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beorg

beorg

Totally Hooked
Apr 12, 2022
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Essex
With more cars being delivered every week, it's clear that a lot of forum enthusiasts will be taking their cars to a professional detailer to get the best protection and shine possible for your new cars, however many of us are still going to look after our GR86s with no outside help, so I thought it would be good to start a combined thread for DIY junkies like myself.

Feel free to share any car detailing tips, products you use, great offers you find and techniques that help you to keep your cars in the best shape possible. I will keep adding those to the OP when appropriate.

Great offer on AutoFinesse AIO Polish and Snowfoam for £12 from Halfords found by @drz252 in this thread - https://www.gr-zoo.com/threads/grogues-chat.1804/post-45546

I will be looking to wash the car for the first time next week and will take some paint depth measurements to understand how much clear coat the cars come with and what the potential problem areas might be to share with you all.
 
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I'll hopefully get my car sometime in the next couple of weeks. I've requested the dealer doesn't do anything other than rinsing. I don't have a lot of knowledge but what I'm planning to do as soon as possible is...

1) Spray with Citrus Power. Rinse.
2) Wash (two buckets/mitt) probably with G3 Pro High Shine. More rinse. Dry.
3) Turtlewax Ceramic Spray coating

Not sure whether to use a clay mitt between 2 and 3, I'll see what it looks like after the wash.

If there's anything particularly silly about my plan please let me know!
 
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So far -

Koch Chemie green star (APC) all over and allowed to work for 10mins
Bilt hamber touchless snow foam sprayed on and left again for 10mins
Power washed off.
Fresh lambswool mitt and bilt hamber autowash, wash and rinse.
Used the remainder of the bucket via pressure washer to spay over the car and act as a clay lube.
Bilt hamber soft clay bar all over.
Rinsed

This process got rid of all the film wrap residue and staining on the car.

Next stage was rotary polisher plus Koch-chemie micro cut and associated pad. Always on the lowest speed and a single pass cross over in both directions.

Gyeon prep was then used all over before applying 2 coats of Gyeon Mohs and being left for 24 hours indoors. Last stage is to apply Gyeon cure.

Wheels where protected with Gtechnicq C5 and the underside will eventually get treated to Bilt hamber UC

I'll had some proper photos when the weather brightens up but it's the best shine I've ever had on a car.
 
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I used the Bilt Hamber clay and even though the car has snowfoam on it and I was using quik detailer I still picked up the odd mark with it. In hindsight I wouldn't have bothered as the paint cleaned up well enough with just glue and tar remover and fallout remover which there was some, but not bad. When I wash next on Christmas Eve I'll spray on the citrus degreaser to see if that helps but I can still tell where the film was in parts so I'll get my local detailer to do the correction and I'll get him to use the ceramic I bought. The paint is quite soft but knew that from the spoiler. breathe on it and it marks.
 
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rdmsport said:
So far -

Koch Chemie green star (APC) all over and allowed to work for 10mins
Bilt hamber touchless snow foam sprayed on and left again for 10mins
Power washed off.
Fresh lambswool mitt and bilt hamber autowash, wash and rinse.
Used the remainder of the bucket via pressure washer to spay over the car and act as a clay lube.
Bilt hamber soft clay bar all over.
Rinsed

This process got rid of all the film wrap residue and staining on the car.

Next stage was rotary polisher plus Koch-chemie micro cut and associated pad. Always on the lowest speed and a single pass cross over in both directions.

Gyeon prep was then used all over before applying 2 coats of Gyeon Mohs and being left for 24 hours indoors. Last stage is to apply Gyeon cure.

Wheels where protected with Gtechnicq C5 and the underside will eventually get treated to Bilt hamber UC

I'll had some proper photos when the weather brightens up but it's the best shine I've ever had on a car.
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That's a great process and I will be doing similar bar machine polishing and ceramic coating next week, as I don't have a garage, so that will need to wait till warmer winter/early spring months.

