PLEASE help me choose an entire detailing aresenal!

M

mrgoochio

New member
Hi, my name is Daniel and I am taking delivery of a brand new 2008 BMW Jet Black 135i with Lemon Boston Leather Interior later this month. Because I am taking delivery of a brand new car, what better time is there than to start a detailing collection? I have always washed and waxed my own cars, but after doing some research, I found that my techniques were pretty much all wrong. I come here trying to forget about everything I've done and everything I have been told so I can learn with a blank slate. I have read a number of detailing guides covering basic two bucket washing, claying, polishing, sealing, and waxing. Other dress-up detailing such as engine bay cleaning and interior cleaning have also been touched upon. I have some confidence that I can follow these steps with the help of the people here and the many guides I have read. The ONE THING (or should I say many many things) I don't have a real good understanding on are the vast number of products offered out there.



What is my budget you ask? Well I have allocated roughly $800.00 to spend on accessories.. I am debating whether or not $400.00~ of it should go to either a Valentine 1 or 9500i radar detector. Even so, I will have the other $400.00 to spend on detailing gear or other accessories.



Please help me come up with an entire aresenal of detailing equipment! Lets just say all my old rags, polishes, waxes, washes, everything has been thrown out. I am looking for pretty much everything needed to keep my car in tip top shape, including a PC or UDM. Towels, washes, polishes, sealants, clay, pads, vacuum for the interior?, foam gun?, and maybe even buckets will be needed. I am not looking to become a professional detailer, I am only an enthusiast that loves his car. Please help me take care of it!



Daniel
 
There are so many opinions as to what to get but in any case I prepped a 2007 jet black 328 and that was the very worst paint i have ever touched. I will not work on another.. ever. You touch it and induces scratches.



I'd choose another color. Sorry.



Others will chime in with better advise.
 
tdekany said:
There are so many opinions as to what to get but in any case I prepped a 2007 jet black 328 and that was the very worst paint i have ever touched. I will not work on another.. ever. You touch it and induces scratches.



I'd choose another color. Sorry.



Others will chime in with better advise.
Click to expand...



My car is already en-route and will be arriving later this month. I chose not to get the metallic paint and went with Jet Black instead. I have heard stories of how soft the paint is, but I welcome the challenge. I really do want to prepare myself as best as possible with technique and equipment. I am having a hard time figuring out exactly which products I need and may end up buying one of the larger starter sets similar to this one: Zaino Ultimate Protection Show Car Kit: Zaino Store



I really do want to avoid buying such a large pre-set because I have read so many threads where people have said just because 1 product from a brand is good, they thought the others would be but were surprised when they performed poorly.. etc. Hopefully more people will chime in with some recommendations.
 
First of all, I'd get the V1. 400 is plenty of money to get a nice detail setup, and IMO the V1 is a better machine than the 9500i.



For the second 400 bucks, your paint is going to be super soft and keeping it perfect is gonna be tough. Good quality wash media, an oily glaze, and a carnauba wax will keep you sane. Disregard any ideas you might have had about going the paint sealant route on BMW black.



For my money, I'd get:

UDM (130 bucks)

Foam gun (50 bucks)

120 bucks worth of quality towels, washmitts, a pair of White LC pads and a pair of Red LC pads.

Clearkote Red Moose Glaze

Clearkote Vanilla Moose

Clearkote Yellow Moosewax

P21S gel wheel cleaner

DP foamgun soap

Assorted wheel brushes, etc.



All of that should come in just under 400.
 
Clearkote Vanilla Moose = Light Polish?

Clearkote Red Moose Glaze = Glaze?

Clearkote Yellow Moosewax = Wax?

White LC pad = White 5.5 inch Low Profile Polishing Pad?

Red LC pad = CCS Red Wax/Sealant Applicator Pad?



Did I get that right?

Seems like Autopia has refurb UDMs for $80 (with the 10% off)

Foam gun can be had on Amazon for around $30

Are the white pads used for general purpose polishing? I thought the orange colored pads were the general purpose polishing pad?

How many towels and different types of towels am I looking at here? $120 worth of towels seems a bit excessive, even if I get 5 dry towels, 5 buffing towels, and 5 multipurpose towels.. I don't suppose I need polishing towels if I'll be polishing with the UDM. Will I need any additional backing plates for the UDM?
 
Oh you're definitely going to need a lot of towels... in all honesty, you can NEVER have enough as an Autopian. Think about getting like 4 waffle weave towels for drying, at least 10 polishing towels to remove polish, terry cloth towels for wiping down your interior, etc.



The possibilities are endless. Good luck!
 
Rotary - Nope not a rotary.

[EDIT]

NO idea why I typed rorary. Head up my A$$ I spose. I menat to type Flex. Sorry fella! And thanks out to Chris for catching my error.



