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Hello everyone. As a professional detailer I have wrote a small article on another forum on how to properly wash, clay bar, and polish your vehicle to make it look it's absolute best, and I would like to share it all with you. I feel such a thread is necessary to allow the owners of such beautiful cars (the Ferrari) to better care for their vehicles. Please feel free to add to the discussion. Thanks for looking and don't hesitate to pm me for more info on my services or the information that I have provided.
Alrighty...I am sick and tired of having misinformed consumers on the market...this thread is dedicated to improving the knowledge of consumers on car care products. There are hundreds of products and techniques, so my techniques are not necessarily the perfect solution, but feel free to add more ideas and products on to my technique. Sorry for no pictures but I don't have a camera right now. So, here goes my techniques and ideas for the Crossfire, starting today with washing/drying via the Two-bucket method, and next time into polishing/waxing. If all of this sounds like too much, I detail cars myself, so please feel free to visit my website at http://cpdetailing.com. Other than that, ENJOY:
1. Before washing the Crossfire (tips)...
- Raise rear wing (if necessary).
- Close windows.
- Make sure the vehicle has not been driven for at least 30 minutes.
- Park the car in the shade to reduce the chance of water spots occurring.
- Do not put any washing/drying materials on the floor or other dirty surfaces so that you do not introduce particles onto the paint, which will create swirls.
- ALWAYS use clean towels, sponges, and other materials on the paint surface...rinse often is necessary.
WHEELS
1. Supplies needed...
- Hose.
- Meguire's wheel spoke brush.
- Small foam waxing pad (I use an old eagle one wax applicator pad).
- Wheel cleaner (I use S100 GEL wheel cleaner, I used to use Eagle One A20 wheel cleaner, but it seems to have faded the clearcoat on the wheels because it is one of the most aggressive wheel cleaners on the market).
2. Spray S100 wheel cleaner onto the inside of the wheels and start to remove brake dust from wheels.
3. With hose and a strong stream of water rinse off the inside of the wheel (make sure to rinse off the brush often so you do not scratch the paint on the wheels.
4. Spray your waxing pad with S100 wheel cleaner and go over each spoke, inside crevices, on the sides of the spoke, and don't forget the hubcaps and the indentations within them.
5. Rinse off the wheel once again.
6. Spray inside the wheel well with the wheel cleaner and take a soft brush to scrub the area well, then rinse off the wheel well.
7. Take a rubber cleaner and scrub and rinse tires.
8. Repeat process for all wheels.
WASHING PAINTED SURFACES
1. Supplies needed.
- Your favorite car wash soap (I hear Optimum No Rinse works well, just make sure that the product does not strip wax).
- Two car wash mitts (sponges hold small rocks, which can scratch your paint once the rocks are exposed to the surface). One for the top 1/2 of the car, the other for the bottom 1/2.
- Two buckets, one for rinsing, and one for the car wash soap.
- Bug/tar remover (I recommend Poorboy's Bug Squash...works incredibly well).
- Bug sponge (soft sponge with net).
- Hose.
2. Spray the bottom half of the entire car...this will remove minor debris. To reduce the appearance of swirls, the key is to keep your water, sponges, and towels as clean as possible, and very gentle on the paint as well.
3. Focusing on the bottom end of the vehicle (I usually start with a side panel, then the front, then the other side, and then the rear, which is usually dirtiest), take your bug and tar remover, spray a small area, let is sit, and then gently take your bug sponge and remove tacky tar and bug spots, starting from the top of the bottom half of the vehicle, and working your way down.
4. Rinse area well, then rinse off the sponge, and repeat until the whole bottom 1/2 of the car has been treated to bug and tar product (rinse sponge as often as possible to reduce the formation of swirls on the paint).
5. Fill-up your rinse bucket all the way up...I recommend you get a grit guard for the bottom of the bucket so that your mitts do not get mixed in with the dirt.
6. Fill-up your wash bucket half-way.
7. Squeeze in a SMALL amount of car wash soap into the wash bucket...a small amount usually goes a long way.
8. Spray your wash bucket just for a few moments with water to allow it to sud, but don't fill-up the bucket all the way with water. because the suds will die-out eventually. My technique here is to activate suds on-demand, not once for the entire wash. This will help save car wash soap.
