I have had SUVs up until now & used lived in downtown Chicago, so I paid to have my cars washed and occassionally waxed. Frankly, I never gave a damn about my cars appearance before.

I finally have a garage and a driveway so I can detail the car myself.
(Keep in mind I live in Phoenix now)

So now my MCS is one week old. What do I do? :

1. When should I first wax the car?

2. How often do I wax it after this? Do I need to remove old wax before applying new wax?

3. I know there are debates over brands to use, but for this threads sake, say I will use the Meguiars three step process of wash, shine & wax.(I am open to other brand suggestions though) Do I need a power polisher?

4. Clay bar... which point in the process do I use this?

5. I used a spot free wash from Mother's saturday and got a million dry spots. Is there a brand of soap you prefer for spotless drying?

Again, please don't flame me, I am a pure newbie to this.

 

Most around here like to help out someone in your position. No worries. I'm not extremely particular about brand myself. I'm using Poor Boy products at the moment.

The one thing I do know is right now is the time to use the clay bar on your car. It gets all kind of stuff off the finish before you apply protectants.

 

Welcome and don't be intimidated, we are more than happy to answer your questions!

You can wax the car as soon as you get it. "How often" depends on the wax's durability, weather, etc. For one thing you can always mist some water on your car or go out after a rain to see water beading on the wax...when it stops beading, you need wax. Of course most of us don't let it go that long. Once a month, two months, whatever schedule you want.
You don't need a power polisher for waxing at all. I have one and use it only for polishing, waxing still by hand.
Clay bar should be done before waxing.
No soap will really give you spotless drying, as the spots come from minerals etc in your water. You would need to get a water filter (as I highly recommend the Mr. Clean AutoDry system) if you plan on leaving it without manually drying it. If you manually dry it before the sun does, you shouldn't have water spots.

 

Here's a GREAT overview of detailing clay, how it works and how to use it.

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-clay.html

I've not yet clayed my car, but I plan to very soon. Good luck!

 

There is a great sticky on the whole subject here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=37303
in which Agranger, BradB, OctaneGuy and others discuss the process. Also there is a DVD in the NAM store which I can highly recommend. Main thing though is to have fun and approach it as an opportunity to spend some quality time with you Mini. It really is a rewarding hobby (and one that is never-ending). And if you endeavor hard enough your 16 year-old son will claim you have OCD .

So basically:
1. Dawn wash
2. Clay
3. Polish
4. Wax

The brands and type wars go on and on, but I use Zaino products from:
http://www.zainostore.com/
but whatever.

ImagoX - clay that car already!

Chuck

 

I will, I will... I've gone into a few places with the express intent to get a bar, and no place locally seems to carry it. I hate ordering something online and paying shipping for something inexpensive like that.

 

I may order one of these "helpers"

 

If you are looking for your first step into auto detailing, I'd recommend a product like Meguiars NXT, which you can find at Target, Walmart, etc. I like the Meguiars Auto shampoo as well. You will probably want a 'quick detailer' as well, but I'm not sure what they call it in the Meguiars NXT line of products.

Claybar is like an exfoliant for your car... It gets the crud off of the surface so you can get wax down on the paint cleanly. Wash the car to knock off the big dirt and rinse. Slop some fresh wash water w/ auto detergent onto a body panel and clay... Tear off a small bit (1/6 of a bar), flatten it and work in straight lines using the wash water as a lubricant... 2-3 passes over every square inch of smooth surface on the car. You will have to re-wash after claying to remove the bits of clay now stuck everywhere...

For your waterspotting problem, that's going to be more of a technique issue. Once you get the car wet, keep it wet until you are ready to dry it thoroughly. This means washing in the shade or in a cooler part of the day. It also may require respraying the whole car every time you rinse a body panel (like I do in the Texas summer heat), just to keep everything wet. When you are ready to dry, use an "absorber" (see Target again) to get the bulk of the water off the car and then quickly switch to a drying microfiber (a waffle weave microfiber cloth) to finish the drying process. Hit the major body panels first (roof, bonnet, doors, glass, etc.) and then go round again, getting all of the nooks and cranies.

After the wash, clay, wash and dry, you may want to use a quick detailing product to touch up any waterspots that might have slipped through. Just spray one or two squirts on a body panel and buff w/ a microfiber cloth.

Once you have everything clean and shiny, apply the wax or sealant as instructed on the bottle. Most of them follow the "apply, wait to dry, buff off" method of old, with 1 or 2 added steps here or there. I mention Meguiars NXT above because of the positive reviews here and the relative ease of finding it. I like a longer-lasting sealant like Zaino, but that can be a bit much for your first foray into detailing. I used to have great experiences with NuFinish, but it can be a bit more difficult to find.

Now that you have a coat of wax/sealant on the car, you might want to do a second coat, just to ensure full coverage.Depending on the wax/sealant you use and your car's environment, you may need to add another coat of wax every 1-4 months. You don't have to claybar every time, though... I usually only clay my whole car once a year (in the spring) and I may touch up once or twice during the year if I feel some grit on the paintwork that won't come off in the wash.

There are LOTS of other questions that will pop up... rubber/plastic dressings (I like Meguiars #40 and foam applicators)... how to get wax off of your wheel arches... just search the forums and if you don't find your answer quickly, post back here so we can help! I rarely see anyone go flame-crazy over here in the detailing forums as we all know what it's like to be overwhelmed by the options and details.

 

I have to try this one day... I use Turtle Wax Ice, which many people here have used and liked. So far, I've been VERY happy with the Ice, mainly because it polishes up really nice and can also be used on the Mini's black trim- it dries sort of satin on the plastic trim and does not leave white spots on it like some other detail sprays I've tried. If you go with Ice, check for a deal they have at most auto parts places, that comes with a sprayer bottle and a refill bottle, plus some microfiber towels, all in one package for like $14.99 - that will get you started. So far, I've only detail sprayed my car and washed it once a week after my first 3 months or so, and it still looks showroom new IMHO. Can't wait to see how much better it looks after being waxed.

 

http://www.zainostore.com has a .pdf of how to take a car from current to showroom shine. They list all of their products which I use and recommend but the steps are the same for any product line. The first application is an all day love affair with your car. After that is gets a lot easier. Enjoy the finished product after your hours of sweat.

 

I get asked this kind of question all the time. Waxing is all about protection. It does add gloss to your paint. so if you like having a car that always looks "just washed" then put on a good coat of wax, and do it often.

A Porter Cable polisher is a multipurpose tool that gets out swirls--all MINIs have them if they haven't been polished, as well as for applying and removing wax. Do you need one? Not necessarily. Depends on how much you care about having a great looking car. I think if you find a process that works for you, if its easy and enjoyable enough, you will do it often regardless of anyones recommendation for how often to wax.

Before I learned about the paint care process, I dreaded waxing my cars (before the MINI), and if lucky, did it once every few years. It was always time consuming, hard work, and messy. And questions always came up--liquid wax or paste wax or???

Take a look at these pix. This is a 4 month only MINI
BEFORE

AFTER


BEFORE

AFTER


BEFORE

AFTER


Personally I would much prefer to drive the one in the AFTER pix. The car was swirled out and dirty--having been washed at car washes only.

Polished and waxed using Meguiar's products.
See all the pix here
http://littlemini.us/showcar/case8.asp

Here's a one week old MINI convertible. It's flaws were mostly very light swirls.


The point of these pictures is simply to show that a MINI that's been polished and waxed no matter the age will appear dramatically different from when you started.