In the meantime I've got Tutlewax Hybrid Ceramic Spray to temporarily seal the paintwork and Glass and Wheel Armour products by Pyramid Car Care to use as a quick fix.
 
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The weather forecast has been really frustrating, going from freezing last week to rain all day, every day until New Year's.

Today's been the only dry day forecasted over the next couple of weeks, so I've had to carve out some time during the day to finally give my GR86 a scrub and some protection, until I can do a full paint correction and ceramic coating application in warmer months that is.

Process:
  1. AutoBrite Gel Wheel Cleaner on wheels
  2. Wait for 10 min
  3. Wheels rinsed with a pressure washer
  4. Meguiars 1:10 APC applied to lower quarter of the panels (where most road grime was)
  5. AutoFinesse Avalanche Snowfoam applied to the whole car
  6. Wait for 10 min
  7. Whole car rinsed with the pressure washer
  8. Two bucket wash with a washing mitt and Meguiars Ultimate Wash & Wax shampoo
  9. Whole car rinsed with the pressure washer
  10. Pyramid Car Care QuickDetailer Pro used as drying aid
  11. Turtlewax Hybrid Ceramic Spray Coating applied to the paint

Start to finish the process took me around 90 min, but I've had issues with my pressure washer, so there was quite a bit of downtime.

99% of the tar is gone but some sticker residue remains and will likely need a claybar plus polish to remove.
 
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beorg said:
The weather forecast has been really frustrating, going from freezing last week to rain all day, every day until New Year's.

Today's been the only dry day forecasted over the next couple of weeks, so I've had to carve out some time during the day to finally give my GR86 a scrub and some protection, until I can do a full paint correction and ceramic coating application in warmer months that is.

Process:
  1. AutoBrite Gel Wheel Cleaner on wheels
  2. Wait for 10 min
  3. Wheels rinsed with a pressure washer
  4. Meguiars 1:10 APC applied to lower quarter of the panels (where most road grime was)
  5. AutoFinesse Avalanche Snowfoam applied to the whole car
  6. Wait for 10 min
  7. Whole car rinsed with the pressure washer
  8. Two bucket wash with a washing mitt and Meguiars Ultimate Wash & Wax shampoo
  9. Whole car rinsed with the pressure washer
  10. Pyramid Car Care QuickDetailer Pro used as drying aid
  11. Turtlewax Hybrid Ceramic Spray Coating applied to the paint

Start to finish the process took me around 90 min, but I've had issues with my pressure washer, so there was quite a bit of downtime.

99% of the tar is gone but some sticker residue remains and will likely need a claybar plus polish to remove.

View attachment 11491
Click to expand...
A thing of beauty.
 
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beorg said:
Process:
  1. AutoBrite Gel Wheel Cleaner on wheels
  2. Wait for 10 min
  3. Wheels rinsed with a pressure washer
  4. Meguiars 1:10 APC applied to lower quarter of the panels (where most road grime was)
  5. AutoFinesse Avalanche Snowfoam applied to the whole car
  6. Wait for 10 min
  7. Whole car rinsed with the pressure washer
  8. Two bucket wash with a washing mitt and Meguiars Ultimate Wash & Wax shampoo
  9. Whole car rinsed with the pressure washer
  10. Pyramid Car Care QuickDetailer Pro used as drying aid
  11. Turtlewax Hybrid Ceramic Spray Coating applied to the paint
Click to expand...
I have pretty much the same process but I don't wait as long to rinse.
Also during 2bucket wash I foam the car again instead of adding soap to 1 bucket. Makes for a nice quick wash on a well-lubricated car.

Hybrid ceramic stuff is nice. I use filtered rain water to avoid hard water spots. And no direct sunlight, especially in spring/summer :)

If the weather is bad for too long I visit a hand-wash station nearby and get the cheapest formula (1 minute pressure wash with foam and 1 minute pressure wash with osmosis water - no minerals so no need to dry). Takes literally 2 minutes so can be done weekly if necessary, costs 2€ and gets rid of most of the dirt and salt.
 