9. Dip both mitts into the rinse bucket.
10. With mitt #1, dip into the sudding wash bucket (suds provide lubrication between the surface and the washing medium, which will help reduce swirls).
11. Wash the roof first, then all windows, then put mitt #1 into the rinse bucket.
12. Rinse theses areas with water.
12. With mitt #1, dip mitt into the wash bucket (reactivate suds if necessary), then wash hood and half of the rest of the car, except for the rear of the vehicle (because it is the dirtiest part of the vehicle, it cleaned last), then put mitt #1 into the rinse bucket.
13. Rinse these areas with water.
14. With mitt #2, dip mitt into the wash bucket (reactivate suds if necessary), then wash the bottom half of the vehicle, top half to bottom half, but do NOT wash rear of vehicle. Put mitt #1 into the rinse bucket.
15. Rinse these areas with water.
16. With mitt #2, dip mitt into wash bucket (reactivate suds if necessary), and rinse the rear of the vehicle, not forgetting the small venture tunnels, spoiler, and exhaust tips.
17. Remove nozzle from hose.
18. Put the running water from the hose on the top of the car, and create a waterflow all over the paint, then work your way to the bottom of the car...this will remove a significant amount of remaining water on the surface of the vehicle.
DRYING
1. I like to use a blade...to use one safely, my motto is "With every swipe you wipe (with a microfiber towel)".
2. Tackle the windows first, then all surfaces that point to the sky, then sides, then bottom portions of a vehicle.
2.5 ...use a leaf blower or blowing end of a vacuum and remove water from all crevices, especially the front grilles.
3. Take a quality microfiber towel, typically a waffle weave towel for drying (I use the Sonus Blue waffle weave drying towel. Pakshack and Cobra are supposed to make nice towels too), and touch-up the areas not completely dried from the blade. Some common areas that need this include the side marker lights (water gets trapped inbetween the grooves), gills on the side, side mirrors, underneath the rear spoiler, side sills, and the rear hatch area (especially the upper portion of the rear hatch as water tends to sit there, eventually creating rust if not dried-up).
CLAY BARRING
What is a clay bar?
It is a piece of proprietary elastic material that is designed to remove contaminants within a clearcoat that cannot be removed through traditional washing. Vehicles that are not waxed and are not garaged are exposed to airborne elements that, over time, contaminate the clearcoat. Tree sap, paint overspray, embedded dirt, tar, bug remains, paint scuffs, etc...are some of the problem areas that a clay bar can remove safely without aggressive scrubbing with a towel which can create swirls and scratches. A rough paint surface can be smoothed-out by the use of a clay bar, and it's original paint color can be restored as the clay bar will reveal a contamination-free paint finish.
Recommended brands:
Clay Magic, Sonus, Griots, Erazer, etc...
How to use:
Before using a clay bar, make sure you wash the paint surface thoroughly to ensure that no loose dirt is on the paint. If the clay bar touches the ground, throw it out and use a new piece of clay since it will now have rock particles from the asphalt imbedded in the clay itself, which can scratch the paint. Always use some sort of clay lubricant in conjunction with the clay itself as it will scuff the clearcoat and create a hologram-effect on the clearcoat without use of a lubricant. Dedicated clay lubes, quick detailers, or car wash soaps can be used as lubricant, but as a warning, some car wash soaps are know to eventually break-down and eat away at some clay bars. I like to use Sonus Glyde as a clay lube or Optimum No Rinse, which in the long run saves money because of the less amount of product used.
1. Spray lube onto clay bar and 2x2 section of paint.
2. Take a 2 inch by 2 inch piece of clay, roll it into a ball, and flatten it out.
3. Gently glyde the clay bar onto the lubricated paint surface, and focus on keeping the paint surface generously lubricated in order to reduce the amount of scuffs on the paint. When the clay bar "grabs," that's when you know you are removing contamination within the clearcoat.
4. Rinse the area and repeat the process until all of the painted surfaces are clay barred.
Tip...check your work often as you might be able to see the spots that you missed by the darker shades of paint in the light. The more heavily contaminated a paint surface, the easier it is to see where the clay bar has done it's work.
when the clay bar gets excessively dirty, switch to a fresh side by flipping the clay bar over, or by rolling up the bar into a ball, stretch if necessary, and try to reveal a fresh surface from the clay.
