as some of you know im deployed to iraq now and was needing some advise on getting athena done up right after i come back.

 

Not sure how long you've been gone, but Prima products are all the rage here at NAM these days. You can get them from Detailer's Paradise or Show Car Detailing.

If you go whole hog, you'll be washing with Mystique, claying with Slick, polishing with Swirl and waxing with Epic.

Also all the rage is Black Wow, a trim detailer developed by NAM's own OctaneGuy and available at Show Car Detailing. Put some of that on all the trim after you wash to keep it looking like new for months.

Add a few beverages of your choice and I imagine you'll have a very relaxing day considering what you've probably been going through! (Thank you for that, by the way!)

 

Wjere was it stored?
Are you concerned about its appearance in terms of swirl marks?
What colour is it?
What part of the country do you live in?
Will you garage it every night?
Do you drive it daily?
Do you have the time to wax it 1x a month, or only 1x every 6 months? Or, something in between?
How much do you want to spend on products? Prices can range from 80-350 dollars for basic to full detailing setups.

yup. without those questions answered, you cannot recommend anything yet.

 

all that sounds about what i was thinking, and youre welcome

 

I recommend something that only a couple of people on here use.

Griot's Best of Show liquid wax. If you can do it monthly, the wax lasts longer than that. It is one of the best looking waxes out there. If you can wax it monthly, and do not have a real winter, I would stick with carnauba. There is nothing, not anything, that looks as good as it. For metallics it really really shows the depth of colour. nothing like it.

Some will say go Epic, but eh, if you wax it every 4.5 weeks, I wouldnt bother really. Synthetics are for durability. natural wax protects just the same, it just cannot last longer than 3 months ever. Paste waxes can last longer, or shorter, depending on the brand.

The next question is: Would you want to get into using a porta cable random orbital machine to buff out the fine swirls? It looks like the polishing product Swirl from detailersparadise is a one step polisher system. that, and various pads, can do just about anything it seems. I am not into that yet as my paint is really in good shape still.

my recommendation for a list of things to get, if you are starting from scratch (anyone feel free to edit it)
1. 2, 5 gallon wash buckets - usplastics.com are really nice people as well have matching to your car buckets
2. 2 Grit Guards. there are a couple of types. they go in bottom of bucket, very important to knock off dust/sand/glass/rock particles from your wash mitt and keep them at bottom.
3. Wool Wash mitt
4. Dedicated car soap. It does not matter which you get. It just does not. Some are nicer than others. I liked griot's car soap in a gallon. Meguiars gold class can be found cheap. You only want a special soap if your wax is built to use that soap as a booster (some soaps have synthetic boosters for using with sythetic waxes, example: Mystique)
5. Read the forums for a long time. Lots of tips and tricks here.
6. Get Claybar. get the cheapest per ounce you can find, or one that sounds cool.
7. Get a quick detailing spray. Most waxes have a matching spray. Use this with claybar, or to shine up after a wash, or get bird poop off in between washes.
8. never quick detail your car between washes. QD spraying is meant for garaged cars, show cars, things that never saw dirt, just some dust. It will scratch your paint. I do not care what anyone says on here, it will. Yours is an outdoor car. (like mine)
9. Get a wax that looks cool that people on forums approve of. Natural: P21S, One Grand, Griot's Best of show. Unnatural: Epic, Klasse all-in-one... some more but none use much more than this on here.
10. You will need something to prep the paint chemically. Something like Griot's Paint prep (dont like it, but it works), P21S paintwork cleanser (probably the best all arounder), OR! Amigo from detailersparadise.com. Amigo is meant for Epic system. Looks cool, sounds cool, never used it yet.
11. Get a set of HIGH quality microfibre towels. You will need like 6-10 of them. one drops on the floor, goes in wash, another you use for this, another for that, youll go through a lot in one session of obsessing.
11b. I forgot, you should get a Waffle Weave drying towel. Always get 2. if you drop one, you cant finish your car until you wash with laundry detergent it and dry it fully. yay :(
12. You do NOT need an after wash spray wax or synth. wax booster. 1x a month waxing is great. Some qd spray for a 1-2 minute buff and shine after a wash is good, in my opinion, for your situation.
13. You need some sort of wheel cleaner. Get only those talked about on forums. There is Sonus, Griot's in a gallon, P21S gel, hm. That is good enough to know about.
14. Applicators for your goop. Foam or microfibre applicator for wax. another to put on interior goop. another to make your exterior black plastic/rubber shine. natural wax likes the microfibre ones from Sonus I found. synth I dont think cares.
15. Glass cleaner. Just get one that doesnt harm tinted windows. That will just make it fine then for any application and safe if you overspray. There are some on here who are very into detailersparadise.com's Clarity spray and towel. I hear it is the best and the fastest. I'm too cheap to hop that fence as well.
16. Jeez this is long. I am only doing this for 1 year now. However, I read just about 10,000 posts on the subject and have gleaned a decent amount.
17. Interior protection: You live in a HOT area with a lot of SUN. I would use 303 Aerospace protectant. I just tried it out. holy crap. It is really nice in many ways. fast on and off, no headache or eye irritation (that's a first), mildly matte with a hint of shine (not much). Blocks 100% UV radiation for 30 days solid in a high altitude sun all day situation. That's my style.
18. Interior cleaner: Griot's has a sick one, they call, creatively, Interior Cleaner. Those griot guys sure know how to market. It strips anything off the interior down to the bone, or cleans stuff off fabric that stained. I like it. theres other stuff out there. Some like stoners, Meguiars does it as well for cheap/effective. I use now Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailing Spray. It has some protectant in it, it cleans decently well. It suits me as I clean so often, I just cant sit there and put on 303 every week when the protection lasts 5x longer as that would be silly. Octaneguy got me hooked on MEg's qd spray, works super. I will 303 once a month, but Meguiar's Quik it weekly or when crap gets on stuff.
19. Exterior plastic care. The current best is Black Wow from Octaneguy on here. It is a new product though and not 100% tested throughout the years. Fortunately, it is made from the best possible ingredients by a chemist who develops cosmetics. so, it might just be the best ever. (I put it on my car, almost everyone who is OCD about their car on forums has at this point)

There's more to this.... like a brush for the wheels, wax made for wheels. CHROME POLISH that removes gunk and cloudy surfaces and puts a layer of synth wax on chrome... there's also Glass polish. has mild abrassives plus chemicals to get out water stains, streaks and some road dust pitting/nicks. I use that stuff myself. Works well.

ok that's my thing....
Ask someone like Kenchan for the even more deluxe version of this.

 

thanks for the help man i appreciate it

 

Very cool I hope it all works out.

FYI, I am using the Epic system right now. I would go all griot's natural wax, but it just isnt in the card for a north east, outdoor car. Winter was mild last year up until february. I had days of 55 degrees that I could wax in the middle of January. That will probably not happen again, so I switched to durable synthetic.

Prima Epic line is satisfactory stuff. It can never be carnauba, but it is a safer bet for people in my situation. If i had a garage, I would use the weakest, but prettiest carnauba paste (or liquid) out there.