Okay...

So, I ordered Prima products, and did a wash and Epic wax today

It was surprisingly easy, but time consuming. The microfiber cloths were awesome, and worked the wax well, and polished well too (I used the paradise platinum dual and monster fluffys with 200,000+ threads.

I didn't wash the skinny applicator pads first, which I should have - lint everywhere (very annoying as I worked myself up into full OCD cleaning mode). In particular, the drying cloths left lint caught in the seal for the sunroof, and the applicator pads left lint bits in all the rougher grain exterior/interior trim (where I used Nero).

Here's what I did:
1. Washed all the glass and paint with ordinary dish washing soap, warm water, 2 buckets - 1 soapy, 1 for rinsing. Sheepskin mitt was very soft, but drank up the suds. Nick (Detailer's Paradise) recommended the ordinary wash, as I was going to follow up with a first coat of Epic.

2. Washed the wheels with a wheel brush and old rag to get into the crevices of the spokes (see question at end).

3. Rinsed.

4. Dried with waffle weave drying towels. (left lint in the sunroof seal - my fault )

5. Applied Epic with skinny microfiber pads. (I used 2 - although the car was freshly washed, it got a little windy and some dust blew onto the car - cue OCD panic aghhhhh)

6. While waiting, used Nero/Wizard on exterior trim and Clarity on windows.

7. Buffed off Epic - 1st with small grey microfiber cloth, then with thick white plushy. Awesome.

8. Used Nero on the exterior seals/gutters/wipers.

Grinned. A lot. Checked out my reflection. Compared it with Ryephile's picture (you seemed to set the gold standard ). Felt irritated to see anything at all on my perfectly shined and polished MINI. I should add here that I have never been OCD about my cars, but MINI just creates obsession

Talking of which - is there a trick to getting into the crevices of the wheel lugnuts, and behind the rims for ultimate cleaning?

P.S. Thanks to Heather for the sticky on how to clean the dirty diapers (microfibers).

 

Next time I take the wheels off to rotate them I'm gonna get the backsides but not sure other than that.

 

I usually have good results with just a plain q-tip around the lug nuts, wet with a little of whatever you're cleaning the car with. Only way to really clean the wheels on the inside is to take each one off. If you do that, you'll graduate to the OCD level. I never bother except when I rotate the tires, then I give the insides of each wheel a good scrub.Of course, the wheels will get dirty a day or two after you're done, so it's really a never ending struggle.

 

Yeah you can find some long-handled brushes but you still miss stuff. The easiest way really is to take them off and do it.

Getting around the lug nuts - I use q-tips (fun, I know).

 

When I used to run the webspokes R98, I used a sheepskin wheel brush that was great for washing the back of the wheels, I then used a microfiber wash mitt to wash the places the brush missed and washed area behind the spokes, after the entire wash I would quick detail it down and spray wax it since it's harder to wax behind the spokes, when I had time I would put a coat of Wheel Wax on the barrel of the wheel too!

 

 

Doesn't everyone take each wheel off to clean it when they wash the car each morning before going to worrk?

 

In addition to the Spring & Fall paint full-strip-&-glaze sessions, I pull the wheels one-by-one and clean/claybar/seal them every Spring. I'm not sure if this does anything useful, but it does drive my non-OCD wife absolutely nuts so it's worth the time.

Beautiful wheels there, Alpha.

 

I quick detail my entire car including wheels daily now, or after I drive it!

 

Man, I gotta hand it to you, Alpha, thems the best wheels I've seen. Name is well deserved. Bloody Nora! How may lug nuts are there???

 

16 in all but if I had S-Lites I probably wouldn't have tried to even clean the back of them since it's probably impossible to get to the back of them, the key is to keep them clean, I tried to wash my car every 2 weeks even though I quick detailed almost daily, keeping the back of the wheels clean made is simple to clean off, when I tried cleaning the back of my friend's wheels on his MINI it was already baked on and was really hard to clean off so I didn't bother to try to get it all off as the only way to get it off was probably taking off the wheel.

The brush I used also rocked, but sadly I couldn't find the brush anymore in stores and I found only one supplier online, and I have to admit, even though it was a great sheepskin wheel brush, the thing lasted like 6-7 uses and then it start falling apart, I went through a few of them, I got them for like $2-$3 each online I seen them for around $10 plus shipping, so I've been looking for an alternative to them. I recently picked up a similar wheel brush to the sheepskin one at Pep Boys it's a Microfiber wheel brush, I think it was $4.99 I hope to use it soon, but it looks pretty promising so hopefully it can be a replacement to the sheepskin brush.

I have also seen another solution online on Griots Garage I have yet to try, I plan on ordering one soon if the Microfiber one from Pep Boys doesn't work out, but if you want you can try one of these, the link is here

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...ber+brushes.do

It looks like a good tool to clean the wheels, so I would look into that, in the end, detailing the back of your wheels really add to to the depth of the wheels if you get what I mean !

 

I really liked these wheels, but I wanted something with a lip, these wheels are currently sitting in my garage waiting to be cleaned up, and I'll probably store these so they can see another canyon road/twisty some other day!

 

Thanks for link, Alpha. I may try that griots garage link for the long spongy brush thingy. I could tell that things were not quite as I'd have liked after the cleaning - a bit too murky back there for my liking. I'll probably have another go tomorrow - coz, what else does one do on a Sunday???

 

hey Surlycat, nice going.....sounds like you got the process down pat.....when you are ready to apply Epic againin a few months, I would add the step of claying prior to Epic'ing tho

 

Congrats and nice work!

I've been using those Griot's wheel sticks for a while now and LOVE them... but I have the R91's which are the EASIEST wheels to clean... and Hawk ceramic pads, which make an insane difference in wheel hygiene.

 

[quote=T2Nav;2099312]In addition to the Spring & Fall paint full-strip-&-glaze sessions, I pull the wheels one-by-one and clean/claybar/seal them every Spring. I'm not sure if this does anything useful, but it does drive my non-OCD wife absolutely nuts so it's worth the time.

 

Ummm, yeah. Claying sounds terrifying. I think of bricks and mortar...

 

Claying is actually the easiest, most fun, most satisfying (to me) part of the whole process... as long as the car is clean (washed) before you start, and you don't use clay that you've dropped on the ground, you can't hurt your paint. And it's AMAZING how much crud it removes that is bonded to the clearcoat. But it removes NONE of your paint... just the stuff you don't want...

 

CLAY CLAY CLAY CLAY CLAY CLAY

Mark

 

I sounded just like you the first time I was about to use clay (just under a year ago). As long as you keep the car lubed (just use soapy water), knead it often (to keep from scratching along particles you pick up), and dont drop it you will be fine.

May sound hard, but honestly it is a snap once you start doing it.