Hard work done, looking ace, dirty again....what's best approach now?

[Simon C]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping you can provide me with some advice having taken lots of your tips on board for my first detail.

In summary, my car is 3 weeks old. For Christmas I treated myself to 62 quids worth of products including dodo juice born to be mild shampoo, dodo lime prime cleanser and geotech c2v3. As well as the wash mitt, drying towel and microfibre cloths.....and 2 buckets....obviously..

So having watched the demos and read the advice I applied this lot last Saturday - rinsed gti, washed with shampoo, rinsed and dried with towel. Then applied the pre-wax cleanser and buffed out with microfibre towels. Finally applied the c2v3 and buffed with microfibre too. Then stood and admired it and some compliments of the neighbour!

Despite the hard graft I really enjoyed it. Together the products made the car look better than when it was delivered and any heavy rains since have been resisted with beading. I took some photos and will post these in next few days.

However....now the query. Given that this hard graft makes the car look ace, those of you that have done in before will soon realise that after a week the car almost looks like it was never touched in the first place, that is despite me hosing it down every few days.

So could any of you please offer me any of your best tips for how you keep your car looking ace in the weeks / months following a 4/5 hour detailing shift? For example, whilst I realise ideally I would repeat this exercise every weekend time does not allow it.

Is it a weekly shampoo, rinse and dry? Weekly hose down? Weekly shampoo, rinse and dry followed by re-applying the c2v3? Are there any products you use to simply top-up that initial look following a detail? Or is there no simple answer and reality is I'm going to have to give it the full beans every weekend...which would be massively time intensive.

Thanks in anticipation.

Sii

[Booth11]

Sounds like you did a great job, look forward to the pics.

As for it looking dirty after a week.......that's life, I'm afraid, especially at this time of year. 

If you want to keep it looking as clean as possible, between full detailing sessions, then you are looking at a weekly wash, rinse and dry.  Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.  Even then it may still be filthy after a few days!  I would avoid the temptation to keep hosing it down unnecessarily every few days as you risk pushing more grit/dirt into the paintwork, especially if you are using a jet washer.  Best limit that for when you are doing a proper wash.  You may want to invest in some quick detailer for in between washes.  If you want to keep it looking it's best then it is a big time and effort commitment, but also very enjoyable and rewarding, especially when you see it looking gleaming 

[Ginge 35Edition]

This is the million dollar question I'm afraid and if I had the answer id be minted! My suggestion would to invest in a decent pressure washer and snow foam lance, this helps no-end and as Booth suggests buy a decent quick detailer.

[dom]

As above, snowfoam,  wash, rinse and dry weekly to keep on top of it. Decent wax makes it a lot easier to get it looking good again,  if you haven't already I'd be looking at a wheel sealant as well.

I've also applied gtechniq g1 to all my glass, water beads off when it's raining which reduces the need for wipers. The best bit is that it prevents ice from properly forming, we had a hard frost Sunday morning and I could wipe the ice off with my hand, whereas my neighbours needed deicer and a scraper

[KyleB]

Sorry for thread hijack but Dom, does the gtechniq stuff affect the wipers at all? I've put some Autoglym Glass Polish on the rear window and it's made the wiper a bit smeary

[dom]

Sorry for thread hijack but Dom, does the gtechniq stuff affect the wipers at all? I've put some Autoglym Glass Polish on the rear window and it's made the wiper a bit smeary

Not really, when it is only spitting with rain or there is only very mild spray on the screen the first sweep can sometimes leave what i can only describe as a condensation like residue on the screen which lasts for a split second.

[Simon C]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the words of advice and supporting comments.

Please find some of the photos on this other page where I posted them: http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=263524.20

Best wishes

Si

[Simon C]

This is the million dollar question I'm afraid and if I had the answer id be minted! My suggestion would to invest in a decent pressure washer and snow foam lance, this helps no-end and as Booth suggests buy a decent quick detailer.

Hi Ginge, would you recommend a quick detailer from experience?

Cheers

Si

[Simon C]

Sounds like you did a great job, look forward to the pics.

As for it looking dirty after a week.......that's life, I'm afraid, especially at this time of year. 

If you want to keep it looking as clean as possible, between full detailing sessions, then you are looking at a weekly wash, rinse and dry.  Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.  Even then it may still be filthy after a few days!  I would avoid the temptation to keep hosing it down unnecessarily every few days as you risk pushing more grit/dirt into the paintwork, especially if you are using a jet washer.  Best limit that for when you are doing a proper wash.  You may want to invest in some quick detailer for in between washes.  If you want to keep it looking it's best then it is a big time and effort commitment, but also very enjoyable and rewarding, especially when you see it looking gleaming 

Hi Boothy - any tips on a quick detailer mate from experience?

Si

[dom]

A quick detailer is only good if the car is already pretty clean, i.e. You've just driven to a show and want to give it a quick wipe down.

If you use it and there is too much dirt on the car then you'll just end up causing swirls and scratches.