Anyone feel like answering a boatload of questions?

**UncleDavy** · 08-24-2019, 07:44 PM

You have started on a journey of detailing that will eventually turn into a passion and then an obsession. You have a good plan and a good start. You definitely want to complete that entire process with a coating, sealant or wax in order to protect all of that hard work. A carnauba wax will look great but may only provide 1 or 2 months of protection. Collinite 845 is a great choice. It is a wax that protects and lasts like a sealant and you can get up to 6 months of protection out of it.
For the wash process, you want something that will rinse cleanly without leaving any conditioners or residue behind. Meguiars Hyperwash, Griots Brilliant Finish and CarPro Reset are good choices. You will also want to add a chemical decontamination step by using something like Iron X.
Keep in mind that you will not have go through this entire process every week. It's generally good practice to machine polish your vehicle about once a year. Taping off any black plastic or rubber trim is a very good idea. Polish and wax residue can be a pain to remove once the vehicle is completed.

**MarkD51** · 08-24-2019, 08:32 PM

Before I cam to this forum back in 2012, I probably had a good 30 years or so of detailing experience. (I'm now 64)

I knew how to use Rotary Polishers, the cheaper old fashioned "jiggle machine" Orbital Waxers, Polishes, Glazes, and a myriad of waxes, sealants, tire dressings, engine cleaners, on and on.

And I've had some sweet rides in my day to care for which dictated a need to learn.

Car care can be as easy, or as complicated as you wish to go. There was a time in the past, there was no D/A Machines, no Clay Bars, or Clay Substitutes, Ceramic Coatings, Estate Waxes, Rain Repellants. on and on.

I got by, and did good. Simoniz, Blue Coral, Boat Wax, Meguiars, small factory made goodies.

One important key, "think clean". Rome wasn't built in a day, take your time, and enjoy the processes and the final results you get.

With my vehicles that I've owned, I'd maybe one day just set out to do an interior detail, vacuum, clean seats, dash, door panels, door jambs and finish with some kind-brand of protectant and that's it! No more. Except maybe spraying some car perfume, and/or hanging one of those Christmas Tree Scents as the icing on the cake.

I never sweated the such little details of having to have my Paint Surface NASA Room Clean, before applying a wax. IMO, such insane obsession can be harmful to one's mental health! LOL Just crazy, and at times, it just really isn't worth it to worry yourself over such crazily obsessive things.

All I knew, and when living in the Midwest for so many years, her comes October, November, it's time to get some good wax on the car, and get ready to face another winter of snow and salts. Because when the cold came what was I going to do then? It's 5-10 degrees out! :-)

All of us have our own game plans, of how we like doing things.

I'll never be as good as many detailers here, never be in the realm of say our Forum Master Detailer and host, Mike Phillips. That doesn't bother me that I won't.

"A man has got to know his Limitations". LOL

Enjoy this forum, and take from it what you wish and need! It will all come, and get better in due time. Nobody here ever became a master detailer overnight.

**SWETM** · 08-25-2019, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by Vinny Tomaso

Thank you for taking the time to write this up. Very informative. Gonna take some time to absorb and research all your points.

Also you have added a ton of stuff to my shopping list, including a Pressure washer which has been on my wish list for a good few years. (Electric) I have read exactly as you say about the CG products, unfortunately i read them after purchasing my kit lol. Its fine though ill use em up on my wifes car and buy the good stuff for my own lol.

What is meant by pre wash? To me pre wash then wash means wash twice lol. Are there pre wash products? OH and good call on the car wash soap, i do indeed use a soap/caranauba wax mix (which im guessing is no better than just soap) but yea it has additives.

Thanks for reminding me about winterizing, i almost forgot about winder as it only lasts 5 months here in Montreal lol. But yea ill get a more durable wax or sealer. Ill be looking deeper into the collinite as ive seen multiple suggestions.

Seriously appreciate everyone help, Waxing a car seemed so simple before lol.

Know first that the prewash is a little different from what's in the US and EU. The biggest difference is that most have a PW at home. And my own thought about that is the difference on the electric outlets we have as standards. The US and don't know if Canada also have the 110v electric outlets as standard. And in the EU we have the 220v-240v electric outlets as standard. This is just on the edge for the 110v PW is able to be getting real effective to use as a tool to clean with. A gas PW has the power from it to cut down on the time it takes to be doing prewash and clean rinsing it off with it. Then you have the noice levels with a gas PW even if a electric PW is not so quiet either. My recommendation is to get the most powerfull PW you can get on the 110v electric outlets. It's useally I think 1800psi and 1.7gpm or 1400psi and 2.0gpm. If you only be useing the PW to wash the car go with the 2.0gpm and if you are going to be doing work around the house get the one with 1.6-1.7gpm. As you useally needs more water pressure around the house and when you wash your vehicals the more gpm does it more effective. To compare I have Kärcher K7 PW which is one of the higher specs you can have on the 220v-240v electric outlets. It's 2600psi and 2.6gpm.

