Put both your clean lambswool mitts in here. (Have this already done before you start the whole procedure though.)
4. Now fill the second bucket with warm clean water, this is your rinsing/dirty bucket. (Have this already done before starting the procedure)
5. Now take one of your mitts and start wiping over the car from the top and work your way down, try to use hardly no pressure and prevent swirling motions. When you need more soapy water first rinse your mitt in the rinsing bucket and then soak your mitt back in the soapy bucket and clean more panels, keep repeating this process.
6. For the bottom half of the car, say bumpers and lower use the second mitt and again wipe using as little pressure as possible and when you need more soapy water first rinse in the rinsing bucket. The idea is to keep the water in the soapy bucket as clean and gritt free as possible.
7. Once done top up your soapy bucket close to the top and now give the clean car another quick going over using the first original mitt and soapy clean bucket using the same methods as above.
8. Now rinse the car so that all soap is removed from the vehicle.
9. Remove the gun, super spray etc. from the end of your hose pipe as now you want free flowing un-interrupted water. Now rinse the car again sheeting the water off. By using this method your car will require little drying.
10. Now go in and grab a quick drink.
11. Get one of your large Sonus or Eurow Waffle weave towels and dry the windows with it which will make the towel slightly damp and help it absorb water better.
12. Now place the towel over the paint work as if laying a table and pat the towel down gently onto the paint work and leave for 5 seconds. Now without applying any pressure just pull the towel from the paint towards your and away from the bodywork. Repeat this process for roof, bonnet, boot, wings, doors, rear quarters etc. This is called the patting tequnique.
13. Now using the smaller waffle weave towel(s) use the same method on bumpers etc. For harder place wipe water away but by using a method that the only pressure applied is just the wait of the towel itself.
14. Sometimes during the drying process say in between every other wash before you lay the towel on the bodywork give a quick spritzing of Meguiars quick detail as this helps lubricate the paintwork and re-inforces your wax protection. Now pat dry and pull off the towel applying no pressure.
15. Now be amazed at how stunning, water mark free and more importantly swirl free your car looks.
I hope this maybe of use to some people here and I used this very teqnique on my car today and needless to say the results were impressive, the car looks better than it did when it was detailed last week and under artificial lighting there are still ZERO swirl marks.
This method makes drying incredibly easy via using the sheeting of the water method with open-ended hosepipe and then the patting drying method with either the Eurow or Sonus huge towels.
Also if your thinking thats just too much and time consuming to do, don't be fooled. As by doing the above you will at least half your drying time. I was able to pre-wash, wash and dry the Mustang completely in approx one hour. But then I spent a further 2 hours cleaning my wheels via another method I have.
Thanks for reading.
Gibbo
