I would like the help of the experienced detailers of /o/. I would like to:
>wash my car
>touch up the paint
>clay bar & wax
I was thinking wash -> dry -> clay bar -> touch up paint -> dry -> wax
Is that order of operations wrong? Do I need to polish? I'm new to this.

Also why does 4chan make me wait 5-10 minutes between posts every time now? I'm on the same IP and it's really annoying.

I forgot to mention, the car is supposedly ceramic coated if that changes the process. but i think the dealer might have lied about that, i can't really tell.

>>28450318 (OP)
>clay bar -> touch up paint

>>28450318 (OP)
>detailing
fancy word for scamming stupid people xD

>>28450329
ceramic coating lasts like 2 years max so if it's been longer it needs to be redone.

>>28450320
It doesn't like you.

For a board dedicated to car enthusiasts you would expect more people to be into detailing.

>>28452478
I'd rather pay to have the pros do it than faff about with it myself. It's not a skill I care to learn.

>>28452478
dont listen to the fag. watch some chris fix videos and get to it. detailing is really not hard

Pay to get it done, if you fuck up and burn the clear coat you are screwed.

>wash my car
>clay bar and wax
Cleam rims and wheel wells
Iron remover on paint (only if needed)
Foam car
Rinse car
Foam car again (lighter coat)
Hand wash using 1 bucket method: don't reuse same side of towel, wash the top 80% of the car first then bottom 20% of the car
Rinse
Clay bar (optional, don't recommend)
Maybe dry, apply sacrificial coat and/or wax
Dry if not done before
>touch up paint
Either go super cheap with just a paint pen to hide imperfections from far away, or get professional paint correction (or learn how to do it professionally)

>>28450318 (OP)
This board is full of clapped shitbox owners and busriders. You won't get any help here.
Try youtube or, may allah forgive me, reddit.

>>28450318 (OP)
Wash your car with a separate cloth/towel for the body, and one for the rims. Two buckets for both.

Dry your car with a pig skin shammy or the synthetic ones (I'm privy to the synthetic ones, they don't disintegrate over time like pigskin does)

If you are going to clay bar/rag your car, DO NOT DO IT DRY! You will fuck up the paint. Make sure you're either soaking the panel you are clay barring with water, or a show shine application (Non silicone formula). I personally have used a non silicone show shine and a microfiber towel. Apply generously and don't let the area you are clay barring dry. Run the clay rag or bar over the area that needs it till it feels smooth to pull the rag/bar over. Once it's smooth feeling and not coarse feeling, you are done. Rinse/shine and dry the area. You do not need to apply much if any pressure. Doing so runs this risk of scratching the clear coat. Depending how fucked up the paint is, sometimes a clay bar won't fix it. (Note that clay rags work better for larger surface areas)

If you are going to wax your car, do one panel at a time. Use a towel to apply it, then use another to remove it. Do not let it sit on the paint for anymore than about a minute. Avoid doing it in direct sunlight. Direct sunlight will make it harder to get off. Don't get wax on plastic such as cladding. If you do, wipe it off immediately. My advice is to use a dry, clean towel to help prevent the wax application from getting on undesired areas while the other hand applies it. Plastic cladding and non painted parts love to stain with the wax, hence why you don't want it on it.

Continued...

>>28450318 (OP)
>>28452903

If you are going to polish the car, assuming you are using a motorized one and not waxing it by hand, use a standard polisher. Oscillating one only if you are experienced. Use a the amount they instruct on the bottle, usually around an ounce. You'll apply it to the panel and the polishing pad and lightly work it in to the pad. Then polish the the panel applying more polish as needed. DO NOT work against the curves of the body panels, but with them. You don't want the edges of the pad spinning into the crevices/or into hard edges, less you burn through the paint, and you will real fast with a polisher. My advice, if you are inexperienced, is to practice on the panel of a car you don't care if you fuck up, or go as light as you can until you've applied enough pressure to see results should you not have a bunk car laying around.

Lastly would be paint correction. Here I wouldn't even bother. Touch-Up paint, even direct from the manufacturer, never matches, and will never look right when up close. I think it's a waste of time, but some people swear by it. You'd just shake the paint pen up, then dab the spot with the pen. If it's real bad, then a repaint would probably be your best bet. I'd have to see the panel in question to give you my opinion on that one. Order of operations is how I just listed it. Any questions, I'll try and check back.

>>28452478
No one here has a car worth detailing.

>>28450318 (OP)
Man I literally just wash the the wheels with a wheel cleaner.
Then for the rest of the body I spray on optimum no rinse before washing with a microfibre towel soaked in more of the same stuff.
You just fold the towel up and and change sides whenever it gets dirty.
Then dry with another towel.
Comes up great, car does have a ceramic coat on it though.

>>28452478
I just want to drive my car.
And when I'm not in it there's other things I'd rather be doing.

>>28450318 (OP)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFXfSBR5Q9w

>>28450318 (OP)
Modern cars have extremely thin and soft paint, it's a bad idea to use any kind of polish or rub anything hard on it, you're way more likely to fuck it up and it gets dirty instantly if it's outside at all so all those extra cleaning steps do nothing. Especially now when there's so much pollen outside that in the middle of cleaning my car was getting dirty.

What I do is power rinse with a pressure washer and soak the car in soap with a foam cannon before washing. Use folded microfiber cloths soaked in soapy water and expose fresh sides as you get to a new panel, never re-soak the towels finish using it by cleaning a wheel and then throw it into a wash bucket for later. Takes me about 5-6 towels to do the whole car and then I power rinse again and use a leaf blower to get most of the water off.

Dry with a couple of clean microfiber towels, the ones I use for drying are a different color from the ones I use for washing and I keep them separate. Then I go over the car with hybrid ceramic wax using a towel, no polishing bullshit. Even after you wash the car there will still be lots of bug and tar left on it so you especially do not want to rub this into the paint with a polisher. Once a season I use a high pH soap to get the bug and tar off and this strips off all the ceramic wax so it has to be reapplied really well afterwards.

>>28453404
Oh and don't rub the towels in a circular motion, always wipe in straight lines because microscratches are unavoidable and circular microscratches are way more visible from all angles.

>>28452478
Its more that detailing it a hobby unto itself. With a lot of diminishing returns
See >>28452708
The clay bar do not work with wax or shiny shampoo.
And you would get 95% of the results by tossing it in a polish wash at the nearby automatic washer, and then maintaining it by bucket and telescope washing with some kind of shine shampoo

>>28450318 (OP)
If you have a nice car. It's worth it to get it detailed by a professional and ppf job.

>>28450329
If your topcoat's fucked and needs touching up. The ceramic coating is cooked.

Get a nice wool wash mitt.

Never used clay bar, I do use polishing compound. Oscillating and by hand. Half the battle is garage parking, not leaving the car in the sun.