Very dirty car...

[kh92]

Is there a step by step guide to wash my car? I'm about to get it soon and I think I'm going to wash it straight away as it is just so dirty.

I would like to start with Morning Fresh on it, I read it gets EVERYTHING off including waxes etc, so it would leave my car unprotected correct?

What protection / sealants can I use to be able to not reapply every few months... I want to be able to just have to wash my car every week for the rest of my life without going throught reapplying waxes etc.

[Yeldarb]

Opti-Coat.

Contact forum sponsor ZAS.

[Lachlan]

As yeldarb said, talk to ZAS, they are brilliant.

Have a look here http://www.zas.com.au/detailing_library.php

Click the detailing flowchart and that pretty much shows you how to proceed, really useful.
There is also a section in the FAQ on their site about using detergents, give it a read.

Let ZAS know your after some help. They gave me heaps of info and advice when I started detailing my car and my girlfriend's.

Good luck

Sent from my evil apple using TapaCrash

[SarcasticOne]

postman dan put up a good "how-to" guide here: Prima Paint Protection - A Quick How To Guide

[Caffeine Fiend]

Is there a step by step guide to wash my car? I'm about to get it soon and I think I'm going to wash it straight away as it is just so dirty.

I would like to start with Morning Fresh on it, I read it gets EVERYTHING off including waxes etc, so it would leave my car unprotected correct?

What protection / sealants can I use to be able to not reapply every few months... I want to be able to just have to wash my car every week for the rest of my life without going throught reapplying waxes etc.

Regarding Paint Protection (eg the Prima Paint Protection that several of us have on our cars), under optimal conditions you might get about 6 months our of it before you'd need to re-apply

The closest you're going to get to "long term low maintenance" protection would be Opti-Coat as Yeldarb suggested. It's not cheap and has to be professionally applied, but it's about as bullet-proof as you're going to get.

As an idea of roughly what to expect in terms of time before re-application (these are very rough times and are dependant on a number of things such as how the car is stored, whether it's washed regularly etc):

A normal wash with a good quality shampoo that has some protectants in it - 1-2 week's protection

Synthetic polish or carnuba wax - 4-5 weeks protection

DIY Paint Protection (eg Prima) - 6 months protection

Opti-Coat surface protection - 1 Year+ (pretty sure it's a 5 year warranty when applied to used cars)

[kh92]

What exactly do defects mean on your paint? Regards to the flow chart.

I read that guide, does it protect the paint so I can just wash it regularly every week or two without having to use paint protection again?

---------- Post added at 02:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:15 PM ----------

Ahhh, so in regards to the Prima Paint Protection guide, about every 6 months I would have to do that whole process again?

[Caffeine Fiend]

Paint defects in detailing generally refers to damage to the clear coat. Eg:

- light swirls/scratches in the clear
- holograms from mis-used machine polishers
- bird poo that's eaten its way into the clear coat
- etc etc

Re your other question, correct.

[kh92]

Ahh, swirls and thoughs little scratches I hate them, what do I use to remove them? I never even knew that could be removed hahaha. Looks like I am going to start the morning fresh wash and prima paint protection this friday.

[ZAS]

Hi Kh92

The above info from members is spot on as usual. Opti-Coat is the only thing you will find that can provide what you are asking. We now have Opti-Coat 2.0 which is available to the general public but even though application is far easier and forgiving than the professional version I think it may still be out of your league at this point in time.

The Prima paint protection kit that has been mentioned might be a good starting point. Initial application can take a whole weekend, but then after that you can get away with regarly reapplying the Prima Hydro spray sealant. You can even spray it on the wet surface before you dry, and then as you wipe the car dry you are also reapplying the sealant. So it basically doesn't add anything to your wash and drying other than spraying it on the panel.

Regarding the removal of the swirls and scratches, there is a whole section on polishing in our Detailing Library for you to read up on if you're interested.

[spooon]

The best detailing advice I could give is; have patience and a plan.

You won't be able to do it all in a weekend, so make a bit of a plan/time line based of all the information in the awesome ZAS library, then slowly start chipping away at it. If you try and jump into it too quickly you can sometimes do more harm then good.

As an example, it's taken me like 5 months to bring my car up to the level that I like it, and I've still go things I want to do.