Critique my first wash and detail

[zombie1991]

Hi all,
Picked up a 21 Jetta in the Habanero orange on tuesday. I am planning to do the first wash and detail it tomorrow. I am introducing a step or two i havent done before, so please critique away.

1. Spray the car down with a pressure washer including the wheels and tires. GREAT
2. apply wheel cleaner and agitate with my brush. Then rinse the wheels GREAT
3. Spray iron remover on the car. GREAT BUT AGITATE WITH PAINT AND BODY BRUSH OR SYNTHETIC CLAY HERE
4. Rinse again with the pressure washer GREAT
5. Apply Meguiars Shampoo with a foam cannon and let it dweel for a bit. GREAT
6. using the two bucket method wash each panel, by applying foam immediately before using the mit. GREAT
7. Dry using Griots PFM. DON’T RINSE AND DRY HERE THOUGH
8. Clay using Griots synthetic clay and Meguiars instant detailer. CLAY THE CAR WITH THE SHAMPOO ON IT THEN RINSE AND DRY(UNLESS CLAYED EARLIER WITH IRON REMOVER THEN NO NEED FOR ANOTHER CLAY UNLESS YOU WANT TO)
9. Perform Paint correcting testing (start with Essence on a rupes yellow)
10. Do most of the car with the least aggressive method , and hit any stubborn spots with compound.
11. Use Gyeon Prep to clear the paint.
12. Apply Griots 3 in one spray ceramic wax
13. Apply second coat the next morning.



Here is where i am a bit uncertain:
1. Clean glass
2. Use Stoners Glass Stripper
3. clean glass again
4. apply RainX

The reason I am not sure, is because applying the wax typically gets overspray on the windshield. I am thinking i should do this very last, but it does require a water rinse. Should i do the scrub during the wash cycle, and just do a final clean and coating after everything is applied?

Do your glass around step 11. 3 in 1 can get on glass and be fine. If RainX gets on it or it on rainx then they’ll add to each other. My other answers are in your quoted post. Love your method.

[briarpatch]

Did I miss the part where you described product/process for cleaning the tires....or are you using a product that will do both...like an APC?

[04lss]

Did I miss the part where you described product/process for cleaning the tires....or are you using a product that will do both...like an APC?

I use adams wheel cleaner and a mothers wheel brush. The car has 150 miles on it so the tires and wheels were practically pristine.

[04lss]

So i have completed the detail. I didnt do "Quite" everything i wanted to do, but the results came out great. What i thought were swirls was either adhesive or some sort of residue that wouldnt come off via clay or washing. An extremely light polish was enough to remove it. once i realized that, i opted to use essence on a rupes yellow pad on my g9, and essence on a griots black pad on my g8 (didnt have a comparable pad to the yellow for that). No compound needed.

The clay process went extremely well, almost 0 dragging or contaminants, the clay had almost 0 dirt on it by the end.

The paint picked up a good bit of clarity and gloss after the polish.

I did end up using a panel wipe before the coating, mainly because there were one or two areas where the poilish didnt wipe off completely. So rather than use instant detailer i just did the prep. We applied the 3 in 1, everywhere. Headlights tail lights door jambs etc. Yesterday i added a second coat to the front bumper and the headlights. I detailed the interior yesterday with some adams interior detailer, mainly because its also a disinfectant, and who knows who test drove that car. The carpet is nicer than expected.

The only thing i wanted to do but couldnt was do a second coat of 3 in 1 over the whole car. Just ran out of time. I do have the griots ceramic wash, so ill just use that once a month to maintain the coating.

[briarpatch]

I use adams wheel cleaner and a mothers wheel brush. The car has 150 miles on it so the tires and wheels were practically pristine.

Now that you have your wheels clean, coat them. It is an extra step you will not regret. I use Cquartz Dlux, and have had very good success. After that, they will clean up with soap and water...you'll pretty much have no need for a dedicated wheel cleaner.

[04lss]

Now that you have your wheels clean, coat them. It is an extra step you will not regret. I use Cquartz Dlux, and have had very good success. After that, they will clean up with soap and water...you'll pretty much have no need for a dedicated wheel cleaner.

my dedicated wheel cleaner is mostly for my s4.I have NEVER in my life seen a car generate that much break dust. ive coated those wheels and while it helps , theres no getting around the need to clean them weekly.