stang cleaning day, tips please.

I would recommend a car cleaning soap like turtle wax zip wax....not dawn. But if that's been working fine for you, then whatever

After i wax my car and clean the rims and shine to tires, i usually clean the windows inside and out, i armorall the wheelwells, i shine my exhaust up, and i armorall the plastic cover over the gas tank, (it makes a big diffrence from behind when its acually clean...

Skip the dawn, whoever started that oughta be hung out to dry !

exceldetail said:

Skip the dawn, whoever started that oughta be hung out to dry !

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good point..........and the reasoning is...........

HA! I'm doing the same tomarow.

What I do
Wash completly (going to try out the new Mr. Clean Autodry)
Clay bar (god bless)
2 coats of Meguires Gold..
Hit the wheels with some Eagle One Wheel cleaner
Dress the tires with some Eagle One tire foam
Hit the exhaust with Eagle One NeverDull (that stuff is absolutly amazing)
Clean up the gas tank cover (didnt know other people did that!)

Vacume the interior completly
Meguires Rich Leather Wipes
Armorall the dash / console
use my handy dandy carpet shampooer
Invisible Glass cleaner (inside and out)
Dont forget the trunk / sub box.

Call it a very long day. Last summer it took me 4 1/2 hours to clean my car the same way.

I'll post pics.

inferno9898 said:

good point..........and the reasoning is...........

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It is just not needed. Car wax is not like floor wax, it does not build up on your paint. Dawn and other dishwashing liquids over time will cause problems for your paint but, in the short term they will also dry out the rubber parts like your door and window trim as well as making black plastic dull. It just causes more problems than it solves.

Second, you are gonna be using a cleaner wax on the paint. The cleaners in that product will remove most if not all of the wax below anyway.

I just don't get the dish soap thing-most of them have stuff in them to keep your hands soft too-I wonder what good that does the paint...

Anyway, using a paint cleaner (like the Meg's step 1 deep crystal) removes wax and other build up on the paint. In fact, you can hear a squeek when you remove it with a microfiber towel sometimes (squeeky clean, lol).

Personally, I'd skip the cleaner wax. I'd use the Meg's step 1 paint cleaner, followed by the step 2 polish, then the NXT. Top with what ever you like-I've used the Gold Class and loved the look (I let the NXT cure for 2 days before topping with the GC). I think some people on the Meg's forum said they used the #26 and liked it.

rjstaaf said:

It is just not needed. Car wax is not like floor wax, it does not build up on your paint. Dawn and other dishwashing liquids over time will cause problems for your paint but, in the short term they will also dry out the rubber parts like your door and window trim as well as making black plastic dull. It just causes more problems than it solves.

Second, you are gonna be using a cleaner wax on the paint. The cleaners in that product will remove most if not all of the wax below anyway.

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Thanks Bob......
Dawn gives me a headache.....

The whole Dawn thing is all related to the Zaino instructions. Zaino wants you to strip off all traces of previous waxes and coatings before applying their product. So only use Dawn if you are going to use Zaino. And even then you only use it the first time.
But since you are going to claybar you don't even need to think about stripping your old wax. The claybar will remove all the "crud" on your paint. You won't believe how your paint will feel after you claybar it. I always claybar, even if I am going to go over the paint with a double action polisher and DACP #83 (dual action cleaner polish). By the way if you are trying to remove swirl marks machine polishing with either a dual action machine(the safe type of machine) or a rotary polisher (best left to experienced detailers) is the only way to permanently remove them. All the hand applied "polishes" will just fill them in and hide them until the next time that you wash your car.

Go on over to Autopia.org and do a search for Scottwax, he is a professional detailer and has been removing swirls and scratches on very high end cars "by hand" for years He has gotten so good at it that he is able to break down DACP "by hand". Now for us mere mortals the Porter Cable dual action polisher does make it easier but, it is possible with a little elbow grease to remove light swirls and scratches "by hand".

I usually wash with Kit car wash, the yellow stuff. It's amazing. I think it has a bit of wax in it, that's why the car really shines after I wash it. I use the Meguires products to clean, polish, glaze #7, and then wax #26. Then if I feel like I wanna really make it shine I top it off with Eagle 1 Wet. That really gives it a good wet look. I don't think it holds up quite as well as the Meguires though. If I have time I touch it up with the Eagle one between total detail jobs. It's good for a month or so, but the meguires last a lot longer.

For interior, weatherstripping and the lower window molding, I use Black Majic. I like how it seems to soak in. My window molding (the lower ones) were almost white. I put about three coats of Black majic on and let it soak and now there back to black even after a few washings. I usually avoid Armor All and any other White protectants. Especially on black surfaces. Sure, it makes it look good for a while, but as it dries out, it dries white. Turns anything black I put it on white. That's why I use clear based protectants such as Black Majic.

For my wheels, I usually just use the car wash soap to clean them. There the stock ones so It doesn't take much to clean them. I use Bleach White on the tires. Yes it clean blackwalls too. Works well. I then wax the wheels after I do the car. Makes then shine a bit. I top the tires off with Black Majic Tire Wet, the cherry scented stuff. Actually, I put it on a week ago, and there still shinnin like they did when I put it on. Supposed to hold up thru a couple of rains too. I don't drive it in the rain though since it's cleaned up.

I'm not good with windows. I just use windex foam. It works pretty well. Gotta be careful spraying it on, it will mess up a wax job if you get it on it.

rjstaff, your right but remember, Scottwax is not a simple human being. He is the car polishing God! But for simple mortals (like me), I have to use a machine. And even then it seems to take me a long time to get gid of every single swirl mark. But it's all worth it in the end.
Nothing like a perfect finish on bright Yellow Cobra!

I like to remove my wheels from the car and wash and wax the insides of them as well...it keeps the brake dust from settling so much in the wheels

Don't forget to retorque your lugnuts to 100lb/ft once you get the wheels back on