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Cleaning your 996 - your process, hints and tips

CarreraMonkey

Well-known member
Joined
2 Sep 2013
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2,188
So a couple of people have asked me on various threads what my process is for washing and maintaining the paint on our cars, as I regularly post pictures of shiny cars after I've cleaned them.

I have to confess that I used to hate doing it and always went to the Eastern European guys (who knacker your paint generally), but I actually find it quite therapeutic nowadays. As I was doing a thorough job on Saturday, I decided to take a few pictures along the way. I'm not an expert at all, but I know stuff like claying, paint correction etc. can be daunting to some, so just want to show that if I can do it, anyone can.

The 1st place I'd look is in the detailing forum on this site. There's a great write up by a professional on how to wash your car. But there are also loads of tutorials and information on Youtube which are easy to watch and understand and will give you the main process which you can then improve with experience.
 
So my first step when cleaning a very dirty car or undertaking a thorough wash is to wet the car down with a jet washer to dislodge loose or caked on dirt, then cover from top to bottom and all over with snow foam.

Citrus snow foam if I'm stripping everything off anyway, or a ph neautral one if I'm not intending to re-apply wax this time.

I got the lance off ebay and was about £40 I think.

Apply the snowfoam
IMAG1383_zpsr0qpsaa9.jpg

leave it to dwell for 10 minutes, then rinse off. Hopefully, the foam will have lifted and secured a lot of the muck on the surface, meaning less to wash off the paint.

After rinsing off the snowfoam, I like to attend to the exterior plastics and rubbers with a brush and some APC. Areas such as:
The rear spoiler rubber trim:
IMAG1388_zps2fkf4lyb.jpg


The lip under the bonnet, and front grills:
IMAG1390_zpsiqsnlmnr.jpg


And the fuel filler flap:
IMAG1389_BURST001_zpsj9ufvpyu.jpg


Rinse and wipe clean after doing these areas and for the plastics wipe over with a plastcics dressing when dry.
 
Next onto the wheels.

If you're really dedicated to that cause, you can take the wheels off to clean them. This gives you access to the under arch area and brake calipers, so worth doing once in a while for sure. If you're doing this, be careful to place your wheel on something firm but non abrasive - like a foam yoga mat (don't tell the wife) to prevent any damage. Rinse the under arch area and spray with APC. Leave for 5 - 10 mins to soak in then agitate with a brush. Then rinse off. Towel dry the arch liner and wipe on a coat of plastic /trim dressing to bring it up as new.

I wasn't up for doing the above this time and just did the outside of the rim, but the process applies to both sides if the wheel is off.

First spray the wheel and tyre with APC. There's lots of wheel cleaning products on the market, some are acidic, some are alkaline, but I find that good old APC works well enough. If there's tar spots on them, I'll use the Trix spray you'll see later on..

Scrub the tyres first.
IMAG1391_zpsol3quh7u.jpg


Then work your way into the centre of the rims from the outside using a dedicated soft brush like the one I used on the plastics (I have a couple - one for the wheels, one for plastics and trim).

Then rinse off the APC and towel dry.
 
OK, time to wash the car. There's tonnes of information about how to wash a car, so I wont bore you, but here's a couple of points to think about:

Always use 2 buckets - use one with the soapy suds for washing only and one with plain water for rinsing your mitts and things in.

A lot of car wash products contain stuff to add shine to your car. That's fine if you are just the type that likes to 'wash and go', but for a good job, you want something that is PH neutral and doesn't contain waxes and silicons.

Always keep one mitt for cleaning the top of your car and a second for the front, rear and lower sides. These inevitably are the dirtiest areas and will have grit etc on them - by keeping the mitt's separate you reduce the risk of scratches from particles in the mitt. Same as rinsing in the freshwater bucket it removes the grime before you wash the next section.

Here are my buckets, you can see the 2 mitts and both buckets have grit guards in the bottom.

IMAG1393_zpsg0jlc1xq.jpg


My car was actually quite clean - after the wash, the mitt rinsing water looked like this:

IMAG1398_zpslauoxxv1.jpg
 
Once the car is washed an rinsed, towel dry the excess water off it.

Now, it's time to decontaminate the paint in 2 stages - stage 1 is chemically and stage 2 is physically.

For stage 1, I use a combined tar and Iron remover called Trix, but you can use separate products if you prefer.
IMAG1395_zpsh8wdfuol.jpg


Spray onto the paint work and leave for a while, wipe over with a cloth to agitate it and get into the pores of the paint and leave to stand as per the product instructions. Then rinse off - very thoroughly!! This stuff gives off nasty smells and fumes, so you don't want to leave any on your paint!

IMAG1397_zpsnc7colgs.jpg


Then it's time for stage 2 - claying the paint. I've switched to using a G3 clay mitt nowadays, it's faster for me, more cost effective and easier to do than using clay bars in my opinion. I use the mitt, detailing spray for lubrication and a couple of dry MF clothes to wipe up the detailing spray afterwards.

IMAG1400_zps06z40eul.jpg


The idea is that the clay or rubber on the mitt picks up any small particles left on the paint after washing. After a chemical decontam there will be far fewer, but it's still worth doing. After this step your paint will feel soooo clean and silky.

Soak the mitt in some clean water with some car shampoo in it.
Spray an area with detailing spray - plenty of it. With the mitt gently (no pressure work the mitt backwards and forwards over the surface. At first it will feel a little gritty, but after a few goes it will feel smooth - that's it clean!! Wipe off the excess detailing spray and move onto the next area. Work on a small area at a time and use plenty of spray for lubrication.

Remember to rinse the mitt in the water regularly (after every section) to remove the particles it's picked up.

