It’s been six months since I purchased my car so it was past time to for me to do a complete first detailing. I usually do this within the first couple of months of receiving my car but I wanted to get fresh products and a ceramic coating so I had to wait for some slack in my budget to buy all the stuff.
I’ve been just picking product at the local auto parts store lately, but this time around I decided to buy a “system” to clean and protect the car. I went mostly with the DIY Detail line of products including the ceramic coating. It might have been overkill but I also wanted to see how they performed.
I started with the car outside in the driveway.
First, I sprayed on Adam’s wheel and tire cleaner on the w & t and some Meguiars car soap and wheel brushes to agitate and rinsed off. I also sprayed on some old Eagle On Iron Remover that I had still sitting on the shelf. I didn’t notice much color change. Could be because the wheels didn’t have that much iron contamination or that the product is too old and lost its effectiveness.
Next, I used my foam cannon and pressure washer with Griot’s Garage car wash soap. I have a large jug of it so I couldn’t justify buying more car wash soap. When that’s done I’ll get the DIY Detail version. Rinsed it off with the pressure washer and drove it into the garage still wet. This should remove the grit that has accumulated on the surface during normal driving.
I did a rinseless wash with Optimum No Rinse diluted in a bucket with several microfiber towels soaked in the bucket. Used one towel at a time and put it into a second bucket when “dirty” and get another clean towel to continue washing. I did not dry it at this time so it will be used as lubrication for the next step. At this point after two rounds of washing, there should be no grit to cause marring in the paint. I like the bucket o’towels method because you don’t need a second bucket of water that you keep having to dunk and squeeze out to get the grit and dirt off the towel or mitt. And since you’re using a new towel after every panel, there’s no chance there’s some left over grit still on the towel.
Applied the DD Iron Remover and spread it with their “clay towel” to dissolve any rust and pick up any embedded contaminates. I drove it back out to the driveway and rinsed it off with the pressure washer.
Back into the garage to apply the DD Water Spot Remover to dissolve and remove any stubborn minerals on the paint. Back out to the driveway to rinse off again and back into the garage to dry off.
Next step is to polish With DD Gold Standard polish with their waffle foam pad on my trusty Porter Cable Dual Action polisher. Since the paint is in good shape, I didn’t have to worry about getting any damage out. Just a light polish to remove any previous protection from the paint. Wiped the polish off with an ONR dampened towel and then buffed again with a dry towel.
And finally, the DD 5 year Ceramic Coating. The stuff is super stinky. Wipe it on with the included foam pad and level with a microfiber towel and buff with a second “insurance” towel. Don’t want to leave any high spots because it will be a pain to get rid of once the coating sets up.
Oh and I used some Meguiars Ultimate Fast Finish aerosol sealant on the wheels and Armor All Foam Tire Shine. I’m just trying to use up the UFF and the Tire Foam is a spray on and forget process. It leaves a satin finish and lasts a couple of weeks.
I started at 7:30 in the morning and finished at 3:30 in the afternoon with a couple of breaks in between the later steps. Since the car was in the garage after the foam wash, I didn’t have to worry about the sun or the wind blowing dirt onto the paint.
Here are the results:
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I’ve been just picking product at the local auto parts store lately, but this time around I decided to buy a “system” to clean and protect the car. I went mostly with the DIY Detail line of products including the ceramic coating. It might have been overkill but I also wanted to see how they performed.
I started with the car outside in the driveway.
First, I sprayed on Adam’s wheel and tire cleaner on the w & t and some Meguiars car soap and wheel brushes to agitate and rinsed off. I also sprayed on some old Eagle On Iron Remover that I had still sitting on the shelf. I didn’t notice much color change. Could be because the wheels didn’t have that much iron contamination or that the product is too old and lost its effectiveness.
Next, I used my foam cannon and pressure washer with Griot’s Garage car wash soap. I have a large jug of it so I couldn’t justify buying more car wash soap. When that’s done I’ll get the DIY Detail version. Rinsed it off with the pressure washer and drove it into the garage still wet. This should remove the grit that has accumulated on the surface during normal driving.
I did a rinseless wash with Optimum No Rinse diluted in a bucket with several microfiber towels soaked in the bucket. Used one towel at a time and put it into a second bucket when “dirty” and get another clean towel to continue washing. I did not dry it at this time so it will be used as lubrication for the next step. At this point after two rounds of washing, there should be no grit to cause marring in the paint. I like the bucket o’towels method because you don’t need a second bucket of water that you keep having to dunk and squeeze out to get the grit and dirt off the towel or mitt. And since you’re using a new towel after every panel, there’s no chance there’s some left over grit still on the towel.
Applied the DD Iron Remover and spread it with their “clay towel” to dissolve any rust and pick up any embedded contaminates. I drove it back out to the driveway and rinsed it off with the pressure washer.
Back into the garage to apply the DD Water Spot Remover to dissolve and remove any stubborn minerals on the paint. Back out to the driveway to rinse off again and back into the garage to dry off.
Next step is to polish With DD Gold Standard polish with their waffle foam pad on my trusty Porter Cable Dual Action polisher. Since the paint is in good shape, I didn’t have to worry about getting any damage out. Just a light polish to remove any previous protection from the paint. Wiped the polish off with an ONR dampened towel and then buffed again with a dry towel.
And finally, the DD 5 year Ceramic Coating. The stuff is super stinky. Wipe it on with the included foam pad and level with a microfiber towel and buff with a second “insurance” towel. Don’t want to leave any high spots because it will be a pain to get rid of once the coating sets up.
Oh and I used some Meguiars Ultimate Fast Finish aerosol sealant on the wheels and Armor All Foam Tire Shine. I’m just trying to use up the UFF and the Tire Foam is a spray on and forget process. It leaves a satin finish and lasts a couple of weeks.
I started at 7:30 in the morning and finished at 3:30 in the afternoon with a couple of breaks in between the later steps. Since the car was in the garage after the foam wash, I didn’t have to worry about the sun or the wind blowing dirt onto the paint.
Here are the results:
