Umm, so all of that was Greek to me. I think I have more questions than before. Where would I get those products from and how much would it cost? Also, with all of this, would car cleaning just be limited to the occasional dusting or would I still need to wash the car frequently? Like how often do you all of the polishing?
Woops, my bad haha. I thought you knew about them as your asked about products.
Well this will be a long post, so sorry in advance
Well I would suggest visiting
www.autogeekonline.net , and look at the various articles for starting up. My products are from all over the world. Some are available locally such as the meguiars consumer line at Ace Hardware in Festival City. Meguairs professional line is available in Sharjah through Meguiars middle east (although limited). Almost everything I have purchased is from
www.autogeek.net. its like a one stop shop for everything car care related. That forum is the best site to learn, with 1000's of articles for a noob to 1000's of experience detailers and specialists. SO much to learn....!
My polisher is from Flex which has a supplier in Dubai next to Cargo village on airport road. But all pads and attachments are from autogeek.
Now for cost....its something that is a hobby for me so i've spent close to AED 5k on all my equipment, polishes, waxes, cleaners, polishing pads etc over the past year or less.
I never "dust" my car as dust/sand is basically just like glass. So imagine taking fragments of glass and dragging it across your paint...scratch and swirl city! I leave my car dusty or dirty until I have time to wash it properly and I never ever take it to any gas station/car wash to get it washed. They use towels that are like sandpaper, wash cloths that are basically old carpets etc.
My regimen is as follows:
1.Spray the car with a pressure washer
2.Spray the car with Snow Foam using a foam cannon attached to my pressure washer.
3. Let the foam sit for about 3-4 minutes
4. Rinse off with pressure washer
5. Prepare two buckets, one for my car specific soap(sonax from emarat AED 20), mixed into water to create foam. Second bucket is plain water.
6. Using a microfiber wash mitt (got from autogeek) I start with the roof, once im done with the roof I rinse the wash mitt in the bucket with water.
Rinsing the mitt removes dust and dirt you just picked up so that you dont re introduce it onto the paint and create scratches.
7. Then I do the hood and repeat the rinse. (Horizontal panels such as roof and hood have the most amount of dirt and grime).
8. Then I do one side of the car, rinse the mitt, and repeat to all sides of the car.
9. Then I take another wash mitt that I bought for wheels and tyres only and use the remaining soap liquid to do the wheels and tyres.
10. Rinse the whole car off with pressure washer
11. Air dry using a cheap chinese leaf blower and get water out of all cracks, grille, lights etc.
12. Using a Microfiber Drying Cloth (Guzzler waffle weave type as you will see on autogeek) I dry the car with 2 cloths. 1 wet and 1 dry. I do a wet wipe and follow with a dry for a clean finish with no streaks.
13. Dry the wheels and tyres with a cheap old cotton cloth
14. Open doors and wipe all the door jambs and seals with a cheap old waffle weave cloth (also open the trunk and do the same)
15. Apply tire dressing
16. Sit back and admire
Now this may sound like a lot of steps and work but I do all this in an hour.
All of this took me a couple years to learn, I learned all this since I got my mk7, with my mk6 i was extremely careless. Its a hobby for me like I said and I love seeing my car in pristine condition.
Over time, if you like this sort of thing It gets addictive. Like how some people like modifications and tuning, this is my thing haha
This was all just washing. Proper car care involves various things such as proper washing, claying to remove bonded contaminants(rub your hand on the paint and you will feel it rough like sandpaper), wax/sealing, polishing etc. Take your time and understand it if you want your paint to look sexy
A time line:
Wash the car once a week (never dust!) - sometimes I wash it twice if i have time or i'm in the mood.
Clay the car once every 2-3 months
Apply a paint cleaner every 6 months(paint cleaner is a step above clay, its a chemical based paint cleaner that only cleans the paint as compared to polishes which remove some clear coat)
Polish every 1-2 years depending on paint and environment (Dubai is like 9months to 1 year).
Here's a few links to help you get started with proper washing and other ideas:
http://www.autogeek.net/exterior.html
http://www.autogeek.net/sponwasmit.html
http://www.autogeek.net/drying.html
http://www.autogeek.net/detailing-clay-bar.html
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...benefits-using-detailing-clay-clay-paint.html
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-articles-help-newbies-machine-polishing.html
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-paint-hand-pinnacle-signature-series-ii.html
I started learning through watching this guys videos: scroll through and you'll know which ones are for cars
haha
https://www.youtube.com/user/Junkman2000/videos
Here's autogeeks own youtube channel where there is a butt load off info to start with and learn -
https://www.youtube.com/user/autogeek/videos
NOTE: THIS IS A LOT OF INFO AND IS OVERWHELMING - but take your time with it, It took me a year to learn all this, cannot happen overnight
Some of my equipment:
A range of polishes, cleaners, waxes etc.
Interior cleaners, coditioners, metal polishes
Left is polish and wax specific towels and right is pads for my machine
A bunch of towels, wash mitts, glass towels, interior towels, brushes etc.
