MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring

cadfael_tex · #1 05-12-2009, 12:53 PM

I would like to take care of my poor Mini but at the moment (and for forseeable future) won't have a full day or two to do the whole polish and wax routine. Now I've gone the route of getting started and then not finishing do to rain or work or whatever and that is discouraging.

I read on here from one of you regulars (you know who yor are) that he does it in sections - ie does the full process on say one door then the next panel.

Any warnings or tips on doing it this way? Any better strategies? I'm going to need a full polish because I've got a lot of swirls after a move during a tough winter and a few months of paint neglect.
So, what do you guys do when you don't have time to spend on your mini's and they need attention?

**lotsie** · #2 05-12-2009, 01:08 PM

I guess that would be me

I'm in the middle of doing a set of wheels, so here is the quick notes.

Wash the whole car. Strip wax if needed on, say 1/2 the roof. Clay the area, polish, wax. Next day, light wash if needed, strip/clay/polish/wax,......

I Black Wow the whole car first. If I'm under 3 days for the whole car, I do a second coat of wax, Epic in my case. Wait a day, then Banana Gloss the whole car. If I'm more than 3-4 days, I skip the second Epic, and just BG. By then bad things are probably on the paint, so I don't want to seal them in long term.

Biggest thing, make sure the car is CLEAN for each session, as you will tend to overlap sections.

Mark

kenchan · #3 05-12-2009, 01:12 PM

i donno. if i was in a rush to "detail", (no such thing as
rush to detail) i would probably skip the entire polish step
and just clay, Amigo, wax... and call it a day.

and it will look real nice just from that.

RandomGemini · #4 05-12-2009, 01:15 PM

Just time yourself and see how long it takes you to do each piece from start to finish, for example... wash and wax exterior. Wash and wax the wheels. Interior detailing... etc. Then when you find yourself with enough time available for a given task, use it.

I think the important thing is to keep the day to day build up off, so if you get time once a week to do a quick wash and quick detail and then once a month do to an OCD detail/clay... then you'll be good to go.

You could also start searching around for a good local detail shop that can do it all for you once a month or so.

cadfael_tex · #5 05-12-2009, 01:40 PM

Thanks for the input. Yeah, Lotsie, thought it was you but couldn't remember for sure. Can't really skip the polish step unfortanately because the passenger door and boot are in a right state after some bad neighbors in the car park and lots of opening and closing during the move in December.

**lotsie** · #6 05-12-2009, 03:20 PM

Work, what you feel are the worst sections first. Then move on.

Mark

CR&PW&JB · #7 05-12-2009, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenchan

i donno. if i was in a rush to "detail", (no such thing as
rush to detail) i would probably skip the entire polish step
and just clay, Amigo, wax... and call it a day.

and it will look real nice just from that.

That's pretty much what I would do.

Wash, Clay, Amigo, Epic, BG.

cadfael_tex · #8 05-12-2009, 05:32 PM

I'm not necessarily in a rush, just don't have large blocks of time to devote to the project. If id did the Amigo, Epic, etc I'd still have to do it in blocks. The polish would only add about 10 minutes per panel probably.

RandomGemini · #9 05-12-2009, 05:50 PM

Then just do it one panel at a time as you have time, reserving larger panels for when you have more time to work on them, and as the other poster suggested start with the worst areas first and work your way around the car... and I guess... you could just keep it as an ongoing project...