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Cleaning/Detailing the Clubman, which package should I buy...
OK all, I'd love some help with this. Before I get into my questions, I will give you a little background. I got "Pep"/my Clubman S about a week ago. Now I live here in the city of Milwaukee and I own a loft condominium that is in a renovated warehouse. I have an outdoor parking spot and obviously no garage/driveway of my own. So washing the car on my own the way I understand it should be done wouldn't be easy. My folks live about 40 minutes away and I work retail so regularly getting up there just to wash is sorta a pain and difficult. On top of that, we don't have the best Winters here for washing your own car. Also, I'm not an expert at washing my own car and quite frankly I'd be worried about claybarring it my own much less buffing it on my own. So the conclusion for me is to go to a local Auto Care Detailing place just around the corner from where I live. Their prices seem reasonable and considering the time I save I think it's worth the money. Still I have some questions and I thought I'd go to you all, the experts.
So before I get into some questions, here is the place's menu of services:
1 Hand Wash & Dry
Car: $15 Truck:$19 Van/SUV $22
2 Tender Car Hand Wash
Hand wash, rinse, dry. Bug & tar removal, interior is vacuumed and windows cleaned. Windows can be exchanged for wheels & tires.
Car: $19.95 Truck/SUV: $24.95 Large Truck/Van/SUV: $29.95
3 Premium Tender Wash (Mini Detail)
Includes Tender Car Hand Wash, Wheels and Tires, Express Wax, Condition all leather, vinyl, plastic. Full window cleaning. Car: $35 Truck: $40 Van/SUV $45 Add carpet shampoo and receive $10 Off
4 Wash and Wax
Protect your paint against fading & dulling. 2 Coats of Carnauba based wax applied by hand and removed by an orbital buffer. 6 month warranty Car: $69 Truck: $79 Van/SUV: $89
5 High Speed Buff and Wax
Add shine and gloss to your paint with this package. 3 stage buff and wax package will reduce scratches and scuffs. *Black vehicles and darker colors should upgrade to diamond gloss for best quality Car: $99 Truck: $109 Van/SUV: $119
6 Diamond Gloss
Make your paint look new without re-painting. Reduce scratches, swirl marks, scuffs, oxidation. Paint is treated with 2 coats of Teflon wax. 1 year warrantied wax protecion. This Package is specially formulated for black and dark colored vehicles OR vehicles that want their paint to look as new as possible. Car: $129 Truck: $145 Van/SUV: 160
OK, so those are the exterior packages. I figure I can handle the interior. So here is what I'm thinking. For starters, I'm going to ask them if they claybar. It's not listed so I'm guessing no, but I'd have them do it every so often. Now that being said, I was thinking of:
1 First time, getting the #4 package "Wash and Wax". I figure it's the #3 package but with the different wax job. I'll have to ask what the "express wax" means from #3, but #4 sounds like what I should be looking for.
2 Every 2-3 weeks I'll get the #2 package.
3 Every 6 months, or even every 3 months, get the #4 package again.
4 Keep the same cycle.
I figure I can handle the interior on my own and I almost don't allow anything in my car and so it should be clean generally.
ANYWAY, sorry for the long opening post on this, but I'd really love to get feedback. Thanks in advance!!!
Difficult to vouch for this company not properly vetted.
IMO, get the Zaino kit and do it yourself. I trust one else when it comes to detailing my MINI, and would never use buffers.
Claying is easier than you think. Spritz surface with the wash lubricant and work the clay onto the wet surface area....My R53 is 6 years old, had all sorts of blemishes from stuff on the surface. One afternoon with the Zaino kit and my MINI's paint looks just as good if not better than it was when it came off the boat.......
Thanks for the reply Raven. Again, thing is, I don't have a good spot to wash my car and on top of that the Winter months here are long and it would difficult.
I guess the question is 'do you want to do it yourself, or pay someone else?'.
Looking at the regime you gave as an example, you'll be paying well over $500 a year to have your car washed. That's a lot of home detail tools a product you could buy.
A regular parking spot is more than sufficient to wash your own car. You could go in a couple of directions, either the 'no rinse' spray cleaners, or a Nomad and a bucket with distilled water in each.
As for claying, think of it as spraying some lube and rubbing a piece of clay on the wet area. Not much to it, and you don't need to do it very often.
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Dnc - A British Expat living in the Netherlands after 2.5 years in Southern California.
'06 MCS - Astro Black on Astro Black: "Black Sunshine"
'02 A6 2.5 TDi Quattro Sport Avant Arctic Silver.
Thanks for the reply Raven. Again, thing is, I don't have a good spot to wash my car and on top of that the Winter months here are long and it would difficult.
You would still be better off finding a warm garage if you really needed to do the Zaino treatment and doing it yourself. Buffers more often than not harm and remove the clear coat fromt he finish. And that can be counterprodctive to your task.
Sounds like a very cool place to live, I love the condo/factory conversions. They have lots of character. In WI, your climates there are very much like our's here in New England.
And since everyone there is in the same predicament, maybe petitioning the condo association for an outdoor washing station for everyone's use during the warmer seasons will help ? A good wide drain - two spickets one for hot & one for cold water, and bucket of sand for days when getting closer to December. And unlike Carnuba wax - the Zaino is sort like the old Simoniz, it will stay on the car for very long time and will go thru winters still protecting your car w/o weekly application and while using the self serve auto wash stations to remove winter grime. Then just spritz and wipe down the car with a bottle of Z6 after the car wash.....
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2003 R53 - DS - 135K + Miles
Parts of MINI NOT Modded ( A Shorter List ) Block/Head/HK Stereo.
I guess the question is 'do you want to do it yourself, or pay someone else?'.
Looking at the regime you gave as an example, you'll be paying well over $500 a year to have your car washed. That's a lot of home detail tools a product you could buy.
A regular parking spot is more than sufficient to wash your own car. You could go in a couple of directions, either the 'no rinse' spray cleaners, or a Nomad and a bucket with distilled water in each.
An option for cleaning I just started using is Optimum No Rinse car wash. All you need is a bucket with 2 gallons and an once of this stuff. Wash it on and then wipe it off and it cleans really well. I've only used it four times but seems to be working really well. There are people on the detailing forums that have been using for years in the pro detailing businesses.