Man I always get to write long posts LOL. A prewash foam IMO and IME is one that you foam on and let it dwell and then clean rinsing it off with the PW. This prewash foam you normaly don't have lubrication in them to do touch washes with it. So it's their to clean and release the dirt and contaminants so it rinse off and if not the water pressure from the PW spray it off. This for me is to minimize the dirt left on the car before I do the bucket wash. The results you see in the rinse bucket when doing a 2bm wash. Even during the winter months here in Sweden with all of the road salt on the roads and that gets on the vehicals. The rinse bucket is almost clean after a wash for me. During the summer months this is a way to do a touchless wash at home and every 3-4 weeks do a 2bm wash. So we have a larger options of prewash products here in the EU. The ones that I think is in the good range of products with these here on AGO is. Gyeon Foam and Gtechnic W4 Citrus Foam and Griots Garage BOSS foaming surface wash. It's not necessary to be a prewash foam as you can use diluted degreasers to spray it on the car. 3D Orange 88 Degreaser is one of them. During the winter it's the road salt and road film. And during the summer months it's the bug squash and road film. This the prewash takes care for me. Then the foam is a benefit to get a longer dwell time which makes the chemicals more effective. This step takes me around 15-20 minutes to do and then it's 5-10 minutes of dwell time in that time. Everything gets easier to clean after this prewash as wheels and wheel wells and paint and trim and rubber seals. With a great protection it's even easier and faster. So much is depending on the environment you live in and what kind of dirt and contaminants you have there. But if already are going to be pre-rinse any loose dirt off this is not so much in time extra needed.

Here are a before picture and a foam picture and then how the PW cleaning it up. I do the prewash the other way around than when rinsing off the car soap. The prewash I start from the bottom and work my way up. Here I did a test with lightly rinse any loose dirt off with the PW. Then applyied the prewash foam and PW clean rinsing it off. To see how effective the prewash foam is for me during the winter.

The before.

The after the pre-rinse

The foam dwelling.

Here I have cleaned with the water pressure from the PW with one pass and back and forth beside each other.

It don't take that much time when you have it dialed in.

Yeah test the CG polishes out first and see what results you are getting. If you do 3 steps with the finest polish last with a finishing foam pad you can get reasonable results. It's just more work with useally an extra or 2 steps with polishing with them. But do get another brands polishes from here and you will see a big difference between them.

**Vinny Tomaso** · 08-27-2019, 09:07 AM

Thanks SWETM for all the help. So i ended up making another big order. Electric Pressure washers here all seem to be 1500-1900 psi and 1.2-1.7 gpm. 1.7-1.8 is rare, but these units did not have quick connect tips, or were much pricier than i was willing to spend. I ended up with a sunJoe spx3500 which is 2300psi (2000 continuous working psi) and 1.5 gpm. Noise is a concern for me and this unit has an induction motor so that was a big selling point.

I also bought the Griots Brilliant finish as you suggested, problem is Amazon sent me the wrong product. I got the 64oz version which has colour enhancers. Is this a big problem? Im gonna keep it since i paid 1/3 the cost of what it sells for and i can just use it for regular washes. Should i re-order the right bottle? Oh and i bought the colinite 845 and ferrex (like ironX) cause it was 1/3 cheaper and got great reviews.

Has anyone from Canada ordered from AGO? Were you slapped with duties/brokerage etc?

Thanks for the suggestions MarkD51, interior detail is definitely on my short list aswell, we use LOADS of salt in the winter here and in just one winter i already have some pretty awful salt stains near the pedals.

**MarkD51** · 08-27-2019, 09:25 AM

I'm no big expert on Pressure Washers, but 2300psi, even 2000psi continual does seem quite high to me.

I'd definitely practice with it on some other things first, and perhaps adjust if possible and needed.

We surely wouldn't want to see you come back here in few weeks saying you blasted the trim off your ride, or worse yet the paint! LOL

Good Floor Mats are a worthy expenditure, salts, and wear and tear are really hard on Interior Carpeting

**Vinny Tomaso** · 08-27-2019, 10:50 AM

Seriously? SWETM mentioned his pw is 2600psi, id have liked more gpm than 1.5 but the highest i found was near 1.8. Although many reviews i read on those didn't believe those numbers.

**SWETM** · 08-27-2019, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Vinny Tomaso

Seriously? SWETM mentioned his pw is 2600psi, id have liked more gpm than 1.5 but the highest i found was near 1.8. Although many reviews i read on those didn't believe those numbers.

