Here's an example of detailing. This is what I've spent the last day 2 days detailing - my hubby's Disco 4
Here are some before photos – not looking too bad.
Friday 9am - first I started with the wheels using:
1. Power-washed the wheels and arches to loosen the dirt / brake dust
Using the 2 bucket method (different buckets for washing the bodywork)and Chemical Guys CW&G, I used various brushes to clean the spokes, back of the wheels, gaps in the alloys, tyres and the arches. Each wheel was power washed down after this process.
2. Next, it was on to snow foaming:
Used Valet Pro pH neutral snowfoam and a drop of Dodo BTBM, autobrite foamlance and PW
This was left to dwell for 5 minutes. In the meantime I used a small detailing brush to clean around the badges, the grills, door surrounds, petrol cap, etc, etc. This was then fully rinsed off. It had done its job of getting rid of the dead flies, etc.
3. Washing
Using the 2 BM and my new shampoo Chemical Guys Extreme Wash and Gloss, Sheepskin mitt for the main paintwork and a microfibre mitt for the lower black plastic bits. I set to work washing the car. However, it was sunny and quite warm yesterday and as there is no shade in my drive I found that it was drying very quickly and on black – it’s a nightmare. So I decided I would wash, rinse (with an open hose) and dry a panel at a time. So I started with the roof, then the bonnet and then around the car. It takes longer but it’s beneficial in the end. No water marks or streaking. There was a lot of standing water on the car though due to it having no protection so used two drying towels to dry the whole car. Wheels were also dried off.
4. Claying
The paintwork felt quite smooth – being a new car but I did a quick clay of the car, which showed up very little contamination (sorry no pics).
5. Polish
So on to the polishing. As the car was new and the paintwork was in pretty good condition – no swirls visible, etc I decided to use Dodo Lime Prime to prepare the paintwork. Applied with a megs pad and buffed with a micro fibre cloth.
Strange, my hubby wasn’t too keen for me to use my new DAS 6 on his new car so all work had to be done by hand ! :buffer:
At this point, the heavens decided to open so had to call a halt to play as I don’t have a covered area to work in. Decided to have a break for lunch then as the rain had stopped, gave it a quick rinse down and dry ready for the next step.
6. Glaze
Next, it was on to my new purchase after all the good things I’d read about it on DW. Cracked open the Chemical Guys EZ Glaze. God this stuff smells fantastic and all the bugs were very attracted to it too! Applied with a megs pads and then buffed with a clean micro fibre cloth. The shine after this was phenemonal. Again it started raining so moved the car under the car port.
Some pics of how it looked at this stage:
7. Protect the wheels and arches.
Whilst the car was under the car port and it was still raining, it gave me chance to start sealing the alloys. This was done using a megs pad and CG Jetseal 109. This was applied and left for 20 minutes to cure before being buffed off. Two coats were applied. The arches were dressed with CG Bare Bones. Tyres were dressed with Swissvax Pneu.
The rain had set in for the day so I decided that would be it – finished 3.30pm.
Started the day today at 10.00am. Had to rinse the car again with an open hose and dry the whole car again before started work on the next phase. Had about 5 or 6 downpours in between waxing so it was very stop start but got there in the end.
8. Waxing
The wax for today would be the sample pot of Dodo Purpe Haze Pro that I had bought specially for hubby’s new car as I’d read good things about it on black cars. This was applied with my bare hands to the whole car. Again, it was sunny and warm this morning, so I decided I would apply it a panel at a time and then buff off, once I’d finish waxing the next panel and so on. It buffed off easily enough.
9. Extras
Gave the interior a quick clean over. As its only 3 weeks old, it was still very tidy. The carpets and mats were given a brush over and the dash was given the once over with 303 Aerospace Protectant.
Degreaser was used to get rid of white marks and finger marks off the exterior black trim.
Attention to detail:
Windows were cleaned with Megs Glass Cleaner and then Halford Rain Repellent was applied to all the windows.
A pic of how difficult it is to clean the windscreen:
Overall, I’m really pleased with it. Black is a very difficult colour to work on but the end results are very gratifying. The glossy finish is amazing, the flake pop superby and the reflections, well ...............................
Here’s some afters - Thanks for reading.