Detailing?

[Mitchen]

I know we have the detailing section of the forum, but it barely gets any traffic so I thought I'd ask here instead..

What's everyone's thoughts on poorboys black hole?

Currently an Autoglym fanboy, and although their HD products are the bollocks, the haze reduction could be improved.. was thinking of introducing the poorboys in between the HD polish and the HD wax? Or maybe before the polish?

Thoughts?

[RetroAde]

Couldn't tell you about the poorboys but interested to know if anyone has the answer.

My find of the year has been Surf City Garage products, a company in Kent is importing them from California and selling mail order and at major shows / events. They do a great detailing spray with carnauba wax that's perfect for topping up between full waxes. Gives a real good wet look finish. Also impressed with their hood cleaner, made all the stitching really stand out against the hood material.

Can't go wrong with Autoglym either, it's the industry standard.

Regards the haze you're seeing, is it anything in the paint causing it? Have you tried running a clay bar over it?

[bhups]

I use poorboys blackhole on my e30 and its the tits. As advised by Kos and he knows his stuff about detailing.

I used poorboys blackhole followed by autoglym hd wax.

Heres a pic...

[German-Whips]

What are the best products to go for an Alpine White E30?

[B7]

PB's Black hole is the best I've found and used it religiously on my 530 sport e39. But it's only really at it's best after a proper clay barring.

PB's White Diamond is the equivalent for light colours (White and silvers etc.). Kos tipped me off about it so I bought some for my 530 e61.

It's very good but you don't get the same wow factor that you do with black hole. But I don't think it's the product that's at fault, it's the colour. Black is much less forgiving than say silver and so when you use these products on black, it really does actually show.

[Mitchen]

Very seldom do I clay bar my car.. such an a*se ache of a job! In the past after clay baring the whole car, any energy or motivation I had to then polish and wax, goes right out the window. But yeah, I'm going to give this black hole stuff a try!

[Gert_8]

I use poorboys blackhole on my e30 and its the tits. As advised by Kos and he knows his stuff about detailing.

I used poorboys blackhole followed by autoglym hd wax.

Heres a pic...

Poorboys blackhole, but what colour is your car, Mitchen?

Kos is the detailing man to go to, but I hear Polsta is a better source of info.

[Mitchen]

Mines diamondschwartz metallic, which is dark grey/black, so I'm cool with the blackhole stuff. Where's Kos or Polsta when u need them hey

[steve_k]

i used to do a lot of detailing for a living a while back, never had a set price, allways went to the customers house & priced up the job depending on what level of finish they wanted.

i used autoglym, meg's, poorboys, dodo juice etc, most customers were a bit taken aback when they found out i could take 8hr's+ to do their car/van/4x4 inside & out.

used the poorboys blackhole & white diamond stuuf quite a few times & the customers were very impressed (which led to more work via word of mouth).

just do my own cars now as i was getting under cut by all these hand car washes popping up, & folk expecting a show room finish by spending £25+ for a 20 min wash & wax using no name no blame pound shop products in autoglym bottles

the finsh you want all comes down to what you use & how long you are prepared to work on it.

[Rav335uk]

Talking of Polsta, where is he?

[Gavla]

There are hundreds of different products out there, it all depends on what you want the product to do...

[Kos]

Black hole is a really good product and is one I will always have in my collection

How does it compare to super resin polish, well it's different but similar. Black hole is technically a glaze which adds gloss and depth to paint. It's marketed as a product for dark colours but it works on silver as well. It cleans paint and also contains some fillers which will mask fine swirl marks. It has all but zero "cut"

SRP is an all in one product which has some cut. It can be use to being life back into dull faded paint. It was quite dusty product but the new formula (which I have just tried out) is less dusty.

it is ideal to clay your car before polishing, but once you do it and if you maintain it you will not have to do it again for a long time

The last time i I properly detailed my daily was 20 months ago. Only the roof and bonnet will need a light clay.

For you final stage and LSP (last stage product) you can use any product bar a nano sealant (g technique / car pro c Quartz etc )

You have 3 options
1- paste wax eg autoglym HD wax
2 - synthetic sealant (polymer based) eg autoglym extra gloss protection
3- liquid wax eg meguires gold class liquid wax

All of the above will bond with any glaze or polish

With a good wash technique and a good quality LSP you will get 3-6 months protection. If you use a QD (quick detailer) between washes it will increase the logetivety of the LSP.

With so many products out there it can get very confusing, some combinations will work better than others.

Going back to your original post, can you use black hole between SRP and HD wax, yes but you will not gain much

It's either SRP or BH

Hope this helps

[Mitchen]

Now that.. was a good informative answer. I will now protest against any future bans u may receive Kos

So I will adopt following regime..

1: Pressure wash with autoglym shampoo
2: Clay (although this will take a couple of hours and wreck my arm)
3: Apply black hole with polishing pad. Buffer off with microfibre cloth
4: Apply HD wax, and buffer off.

