Nice new car help

[reefman]

I've just ordered a new shiny black ST220 fro 1 march delivery and have declined the dealers £300 paintwork treatment bargain.

Having read some articles I'm a little confused (or thick or both) as to wha should my first action be once I've got delivery and the cars on my drive. (11 miles from dealer)

Do I need to wash and wax (twice), simply apply a sealant or a conbination of both.

I was thinking of a quick rinse, dry off then applying the autoglym products, super resin polish and another the name of which I can't remember?

Should I also treat the leather interior immediately or wait a while


Any help greatly received


regards

[BrianS]

300 for the dealer treatment. Wise to turn that down anyway.

You won't need the Super Resin Polish since its a brand new car. You could try the Extra Gloss Protection. That has good sealant qualities in it. Try the SRP maybe after a year.

Always wash & dry the car before you apply a wax. Easily get scratches otherwise.

Don't use ANYTHING on the leather. For good care of leather, get a very mild leather cleaner and use it every few weeks on the drivers seat. Every two or three months on the rest of the seats since they won't get the same use (unless you take passengers a lot). Forget about all the leather conditioners you see on the shelves. They are either bad for the leather, bad for the dye or both. Most of them are just a dressing which give the impression of "feeding" or "conditioning" the leather. Anything with oils will break down the leather fibre & colour. Anything with silicone will dry it out.

Whiplash, you have used Autoglym's EGP? Heard a couple of people saying that its difficult to buff off. Wondered what you thought.....

Hope this helps, Reefman. Sounds like a really nice car. Enjoy owning it and as long as you treat it nicely, it should always look great. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Glad to help,

Brian.

[WhipLash]

Originally posted by BrianS
Whiplash, you have used Autoglym's EGP? Heard a couple of people saying that its difficult to buff off. Wondered what you thought.....

Brian.


No Brian, I haven't had a chance yet. I got very close to using it last weekend when I washed the car. Had the bottle in my hand and all. In the end though I couldn't find a clean cotton cloth and then ran out of time.

I think that I need to use the Super Resin Polish first though. Will probably wait now until I get the guts of a day to work on her. Going by what you are saying, it sounds like I'm going to need it!

Just thinking though, with the fact that its hard to buff off - would it be a sign that its a hard/strong wax and it has bonded well?

[reefman]

Thanks for the swift reply Brian

I've used both products before and the EGP is hard to buff off I must admit on my last new car I did use the Super Resin Polish first though - oops

Have I got this right then, once I get the car home

A quick wash and rinse

followed by an application of EPG - how many one or more

what about the alloys I've read so much about brake dust corrosion that I'd like to avoid

do you think the EPG will be ok I've seen a lot written about the canuba waxes

If I do this will I utimately get similar benefits to say diamond brite etc or is that a totally different treatment

Finally, (for now at least) do the Autoglym products have a shelf life I've got some left from about four years ago

Thanks for the comments re the ST I'ev now got to get round to clearing the garage to fit it in - not sure I'll like the fule consumption though - never had a V6 before - but what the heck


cheers

[reefman]

I'm now reading good things about zymol products any views out there?

cheers

[BrianS]

Whiplash, you are useless!! Couldn't find a clean cotton cloth! What about all those Hawaiian shirts you wear!!

Reefman, to be honest I don't know about the shelf life of the Autoglym. If it has been opened, I would imagine that four years sitting on the shelf hasn't been good for it. If it is still unopened, you might get away with it.

Quick wash and rinse, follow up with a coat of EGP. Sounds fine. Two coats is even better, but because its a polymer its best to leave it for a day between coats, but don't worry about that. You will probably be out washing her the next weekend again! Put another coat on at that stage instead.

Diamond Brite is the sealant the dealer was selling, right? Effectively, using a good quality wax or sealant on a regular basis will give equally good results. Maybe even better. The same purpose is being met in that there is a protective layer between the paint and the big bad world!


Carnauba waxes are pretty good. Zymol is expensive stuff though and many experts think that it is not worth the money. For a good short term shine, Zymol would be fine. Say you wanted to impress everyone at a show or a wedding, then you have the right product. But if you are driving the car like every joe-soap, to work, to the shops, etc, then it won't have the lasting effect of EGP, or other polymer products. If you wanted to spend a few bob on a wax, you could try Klasse acrylic sealant or Zaino Bros sealants. Never heard anything bad about them and have used Zaino myself with great satisfaction. I use Auto International's Carnauba Cream on my own car. Its pretty good but that's from the professional range that I use on my customers cars as well. Nearly out of that stuff, must order more soon.