Flex

Pads by EDGE (2000) or Lake City

Menzerna SIP 106ff

Ultima PGP, PPP, T&TGP, IGP, ISG, and PGW

DWG

Black WOW

Adam's MFs

Pinnacle Clay

ONR

P21S Windsheild Booster

PPG Aquapel

Lexus Leather Conditioner
 
chiming in as another newb. TRUST me on the towels. I detailed a friends car yesterday (1st detail other than my own) and I went through ALL of my good towels and ALL of my pads. (4 QD towels, 4 polishing towels, and like 10 AP MF towels....3 orange pads and 3 white pads



lesson learned: you can never have too many towels and pads



and congrats on the new 135i.
 
dublifecrisis said:
chiming in as another newb. TRUST me on the towels. I detailed a friends car yesterday (1st detail other than my own) and I went through ALL of my good towels and ALL of my pads. (4 QD towels, 4 polishing towels, and like 10 AP MF towels....3 orange pads and 3 white pads



lesson learned: you can never have too many towels and pads



and congrats on the new 135i.
Click to expand...



I probably have 300 microfibers...





My personal recommendations coming from a lot of experience are:



Wash: 2 5 gallon buckets, grit guard, real sheepskin mitt (NO FAKES), a gallon of Duragloss 901 car soap (easily as good as zaino soap for way less money), big fluffy yellow drying towel from target for drying or danase water devourer because I think Waffle Weaves are much more prone to scratching than a plush MF so I do not use waffle weave any more. Also for Optimum No Rinse washes, I ALWAYS sue a sheepskin and a plush drying towel, never use a waffle weave for ONR becahse they do not have a lot of nap to capure dirt particles in and are thus more likely to drag the particles across the paint thus scratching it.



Polish: Since you are a beginner, get the UDM with either an assortment of edge2000 pads or lake country pads, at least one cutting pad, 2 polishing, 2 glaze/lsp and as far as the polishing products themselves, I have 106ff and some other polishes from megs, presta, etc... but I always end up going back to optimum and overall I prefer Optimum Polish to 106ff. Also youre going to need some IPA alcohol for wipedowns after polishing before LSP. So overall, for curring I would say for serius stuff use megs 105 followed by OP or just use OP on a harsher pad (yellow, orange) followed by OP on a lighter pad (white, blue) since OP can be used for almost anything and does not dust at all.



Glaze: You cant beat Clearkote RMG or Victoria wax Deep Cleanse for carnauba and Chemical Guys E-Z creme (DWG is re-labelled E-Z creme) or Chemical Guys Wet Mirror Finish, or one of my favorites not talked about here, Prima Amigo



Protection: I prefer carnauba over sealants 90% of the time, to those who say carnauba is not durable I say try collinite. IME collinite outlasts most sealants, beads like crazy and releases dirt just wonderfully, so try collinite 915 as it is my personal favorite. If you must go with sealant, Duragloss 601 followed by 111 after polishing is my favorite overall.



Quick detail and spray wax: for most general purposes, I use Optimum No Rinse mixed at QD strength as it is extremelt cheap and works well, being so cheap I dont have to be sparing when I use it, and i use it liberally in-between polishing and waxing steps and on wheels etc... As far as QD for use after LSP, Optimum instant detailer, FK425, Megs 135, Megs UQD (135 = pro version of UQD), clearkote quickshine, many other good ones. As far as spray sealant goes, I am gonna have to say the best two are Aquawax and Optimum Car Wax (often called Optimum Spray Wax). Either you go tiwh, buy a gallon.



Microfibers: buy a lot, and I mean a lot! Steer clear of autogeek microfibers, bad value for money and they lint like crazy. The best microfibers I have ever used come rom chemical guys, as well as the eurow shag weaves for QDing. Buy a lot of microfibers, microfiber applicator pads, etc...







I could go on forever, but that should be enough o get you started. Watch the instructional videos on autogeek for washing, polishing, etc... And tell your dealer NOT to wash your car at all before delivery!



Good luck, you are gonna need it with a black BMW.
 
ron231 said:
As far as spray sealant goes, I am gonna have to say the best two are Aquawax and Optimum Car Wax (often called Optimum Spray Wax).
Click to expand...



Was this a typo or did you really mean to say these two items are sealants?
 
Way too much stuff to suggest so i'll just throw in a few that can be found at local stores.



Car wash - Duragloss 901, it can be found at carquest and a couple of other auto parts stores. Plus duragloss has a ton of other great products.



Buckets - 5 gallon translucent ones from lowes. You can pick them up for about 5-6 bucks each and they are the best buckets ever!



Wash media - grout sponge from home depot or eurow sheepskin mitts from walmart (they stopped carrying them but you might be able to still find a few)



Gilmour brass quick connects and shut-off valves from lowes. Makes it much easier to switch attachments.



S-100 carnauba paste wax can be found at harley dealers.



Clay magic can be found at autozone.



It's already been said but you can NEVER have enough mf towels. It really sucks to run out of towels with half the car cover with an unbuffed lsp.



Welcome to the wonderful world of detailing and PLEASE post pictures of your 135i when you receive it!
 
