charleyh2
05-04-2013, 03:54 PM
So before I begin, I wanted to give a shout out to all the great people on this forum who have shared their experiences and knowledge. I am a long time detailer but new to the site and wish I had found the site sooner. Thank You !
Through the site, I learned that I was doing a good many things correctly, however, there were those things I was not. I am now applying what I have learned to properly detail my 2012 Jetta GLi. I'll list out below the steps I took. The product line I used was Griots Garage as my family has bought me this for my b-days and Christmas presents.
Equipment and products:
⁃ Griots car wash w/ two bucket method and grit guards in each
⁃ Sheepskin wash mitt
⁃ Griots wheel and tire cleaners
⁃ Simple Green 10:1 for the wheel wells and undercarriage items, ( I am a stickler for what a person can see of the bottom of car when they are behind me )
⁃ Wheel woolies and mirco-fiber mitt for use only on wheels couple with a contoured tire brush for tires
⁃ Griots 6" and 3" DA polishers
⁃ LC CCS pads - white, blue for the 6" DA and I used the 3" orange Griots pad for the smaller DA
⁃ Griots Machine polish #3
⁃ Griots Fine cut hand polish
⁃ Griots Waffle Weave drying towels
⁃ Griots Paint Cleaning Clay w/ speed shine as lubricant
⁃ Griots Paint Sealant
⁃ LSP was the new Griots Premium Carnauba Wax
⁃ A ton of micro fiber towels
⁃ Painters tape and towels for masking windows and such
Step One: (cleaning)
I started with getting underneath the vehicle with a trusty paint brush and scrub brush spraying Simple Green all the while agitating to remove road grime, etc. Once rinsed, I then move to the wheels and tires. I will spray wheel first with cleaner and then scrub the tires. By the time I have scrubbed the tires, the wheel cleaner has begun to really loosen up the brake dust, etc. I'll use the wheel woolies and or micro-fiber mitt to clean the wheels, sometimes I will pull the wheels to be sure I get the back sides really clean. Once all the rinsing is done, I then move to fill up my wash / rinse buckets for cleaning the car. Starting at the top, I work from the passenger compartment out to the ends. For example, I will wash the roof then rinse, then windows followed by rinse. After the car is washed, comes the drying.
Step Two: (claying and polishing)
Now I move to clay the car. I have been doing this for a few years now and it has earned a place in my must do column to get great results. I work in small areas and try to move the clay in straight lines. Now on to the polishing. This is where I got the most value from this forum. In the past I had been placing product on my pads and working the paint in a cross hatch pattern, but did so moving the buffer too fast. After watching Mike and others, I learned to really slow my pace down. I had a car years ago that a friend did with a buffer and ended up having it repainted due to some really burned through spots. I wanted to use a polisher, but wanted to keep moving to avoid a repeat of that. Now back to the polishing. I started with Griots Machine 3 and set my DA to 5, working in about an 18" square at a time. When I inspected my work after slowing my pace down and allowing the product to work, I was delighted. I made about 4 passes on the entire car with the exception of the front half of the hood and bumper. I pulled out the orange pad and worked these areas going over about 6 passes. This effort removed all but a little trace of the scratches from some debris that fell off a truck, hitting my car in the process. The Griots polish seemed to work okay, but I feel I had to work at it to get the results I wanted. Now this was their light polish, so maybe for those deep marks in the paint, I should have used their #2 polish. I've read about dusting with some polishes on the forum and will say that the #3 polish did create some dust, not bad, but did notice it more than what I had seen of other polishes used in the videos. Once the polishing was done, I moved the car outside to wash it down with soap to remove the dust and any residual polish.
Step Three: ( sealant )
I used the LC Blue CCS pad to apply the sealant to car, setting my 6" polisher to 2 on the speed setting. I then allowed the product to dry per instructions. Griots states to wait about an hour, where you should be able to buff off. I found that the sealant was still streaking after the finger test at about 2 hours. Now this may have been due to the humidly and temperatures in Charleston, SC. It did finally buff off at about 2.5 hours easily, leaving a smooth glossy finish.
Step four: ( the final touches )
After waiting overnight, I proceeded to layer two coats of Griots new premium carnauba was over the sealant. This wax went on very smooth. I used a 3" red foam wax pad, applying this by hand. I worked in a 2 x 2 square and tried to apply in straight lines. Waiting a about 10 mins, I buffed off. This is how Griots recommends, to avoid having the product dry. The wax came off very easily, leaving a great shine in the process. I then took care of tires and trim with Griots vinyl/ rubber protectant.
Overall, I am pleased with the results. Slowing down my polishing has resulted in getting rid of the marks that kept me up nights wondering how to remove them. Griots products seemed to do okay and we fairly easy to work with. I have my eye on some different vinyl/plastic trim product and one for the tires, the Griots vinyl/rubber product is just too glossy for me. I am also going to get M205 and try it next time to see if it is a little better for those finishes with mild to little scratches.
Below are some pics and link to a video I shot. My apologies for so few pics, but the clouds were forming as I rolled the car out of the garage. There were even a a few sprinkles falling as I took the last. Weather man said only 20% chance. Guess I will have to plan on getting some better in the sun pics later.
