Spring Time -- Winter Paint Clean Up

Alright i thought i would share for anyone who is intrested what I am doing to give my paint a touch up from the winter...
Keep in mind i cleaned my car once a week at carwash.ca in the winter time so some what break down on what the winter does to a car..

**feel free to help me make some changes i am very intrested in what you guys have to say!**
alright the products i am using are:

dawn dish soap
meguiars claybar kit
mothers pre wax cleaner
mothers sealer and glaze
mothers carnauba paste wax
windex
nu finish scartch doctor
turle wax color cure
Eagle one all wheel and tire cleaner
wet and black tire shiner
mothers back to black trim wax
10" orbital buffer i got from walmart
microfiber buffing pads
lots of microfiber towels
some ordinary towels
touch up paint

i went to canadian tire and picked up all this stuff except for the orbital buffer..

Alright well i did this set up last year and its fairly easy im no professional of any sort.

I waited for a day that was +12 since wax works best between +10 and +15 according to meguiars online resources

i start with 2 buckets and two wash mits put some dawn soap in the buckets and some hoze water
-the reason im using dawn soap is to really clean the paint down as much as i can

clean the car like normal getting all the dirt off with the dawn i scrubbed everywere after i cleaned the whole car i cleaned under the sideskirts, the wheels with *eagle one wheel cleaner, and the wheel wells.. ****THIS IS A AWESOME TIME TO CHECK FOR POSSIBLE FUTURE RUST!!** i noticed a spot and on the fender in the inside so i fixed it with a touch up pen...

after the whole car was clean everywere and i was satisfied i dried it off with some ordinary towels... once the car was completly dry i made sure there was no part of it in direct sun light and i ran my hand over the whole car too see were the major oxidation build up was occuring. I then used the clay bar kit

I used the clay bar kit as directed i made sure not to miss a single spot. i then rinsed the car off with hoze water after using the clay bar and dried it again to make i didnt forget any spray wax from the clay bar on it.

I then took the nu finish scratch doctor and used it on some of the annoying scratches i recived in the winter it worked OK I would reccomend it for those cobweb swirl marks.

i started off with my pre wax cleaner as directed in the mothers 3 step system this system is very good i love it...

after applying the prewax cleaner to all the paint on the car i then took a microfiber buffing pad and used the orbital buffer around the whole car...i then took a normal microfiber towel and wixed off the remaining pre wax cleaner....

next i used the seal and glaze in same way that i used the prewax cleaner and continued on with the next step

the next mother step is to use the paste wax and then your finish i decided to add my own step of taking turle wax color cure same color as my car and applying one coat, then two. I then buffed it off with the orbital and wiped remainder of it off with a microfiber towel..

I then continued onto using mothers paste wax on the paint... and buffed it off like i normaly do the paint was swirl free and looked good i ran my hand over all the spots that i felt huge oxidation build up before and felt smooth soft paint I was satisfied.

I then took mothers back to black took off my wiper arms and applied it to all the trim, weatherstrpping, and plastic parts that didn't have paint on them on my car. they shined black and looked like they were brand new. VERY satisfied with this product.

I finished up by cleaning the windows inside and out with windex, and used some tire foam ***not to much!!! and was very satisfied with my overall results..

i usually follow this clean up by washing with regular car soap and applying mothers paste wax once a week and monthly do step two and three of the three step restore system and clay bar when needed.

Hopfully by doing this i can prevent rust on the vehical for its entire life.. also prevent the paint from getting messed up i know this is nothing compared to a pro using a power polish but its what i do myself and since the car isnt that old the paint isnt that bad of shape to being with.


THANKS FOR READING I love cleaning my car and I am intrested in what you guys do and use!!

tl;dr lol

Washing your car should not take that much effort, I love to wash my car too but I don't make it a week's worth of reading, let alone action :\

Today, I went to Rochdale Car Wash (many of the same options as Car Wash.ca but more time/dollar).

Rinsed, soap via foam brush, tire shine, rim cleaner, vaccuum while the tire shine was doing its thing. Rinse, chamois, making sure the rims get bone-dry so salt and dirt have a harder time sticking to them.

The above process took less than an hour.

It's good to see that you take care of your car like that, and I'm not trying to beak you, but you're washing your car, not rebuilding your engine. Besides, your car is BLACK, every single piece of dirt, grime, salt, and possibly egg or yogurt will be seen from a mile away

foam brushes scratch the paint on your car!! but all in all i start washing at around 5:30 usualy in the summer and by the time i get to waxing at 6 the sun has moved behind my house and its still light out i usualy finish up at 7:30 also when applying this much wax to the vehical after a night of driving around the vehical gets really dusty and you can just wash it with water and dry it off the next day and still have a clean car.

guswaym wrote:

foam brushes scratch the paint on your car!!

Once you finish rinsing, take the foam brush off the wall and spray it out with the pressure washer... Whats going to scratch your car?
The bristles, at least at co op and esso in the south end here don't scratch anymore more then a wash mitt would.

the bristles will scratch your paint. no doubt about that. Even rubbing your car down withh a cloth/towel will leave fine scratches in your paint.

marshal wrote:

the bristles will scratch your paint. no doubt about that. Even rubbing your car down withh a cloth/towel will leave fine scratches in your paint.

this is true thats why i use two buckets and two wash mits one for the top and one for the bottem and always wash them with the hoze after each panel... the moment i drop a towel on the ground i throw it back in the laundry basket and get a new one.

someone needs to make a interior cleaning thread i want to know how to recondition my leather and clean the carpet in the car

guswaym wrote:

someone needs to make a interior cleaning thread i want to know how to recondition my leather and clean the carpet in the car

I will be all over it. The people who know how much I hate a dirty car will agree. I'll also make a exterior cleaning/detail thing once my white car is done an I can dedicate some time to the blue POS

just go to the forums on autopia.org, they will tell u everything u needto kno and more

OCHO wrote:

just go to the forums on autopia.org, they will tell u everything u needto kno and more

x2

guswaym wrote:

someone needs to make a interior cleaning thread i want to know how to recondition my leather and clean the carpet in the car

Step 1: Go buy some Mothers leather cleaner and some Mothers leather conditioner.

Step 2: Scrub leather down with a soft brush and Mothers leather cleaner

Step 3: wipe off cleaner

Step 4: Apply leather conditioner.

Done.


It really is that simple, it worked great on my eclipses leather seats, took out alot of stains and marks and made them look damn near brand new.