OK all, I'd love some help with this. Before I get into my questions, I will give you a little background. I got "Pep"/my Clubman S about a week ago. Now I live here in the city of Milwaukee and I own a loft condominium that is in a renovated warehouse. I have an outdoor parking spot and obviously no garage/driveway of my own. So washing the car on my own the way I understand it should be done wouldn't be easy. My folks live about 40 minutes away and I work retail so regularly getting up there just to wash is sorta a pain and difficult. On top of that, we don't have the best Winters here for washing your own car. Also, I'm not an expert at washing my own car and quite frankly I'd be worried about claybarring it my own much less buffing it on my own. So the conclusion for me is to go to a local Auto Care Detailing place just around the corner from where I live. Their prices seem reasonable and considering the time I save I think it's worth the money. Still I have some questions and I thought I'd go to you all, the experts.

So before I get into some questions, here is the place's menu of services:


Hand wash, rinse, dry. Bug & tar removal, interior is vacuumed and windows cleaned. Windows can be exchanged for wheels & tires.

 

Difficult to vouch for this company not properly vetted.

IMO, get the Zaino kit and do it yourself. I trust one else when it comes to detailing my MINI, and would never use buffers.

Claying is easier than you think. Spritz surface with the wash lubricant and work the clay onto the wet surface area....My R53 is 6 years old, had all sorts of blemishes from stuff on the surface. One afternoon with the Zaino kit and my MINI's paint looks just as good if not better than it was when it came off the boat.......

how to: http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/...C&Store_Code=Z

Store link below: No wax on wax off crap anymore either, and the Zaino finish is the best I have ever seen since detailing cars for last 30 years....

http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

 

Thanks for the reply Raven. Again, thing is, I don't have a good spot to wash my car and on top of that the Winter months here are long and it would difficult.

Here is the company's site:

http://www.tendercar.com/

and on Yahoo:

http://local.yahoo.com/info-16722030...ling-milwaukee

 

Blaugrana,

I guess the question is 'do you want to do it yourself, or pay someone else?'.

Looking at the regime you gave as an example, you'll be paying well over $500 a year to have your car washed. That's a lot of home detail tools a product you could buy.

A regular parking spot is more than sufficient to wash your own car. You could go in a couple of directions, either the 'no rinse' spray cleaners, or a Nomad and a bucket with distilled water in each.

I live in an apartment complex and use a Nomad, it's perfect.

As for claying, think of it as spraying some lube and rubbing a piece of clay on the wet area. Not much to it, and you don't need to do it very often.

 

You would still be better off finding a warm garage if you really needed to do the Zaino treatment and doing it yourself. Buffers more often than not harm and remove the clear coat fromt he finish. And that can be counterprodctive to your task.

Sounds like a very cool place to live, I love the condo/factory conversions. They have lots of character. In WI, your climates there are very much like our's here in New England.

And since everyone there is in the same predicament, maybe petitioning the condo association for an outdoor washing station for everyone's use during the warmer seasons will help ? A good wide drain - two spickets one for hot & one for cold water, and bucket of sand for days when getting closer to December. And unlike Carnuba wax - the Zaino is sort like the old Simoniz, it will stay on the car for very long time and will go thru winters still protecting your car w/o weekly application and while using the self serve auto wash stations to remove winter grime. Then just spritz and wipe down the car with a bottle of Z6 after the car wash.....

 

That is a great idea.....

 

An option for cleaning I just started using is Optimum No Rinse car wash. All you need is a bucket with 2 gallons and an once of this stuff. Wash it on and then wipe it off and it cleans really well. I've only used it four times but seems to be working really well. There are people on the detailing forums that have been using for years in the pro detailing businesses.

 

just get a gallon of Hydro, Slick, and Clarity, 10pack x2 of platinum MF towels.

Also Griot's SprayOn CarWash kit. that's all you need. washing a dd with a hose is too 2008.