Alrighty...I am sick and tired of having misinformed consumers on the market...this thread is dedicated to improving the knowledge of consumers on car care products. There are hundreds of products and techniques, so my techniques are not necessarily the perfect solution, but feel free to add more ideas and products on to my technique. Sorry for no pictures but I don't have a camera right now. So, here goes my techniques and ideas for the Crossfire, starting today with washing/drying via the Two-bucket method, and next time into polishing/waxing. If all of this sounds like too much, I detail cars myself, so please feel free to visit my website at http://cpdetailing.com. Other than that, ENJOY:
1. Before washing the Crossfire (tips)...
- Raise rear wing (if necessary).
- Close windows.
- Make sure the vehicle has not been driven for at least 30 minutes.
- Park the car in the shade to reduce the chance of water spots occurring.
- Do not put any washing/drying materials on the floor or other dirty surfaces so that you do not introduce particles onto the paint, which will create swirls.
- ALWAYS use clean towels, sponges, and other materials on the paint surface...rinse often is necessary.
WHEELS
1. Supplies needed...
- Hose.
- Meguire's wheel spoke brush.
- Small foam waxing pad (I use an old eagle one wax applicator pad).
- Wheel cleaner (I use S100 GEL wheel cleaner, I used to use Eagle One A20 wheel cleaner, but it seems to have faded the clearcoat on the wheels because it is one of the most aggressive wheel cleaners on the market).
2. Spray S100 wheel cleaner onto the inside of the wheels and start to remove brake dust from wheels.
3. With hose and a strong stream of water rinse off the inside of the wheel (make sure to rinse off the brush often so you do not scratch the paint on the wheels.
4. Spray your waxing pad with S100 wheel cleaner and go over each spoke, inside crevices, on the sides of the spoke, and don't forget the hubcaps and the indentations within them.
5. Rinse off the wheel once again.
6. Spray inside the wheel well with the wheel cleaner and take a soft brush to scrub the area well, then rinse off the wheel well.
7. Take a rubber cleaner and scrub and rinse tires.
8. Repeat process for all wheels.
WASHING PAINTED SURFACES
1. Supplies needed.
- Your favorite car wash soap (I hear Optimum No Rinse works well, just make sure that the product does not strip wax).
- Two car wash mitts (sponges hold small rocks, which can scratch your paint once the rocks are exposed to the surface). One for the top 1/2 of the car, the other for the bottom 1/2.
- Two buckets, one for rinsing, and one for the car wash soap.
- Bug/tar remover (I recommend Poorboy's Bug Squash...works incredibly well).
- Bug sponge (soft sponge with net).
- Hose.
2. Spray the bottom half of the entire car...this will remove minor debris. To reduce the appearance of swirls, the key is to keep your water, sponges, and towels as clean as possible, and very gentle on the paint as well.
3. Focusing on the bottom end of the vehicle (I usually start with a side panel, then the front, then the other side, and then the rear, which is usually dirtiest), take your bug and tar remover, spray a small area, let is sit, and then gently take your bug sponge and remove tacky tar and bug spots, starting from the top of the bottom half of the vehicle, and working your way down.
4. Rinse area well, then rinse off the sponge, and repeat until the whole bottom 1/2 of the car has been treated to bug and tar product (rinse sponge as often as possible to reduce the formation of swirls on the paint).
5. Fill-up your rinse bucket all the way up...I recommend you get a grit guard for the bottom of the bucket so that your mitts do not get mixed in with the dirt.
6. Fill-up your wash bucket half-way.
7. Squeeze in a SMALL amount of car wash soap into the wash bucket...a small amount usually goes a long way.
8. Spray your wash bucket just for a few moments with water to allow it to sud, but don't fill-up the bucket all the way with water. because the suds will die-out eventually. My technique here is to activate suds on-demand, not once for the entire wash. This will help save car wash soap.
9. Dip both mitts into the rinse bucket.
10. With mitt #1, dip into the sudding wash bucket (suds provide lubrication between the surface and the washing medium, which will help reduce swirls).
