Er dark Grey.
*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***
- Thread starter wassap
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Er dark Grey.
Ok fair enough, may sign myself up. Ye its definitely not Kris. Thanks.
I use Natty's blue and love the stuff, it smells lovely (like bubblegum!), easy to apply, easy to remove, and its durable.
I recently tried some Collonite 476 and wasn't impressed at all, In fact, I went back to Natty's, so I guess I like that more, but I couldn't give you a technical reason, the Collonites just didn't look quite as deep.
I recently tried some Collonite 476 and wasn't impressed at all, In fact, I went back to Natty's, so I guess I like that more, but I couldn't give you a technical reason, the Collonites just didn't look quite as deep.
What do you have now? I don't think waxes and sealants make that much difference at all unless the car is really well prepped for it. 90% of the final look comes from your polishing I reckon. If the paintwork is mint, then it's worth investigating further and choosing something. Best place to start would be how you want it to look, so sealant or wax etc. The guide on PB is a great place to start to see the differences...http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/choosing-paint-protection.html
Currently using Collinite for long term durability and it provides that but feel it doesnt bring too much depth, paintwork is in generally good condition, some light swirling but will hopefully get rid of that next week. Will have a look at the guide. Thanks.
Associate
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- 9 Apr 2009
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Just ordered a rotary polisher with some LC pads (orange and blue) and the Menzerna Power Finish and Final Finish polishes. I hope I bought the right polishes as their naming and product codes are confusing as hell and keep swapping around on different websites!
Apologies for the length of this post guys. This is a copy and paste from a thread I made on another forum and didn't see the point in making a new thread on here when this one already exists 
I bought an orbital machine polisher (Porter Cable 7424) about 18 months ago after seeing the amazing things that they were capable of. It lay dormant and unused until recently I decided enough was enough and splashed out on some additional cleaning/detailing kit.
My collection now looks something like this...
As I'm off work for a couple of days I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get stuck in. I didn't really have any plans for today and have set a few days aside to work on the green one so trundled outside and approached the mucky beast.
I gave the car a wash using the two bucket method, a lambs wool washmit and some Duragloss 901 shampoo that I'd ordered recently after seeing it praised on the DetailingWorld forums.
I then set about tackling that rear bumper.
Dirt, grime and oil (from the blown turbo before the previous owner removed the engine) covered the rear bumper. I'd left the bumper alone the last time I washed the car as I didn't want to contaminate my wash mitt, but with a sponge and some Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover to hand I got stuck in.
Before machine polishing, you should clay the car to remove as much crap from the paint as you can. If you don't clay, the contaminants in the paint can get stuck to the polishing pad and undo all of your hard work.
I used my trusty Meguiars Smooth Surface detailing clay for this task and a bucket of water to act as a lubricant, having used up all of the supplied spray on a previous clean
One half of the passenger front wing left me with this...
All of the panels returned similar, if not worse results.
After claying the car, I rinsed with water and dried the car using a drying towel. Knowing that I was only half way through, decided to have a well deserved tea break.
AHHHHHHHHH.
So, feeling refreshed and ready to rock I dug out the Porter Cable and attached a Menzerna Polishing pad coupled with Meguiars #83 polishing compound. I could have gone with a harsher compounding pad, but after reading that the Menzerna pads were quite tough thought my combination would do the trick.
I spread the polish at a low speed over two passes. This made sure that it was spread evenly. These things should carry a health warning though. Being a dual action polisher, the head oscillates aswell as rotates making it feel as though you're holding a powerball. Doing such a large panel as my first was not a good idea, my arm was seriously aching after the first pass.
Increasing the speed of the polisher and giving another few passes allows the polish to work its magic and cut into the clearcoat, removing the top layer to expose the fresh laquer underneath. The speed is then increased and the panel given several passes to ensure the polish has been worked in. It is then buffed off by hand to leave staggering results.
At this point, I swapped to a Menzerna finishing pad and Meguiars #80 speed glaze compound.
I repeated this method on the two front wings before I stood back and admired the car.
I've gotta say, I'm impressed. Not only did the process remove most of the swirl marks and reduce the visibility of others, but it really brought the flame red colour to life. The pictures do the car no justice at all. I was using my little Fuji camera instead of my D-SLR (you think I'm taking that outside where there's water involved
) but comparing the front wing to the front door, there's a massive difference. As the light was fading, the car looked more nightfire red (Rover metallic red) than flame red.
I then turned my attention to the back of the car.
