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Detailing Used Cars

I bought a used car this past Fall and didn't have a chance to detail it. Now that Spring has arrived, I'd like to see how close I can come to making it look new. I'm looking for advice on an assortment of products and hints to detail a car. Need to know:

1) Soap! What cleaning agent should be used for the body"

2) Spot remover - body! Something like regular 409 or "Green Stuff" or "Purple Stuff" for marks on the surface?

3) Polish! What's best... that lasts longest?

4) Leather! What do I use for a general cleaning of the leather and what do I use to get spots out. There are a few paint marks on the surface of the leather and some black marks on the back seat where - I assume - a baby carrier was strapped in place. An aluminum frame probably caused the black marks.

5) Carpet! Nothing out of the ordinary after 40K miles but it needs a good cleaning. I was planning on simply vacuuming it then using a "Little Green Machine" upholstery cleaner for the carpet. Only problem with that is it has no rotating brushes; it just sprays detergent water and sucks it back up with the operator applying whatever force desired with the small brush that's attached to the nozzle.

The rest of the stuff I think I have a handle on; spray for the tires to make them shine, Similar stuff for the dash. Regular glass cleaner I suppose for the instrument panel.

Most of this I assume is common sense but I think people who do this for a living have shortcuts and materials perhaps that aren't commonly used by consumers.

Reply to
John Gregory
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I just used a regular leather cleaner (Eagle One) and it got the leather completely clean again.

But I can give you a tip that's useful for both leather and the plastic/vinyl interior panels, no matter what cleaner you use. The tip is a brush, and circular motions. The brush gets into the crevasses that form the texture of the plastic, and the circular motion ensures that the bristles get into each and every crack. The other tip is LOTS of clean towels to soak up the dirty cleaning solution.

Lisa

Reply to
Lisa Horton

Soft, medium, or hard brush? Something as soft as a car body brush with long, soft bristles or a food brush with short stiff ones?

Reply to
John Gregory

I bought the $40 Meguiars car care kit, which includes the tire shine, cleaning soap, gold class car wax, interior cleaner, etc.

I used it on my 88 Thunderbird, and the difference is UNREAL.

I haven't gotten a chance to use it on my LeBaron yet... Meaning my wife hasn't stopped throwing things to do at me long enough for me to go out and do it.

I used Turtle Wax polishing compound on a friends 91 Daytona, and then the Gold Class car wax, and it looks like it just rolled into the showroom. I wish I had photos to send.

After what it did on my Thunderbird, I'm going to be using Meguiars for a long, LONG time!

Reply to
SMoo

I would reccomend Meguires Gold Class; I have had good luck with it

I would also reccomend Meguires, just about anything with detailing I am partial to Meguires as I have had good experiences with them

For carpeting, just about any Auto Carpet Shampoo does pretty good; just spray it on the carpet, use a brush or rag with warm water and rub it in the carpet, then vaccume dry. Leaves the car smelling good afterwords

I would reccomend a tire wax or dressing instead of a "spray". the dressing lasts a lot longer and usually doesn't get all over the car when you drive. Armorall detailers advantage works pretty good for the dash and other vinal stuff

Hope this helps!!!

Reply to
N.Cass

Reply to
marlinspike

Of the various and sundry scrub brushes around the household, the one that really worked on the car interior was a small round (about 2 inches) brush from Target. Medium bristles, medium length. For the more heavily soiled and/or stained textured hard plastic panels, a stiffer rectangular brush worked better.

The key is to remember that the brush only loosens the dirt, it doesn't remove it. That's what the large pile of clean terry towels is for, removing the loosened dirt. You can get a big package of white terry work towels at Costco for under $15, well worth it if you don't already have a large pile of clean terry towels that you are allowed to stain :)

Oh, and Google is your friend, you can learn a lot about "detailing" or "auto care" or "auto interior cleaning" via a few hours with Google.

Lisa

Reply to
Lisa Horton

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