Which order?

[rowlers]

colour is atlas grey, the water doesn't sit in "sheets", maybe it is beading and I don't know it

I'll get there in the end - just don't want ot but loads of tub/bottles of stuff that aitn no good!

[patch900]

OK spent all day saturday cleaning my MK3, I stocked up at good old halfrauds with all the stuff I needed and TBH I was a bit skeptical about whether polish, gloss protector, clay bar etc would improve how the car looked but effing hell was I wrong. Did this:

- sprayed car down to get dirt off
- autoglym shampoo using 2 bucket method (jesus the amount of crap in that second bucket is scary)
- water blade down followed by shammy
- meg clay bar kit
- autoglym polish
- autoglym gloss protection
- meg NTX wax
- kiwi shoe polish (the stuff in bottle) for the external trim
- wheels: alloy cleaner, meg alloy wax, turtle wax wet n black

took about 5 hours and didnt vac /clean the inside

Gotta say the results were fecking outstanding, pics are here:

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s174/goat_bleet/?action=view&current=DSC_0263.jpg

http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s174/goat_bleet/?action=view&current=DSC_0264.jpg

the paint GLEAMS, looks brand new

[...joe]

looks awesome!

the only thing i'd suggest is not using the blade to dry your car as these can scratch the paint as well.

[Guy]

good job there buddy...  i'd invest in a megs waffle weave.... well worth the money and makes drying your car sooooo much easier!

[...joe]

^^^^ nah don't go for a megs waffle,they get a bit scratchy after a few washes. i use one of these now and they are incredible!

http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=196

[Ridg]

^^^^ nah don't go for a megs waffle,they get a bit scratchy after a few washes. i use one of these now and they are incredible!

http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=196

i'll second that about the megs going "scratchy" i found mine lost its softness very quickly just through normal use.  I'd recomend the Sonus Der Wunder Drying

can't fault it

[patch900]

Quick questions, do I need to do the full monty washing every time (i.e every week ?) or can I shorten it and do a full wash every so often ?

on another thread the guy said he clays the car every 6 months or so as well, is this OK ?

[Ridg]

Quick questions, do I need to do the full monty washing every time (i.e every week ?) or can I shorten it and do a full wash every so often ?

on another thread the guy said he clays the car every 6 months or so as well, is this OK ?

all depends how dirty the car gets.

you can get away with only waxing every 6 months, but you have to remember that if you do something that takes it off, you need to put it back on eg if you polish / clay an area then you're also removing the wax.

i recently bought some Klasse AIO which is a glaze, sealant synthetic wax which i've started to apply straight after the shampoo, this is a product that can be layered and give a nice sparkle without polishing.  I like pure waxes so i put collinite on top of that, but you can get awy with just a synthetic wax

re clay, every 6 months is about right, but again depends where you park and how dirty the car gets.  eg if you park under a tree and get loads of sap / bird mess etc on then you'll want to do it more often.  if you park in a garage and the car never gets rained on you can probably get away with once a year.  a mild clay like the sonus isn't going to hurt the car so don't worry about over claying.

[patch900]

I have been cleaning once every 2 weeks but its parked on the road all the time as I dont have a garage 

Its doesnt get that dirty as I dont have to drive to work so only drive for pleasure really. The main bits that get dirty is the front alloys with brake dust, at the weekend cleaned them with alloy cleaner then megs wheel wax - will see how they go with dust build up

Mainly I want to keep it looking good but figured doing the full monty clean every fortnight was a bit nuts. The most impressive part is how it looks now, if it keeps looking like that I will be well chuffed.

Any offers on a short wash procedure for in between the full on clean (and products used) ?

[...joe]

if you've gone to town and done a proper clean, you should only have to do top up washes. for me that is:

rinse with sno-foam
two bucket wash
quick detailer
tyres etc and a top up wax if needed