I am a practical man. I have a daily driver Honda Fit 2015, in Pearl White, garaged at night. Marring and swirls are hard to see on it. This is my 2nd time to do a full real preparation on my car for winter (California "rainy weather", cold weather, lots of morning dew)
Keep it simple, keep the car clean, live with a few swirls or marring, maintain value, and of course, be a little vain to outshine the other cars. All the following steps are in chronological order or what I did around September 15 in preparation for a California "Winter". My first time since being bit by the detailing bug.
Microfibers.
- Costco yellow MFs
- Chinchilla MFs
- Glass low ply towels from Microfiber Tech
Preparation
- Coin Op Spray down and rinse all light dust off.
- Bring it to my house and onto the driveway still wet.
Tires
Tools and Chemicals
- 3D Yellow Degreaser 1:4, 1:10, 1:20
- High volume foaming trigger sprayers
- Stiff tire brush for the rubber
- Expanding garden hose
- Brake dust brush
- Tire brush from Autozone for the rims
Tire steps
[*=1]Spray inner rims with 1:4
[*=1]Spray 1:10 onto the rubber
[*=1]Use 1:20 to keep it all wet, and for the face of the rims
[*=1]Scrub the inner rims with brake dust brush
[*=1]Scrub the rubber down with a medium stiff brush
[*=1]Scrub the face soft brush
[*=1]Rinse and repeat to the other 3 tires
[*=1]Bring the car inside a close garage
Wash and Decontaminate
Tools and Chemicals
[*=1]Nanoskin Fine grade sponge
[*=1]Meguiar's D114 1:128 and 1:256
[*=1]Garden sprayer 52 oz from Home Depot low pressure pump
[*=1]Presoaked Costco MFs in D114 1:256 solution (Garry Dean method)
Wash Step
[*=1]Spray down with D114 1:128 solution everywhere
[*=1]Top to bottom rinseless wash with presoaked towels
Decontamination Step
[*=1]Spray D114 1:256 solution
[*=1]Nanoskin Fine sponge until smooth, including the glass
[*=1]Dry the car and remove dried on D114 (All it needs is a light buff with a quick spray)
Glass
I do this only to the windshield, side and back glass get a different treatment later.
Tools and Chemicals
[*=1]Low ply glass MFs wrapped around a MF sponge
[*=1]Zep 1:32 ammonia free glass cleaner
[*=1]Costco MFs
[*=1]Rain X Water Repellent
[*=1]Wal-Mart Terry Cloth applicator pad
[*=1]Meguiar's D156 Spray Wax
Glass Cleaning Steps
[*=1]Spray the whole windshield
[*=1]Vertical lines with low ply glass on half a windshield at a time
[*=1]Immediately buff with a Costco MF, flip and buff again
[*=1]Do 2nd half of the windshield
[*=1]Grab a fresh Costco MF for each side and buff again
Glass Treatment
[*=1]Rain X onto a white terry cloth applicator
[*=1]Apply onto windshield in a circular motion all along, then trace the outline of the glass
[*=1]Wait a few minutes, buff off.
[*=1]Repeat for a total of 3 layers (No joke, I like to over do this)
[*=1]For the final buff, it starts to get harder to take off, so I use D156 to help
Tire Dressing
Tools and Chemicals
[*=1]Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax
[*=1]Meguiar's D156 Spray Wax
[*=1]Opti-Bond tire gel
[*=1]Wal-Mart MF applicator pad
[*=1]Detailing store generic tire dressing applicator sponge crescent shaped thing
Tire Dressing Steps
[*=1]Apply Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax to the rims face and crevices with MF applicator (I can't reach the back barrel)
[*=1]Repeat ULW onto all tires
[*=1]1st layer of Opti-Bond Tire Gel to the tires
[*=1]Repeat OBTG on all tires
[*=1]Grab a Sprite cause I'm thirsty, plus to let the ULW set a bit more
[*=1]Spray D156 onto the face of the rim to buff off the ULW
[*=1]Repeat on all tires
Sealant and Wax
I hand apply sealants and waxes, using a backing plate as a grip to the circular pads (Found this easier than using a DA). I give at least 30 minutes between each layer of sealant and wax to set up. I even went out for dinner with my family after applying the Paint Protect, and came back to finish the job.
