Would love to see pictures of your detailed dbp gti! I just picked up the same about 3 weeks ago and love it. And intend to do a Rebecca detail this weekend
I have a question though and maybe others can answer. I have purchased detailing products and intend to do a wash clay and seal this weekend but I have not bought any iron x or tar remover. Will I be doing irreversible damage to my car without doing iron x and tar remover before I start claying and sealing? Shud i wait till I can get these two products first?
Thanks all!
The short answer is, yes, you should wait till you have those products.
My advice, before going as far as claying, would be to give the whole car a going over with some tar/glue remover (Tardis) and iron/fallout remover (Iron X). That may well be sufficient to remove the embedded contaminants, and claying might not actually be necessary.
I wouldn't clay a car without first using an iron remover and a tar remover. Far better IMO, to use these 'less touch' solutions to remove as much of the embedded contaminants before you move onto claying, which, even with a careful technique is prone to marring the paint, and is the reason claying is best followed up by a polish with a DA or by hand to remove any marks left by the clay. With both tar remover and iron remover you simply spray it on, leave for 5 mins and then very gently wipe over with a soft microfibre, and rinse off with a pressure washer, so there is only small risk of marring the paint, and it will bring off much of the contaminants leaving the minimum (if any) to be removed with the clay. Going straight in with claying is a risky business as there is potentially a lot of stuff on the surface to be rubbed into the paint if you are not careful. With clay bar/mitt/cloth, although used well lubricated, you are still dragging it back and forth over the entire surface of the paint. That undoubtedly increases the risk of marking the paint. Nothing that a polish won't easily sort of course, but much better to let the tar and iron remover get rid of the majority first.
If you do the de-iron and de-tar stages, you can check to see how clear the paintwork is by doing the sandwich bag test - get a plastic sandwich bag and slip it over your hand, then simply run your palm over areas of the paintwork, and it will emphasise anything embedded into the paintwork. The glassier the paintwork feels, the better, and the least contiminants are remaining. You can do this prior to decontamination too, to see how much contaminant is on the paintwork, then do it after decontamination to feel the difference. If done following the Tar and Iron phases you will be able to tell if claying is really needed.
Of course after decontamination you will need to reapply your chosen protection as decon strips everything off.