Just got a new 2012 GTI a few days ago... And I'm clueless of how to take care of it. However, I do want to learn where to start. This is my first new car, and I want to be able to maintain to last for a long time. I am however on a tight budget to like 300 bucks. All I have at home right now are two buckets and a hose. Where do I begin? What's the process like? Rinse, wash, polish, wax? Do I still have to wait six months before waxing? Shopping list? (things i'll need like drying cloth, shampoo, and etc.,. up to $300) Any insight is deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I would start by searching the site. Right now your main concern should be to do no harm to the car while you are learning. If I were you I would get some car wash shampoo, a MF wash mit, 2 grit guards for your buckets (I hope your buckets are 5 gallon size). SOme wheel cleaner (P21S Gel or Sonax Full Effect) are good neutral ones thaty don't hurt Clear Coated rims. I have used both and for cleaner wheels I prefer P21S Gel-No bad smell the SOnax does a better job on wirse wheels. Your choice-I suggest you pick one then when your done try the other and then decide to yourself. You should get a wheel brush (I like brushes with out a steel so they dont scratch. I would also look around for a dedicated wheel bucket as they get very dirty. What color is your car? If it is a light color and in reasonable good condition I would skip the polishing for now because it takes alot of practice and I don't think you should practice on your new car. Winter is coming soon and you will have to polish after the winter unless you are in the south. I would use iron Cut to remove any ireon in the paint (rail dust) and/or clay it as long as its not black or very dark blue or red. Clay can leaqve marks that need to be polished out. As far a protection goes, I would sugest a sealant (my personal preference) like Power Lock. It is easy to use lasts a reasonably long time and is not too expensive. Where are you located? Perhaps you could ask a memeber close to you for some pointer live. If not there are Video's here, on youtube that demonstrate proper procedure. Ask questions and people here are great about answering them. I am very new, so if someone contradicts what I said, they probably know better. Hope theis helps. I was where you are not to long ago. Stick around and read all of the posts daily and it is amazing how much you can learn. Pay close attention to the writeups of pro's that have videos. It really gives you best practices. If I were you I would break down all the different tasks and search on this site, google them, and ask about them. This way the answers with be more detailed and you will learn more. Good Luck.
Thanks for your response. To answer the questions in the post.. my car is black and I live in the foggy part of San Francisco. What is the difference between wax and sealant?
Wait for the griot polisher to go on sale and pick that up. I got the HD model for $95. Most everything else you can purchased OTC. Megs Gold class shampoo Megs ultimate compound and ultimate polish/swirlx for paint correction. Collinite 845 for wax. Eagle 1 a2z wheel cleaner for wheels and tires. Griots microfibers. 1 grit guard( 2 is not necessary) 5" backing plate 6pack 5.5" pads. Everything I listed can easily be found OTC except the grit guard and pads/backing plate. The rest of the stuff like interior and exterior dressings depends on your preference of matte, satin, or gloss.
Carnauba Car Wax vs. Paint Sealants, carnauba wax reviews, paint sealant reviews Not a huge fan of autogeek, but they have some great information. Also, Contact adams, or look on youtube, they have a great DVD/ Video resource to really help out the noobs/ enthusiasts that want to care for their own car. Watch all the videos, really its worth the time. beware of kits, and support the vendors here, they have great deals, in fact you can go to the vendor area and even ask them questions directly about products. Don't go crazy with botique products unless you have deep products, however the Prima , Adams line both have great easy to use products that should fit your budget. as mentioned prior, their are some great products availible at places like target, walmart and pepboys, such as mothers, meguiars, eagle one, Stoners to name a few. welcome to the site, and kiss your money goodbye LOL.
haha... thanks. Just so we go over it real quick. Process: wash, clay bar (once a year), polish, and then wax?
You'll pretty much find all you'll need from DetailersDomain. Prima is currently my favorite line of products everything I've tried from them I've loved. Since your car is black you really can't go wrong with Banana Gloss and Epic. Also I highly recommend Hydro Spray Wax. It will hide slight imperfections while leaving behind a nice layer of protection/gloss/depth. Other than that, just start picking up some products and finding what works best for you. There are a lot of OTC products you can pick up locally but I'm sure you will be buying from the vendors here in no time. Welcome to DB.
