Hi! So, I picked up a new custom ordered 2016 F56 last week. We had an unseasonably warm day today here in St. Louis (High of 72.) So I took the opportunity to get my car all ready for the winter.

I'm new to detailing and MINI Coopers in general, but I'm one of those strange people who has nearly as much fun researching things as I do actually doing the thing that I set out to do. I did a lot of research on detailing, and ultimately settled on products from Adam's Polishes. I love their video library and their general vibe. Good people with a positive message. And of course, their product has an exceptional reputation....



So yeah, I started with the wheels. Used Adam's All Purpose Cleaner on them with Mothers tire and rim brushes. I liked the Mothers rim brush, it worked well. But the tire brush was too bulky and didn't really fit into the wheel well. Will be replacing that sometime. No worries for now, as the tires weren't very dirty.

Next up,I strip washed the car (not sure what the dealer alrealdy put on it, but wanted to start fresh just in case) using both Adam's All Purpose Cleaner and some Adam's Shampoo for suds. Rinsed the car with clean water first. Then with a foam gun ($25 gilmour knockoff from Amazon).

Then washed the car with the two bucket method. Using Adam's Washing Wedge for the top half of the car and a traditional pad for the bottom half.

Next up, I clayed the entire car. The paint was pretty clean still, so this went really quickly.

Then I rinsed the car again and dried it using waffle weave towel.

Next up, I applied Adam's tire dressing.

Then I washed the windows with Adam's window cleaner and then sealed them with Adam's window sealant (then washed again as instructed.)

Next up, I applied Adam's Paint Sealant. Buffed it out after it hazed over, and then spot checked everything with some detail spray when I was finished.

(The interior is still fairly "mint", so just a quick touch up with a towel and vacuum.)

This was a lot of fun and it really only took about 1.5 to 2 hours, even being somewhat of a beginner and going slowly.

The biggest thing that I learned is that I need more towels. Haha! I soaked up one large waffle weave towel pretty quickly, even after rinsing with the sheeting/pooling method.

Anyway, I'm stoked on my new car, I'm stoked on Adam's products, and I'm looking forward to miles and miles of motoring.

Cheers!

 

If you were closer to Portland I'd let you have fun with my mini. Lol

 

If your are getting more microfiber towels I highly recommend getting Korean microfiber. Nothing else even comes close

http://www.theragcompany.com/detailing/

 

I have 5 microfibers now, all Korean made from Adam's. (I had purchased a couple product bundles that made them affordable.) I'll probably get at least "dry me a river" and maybe a couple Eagle edgeless from rag co soon. What are your favorites?

 

sucker

 

Be nice

 

The eagle edge less for sure.

 

To minimize the amount of contact your drying towel makes with the paint invest in a blower. Electric or gas is your choice. You can blow 90% of the water off the car and barely have to use a drying towel.

 

Cool. That seems to be what most people recommend. They have a 5 pack on sale at Amazon for $22 right now. I'll probably pick up a set of those soon. Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the tip! I actually ordered an electric blower a couple days ago. I passed on picking up an additional waffle weave towel, based on the same logic that you presented

 

Another tip on those eagle edgeless towels. The orange ones bleed in the wash. The blue ones don't.

 

I find the gas blower dries it quicker and almost completely. I never touch mine with a towel. Takes about three trips around the car to chase all of the drips and drabs

 

Very nice job.

 

" Next up, I clayed the entire car. The paint was pretty clean still, so this went really quickly. "


That's nice to know , had one come from the factory with a little bit of over-spray, clayed it and it came right off. Might have been the port or dealership location ?

 

I read somewhere that if a car travels by train, that they can pick up rail dust that sticks to the paint. Not sure if the short ride from Oxford to Southampton is enough to add some contamination? Otherwise, yeah maybe the port or dealer? Industrial fallout? In my case, I probably could have skipped that step, but I figured since I was putting on paint sealant, that I'd just go ahead and clay it to be sure that I had as clean of surface as possible.

Like many people, I'm sure that I'll be overly **** about keeping my car pristine for the first year or so (didn't someone already call me a sucker?), and then get lazier and lazier about. In the meantime, I'm looking for any excuse to spend time with my first MINI

 

yep, I would do it to make sure, you can rub the back of your hand on the paint when they are new and feel it, used to do body work on high end cars. So i know about this

Rail just runs from SH to the port unless your MINI goes from Oxford to Main europe then it goes rail most of the way. Sometimes open car. When the MINI gets to port it will set and the port is a busy busy place ( been to Jersey city? its busy ), then its gets loaded and coated , then into the VDC USA possible three locations. When it gets to VDC , cleaned up and sets sometimes . Then goes by the those double covered trailers to your dealerships , then sets. So there are many possible locations in your cars travel that it can get overspray. At the VDC they paint sometimes, but its closed off and sometimes they send them to Spartenburg , SC for repair. Seen it with RR and MINI. Most of the time the VDC will paint if some damage, as well as they install stuff there also.

Its a big trip for a MINI, I call it a holiday ocean cruse before the delivery

 

I have heard only to use an electric blower since a lot of gas blowers push the exhaust out through the tube which will throw an oily residue onto the car. Any truth to that? If not, I may start using my blower to dry the car.

 

Some do, depends on the model.