Washing/polishing/sealing/waxing advice required

[PaulD]

I've been reading up on advice when it comes to taking care of your car's paintwork, wheels, tyres etc.

Having just bought a new Leon FR+ with blemish free, shiney paintwork I want to give it the best chance possible of staying that way.. I'm aware that polishing every week is a no no because it's generally an abrasive process that's primarily for 'correction'.. I'm also aware that a good quality wax should last a good 3 months (give or take depending on various factors)..

What I'd like to know is what people would recommend doing on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

For example:

Weekly: Rinse and wash car with good quality shampoo and wash mit. Dry with microfibre drying towel. Clean and treat wheels. Dress tyres. Hoover and clean interior. Metal polish exhaust tailpipes.

Quarterly: As above but with addition of polishing/sealing/waxing.

I'm not really clear on how often each should be done (polishing/sealing/waxing), if sealing AND waxing is even necessary and if I should be doing some prep work before each polish. Is it necessary to clay the car before polishing? Will polish remove any wax/sealant that's been applied to the car?

Given that the paintwork's currently pretty nice and 'wet' looking, should my weekly wash actually include some form of topping up whatever sealant/wax has been applied? Should I be waxing more often than polishing?

Any help anyone could give me would be great.. I've done lots of googling and looking on detalingworld, cleanyourcar, etc and there's lots of helpful stuff out there but sometimes it's all a bit too much..

I'm going to be doing this by hand as I don't trust myself with machine polishing just yet!


Thank you all in advance.

 

[dazvessey]

i wash my car every week first i rinse the worst off with pressure washer then i snow foam it i use auto glm pressure wash leave it to fester while i have a fag then rinse again then i wash it, i was using dodo juice born to be mild shampoo, its a ph neutral shampoo but ive just bought some dodo sour power because its gloss enhancing. i use a wash mitt and 2 bucket method 1 with shampoo and water and the other with just warm water to rinse the mitt when its dirty. i dry it with micro fibre towels i just use the ones from asda £3 each i genrally need 3 to dry my car. every couple of months after the snow foam i give the whole car a blast with iron-x and tar-x to get the contaminents off it before i wash it, i clay the car every time ive used the iron-x and tar-x but that comes after the wash and dry then i will polish it with meguires speed glaze by hand then wax the car with dodo juice purple haze wax. depending if i can be arsed i do wax it every week after i wash it just to top it up and it makes washing soooo much easier each time fly come off dead easy

 

[seatleon2012]

to be totally honest with you mate every weekend morning i do my car with meguiars quick detailer and the stuff is great last for weeks..when it rains the rain just bounces off the car and even in the sun the car shines and running my fingers over the paintwork my finger my slides off.ive gone through about 3 bottles in the last 4 months

 

[dazvessey]

to be totally honest with you mate every weekend morning i do my car with meguiars quick detailer and the stuff is great last for weeks..when it rains the rain just bounces off the car and even in the sun the car shines and running my fingers over the paintwork my finger my slides off.ive gone through about 3 bottles in the last 4 months

i darent just use qd on mine in fear of scratchin the **** out of it lol

 

[PaulD]

I've used the quick detailer before on previous cars.. it's pretty good stuff.. I actually used it as a lubricant when claying the car too..

Should I be looking for a neutral ph shampoo so I don't break down any sealant/wax that's already applied to the car?

 

[PaulD]

My Car Cleaning Plan

Having spent a fair while reading up on things I now have a fairly detailed list of products, a weekly wash plan, a monthly wash plan, and a quarterly wash plan! Oh and I think I have OCD too!

Basically, to summarise, my plans are as follows:

Weekly Summary

• Hoover interior. Apply product to interior plastics and trim. Clean interior glass.
• Wash and dry inside of doors, sills, boot and wheel arches. Apply quik wax.
• Clean and rinse wheels.
• Wash car from top down. Dry car and apply quik wax to car and wheels.
• Apply tyre gel.
• Apply metal polish to exhaust.

Monthly Summary
Wash as per "Weekly Summary" (minus the application of any quik wax), plus:

• Check for contaminants on paintwork. If ok, proceed to apply non-abrasive 'pure' polish. Finally, apply chosen wax to body and wheels.
• If paintwork not ok, consider claying, using a paint cleaner, before applying a non-abrasive 'pure' polish and, finally, applying a new coat (at least one coat) of chosen wax.

Quarterly Summary
Wash as per "Weekly Summary" (minus the application of any quik wax), plus:

• Clean paintwork from contaminants, remove existing wax, reapply polish and reapply wax.

 

[dazvessey]

Having spent a fair while reading up on things I now have a fairly detailed list of products, a weekly wash plan, a monthly wash plan, and a quarterly wash plan! Oh and I think I have OCD too!

Basically, to summarise, my plans are as follows:

Weekly Summary

• Hoover interior. Apply product to interior plastics and trim. Clean interior glass.
• Wash and dry inside of doors, sills, boot and wheel arches. Apply quik wax.
• Clean and rinse wheels.
• Wash car from top down. Dry car and apply quik wax to car and wheels.
• Apply tyre gel.
• Apply metal polish to exhaust.

Monthly Summary
Wash as per "Weekly Summary" (minus the application of any quik wax), plus:

• Check for contaminants on paintwork. If ok, proceed to apply non-abrasive 'pure' polish. Finally, apply chosen wax to body and wheels.
• If paintwork not ok, consider claying, using a paint cleaner, before applying a non-abrasive 'pure' polish and, finally, applying a new coat (at least one coat) of chosen wax.

Quarterly Summary
Wash as per "Weekly Summary" (minus the application of any quik wax), plus:

• Clean paintwork from contaminants, remove existing wax, reapply polish and reapply wax.

sounds good to me,i use qd as clay lube also

 

[PaulD]

sounds good to me,i use qd as clay lube also

Yep.. that's the plan