Wash, clay bar (maybe even less then once a year if you garage the car) polish then wax. Now the wash, make sure you research the two bucket method or you will cause more harm then good, also invest in good washing pads, or sponges. 90% of getting your car/keeping your car clean is the prep work and 10% is the wax. So invest in good cleaning materials and supplies and learn proper techniques to really make the wax worth while. Im in central California where its hot and dusty and im not a fan of wax, simply because it does not last as long as a synthetic sealant. Now in the bay, it will last longer, and will benefit you more due to the fog and rain, but really you cannot go wrong either way, and in most cases you can use a sealant and a wax combined. Another good product line I forgot to mention was 1Einzett, I have a jetta and use their glanz wax on it, its an amazing product and has worked very well and really helps make black and metallic paints pop. It is also very easy to apply, and remove and is not very expensive, its a great product IMO that bridges the gap between a typical caranuba wax and a synthetic sealant.
That pretty much includes every square inch of the city limits doesn't it? hehe. You have a new car, that makes it easy for you. As was said, get two 5-gallon buckets from Lowe's or Home Depot or one of those places, along with a grit guard. Some washing/drying supplies, microfiber towels & a few applicators since you don't have a buffer yet. A mild polish then some wax or sealant, depending on your preference, & you're in good shape. By next spring you'll be knowledgable enough to handle whatever mother nature sends your paint's way. If you can find a car detailing products distributor in your area you may save some bucks as opposed to going to Pep Boys or one of those places. Another option is online purchases but this is dangerous because you'll be tempted to buy things you don't need right now & you may never use. Learn first before you clean the shelves in your garage & take out your wallet. The best piece of advice I ever had is to always work clean, meaning the tools that touch your paint must not be dirty. Keep posting, there's lots of helpful advice available here. And welcome to the forum. Joe.
If I were you I'd try out Chemical Guys products aswell they're located in Cali so shipping should be fairly cheap. I just recently got into detailing and have alot of chemical guys stuff like ez creme glaze, scents, various wash soaps, applicators, window clean and a few more products. They all work great and are fairly inexpensive, another lineup of great products which are fairly inexpensive would meguiars professional line. The most important thing I found was the type of wash media, I have a raceglaze sheepskin mitt and I find it to be really soft and absorbent, it's also fairly large so I find it takes alot less time to wash my car!
Congrats on the new car! I got a 2011 Golf justa few months ago. I've been having very good luck with the general guidance of Phil at detailer's domain. They have a cheap line of MF towels for applying sealant, removing it, drying the car, etc. Regardless of what brand you choose, my only recommendation is to pick a brand of towels, applicator pads and stick with it. They are usually color coded for each type of job and not mixing brands makes it less likely to screw things up. I've liked the Über towels, I also use the uber sponge for washing and don't have a single scratch on my paint yet. As a noob myself, my other recommendation is to take it easy, don't be cheap and enjoy. I wash my car every weekend now (even in the dead of Utah winter) and clay/seal the car every month or so. Washing takes 20 minutes with the right equipment and makes you that much prouder of your work and car when it's done right.
I think you've basically received good advice. You'll quickly find that everyone here has preferences but that they don't all agree. Claying should be a once or twice a year job but this definitely is something you can screw up. An agressive clay, too much pressure, not enough lubricant, an insufficiently clean surface or just plain carelessness can create marring and it shows up spectacularly well with black paint. If you're going to stick with a single brand I'm a fan of both Optimum and Prima but there is no reason you need to. Duragloss has a wide range of solid supplies too. If you want to use a wax rather than a sealant I'd probably point you toward Collinite 845. I have some reservations about Chemical Guys products. I have far too many partially used CG bottles lying around but for the most part I've found other products I prefer. Some of their microfiber towels I still use regularly but not much else. Meguiars is another company that IMO has too many products, some are good but there is quite a bit of chaff. Phil here at Detailer's Domain has cherry picked much of their best stuff. On final note I find the signal to noise ratio at this site much better than any of the other detailing forums.
Just to clarify things, when I said stick with one brand I was referring to pads and MF towels only. Simply because when you're starting you can go to that pad's manufacturer's site and see that a pad of a certain color is best for a certain job. I've seen more than one thread where if it wasn't for the OP recognizing that the color pad suggested for a certain job was of a different brand than the one he had. This could cost you a lot of time fixing a mistake. They're color coded for a reason, no need to make things complicated by having multiple brands to keep track of when they all perform similarly as long a they're from a reputable brand.
