Car cleaning

[tomush]

Weather is getting better now so I want to do a proper car clean on the Corsa. Inside and out!

I know there have been many discussions in the past on other threads about it, including polishing, claying (still don't know what that involves) etc etc.. just wanted a clear explanation of everything involved.

What would be the proper way to do it? From start to finish.. getting rid of swirl marks, bringing out the colour more (as the black on mine is duller than the bumpers but after a wash it comes back), waxing etc.

What sort of products would you recommend for each stage and anything else you can think of

Cheers!

[Sam_Sri]

Take advantage of halfords 3 for 2 on cleaning at the moment as it isn't cheap. If you haven't got a machine polisher make sure you get a decent one.

I have yet to fully do my car but tested the bonnet using the following method yesterday and the results were awesome.

Two washes with Meguiars gold class shampoo using 2 buckets, one with shampoo, one for rinsing the mitt.

Dried off with a microfibre drying towl.

Meguiars clay bar kit (comes with 100g clay bar and quick detailer) apply the detailer to an area then work the clay bar with medium pressure until you can feel the impurities go.

I then used the machine polisher and a fairly abrasive pad (depends on how bad the swirl marks are) with meguiars ultimate compound and went over the panel with around 3 passes. Then used a finishing pad to polish up doing around 3 passes.

Then Meguiars ultimate polish with a soft pad, again I went over the panel with about 3 passes. Used a finishing pad to polish up with another 3 passes.

Farecla G3 Super Gloss Paste Wax. Apply very sparingly as a little goes a long way. Applied and removed by hand.

Didn't get any pics but I'll be doing the whole car at the end of the month so I can put up a tutorial on how I did it. Everyone's different and has their own methods though . Results speak for themselves though, bonnet looks new apart from the stone chips and a dent haha