hmmm ... mine fit like they were custom made in China. No floating DG for me. Perhaps they released a mutant strain of orange buckets or maybe it is the prevalence of growth hormones in the beef.

 

doesn't grit guard fit in all standard round buckets?

and yes, clay away on a new car is fine.
(given that it was not repaired at the port or at the dealer... )

 

Correct, but I am willing to wager there is little difference, perhaps we could ask the dirt. Even so, are you telling me that the extra plastic on that dirt guard is that much more expensive (2x) than the grit guard?

Me think not.

 

I'd like to see some high res shots of this wonderous paint, clean, and in the noon sun. Either you are lying or you don't know what you are looking at. Besides, isnt this an odd forum for a guy who rubs diapers on his car to be hanging out in?

 

If you haven't seen a Dirt Guard in person then obviously you can't make the distinction.

Just the same way, if you don't understand the difference between the Grit Guard and Dirt Guard, how can you make an informed decision, except base it on speculation?

As for floating DG's--this is also true for Grit Guards. I bought an orange Home Depot bucket and had both my DG and GG floating. Throw a mitt on top and it sinks. One way to find out if the bucket will have problems is to take your DG or GG to the store and fit it before you buy. Then you can be certain whether it fits well or not. There are definitely variations in how they are manufactured. The instructions on the DG says it fits MOST 3.5 to 5 gallon buckets--not all.

Hydro and Chamois
Depending on your paint type, using Hydro every time you wash might be excessive. For my Jet Black paint, touching the paint the least is the best way to be minimize cobb webs and swirls. Unfortunately that's impossible when using Hydro.

For me, I prefer to sheet the water and blot, on some washes and intersperse that with a Hydro process maybe every other or second wash.

From Wikipedia
Witchcraft (from Old English wiccecræft "sorcery, necromancy"), in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers.

I can guarantee you that neglect, automatic car washes, and poor technique will lead to paint that doesn't look perfect. However, train your eyes not to see imperfections, holograms, towel scratches, towel marrings, swirls, and see only gloss and reflection--then yes, your paint will look great to you. Witchcraft and sorcery??No. Selective Viewing?? Maybe.

 

Richard,
I love your work and videos and tips..you are, in short, "the man." But the dirt guard, difference or not, is overpriced, especially in comparison to the $7 piece I have that works wonderfully.

BTW, great response. lhoboy, still waiting for those pics!

 

can't you just weight down the DG or GG so it doesn't float?

as far as GG, can't you just epoxy it on the bucket bottom? it's basically
just a grill... no? you can still rinse the bucket with a hose..

 

Yep I've heard of people using weights to keep them down. I just use buckets that fit properly. =)

I guess you could make it permanent. Never really thought about that though. But can't think of any serious drawbacks really.

 

Well some people buy $60 buckets for gawd's sake - why quibble over $8 if there is even a chance one product may have an edge over another?
I know for a fact that the DG captures more dirt than the GG. I have both, tested them side-by-side, and the DG trapped more and finer grit.
It doesn't really matter to me what you choose to buy, but know that the DG is not just a more expensive GG - it works better. Now make your own choice. My response, as all my responses have been here on NAM, is simply what I recommend, what I have discovered or what I know.
You can lead a horse to water ... but you can't make it fly.

 

And every time I look at my car!

 

LOL!

 

so, MPIIIman, when do we expect to see some picts of your
freshly detailed MINI?

 

Well my goods from DP should be arriving today.
I have the day off tomorrow, and plan on waking up nice and early to start the shining. Then it's off for a weekend road trip to Indiana.

 

ahhh, sounds like a perfect time to detail.

 

It's 9:30 at night. I'm sitting here staring at these shiny prima bottles, contemplating on washing my car now. I know my neighbors would be like. "Would you look at this crazy $%#%#"

It's either wash it now, or get up at the butt crack of dawn on my day off.

 

If you wash it now, you may as well do your clay too. Once it is clayed, doing the polish is not that long plus if you got the polish done you can just go a head and wax.
That way you can go to bed at the butt crack of dawn on your day off instead of getting up then.

 

if i started now i would probably continue detailing until it was 8am.

...so, long story short, go to bed early and get up early.

 

Well I decided to do the dishes instead.
No I did not use Hydro on the dishes

MiniMaybee, I did not get the clay, I figure I will do that in a month or so.

I forgot to pick up some Dawn to strip down the wax the dealer put on, so think I'll run out and get that now so I have everything for the morning.

My process will be:
Two buckets
Wash with Dawn to strip the wax.
Empty buckets and start with fresh water.
Wash with Mystique (might be a waste?)
Spray on Hydro.
Dry to a shine.
Detail the interior.

 

Hmm now I'm having thoughts of picking up either some Mother's or Meguiar's Clay and go ahead and do that too.

Just not sure I'm going to have time to do all this as I have to leave around 1:00.

I really wanted to use Epic after I clayed the car too, and I don't have any.

 

mother's clay works fine, but it's pretty brittle.

 

Meguiar's clay isn't too bad. Cheep and available too.

 

All done with this mornings detail.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...y.php/cat/2124

I didn't do the Clay, next month I shall.

 

Now thats a clean looking MINI. Nice work!

 

Drove down to Indiana this afternoon, when I arrived my car looked like it did this morning. Very dirty.

Luckily I brought the bottle of Slick and it took 5 minutes to get all the bugs and dust off without a whole lot of effort.

That's some good stuff right there.

 

Works great on your teeth too.