IMAG1401_zpscjcuqqmc.jpg


It's easy really!!

By now your paint will be clean. Really clean and (in my opinion) it feels different to the touch.

IMAG1402_zps3c9kibxx.jpg
 
The car's looking good by now..

IMAG1403_zpsm1p9rcif.jpg


But the deeply cleaned paint now needs to be protected.

Next step is to prepare the paint for the wax or sealant. This is one final clean - to remove the residue left from the quick detailing spray and ensure the maximum adherence for the wax or sealant.

I'm using Blackfire Gloss enhancing polish, but there are lots of pre-wax products to choose from. LimePrime from dodo juice is a very good product for example.

For some, this is when they apply a glaze (does the same thing) such as Poor boys Black hole, which is designed to clean the paint and hide minor swirls and blemishes.

IMAG1404_zpssp3g7ueo.jpg


Note the foam pad applicator that I'm using and the quantity of product per panel. With cleaning products, a little goes a long way and over application is just a waste. Also, a nice deep pile cloth for removing wiping off the product afterwards

These products aren't polish with cutting agents, so they wont remove scratches. Instead they contain cleaning agents and 'fillers' which help disguise minor scratches and swirls. They're usually wipe on, haze then wipe off immediately. You don't need to work the product hard at all.
 
Next stage is applying the sealant or wax.

I'm using Blackfire Wet diamond sealant. Sealants are a man made 'polymers' based wax, compared to traditional paste waxes which are generally made mostly from natural waxes. Sealants tend to be more hard wearing, but can have a synthetic shine to them. Traditional waxes tend to give a 'richer, warmer' shine, but don't tend to last as long.

IMAG1405_zpsbwaxnqqf.jpg


Again - note the applicator pad I'm using and the lovely deep pile cloth for buffing it off. The amount of sealant - that's actually a little too much and I was able to easily cover a couple of panels with that much. I tried to take a picture to show how little wax or sealant you should be applying, but I'm not sure it's actually visible in the picture - that's how light a covering you should apply.

IMAG1406_zpsk5ubbvst.jpg


Depending upon the product, you will need to allow some time for it to haze over, before you buff it off. If you've put it on correctly, it should be easy to buff off. It should be a bit 'grabby' but if you've applied too much, it will just be hard work!

A second coat of wax can usually be applied within an hour or 2 - 2 coats is enough for most people. Sealants usually require a longer time for the polymers to fully join and harden.

By now the car is starting to look very shiny and the paint has a lustre to it!!

I had to leave mine overnight for the sealant to harden, but even after one coat it was looking pretty good as the sun set.

IMAG1415_zpsidnahpl1.jpg
 
As my garage is full of a Volkswagen restoration project, the black car was on the drive all night.

Next morning, before applying the next coat, I gave it a quick spritz with Blackfire wet diamond polymer spray. It's a bit like their version of quick detailer. It allows you to wipe the paint without causing scratches from any grit or dust that may have settled over night and cleans it ready for the next coat.

Now I could apply a 2nd coat of the sealant, but actually, for fun I'm topping the sealant with Blackfire Black Ice wax. It's designed for dark cars and has filling properties, plus it also contains the same polymers as the sealant - it's actually whats referred to as a hybrid wax - half natural, half synthetic. It should add depth and further longevity to the finish.

IMAG1416_zps4chmapui.jpg


This is a wipe on / wipe off wax. It doesn't cure or haze , so you just apply it and immediately remove it. It does seem to have filling properties and did make the metallic flecks in the Basalt Black paint stand out a bit better, but (in my opinion) it's pretty marginal.. The left side of the bonnet has been waxed, the other hasn't. Notice the difference?

IMAG1417_zpsdbqrlbcb.jpg


Me neither! :D
 
So that was me done. I didn't take pictures of dressing the plastics, polishing the tail pipes, or cleaning the glass, but it has to be done. Just like the interior has to, which I'll cover on a different day, if people found this to be of interest.

I know that lots of people on here enjoy and are well versed at this sort of stuff, so please feel free to comment / add hints tips etc. as I'm always keen to learn more and it may be useful for others interested in this subject too.

IMAG1412_zpsqiojsv0g.jpg
 
Excellent write up m8.... :thumbs:

Question: from start to finish how long does it to take you to clean one car....??


Osh
 
Osh said:
Excellent write up m8.... :thumbs:

Question: from start to finish how long does it to take you to clean one car....??


Osh

Thx Osh.

Saturday's session was about 6 hours in total (including applying the wax the next day). However, that's a once, perhaps twice a year clean.

Now that it's been done, it will be far easier to keep keep clean and just get washed, dried and spritzed with polymer spray. No more than an hour in total for future cleans.
 
newby911 said:
I'm guessing a full 8 hour day plus another 4 on the second day?

No. The wife would never let me spend a day and a half cleaning a car. :lol:

5 hours on day 1 and 1 hour on day 2.
 
This is a great write up and just the kind of info I wanted :D

Thanks for taking the time to write it up and include some really useful images.

I guess this is dependant on space but do you move the car around depending what stage of the clean your on? wash in one area and dry in another?
 
Leon1davies said:
This is a great write up and just the kind of info I wanted :D

Thanks for taking the time to write it up and include some really useful images.

I guess this is dependant on space but do you move the car around depending what stage of the clean your on? wash in one area and dry in another?

Yes, but not for the reasons you'd imagine.

When we renovated our house I installed a grey water system and the only outside tap we have using rainwater and spring water, which is full of clay. Fine for watering the plants, crap for washing the car.

So yes, I do wash the car in one place and polish and wax in another, but I wouldn't if I didn't have to. :D
 

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