WpR said:
I have pretty much the same process but I don't wait as long to rinse.
Also during 2bucket wash I foam the car again instead of adding soap to 1 bucket. Makes for a nice quick wash on a well-lubricated car.

Hybrid ceramic stuff is nice. I use filtered rain water to avoid hard water spots. And no direct sunlight, especially in spring/summer :)

If the weather is bad for too long I visit a hand-wash station nearby and get the cheapest formula (1 minute pressure wash with foam and 1 minute pressure wash with osmosis water - no minerals so no need to dry). Takes literally 2 minutes so can be done weekly if necessary, costs 2€ and gets rid of most of the dirt and salt.
Click to expand...
Agreed on the timing between rinsing, it was definitely left on for a bit longer to soak than the usual 5 min but I've had issues with the pressure washer in the meantime.

Foaming the car is a nice idea but unfortunately I still had half of the snow foam left in the bottle and didn't want that to go to waste, otherwise I would have done the same as it's quicker and you can then use two buckets to rinse your mitts if they get really dirty. Any particular soap and ratio you tend to use for that?

I don't know of any good touchless washes near me, it's certainly helpful as a maintance wash in the winter, especially if they do one with an undercarriage wash, but if you have any wax/sealant on the car, make sure the chemicals used aren't too strong to strip it completely.

In the evening I've also washed the windows with Invisible Glass and wheels with Meguiar's APC 10:1 and a disposable microfibre cloth, and then applied Pyramid Glass & Alloy Armour products to protect them. It was getting pretty humid and cold at that point, but hopefully the products sealed well enough.

I'd like to have spent more time on the car and added a few products but I was limited for time and every remaining day this year is expected to be very wet now.
 
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With the "hand wash station" I meant something like this with a pressure washer hose that circles the car from above, don't know what it's called in English :) very cheap, very fast, much more practical than setting everything up at home. I don't think touchless car washes even exist over here. Chemical wash sounds American :)

1671621014315.png


beorg said:
Any particular soap and ratio you tend to use for that?
Click to expand...
I use the same ratio soap-water than the first layer of foam, about 50-50 but depends on the ampount of water the pressure washer uses of course.
 
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I don't think I've see a wash station in the UK that uses demineralised water, although I've never looked for one to be fair. Touchless wash is the way to go in the depths of winter, it's pointless getting the car spotless unless the roads are completely dry, which is basically never this time of year, means your outside in the cold for less too.
 
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Hi all, can someone recommend something to remove the residue left from the protective wrap?
 
I'm very fortunate not to have any residue on my car, but I've found Autoglym intensive tar remover to be very effective at similar jobs on previous cars.
 
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LGN_83 said:
I found Meguairs Ultimate Compund perfect for the job - either on a clean microfibre or DA Polisher. Also good for bird poo etc - https://www.halfords.com/motoring/c.../meguiars-ultimate-compound-450ml-248067.html
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Meg's Ultimate Compound is brilliant for a lot of tasks but bear in mind that it's quite abrasive and on softer paints (like the Toyota's) it can leave some marring or swirls without polishing. I think it may be a bit of an overkill for this job.

With any bug & tar remover products, it's good to tape off any plastics and rubber as they can get discoloured or even lose shape if in contact with stronger chemicals.
 
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beorg said:
Meg's Ultimate Compound is brilliant for a lot of tasks but bear in mind that it's quite abrasive and on softer paints (like the Toyota's) it can leave some marring or swirls without polishing. I think it may be a bit of an overkill for this job.

With any bug & tar remover products, it's good to tape off any plastics and rubber as they can get discoloured or even lose shape if in contact with stronger
Click to expand...
Each to their own, I've never had an issue with it on cars of all ages and am reasonably experienced in DIY detailing (but know my limits). User error if you leave swirls, the compound is specifically designed to remove swirls. Worked perfectly for me, the rear 3/4s were the worst and the results spectacular with minimal effort. I think the pic speaks for itself đŸ˜‰
1BCCBA0E-8774-48D6-B7D8-440545BB2D70.webp
 
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