39 year old complete newbie

Kolokefalo

New member
Here is my story,



Up until 1 week ago I drove a total of 3 cars from the time I was 16 until now (23 years). A Ford escort station wagon, a Mazda MX3, and a VW Beetle. All were bought used with 100k plus miles and I essentially only did oil changes every 5k and proceeded to drive them until they died with not much care about the outside. However, I have always been a fan of the VW GTI. Any year, every year. I always wanted one but was never willing to shell out the money to buy one for myself. Although brand new they are 26kish I could never bring myself to pay that much for a car. I make pretty decent money, nothing fantastic, but my wife and kids aren't want for much of anything.

Fast forward to last week. My wife and I bought a foreclosure home and I spent the better part of 4 months reading how to redo drywall, then doing it. How do strip a popcorn ceiling then apply a texture. How to remove linoleum tile, and then retile myself. I am a very very deliberate guy who will incessantly read, then take action when I feel comfortable enough with the admittedly limited knowledge I have acquired by reading. A friend of a friend tells me about a GTI for sale from a guy he works with. A 2006 with 77k miles on it. I talk to the wife and she says "I think you have earned it, go buy it." (she is the coolest chick alive) I pulled the trigger last Wednesday.



I now am driving my dream car, admittedly I have very different taste from most. However, now I really want to make sure my dream baby is well taken care of. I plan to spend the next few weeks to a month reading everything I can on the site before asking questions. I am really glad I found autotopia because I feel like I can bring this beauty really back to life inside and out and really enjoy driving my dream.



At this moment I literally have 1 bottle of Meguiar's car wash, my 2- 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot, and a microfiber mitt. My plan is read, read, then read some more, then buy a product. My eye is very untrained but I already recognize by a few threads I have a great deal of TYPE II water marks. I am nowhere near comfortable enough to take them on yet. However, one day I will with you guys help.



Peace and Ill be lurking in your threads.

George

aka Kolokefalo (which means butthead in Greek)
 
Hey George, I have a 2008 Black GTI. I got it in August 08 and have about 47K miles on it. So far it's been great. There are tons of info, several forums just on that car. I can help with the detailing side, please feel free to PM anytime.
 
Welcome to the forums. Let us know of your success/failures. With an eye for details, it will mostly be successes.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. My head is swimming right now with info. I am trying to formulate my plan of attack on the car. I know I definately need to do a polish at some point as I can see the swirls and a lot of TYPE II water marks. I am going to keep it washed every week and read a few more articles on claying before I try it. After that when I get comfortable with the correct process of washing and using clay then I am hoping for trying my first polish in a few months. Truly loving this site at home in the evenings...and maybe even during the day at work when the boss isnt near my desk :)
 
Welcome to Autopia. Glad you're finding our info useful. If there's anything you are unclear on feel free to post up.
 
Welcome, George, and congratulations on your new ride!



While you are doing your researching and contemplating what supplies and tools to purchase, there are a couple of things you can do immediately to improve and maintain the appearance of your paint. I wrote a short article about this two years ago, which you may find helpful: Your Daily Driver. Basically, the steps are these:



1) Wash your car regularly. Use the two bucket method. Watch the video cited in my article.



2) Clay the paint. My guess is that your car has never been clayed. Both Mother's and Meguiar's sell claybar kits which you can find at local auto stores. Don't be intimidated. This is something you can do safely, and you will be surprised by how much gunk and debris the clay will remove. Watch the video cited in my article.



3) Wax the paint with a cleaner wax (sometimes referred to as an All-in-One). A cleaner wax will deep clean the paint and provide a layer of wax protection. My favorite is Meguiar's ColorX. You may be able to find a bottle locally, though it appears to be disappearing from the shelves here in Roanoke. If you can't find it, check to see if any local stores carry, or can order, Duragloss products. Duragloss 501 is an excellent AIO. Other possibilities: Meguiar's Cleaner Wax and Mother's Cleaner Wax. If you are willing to order products online, then there are several other fine AIO products you can purchase: e.g., Klasse All-in-One, Finish Kare 215, Meguiar's M66, Meguiar's D151.



4) Top the AIO with a coat of your wax/sealant of choice. Here is where things get fun. We all have our favorite protectants. Autopia members will be happy to share with you their many recommendations. My favorite under $60 carnauba waxes (which I prefer on my black car): Victoria Concours Red, Harly Wax, P21S 100%. My favorite synthetic sealants: Blackfire Wet Diamond, Ultima Paint Guard Plus, Finish Kare 1000p. All of these, though, need to be ordered online. For locally available products, consider Megs' NXT, Megs' Gold Class Carnauba Plus, Mother's Reflections, Mother's FX SynWax.



Anyway, this will hold you until you are ready to move forward with a fuller and more complete detailing plan.



Good luck and have fun!



Cheers,

Al
 
Just watch the vids and read the entire 10 page thread. A lot of good info there. I am definitely going to try claying as soon as I get a free Sunday, hopefully a week from this one. (lots of honey-dos this Sunday). Today immediately after work I did a 2 bucket wash, felt real good about it, I dont have a small vac yet to blow out the crevices so I took it for a spin on the highway and it got real nice and dry.....then 1 block from my house as I am ready to go pull in to my driveway and enjoy my newfound knowledge and handiwork.....my neighbor 3 doors down is cutting his lawn and blowing the clippings in to the street as I pass by. I wanted to cry like a 6 year old girl with a skinned knee. What luck.....All in all though I felt good about the wash I did. So I rinsed the car off again and blotted it dry with my microfiber towel.
 
I my self possess a dream of GT while driving my VW Beetle ... And I must say this a great forum which has all the needed info for a car owner to keep his ride shining :)
 
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