Detail_jetta - YouTube (http://youtu.be/Rx-WzDQwyQg)
Through the site, I learned that I was doing a good many things correctly, however, there were those things I was not. I am now applying what I have learned to properly detail my 2012 Jetta GLi. I'll list out below the steps I took. The product line I used was Griots Garage as my family has bought me this for my b-days and Christmas presents.
Equipment and products:
⁃ Griots car wash w/ two bucket method and grit guards in each
⁃ Sheepskin wash mitt
⁃ Griots wheel and tire cleaners
⁃ Simple Green 10:1 for the wheel wells and undercarriage items, ( I am a stickler for what a person can see of the bottom of car when they are behind me )
⁃ Wheel woolies and mirco-fiber mitt for use only on wheels couple with a contoured tire brush for tires
⁃ Griots 6" and 3" DA polishers
⁃ LC CCS pads - white, blue for the 6" DA and I used the 3" orange Griots pad for the smaller DA
⁃ Griots Machine polish #3
⁃ Griots Fine cut hand polish
⁃ Griots Waffle Weave drying towels
⁃ Griots Paint Cleaning Clay w/ speed shine as lubricant
⁃ Griots Paint Sealant
⁃ LSP was the new Griots Premium Carnauba Wax
⁃ A ton of micro fiber towels
⁃ Painters tape and towels for masking windows and such
Step One: (cleaning)
I started with getting underneath the vehicle with a trusty paint brush and scrub brush spraying Simple Green all the while agitating to remove road grime, etc. Once rinsed, I then move to the wheels and tires. I will spray wheel first with cleaner and then scrub the tires. By the time I have scrubbed the tires, the wheel cleaner has begun to really loosen up the brake dust, etc. I'll use the wheel woolies and or micro-fiber mitt to clean the wheels, sometimes I will pull the wheels to be sure I get the back sides really clean. Once all the rinsing is done, I then move to fill up my wash / rinse buckets for cleaning the car. Starting at the top, I work from the passenger compartment out to the ends. For example, I will wash the roof then rinse, then windows followed by rinse. After the car is washed, comes the drying.
Step Two: (claying and polishing)
Now I move to clay the car. I have been doing this for a few years now and it has earned a place in my must do column to get great results. I work in small areas and try to move the clay in straight lines. Now on to the polishing. This is where I got the most value from this forum. In the past I had been placing product on my pads and working the paint in a cross hatch pattern, but did so moving the buffer too fast. After watching Mike and others, I learned to really slow my pace down. I had a car years ago that a friend did with a buffer and ended up having it repainted due to some really burned through spots. I wanted to use a polisher, but wanted to keep moving to avoid a repeat of that. Now back to the polishing. I started with Griots Machine 3 and set my DA to 5, working in about an 18" square at a time. When I inspected my work after slowing my pace down and allowing the product to work, I was delighted. I made about 4 passes on the entire car with the exception of the front half of the hood and bumper. I pulled out the orange pad and worked these areas going over about 6 passes. This effort removed all but a little trace of the scratches from some debris that fell off a truck, hitting my car in the process. The Griots polish seemed to work okay, but I feel I had to work at it to get the results I wanted. Now this was their light polish, so maybe for those deep marks in the paint, I should have used their #2 polish. I've read about dusting with some polishes on the forum and will say that the #3 polish did create some dust, not bad, but did notice it more than what I had seen of other polishes used in the videos. Once the polishing was done, I moved the car outside to wash it down with soap to remove the dust and any residual polish.
Step Three: ( sealant )
I used the LC Blue CCS pad to apply the sealant to car, setting my 6" polisher to 2 on the speed setting. I then allowed the product to dry per instructions. Griots states to wait about an hour, where you should be able to buff off. I found that the sealant was still streaking after the finger test at about 2 hours. Now this may have been due to the humidly and temperatures in Charleston, SC. It did finally buff off at about 2.5 hours easily, leaving a smooth glossy finish.
Step four: ( the final touches )
After waiting overnight, I proceeded to layer two coats of Griots new premium carnauba was over the sealant. This wax went on very smooth. I used a 3" red foam wax pad, applying this by hand. I worked in a 2 x 2 square and tried to apply in straight lines. Waiting a about 10 mins, I buffed off. This is how Griots recommends, to avoid having the product dry. The wax came off very easily, leaving a great shine in the process. I then took care of tires and trim with Griots vinyl/ rubber protectant.
Overall, I am pleased with the results. Slowing down my polishing has resulted in getting rid of the marks that kept me up nights wondering how to remove them. Griots products seemed to do okay and we fairly easy to work with. I have my eye on some different vinyl/plastic trim product and one for the tires, the Griots vinyl/rubber product is just too glossy for me. I am also going to get M205 and try it next time to see if it is a little better for those finishes with mild to little scratches.
Below are some pics and link to a video I shot. My apologies for so few pics, but the clouds were forming as I rolled the car out of the garage. There were even a a few sprinkles falling as I took the last. Weather man said only 20% chance. Guess I will have to plan on getting some better in the sun pics later.
Detail_jetta - YouTube (http://youtu.be/Rx-WzDQwyQg)