Tools and Chemicals
[*=1]Meguiar's Paint Protect 365
[*=1]Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax
[*=1]Wolfgang Fuzion
[*=1]Meguiar's D156 Spray Wax
[*=1]Chinchilla MFs
[*=1]5 inch backing plate
[*=1]Meguiar's Finishing flat pad
[*=1]LCC Black Finishing pad
[*=1]LCC Blue Finessing pad
Sealant and wax steps
[*=1]Meguiar's Paint Protect + Meguiar's Flat Finishing pad
[*=1]Do the whole car, wait a while, and buff off.
[*=1]Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax + LCC Black Finishing pad
[*=1]Do the whole car, plus the trim, wait a while, and buff off.
[*=1]Wolfgang Fuzion + LCC Blue Finessing pad
[*=1]Do the whole car, wait a while, buff off
[*=1]Take a break
Finishing Touches
I do all of these at the end of the waxing stage.
Tire Dressing
Final glass cleaning
[*=1]I use D156 and Costco MFs to clean the back and side windows, since it is nearly impossible to streak with, as long as I buff with a dry MF after
[*=1]I also use D156 on my side view mirrors
[*=1]I don't care about the over spray, since I do a final buff on the entire car after anyways
Door jams
[*=1]D114 1:128 on all door jams and crevices
[*=1]D156 on all door jams and crevices as well
Engine
[*=1]D114 1:128 everywhere in the engine bay, with demoted MFs
[*=1]D156 everywhere in the engine bay with demoted MFs
[*=1]OBTG 1:1 in a spray bottle on black tubes or rubber stuff using a Wal-Mart MF applicator or demoted MFs.
Final Buff
[*=1]Use a lot of fresh MFs (Chinchilla or 520 purples), with one spray of D156 as a "primer" to buff the entire car
Final Tire Dressing
Go to sleep
Interior
As for the interior, I did it on a separate day, it was pretty simple, so I won't go into much detail.
General Interior
- Take out all my carpet mats, brush until spotless, and vacuum.
- Vacuum everything inside very thoroughly
- Wipe down all plastic with Meguiar's Natural Shine using MFs and MF applicator pads from Wal-Mart
- Simple Green 1:20 APC on the steering wheel and shift knob
- Wipe down interior glass with low ply glass MFs, with Zep Ammonia free glass cleaner, buff with Costco MFs right after
Interior windshield
[*=1]Tricky devil, but I have a way to get it streak free.
[*=1]Set yourself in the drivers seat with the Stoner's Wand, bottle of Zep glass cleaner, four Costco MFs, and two low ply glass MFs
[*=1]Place the low ply MF on the wand, spray lightly once or twice, then wand the interior windshield up and down until you get to a little bit more than half the windshield
[*=1]ASAP, take off the low ply glass MF, and put on a Costco MF, and repeat to buff off the residue
[*=1]Repeat again with a 2nd Costco MF on the drivers side.
[*=1]Repeat process while sitting in the passengers side for that side of the window
[*=1]Enjoy the streak free windshield glass, and don't touch it again until summer time.
Deodorize
[*=1]Spray Zep Air Deodorizer on the chairs and back area.
As for
maintenance, I would follow the same routine I usually do every week or so.
Interior
(No kids, so it's just me and my wife in the front all the time, plus we keep the back seats folded down all the time.)
[*=1]Vacuum as needed, which is usually just the two front seats and front floors
[*=1]Spray Zep Deodorizer on the seats in case we ate somewhere that left a food smell on our clothes which transferred into the car.
Tires
[*=1]D114 1:128 Spray onto rims and wipe
[*=1]D156 spray onto rims and buff
[*=1]Opti-Bond tire gel 1:1 onto tires, leave it over night
Exterior
[*=1]I keep a 5 gallon bucket with folded MFs in it, soaked in D114 1:256.
[*=1]Rinseless wash every week when I have time, sometimes I have to skip a week.
[*=1]I clean the windshield almost every day, or every other day, depending if there's a lot of dust on them or if I was on the highway and have weird splatters. I use Zep's 1:32 ammonia free glass cleaner and D156 to buff.
[*=1]Clean the wiper blades too, since dust collects on them
[*=1]Spray wax D156 everything, including the windshield, using a LOT of towels to keep residue streaks off the glass.
[*=1]Buff all D156 off with fresh MFs.
That's my cleaning routine that I did this year, my first time, plus my usual maintenance. Can't believe I just wrote all of that here for the past two hours or so, recalling what I did.
I'm a Meguiar's fan out of their cost effectiveness, and all, plus a cheap OTC cleaner person, like with my Zep and Simple Green.
Enjoy the detailing guys. Was fun writing this one.
