That tire shine is good for alot of things other then tires. Just make sure you apply it and let it dry before having to drive in the rain or get it wet. If it dosent soak into the plastic and gets wet, it will sling that stuff all over your paint.

Use it on any black rubber/ plastic. on the ext. S4's this is good for you to keep your black molding's looking clean and wet.

I don't have time to read the other 6 pages but I'll just say this in case it hasn't been said before. Do not buy towels for your paint at walmart and cheapy places. Their microfiber towels are garbage, i would just use them for interior only, they won't touch my paint again.
To get any towels worth a damn on your paint (without screwing it up more) you should get them online. Theres a ton of detailing online stores that offer tools, towels, and products.
www.autogeek.net is just one of them. Just a FYI :)


My experience with putting tire shine on plastic body parts is that it will look wet for a few hours, maybe a day, then it will get all dried out and look flat. But YMMV


ok i skimmed through some of it, I saw people talking about those telfon waxes by dupont. Those are no better than any other run of the mill on the shelf wax. If its going to be the teflon part of it that interests you, you must know that for teflon in other products to be effective, it is applied at hundreds of degree's. So your not really "sealing" your car with the teflon, it may have some in it but its not making a difference. Not to be a negative nancy... but any wax that is really worth a darn I got online.
Once you try one of those you will never go back.
Zaino, Menzerna FMJ, P21s, those are all very awesome waxes that have great durability. They are reasonably priced as well compared to how long they last and how well they work compared to waxes bought in store
anyways thats my $.02
I kinda detail on the side so this is just stuff that I picked up/learned.
Also someone else said to use the 2 bucket method earlier in the thread, I can't stress that enough! You will be glad you did once you see how dirty your rinse water will be compared to your soap water.

I agree, Thats why i dont use store bought wax. also i like to use cotton baby diapers ;)

care car is a hobby of mine and ive tried allot of products... Menzerna FMJ is the deepest wettest shine ive ever had on a car. the secret to FMJ is layers, i do 3 layers with 24 hours in between each to cure. after the 3rd layer youll step back, look at your work and drop a duece in your drawers:)

its not a wax, its a sealant so there is zero dust on removal. goes on easy and off even easier. your finish needs a good polishing before first time application. plus its cool to answer the question "what do you use to get that shine?" with "Full Molecular Jacket"

my 2 cents YMMV

Menzerna FMJ ???? never heard of it, got a link to where it can be purchased? i'd like to check it out.

BTW i'm doing 3 car's this weekend full detail. carpet's and all. the one i have in the am is a nasty nasty Ford explosion lol. I'll post some pic's of this weekend's work before and after pics.

I did one of the car's today. a full detail only takes me 3-4 hours depending on the car.

The santa fe i did today came out great. It was about a 5 on a dirty scale, not to bad but that expo i have in the am is about a 9.5. its pretty bad :( I'll be on that one for atleast 5 hours i'm guessing.


On a side note, is anyone finding this thread helpfull?

just to add a note to the exterior glass cleaning....a new steel wool pad and windex works faster, and easier that a razor blade. plus you dont have to worry about slipping and wounding yourself....just put a piece of tape around the weather strip so you dont scratch it and rub it down...steel wool will not scratch glass.

also, new clear coats have the uv protection in them, wax is good to use as alother level of protection, but always give new paint at least a few weeks to let it dry fully(fresh clear can continue to let off solvents for up to a month)..then wax. waxing too soon can damage the fresh clearcoat.


my .02

Drew
auto painter

I a nice trick most harley guys know of is to use steel wool on chrome pieces. My company sells products from siskin to dealerships called automate which also help out greatly to protect against dirt and contaminants. Any company willing to paint an entire car or replace all the carpet in a new vehicle no questions asked has a pretty good product. Especially when you have new mats or recently replaced leather components in your car. The even have a new product that fills in pores on your windshield which state if it cracks they replace it for free. I admit there are many more specific chemicals out there for your paint that make it look flawless and show ready but perma plates products are pretty good and have to be since they started 28 years ago. I have all their products I put on my car so I have to was it less as Id rather be driving than cleaning. Im not saying you can write or call me to get the stuff as they dont sell to the average person but Im just saying there are tons of products that work really well and like anything it usually comes down to personal prefference. Sorry to rant.

what would help to remove old waterspots? or to prevent having any other waterspots ? and how do you make it really really shiny without an orbital?

so i went on autogeek.net and saw a bunch of wolfgang and pinnacle products that are usually the most expensive and are places on the top of all the other brands. anyone have any experience with them? im checking out their clay bars and car shampoos. right now im using meguairs gold class and people tell me mother's clay bar is good but i never heard of pinnacle or wolfgang till now. so i dont know how good they are compared to what im using.

Very nice! Thank you for the wonderful guide.

Cleaning the Windscreen Wipers
 

Everything looks good except the wipers. They are not shiny, so polishing won't help. My wiper arms seem to have a textured finish - maybe they are old and withered. I suspect that they are not painted with an acrylic or enamel, but more of a weatherproof coating.

I am almost tempted to put Armourall or something like that on them.

Any thoughts


Regards
Roland

I had the same problem except I had just as many pits and likewise had trouble seeing. I got Zaino glass polish hoping to get rid of them. I was dissapointed when they didn't completely go away. But then I drove at night and the clarity was amazing. Instead of being blinded by oncoming headlights, the pits are just faintly lit up specs now. The rest of the windshield is more clear too. The stuff is basically rubbing compound for windows.

To clean my windows I find newspaper and distilled water works the best by far. Both leave zero residue. If the windows are dirty I windex them first. For both liquids use only a single spritz and a page of crumpled newspaper for a section, paying special attention to the edges and drying thoroughly. Use a new page on each section. All the fancy cleaning products and microfibers I tried before just left shinier, more reflective and harder to remove streaks. And they took forever. I use distilled water for my wiper reservoir as well to get instant clarity on demand.

Ardex
 

Turbo....after reading through the forum you seem very knowledgeable on detailing and I would like to ask your opinion.

No I do not own a RX7...I own a 2002 Harley Davidson Road King with alot of chrome. I just bought it and it seems the previous owner did not take very good care of the chrome on the bike...(pitting, some rust, etc) I need your help:

I have heard that Mothers Chrome Polish is some of the best stuff for chrome...I also seem to be having luck getting some of the pitting and rust off with the Turtle Wax Chrome Polish.

But a friend of mine who owns a body shop gave me a bottle of the Ardex Viper and said use that on the chrome after I clean it with Mothers.

Your help would be greatly appreciated on the best way to clean my chrome...I want this bike to shine.

Thanks

Respectfully,

A proud Harley Owner.

what's a good cleaning product to clean my break calipers?

no solvent just brake clean and hot water

oh ok cool! thanks man.

Mothers!!! all the way

plastic peeling off....
 

Any of you guys have any experience on refinishing the interior plastics? My plastic has dulled out and is peeling off at certain spots. I am wondering if there is anything I can do to refinish it. I don't want to paint it but if I have to I will...:scratch:

You're probably better off re-painting it. Some guys spray truck bedliner on their plastics. The peeling interior pieces was a TSB or recall or something..

Great information :icon_tup:

thanks guys!, i gotta wash my car tomorrow i guess.

Thanks for the post!
I just wanted to say that it really helped clean my car.

Anyone know anything about using one of those steam clean machines on the exterior of the car? Will it strip paint or the clear coats off the car? I can't seem to find information anywhere on this. I know the temperature of the steam comes out at 212F degrees. I don't know what kind of pressure. Any input?

Stains?
 

how would you go about removing soda stains from the carpet?