What do you make of the HD cleanser? Doesnt that do the same job as claying? and when you say quick detailer, do you mean like autoglyms rapid detailer?

[bss325i]

Another thumbs up for black hole.

Again, Kos tipped me off with it and i use victoria concours red wax with a wipe down with zaino Z8 on my diamond black car.

[jimbom30cab]

I also use PB black hole with loads of soapy water and the polisher on slow speed very lightly

Swirl marks all go.

Great product and smells nice

[Kos]

QD is exactly that. I use meguires last touch purely because it works out cheaper buying it in bulk

A pre wax cleaner is something I've never used buy it's certainly not replacement for clay. It's best used before waxing. It's similar to dodo's lime prime

Prior to waxing I use a bit of QD instead of a pre wax cleaner. I'm happy with my results and not had any complaints from customers

Jim, no water is needed when applying it by machine. A finishing pad is best and you only need a little bit of product. I'm talking 5 pea sized blobs per panel.

[jimbom30cab]

Right o mate, thanks for the tip.

[Gavla]

@ Mitchen

I would use a pre cleaner and then wash with a G3 Clay Mitt. Much quicker than a clay bar...

[Mitchen]

QD is exactly that. I use meguires last touch purely because it works out cheaper buying it in bulk

Bit of a newbie question but from what I've seen of QD's you use them to clean your car in between washes.. But aren't you just rubbing micro pieces of dirt etc into the paintwork, if you dont wash down with a pressure washer first?

And HD cleanser is something that apparently decontaminates the car of all previous waxes and polishes, so you've got a clean slate to apply fresh stuff. Bit of a pain to apply as it dries quick, and once dried you need some serious buffering to get that shit off. But yeah I guess it's clay ftw.

@ Mitchen

I would use a pre cleaner and then wash with a G3 Clay Mitt. Much quicker than a clay bar...

Cheers mate, I'll have a ganders.

[Gavla]

If you are wanting to do a "deep clean" then yes, use a de-contaminant product, then wash with clay mitt / clay bar, then wash and rinse, then use a paint cleanser, then a paint sealant, then a wax.

A QD can be used in between washes but you are correct, not getting rid of dirt particles before will mean you will end up with "swirl marks"...

If you do a deep clean and then pressure wash your car every week or 2, you will only need to use a QD and a damp microfibre to dry it off and it will look fantastic again. The QD will "top up" the wax and it will stay cleaner for longer and be easier to maintain for about 6 - 8 months...

To give you an idea, it takes me about 4 hours to do a deep clean on a car the size of an E30.

[Andyboy]

Turtle wax car polish, £4.99 from Asda. I did my E32 in it after clay barring and mopping it and it's very shiny.
Redid the bonnet a while back Meguires Gold Class (?) can't tell the difference.

[M155-E30]

My arm just hurts reading this

But on a serious note & as mines never really been touched since its respray 18mths ago, which I'll add has its flaws, namely what i class as flat/slight orange peel..how much does this whole detailing stuff cost if i let the pro's do it to start me off??

Appreciate it's down to current condition & level of finish but as a newbie to it I haven't clue what rates are like..

A mate of mine, with best intentions in mind when he first polished it for me, kind of buggered the hardtop up when he pressure washed on heat.. got pretty little faded lines in areas now.. My fella Mike has tried treating which got the black back for a short while but couple washes and we're faded & look rubbish again.. Any suggested products that can help with that!?!

[Kos]

Detailing varies in price for 3 main reasons

Size of car
what's needed (correction work to protection detail)
Who does it (I know people who "valet" a car for £50 and pros who will take a £1000 off you)

A new car detail cost from £100, this literally means a new car gets given to me to be properly protected. Saying that I've seen new cars that need correction work because dealer prep is shit

Correction work can take days depending on how bad the paint is, an alternative is an enhancement detail where correction is done to a certain level. Or you can load up the car with a polish which hides swirls (super resin polish is great for this is black hole and other glaze coats)

With orange peel, this can be wet sanded out. I do it but I hate doing it it for 2 reasons

Takes ages
Compromises the lacquer

The most amount of time I've spent detailing a car is 4 days but it was with it

Here's an example of correction work I did for Mr Bootyman

[RetroAde]

Sorry I know it's a Lexus but here's some light correction work I completed for a customer a few weeks back. Completed in 6 hours, but only because the car was pretty much clean to start with so initial preparation was easy. You could easily spend days on some cars.

My basic regime is a weekly wash, a full wash and wax every 4-6 weeks and a deep clean / clay every 12 months or so. Detailing sprays are superb for prolonging that 'just waxed' look but if the car's dirty wash it first or you'll get light scratches. Finally stay on top of brake dust, bird crap, tar and tree sap. They are Satan's agents of ruination of alloy wheels and paintwork. If you see them on your car get them off straight away, it's worth the fuss come deep clean time.