I have an 03 BMW X5 black. Just looking at the paint makes it scratch. I think you will regret getting black. I am now trying to get new MF's because the ones i have been using put TONS of microswirls all over the paint. Just by wiping it with quik detail. it looks BAD! I can understand wanting a challenge but your in for a lot of this :buffing: to keep it nice.
 
mrgoochio said:
Clearkote Vanilla Moose = Light Polish?

Clearkote Red Moose Glaze = Glaze?

Clearkote Yellow Moosewax = Wax?

White LC pad = White 5.5 inch Low Profile Polishing Pad?

Red LC pad = CCS Red Wax/Sealant Applicator Pad?



Did I get that right?

Seems like Autopia has refurb UDMs for $80 (with the 10% off)

Foam gun can be had on Amazon for around $30

Are the white pads used for general purpose polishing? I thought the orange colored pads were the general purpose polishing pad?

How many towels and different types of towels am I looking at here? $120 worth of towels seems a bit excessive, even if I get 5 dry towels, 5 buffing towels, and 5 multipurpose towels.. I don't suppose I need polishing towels if I'll be polishing with the UDM. Will I need any additional backing plates for the UDM?
Click to expand...





Where did you find the refurb UDMs?
 
PM Sent 10char



I noticed a lot of the products you guys mentioned aren't offered on autogeek or autopia.. Should I be looking at multiple websites to purchase my stuff from? I could probably get a package deal put together if I ordered primarily from 1 source.. but even the simple stuff such as MF towels have so many different recommendations. Are the generic MF towels on autopia (or the Sonus ones) not as good, or just more pricey? I'm getting a better idea of what I need as far as the wide range of products though..
 
mrgoochio said:
PM Sent 10char



I noticed a lot of the products you guys mentioned aren't offered on autogeek or autopia.. Should I be looking at multiple websites to purchase my stuff from? I could probably get a package deal put together if I ordered primarily from 1 source.. but even the simple stuff such as MF towels have so many different recommendations. Are the generic MF towels on autopia (or the Sonus ones) not as good, or just more pricey? I'm getting a better idea of what I need as far as the wide range of products though..
Click to expand...





Thanks for the PM. You might also want to check out Auto Detailing and Car Cleaning Products, Tools, and Tutorials - Detailed Image.
 
My shopping list for a new guy:



Flex DA buffer



3 LC Black 4" foam pads



3 LC White 4" foam pads



3 LC Orange 4" foam pads



Backing plate



Menzerna Super Intensive polish (you probably won't want to use this on the jet black bmw, though. Save it for other cars)



Menzerna Intensive polish (this is the one for your jet black bmw)



Menzerna Final Polish II (use this on the BMW as your final polish)



One of the glazes mentioned earlier in the thread.



I would definitely go with a very good carnauba based LSP. One that will come clean very easily. One of the Collinites would be a good bet.



These MF's. http://autopia.org/forum/detailing-...row-10-pack-microfiber-shag-weave-towels.html And only these MF's. They are the softest, plushest MF's you could ever use on that soft paint.



As far as caring for that soft paint, don't ever touch it when you wash it. Keep a good layer of carnauba based wax on it, then run it through your local *touchless* automatic car wash, and be happy with however clean it comes out the other end. That paint you have mars just from *looking* at it, so you will really be better off in the long run if you don't touch it to wash it. Ever. Well, hardly ever; only if you're going to be adding a layer of wax or doing a polish job should be the only times you touch that paint.



There was a very interesting Click-N-Brag picture series a long while back on this paint. I think it was one of Picus'. He showed how simply wiping a *completely clean* jet black BMW with a *completely clean* MF towel induced marring. Oy.



As pTaylor says: "black isn't a color, it's a part time job". Well, jet black bmw paint is even worse... it's like a second wife.
 
With touchless washing, would these steps be accurate?



rinse

foam gun

rinse

spray with touchless wash

rinse

airdry of some sort?



I've never used touchless wash, I'll look up some info on it.



Menzerna seems pretty solid, reasonably priced. Perhaps some nice quality glaze and some quality durable LSP wax would be good. I was looking into swissvax but I don't know if the product warrants the money spent. I heard a lot of good things about souveran. Does anybody have any recommendations on glazes/waxes designed for black/dark colored cars with soft paint?



One more thing, I was pretty set on the UDM but now I'm hearing a few recommendations to go with the Flex DA instead. Is there any particular reason besides that the flex DA has more correction power?



edit: i read a lot of good things about the eurow MF towels.. except that theres been a price bump. would some of the cheaper MF towels that can be bought in bulk be ok for interior use? I will definately spend the money on quality MF for the exterior of the car whether it be for polishing, waxing, or drying if I do choose to wash without the touchless solution. the reason I ask is because i've seen some MF packs for a fraction of the cost from some of the name brands, although the quality may be lower i didn't think it would play that big of a role in interior and glass cleaning.



edit2: one more question, do any of you guys use disposable gloves when you are washing? when do disposable gloves come into play? i'm not sure if it would be bad wearing them if i dipped my hand into a bucket full of car wash because of the light powder on the gloves?
 
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