Hey guys!
What do you recommend for a good initial wash on a new to me car?
What sequence? I think I have some auto glym odds and sods and a random wax or 2.
Is claying a good idea?
Thanks!
Personally I would attack the wheels first. Depending on how bad they are you might want to start with something like Iron X, or a dedicated wheel soap. Use a separate wash bucket for the wheels and a good quality wheel brush to get in to all the nooks and crannies. Do one wheel at a time and rinse before moving on to the next.
Once you've done the wheels you could snowfoam the car to start softening up and lifting the dirt from the paintwork, and whilst it's dwelling prepare your wash buckets. (If you don't have a snowfoam lance then you can skip this step, but it's quite helpful as part of a process to get the paintwork really clean.
Use the two bucket method, which is one for clean soapy wash water and another with plain water to rinse your wash mitt or whatever you use between dunks in the soapy bucket. The purpose of this method is to keep your soapy water as clean as possible to minimise the risk of damaging your paintwork by dragging gritty particles across it when you're using the wash mitt.
Beyond this stage it depends on how much time and effort you want to put in.
If you're planning to polish and seal/wax, then I would suggest claying the whole car to get the paintwork really clean. If this is the case do the claying before you dry the car. Once you've clayed it and given it a thorough rinse then it's time to dry. Personally I dry in conjunction with a spray wax (like Megs quick detailer or Sonax BSD). Spray a couple of sprays onto your damp microfibre drying towel before wiping (in straight lines and with minimal pressure, one direction only), however there are dedicated drying aids available like Dodo Juice Time to Dry.
By this point you may be satisfied with the results, however if you want to go ahead and apply a sealant or wax (or both) then you need to prepare the paintwork first. A readily available option (and it's quite decent too) is Auto Glym Super Resin Polish (often referred to as SRP), which is a polish with fillers in. This will leave the paintwork feeling silky smooth and slippery to the touch. I would then suggest either Auto Glym Extra Gloss Protection (referred to as EGP) or HD Wax as a LSP (last step product). This is your barrier between your clean paintwork on the elements. If you want to apply both a sealant AND a wax, apply the sealant first and allow it to properly cure, then apply the wax on top.
Finally, you can dry the wheels, apply a wheel sealant if you feel so inclined (which will make future cleaning easier) and dress the tyres.
Oh...and then you can clean the inside!