Stick a coat of wax on the wheels as well. It makes them easier to clean, and always clean them well when you wash the car. You don't even need to use "wheel cleaner" that often. Keep the tar off them as well and they should look fine for a long time.

Do us a favour and get a good photo of the car. Wouldn't mind seeing it. Stick it up on the gallery here on eForecourt.

Enjoy!

Brian

[reefman]

Cheers Bryan

My autoglym has been opened so I think from what you've said I'll invest in some new EGP - was going to order the zymol starter kit but think I'll pass on that now.

If I get wax would you put on a coat after washing, prior to the EGP or ignore the wax for now.

If I start using the EGP, dows that mean I cannot was later without stripping off the all the EGP.

Where can I get the zaino, klasse products, auto int products from? I live in England

I'll hopefully be getting some pics over the weekend so I'll post one asap

Cheers

[BrianS]

Wash, then use EGP. You won't need anything else really.

Those products are all available online.

www.klassedirect.com
www.zainobros.com ......but they have a german disti at this site: http://www.viper-lifestyle.de/indexengl.html
I got mine in from Germany.

If you are going for either of those, forget about the EGP. They blow it out of the water.

If you get Zaino, get Z-1 and ZFX.
Or go for both the Klasse products.

Auto Int are in the USA, but it is mostly supply to the trade. Top notch products though. www.autoint.com

Brian.

[reefman]

Bryan thanks for all the advice, I've eventually decided to try the meguiars range, since I've found a local supplier and even managed a trade discount.

Now I just cant wait for Saturday and all that rubbing.

One final question, Ive read that when washing a car its best to start at the lower half then move on to the upper areas as this way the thicker road grime is removed and not compounded my additional dirt from the top. Sounds feasible, whats your view?

Cheers

[BrianS]

Depends on the amount of dirt on the car though.

Eg., If the lower panels are caked with dirt, get rid of all that gunk first. Use a separate bucket of shampoo, or else chuck the first mix and make a fresh bucket up. That amount of grit and dirt will pollute your wash bucket and quite easily cause scratches as you further wash the car.

Its kind of logical...... you will know on the day once you look at the car. Remember that short-cuts don't work in car care. As they say, do it right or don't do it at all.

Best of luck.

Brian

(not Bryan !!! :p )

[WhipLash]

I'd always wash my car from the top down - seems more logical to me:

The top half of the car is the cleanest, with the dirt getting thicker as you move down the car. I start with the roof, then windows, back/front then onto the lower half and finally the wheels.

The way I see it, if you start at the bottom and work your way up then you'll have dirty water dripping down onto the already washed bottom of the car. At least the other way round you won't get that. It's also possible that some of the loose grit on the lower half will get washed off by the soapy water running down from the top. It also helps to keep the water cleaner for longer.

Anyways, I’ll never be convinced to do it any other way :p

[reefman]

Thanks for all your help - I picked the car up on Saturday but it was Sunday when I got to do the all important job.

The weather wasnt the best quite sunny but cool at least no rain.

Bad start I managed to snap the hozelock connector on the outside tap just as Id started to pre wet the car -Ooooops -

I washed her off with Gold CLass Wash, followed by a light polish with deep crystal and then a deep crystal wax. Starting about 9:30 I eventually finished about 4:00 ( a couple of stops for refreshments and to acknowledge inquisitive neighbours - nice folks) Apart from the guy afew doors up who decided to power wash his car just as I'd finished polishing - **!!*$

The Meguiars worked a treat although I didn't get much foam from the wash - the polish was quite time consuming but I didn't get a lot of white residue as I thought i might.

I used the meguiars applicators and terry towels to remove products finishing off with their ultimate wipe before applying the wax and on completion. I ahve a couple of pics not the best just taken with a mobile phone but I'll try to get them up on the board.

Bryan - The car was taken out for its first real run yesterday and I've noticed that its attracted a lot of dust - presumably due to static any comments on this - I'd have thought the ultimate finishing cloth would be anti-static?

Other than that I'm sure all the advice has paid off ensuring that I did the job a lot better than I would have - thanks again

regards