The 3M masking tape is very very good stuff. Sticks to absolutely everything (even when you don't want it to) and is very durable. It's actually a pain to remove yet leaves no visible marks.
I gave the bootlid and spoiler the same treatment, again with outstanding results. I'm gutted I didn't take a before picture to compare as the difference is night and day. I'm left with just a few marks in the centre of the bootlid, but even they aren't as visible as they used to be.
Having been cleaning for nearly 6 hours and with my arm ready to drop off I decided to call it a day, but not before fitting the nice new numberplates that I'd ordered earlier in the week. As you can see, the old plates were knackered.
Hopefully get stuck in again tomorrow. The doors, rear quarter panels and roof need polishing and then the entire car needs a coating of wax to protect the paintwork. The wheels will be removed and cleaned inside and out and the black rubbing strips treated. I'll then turn my attention to the interior and hopefully get similar results.
I bought an orbital machine polisher (Porter Cable 7424) about 18 months ago after seeing the amazing things that they were capable of. It lay dormant and unused until recently I decided enough was enough and splashed out on some additional cleaning/detailing kit.
My collection now looks something like this...
As I'm off work for a couple of days I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get stuck in. I didn't really have any plans for today and have set a few days aside to work on the green one so trundled outside and approached the mucky beast.
I gave the car a wash using the two bucket method, a lambs wool washmit and some Duragloss 901 shampoo that I'd ordered recently after seeing it praised on the DetailingWorld forums.
I then set about tackling that rear bumper.
Dirt, grime and oil (from the blown turbo before the previous owner removed the engine) covered the rear bumper. I'd left the bumper alone the last time I washed the car as I didn't want to contaminate my wash mitt, but with a sponge and some Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover to hand I got stuck in.
Before machine polishing, you should clay the car to remove as much crap from the paint as you can. If you don't clay, the contaminants in the paint can get stuck to the polishing pad and undo all of your hard work.
I used my trusty Meguiars Smooth Surface detailing clay for this task and a bucket of water to act as a lubricant, having used up all of the supplied spray on a previous clean
One half of the passenger front wing left me with this...
All of the panels returned similar, if not worse results.
After claying the car, I rinsed with water and dried the car using a drying towel. Knowing that I was only half way through, decided to have a well deserved tea break.
AHHHHHHHHH.
So, feeling refreshed and ready to rock I dug out the Porter Cable and attached a Menzerna Polishing pad coupled with Meguiars #83 polishing compound. I could have gone with a harsher compounding pad, but after reading that the Menzerna pads were quite tough thought my combination would do the trick.
I spread the polish at a low speed over two passes. This made sure that it was spread evenly. These things should carry a health warning though. Being a dual action polisher, the head oscillates aswell as rotates making it feel as though you're holding a powerball. Doing such a large panel as my first was not a good idea, my arm was seriously aching after the first pass.
Increasing the speed of the polisher and giving another few passes allows the polish to work its magic and cut into the clearcoat, removing the top layer to expose the fresh laquer underneath. The speed is then increased and the panel given several passes to ensure the polish has been worked in. It is then buffed off by hand to leave staggering results.
At this point, I swapped to a Menzerna finishing pad and Meguiars #80 speed glaze compound.
I repeated this method on the two front wings before I stood back and admired the car.
I've gotta say, I'm impressed. Not only did the process remove most of the swirl marks and reduce the visibility of others, but it really brought the flame red colour to life. The pictures do the car no justice at all. I was using my little Fuji camera instead of my D-SLR (you think I'm taking that outside where there's water involved
) but comparing the front wing to the front door, there's a massive difference. As the light was fading, the car looked more nightfire red (Rover metallic red) than flame red.I then turned my attention to the back of the car.
The 3M masking tape is very very good stuff. Sticks to absolutely everything (even when you don't want it to) and is very durable. It's actually a pain to remove yet leaves no visible marks.
I gave the bootlid and spoiler the same treatment, again with outstanding results. I'm gutted I didn't take a before picture to compare as the difference is night and day. I'm left with just a few marks in the centre of the bootlid, but even they aren't as visible as they used to be.
Having been cleaning for nearly 6 hours and with my arm ready to drop off I decided to call it a day, but not before fitting the nice new numberplates that I'd ordered earlier in the week. As you can see, the old plates were knackered.
Hopefully get stuck in again tomorrow. The doors, rear quarter panels and roof need polishing and then the entire car needs a coating of wax to protect the paintwork. The wheels will be removed and cleaned inside and out and the black rubbing strips treated. I'll then turn my attention to the interior and hopefully get similar results.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 12,957
Really good effort agw
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