Courtney's First Detail Attempt.

[Courtney]

Over the last few weeks i have been trying to build a small collection of bits and pieces so that i can give my car what i think it deserves ....a good wash!! Don't get me wrong, my car has been washed every weekend since i got it (so about 5 times now :shock But i was thinking... i don't want to keep washing it and not really treat it... So here is my first attempt at a detail! Please give me tips and advice on anything to do with cleaning and maintaining because i am a complete newbie when it comes to this stuff !!

I got home from work today, and a few of the bits i ordered over the last week had arrived..
The rest of my stuff from Monster Detail (great service, fast delivery) arrived, so i now have had Dodo: Born to be Mild, Sour Power and Purple Haze. Along with the small Basics of Bling Wash Sponge, the Basics of Bling Drying towel and two Basics of Bling Polish Applicators. Along with four Wax Applicators too

I also ordered a Dodo bag from eBay, it was about £15 with postage so not too bad... Everything was starting to get a mess in my utility room and my AutoGlym bag couldn't handle anymore!

The car looked a lot worse than it actually was.. Most of it would have hosed off but i have the Valet Pro snow foam now so i thought i would just use it if i am going the whole hog... Not too impressed with it to be honest, it is PH Neutral but i just find it too weak, even when the dosage is on full.. So i let that soak for five minutes or so and then went back and jet washed it off...

Then i used Dodo Sour Power Shampoo with the trusty two bucket method - see below that is why i use two buckets - which got all of the dirt off the car! Brilliant stuff it is! First time i used it... Smells great too

For the wheels i just used a small amount of AutoGlym Custom Wheel Cleaner, as well as the Sour Power Shampoo..

After using my new bright Yellow drying towel the car was already beaming which was great.. But i still went on and used AutoGlym's Super Resin Polish to bring out the shine a bit better, you can't really see the result as the sun was getting lower but it was brilliant..

I also have a bottle of Extra Gloss Protection, so i used that for the Black bits all over the car.. Put it on.. Leave it for half an hour and then buff it off.. Brought out such a shine that wasn't there before!

After polishing the whole of the car i was getting a bit tired and thought do i really want to wax it? I have never waxed a car before so i was thinking about not doing it... but i had just spent two hours making it all new and shiny, so i did - Bring on the Purple Haze I'm not sure how well it went to be honest, to me it felt like i wasn't putting enough wax on the car but one tip i had noticed was that you do not over apply! So i tried not to be too skimpy.. Anyway.. This is how it came up in the end:

Why use two buckets? Who would want to put a dirty sponge back into the water you are going to wash the car with?

Before:

After:

Thats why i use two buckets

Proper chuffed with it Looks absolutely brilliant Can't wait to expand my collection.. Next on the 'To Do' list is the interior... *dragggg*

The products i used were:

And ValetPro PH Neutral Snow Foam, and Turtle Wax Wet'n'Black tyre dressing

So yeah... Any tips? And probably not but if you have any questions just ask

 

[holliedynamique]

This is great! Well done especially for your first detail attempt, nice Dodo Juice bag, thats one of my best buys lol although I brought an Autosmart detailing kit yesterday and I still cant fit everything in
You have used great proucts, and the snow foam comment is exactly how I feel with the valet pro PH neutral, to be honest I find it quite weak even when its not dilluted too much, although it does do its main job of lifting any embedded dirt of the surface quite quickly.

Bet its beading well now

 

[Courtney]

Bet its beading well now

It hasn't rained or gotten wet yet so i suppose time will tell! Hopefully if it hasn't rained by the time i get home i think i might put another layer on incase i missed bits :twisted:

 

[Leanne]

looks reem dude well done!

 

[holliedynamique]

Bet its beading well now

It hasn't rained or gotten wet yet so i suppose time will tell! Hopefully if it hasn't rained by the time i get home i think i might put another layer on incase i missed bits :twisted:

lol :lol: oh typical, I just poured some water from a drinks bottle over it to see if all my hard work had paid off, as I dont think its rained here either since last sunday!

 

[Alex_225]

Looking good there mate and sounds like a decent detail too!

Only thing I'd say is, avoid using that drying blade on anything but your glass.

 

[weebob]

Looks good

 

[weebob]

Only thing I'd say is, avoid using that drying blade on anything but your glass.

+1 I made that mistake on my old fiat, although I made sure the blade was clean (obviously not clean enough) it tore the paint to ribbons,

 

[holliedynamique]

Looking good there mate and sounds like a decent detail too!

Only thing I'd say is, avoid using that drying blade on anything but your glass.

Yea! I second that, they really are only good on glass, as its just too easy to put fine scratches in the paint with these especially if detailing outside, best left for glass like Alex has said; Im so mad that sometimes I use a blower on my car to dry it lol

 

[Courtney]

Thanks guys in the end I didn't use it at all anyway, my drying towel did the job perfectly I won't however be using it in the future now though

 

[Monster Detail]

I can't agree more about not using the drying blade on the paintwork. As you say, the Soft Touch drying towel is all you'll need

 

[Alex_225]

Daft thing is that I have used a drying blade in the past to no ill effect. I used to wipe it after each pass to remove the water so that probably helped.

Having read about the potential harm they can do I ditched mine and stick to drying towels only and those of compressed air for getting water out of the tight spots.

 

[pritchp]

Looking stunning.

 

[HigtonA]

Great looking Twingo

 

[Monster Detail]

I can't agree more about not using the drying blade on the paintwork. As you say, the Soft Touch drying towel is all you'll need

Forgot to say that your car is looking great, Courtney

 

[Courtney]

:mrgreen:

 

[Monster Detail]

From the pictures, it looks like your interior plastic panels are black and not cream. Am I correct? I thought that only the 133 has black plastics. Or do all newer models have this now?

 

[Courtney]

All black inside mine No cream!! My auntie test drove one that had cream on the inside and that put her off! then she went in mine and it was all black!

 

[Monster Detail]

All black inside mine No cream!! My auntie test drove one that had cream on the inside and that put her off! then she went in mine and it was all black!

Ahh, nice! I have to say, I really dislike the cream. I don't know why Renault ever thought that would be a good idea.

 

[maggi200]

You know what they say, once you've gone black

Looks good, as for the drying, I use a chemical guys blower which is brilliant. Obviously with the LSP on my car and an open hose there's only so much left to dry off the car in the first place.