You will be fine with the Sunjoe 3500 PW. Sure you can make damage with a PW. But then you would be like 1-2" from the car with a sharp angle nozzle tip. You will be finding the sweet spot for your PW with the nozzle tip you are useing which distance this is. The only paint damage would be on the paint that is already flakeing. I have washed my car and another one the winter that where in a wash bay where semi-trucks washes. Got surprised when I looked at the water pressure as it where only 1400psi. But this 2 PW one for each side of the wash bay is on 400v. And it's around 6-7gpm and that if you are not carefull can blow off trim parts if you get too close. Even I need to be haveing a good stance when pulling the trigger handle or you can get off balance. My stepfather was with me one time and he almost falled to the ground first time he used it. So bigger gas PW or industrial PW can be very aggressive from the water pressure. But these smaller ones if you hold them a half to 1 foot away with a 15-25 degree nozzle tip. They are very safe to use on a vehical. Use some common sense with that and you will be totaly safe. And with useing the PW like this and you where to damage something on the vehical. IMO it's where ready to happen anyways. Think of all of the wind it's on a vehical in higher speeds. And stay away from the 0 degree nozzle tip and any kind of turbo nozzle tip on vehicals. Even with the smaller specs PW these can damage the paint. Cleaning stones and concrete and patio stones they are very usefull and effective.

Know this maybe sounds a little aggressive. But if you are going to be useing a PW as you use a hose with. Just use it to rinse off any products on the vehical from a long distance so the water pressure don't have the ability to clean anything. Then stick with the hose as it's more effective to do that honestly. When I had a smaller specs PW at 1500psi and 1.2gpm I would disconnect the hose and rinse off the car soap with it instead of the PW as it where more effective doing so. Now I don't bother to do that as it's about the same effectiveness with the PW I have now. Take advantage of the extra cleaning ability you get from a PW to clean with almost like you where wiping with a wash media. See which distance you get the cleaning ability from and move away and you see which distance you loose the cleaning ability. There you have the sweet just a little closer to that. And don't get me started on that you should not have a higher water pressure from the PW than 1000psi. That seems to be a standard these day. IMO the people get a very ineffective PW to clean with if you don't have a PW that has 2.5gpm and up. And team that with a 40 degree nozzle tip and with lower specs gpm and you could put on a shower handle on the hose and get more cleaning from that. LOL getting wind up here know LOL. But also if you live in an environment that you get away with a hose to rinse off any loose dirt and still your rinse bucket don't seems to be dirty afterwards is great. Do that on a vehical loaded with road salt accumulated for a month maybe when it's been so cold you have not been able to wash it. Then you take all of the advantages you can get to get that muck off before touching it with a wash media. And an effective prewash actually help to desolve the road film that year around on the roads. With useing a high water pressure you get that off easy. So less aggitations is needed when you do the wash. Maybe overkill idk I go after what I see when useing different methods and products. Even a little over a week and also quite a loot of rain. I could visual see the difference where I cleaned with the PW. Had an old gentleman stopped by and asked was I where doing when foaming on the prewash LOL. When he stopped by again a couple of days later he was amazed that the paint was left on the car LOL. This new effective things there is today was his more serious comment. With how cleaned the paint looked after the prewash he would'nt bother to bucket wash it. And sometimes I don't but then it's strictly blowdrying with the leafblower and needs to be a great hydrophobic caractics from the LSP left. With a totaly failed LSP that was then and nope it gets washed if there is little something I missed.

If you want to be extra carefull to be über safe. You can pull the trigger handle on the PW either your self or another one. Put your hand in the water from a yard away and move the hand to the nozzle tip. When the water pressure starts to hurt your hand you stop and you have a safe distance to hold where it hurt your hand and the nozzle tip. This is a very safe distance and no problem to go a little closer either. Look at the cleaning ability you want.

**Vinny Tomaso** · 08-29-2019, 06:43 PM

Question, i ordered griots brilliant finish but amazon mistakenly sent me the version with colour enhancers. Is this gonna be an issue? Will it affect polish/wax/ironx etc?

**SWETM** · 08-30-2019, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by Vinny Tomaso

Question, i ordered griots brilliant finish but amazon mistakenly sent me the version with colour enhancers. Is this gonna be an issue? Will it affect polish/wax/ironx etc?

Was it the GG Brilliant Finish Car Wash you got instead of the GG Brilliant Finish Rinsless Wash? The Car Wash leaves glossenhancer behind. Since you are not going to be coating your I think that you will be fine. It's very little of these left behind. But on some high hydrophobic LSP like ceramic coatings it can be clogging the hydrophobic caractics. And will not interfear with the most waxes and sealants. So think that washing with it on your Collinite 845 will be fine. And no problem to use when you decon wash before a polishing. So if you are satisfied with the cleaning ability and lubrication from it and that the gloss you get from it is great. Go ahead and use it.