11. Wash the roof first, then all windows, then put mitt #1 into the rinse bucket.
12. Rinse theses areas with water.
12. With mitt #1, dip mitt into the wash bucket (reactivate suds if necessary), then wash hood and half of the rest of the car, except for the rear of the vehicle (because it is the dirtiest part of the vehicle, it cleaned last), then put mitt #1 into the rinse bucket.
13. Rinse these areas with water.
14. With mitt #2, dip mitt into the wash bucket (reactivate suds if necessary), then wash the bottom half of the vehicle, top half to bottom half, but do NOT wash rear of vehicle. Put mitt #1 into the rinse bucket.
15. Rinse these areas with water.
16. With mitt #2, dip mitt into wash bucket (reactivate suds if necessary), and rinse the rear of the vehicle, not forgetting the small venture tunnels, spoiler, and exhaust tips.
17. Remove nozzle from hose.
18. Put the running water from the hose on the top of the car, and create a waterflow all over the paint, then work your way to the bottom of the car...this will remove a significant amount of remaining water on the surface of the vehicle.
DRYING
1. I like to use a blade...to use one safely, my motto is "With every swipe you wipe (with a microfiber towel)".
2. Tackle the windows first, then all surfaces that point to the sky, then sides, then bottom portions of a vehicle.
2.5 ...use a leaf blower or blowing end of a vacuum and remove water from all crevices, especially the front grilles.
3. Take a quality microfiber towel, typically a waffle weave towel for drying (I use the Sonus Blue waffle weave drying towel. Pakshack and Cobra are supposed to make nice towels too), and touch-up the areas not completely dried from the blade. Some common areas that need this include the side marker lights (water gets trapped inbetween the grooves), gills on the side, side mirrors, underneath the rear spoiler, side sills, and the rear hatch area (especially the upper portion of the rear hatch as water tends to sit there, eventually creating rust if not dried-up).
CLAY BARRING
What is a clay bar?
It is a piece of proprietary elastic material that is designed to remove contaminants within a clearcoat that cannot be removed through traditional washing. Vehicles that are not waxed and are not garaged are exposed to airborne elements that, over time, contaminate the clearcoat. Tree sap, paint overspray, embedded dirt, tar, bug remains, paint scuffs, etc...are some of the problem areas that a clay bar can remove safely without aggressive scrubbing with a towel which can create swirls and scratches. A rough paint surface can be smoothed-out by the use of a clay bar, and it's original paint color can be restored as the clay bar will reveal a contamination-free paint finish.
Recommended brands:
Clay Magic, Sonus, Griots, Erazer, etc...
How to use:
Before using a clay bar, make sure you wash the paint surface thoroughly to ensure that no loose dirt is on the paint. If the clay bar touches the ground, throw it out and use a new piece of clay since it will now have rock particles from the asphalt imbedded in the clay itself, which can scratch the paint. Always use some sort of clay lubricant in conjunction with the clay itself as it will scuff the clearcoat and create a hologram-effect on the clearcoat without use of a lubricant. Dedicated clay lubes, quick detailers, or car wash soaps can be used as lubricant, but as a warning, some car wash soaps are know to eventually break-down and eat away at some clay bars. I like to use Sonus Glyde as a clay lube or Optimum No Rinse, which in the long run saves money because of the less amount of product used.
1. Spray lube onto clay bar and 2x2 section of paint.
2. Take a 2 inch by 2 inch piece of clay, roll it into a ball, and flatten it out.
3. Gently glyde the clay bar onto the lubricated paint surface, and focus on keeping the paint surface generously lubricated in order to reduce the amount of scuffs on the paint. When the clay bar "grabs," that's when you know you are removing contamination within the clearcoat.
4. Rinse the area and repeat the process until all of the painted surfaces are clay barred.
Tip...check your work often as you might be able to see the spots that you missed by the darker shades of paint in the light. The more heavily contaminated a paint surface, the easier it is to see where the clay bar has done it's work.
when the clay bar gets excessively dirty, switch to a fresh side by flipping the clay bar over, or by rolling up the bar into a ball, stretch if necessary, and try to reveal a fresh surface from the clay.
