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**MDetail** · Mar 4, 2009, 07:14 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

This is what I had to start with. I know its hard to tell that its dirty, but it is.

**MDetail** · Mar 4, 2009, 07:46 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

I first started by trying to remove the water spots in the molding and trim.
Items Used:
Meguiar's Hard Water Spot Remover #47 (Marine/RV)
Meguiar's Last Touch Detailer Spray (LTD) (Detailer Line) in a NXT Quick Detailer Bottle
Costco Microfiber Towels MF - no link (I also use these)

Here is what it looked like before I started removing the water spots.

When I remove water spots with this method I always just clean the area first with LTD because after I am done, I go back over the car with a good wash.

1. Spray the area where you want to remover water spotting with your LTD and wipe the area down with your MF towel.

2. Spray the water spot infected areas with your #47

3. Let #47 set for 30-60 seconds to work properly. I let it set for about 2-3 minutes, just don't let the product dry.

4. Wipe #47 with your MF towel off and inspect your results. If you're not happy try a second application. In this case I did 3 applications.

5. Reapply if necessary

6. Once you are happy give your car a through wash.

7. Enjoy that new look. - After Pictures.

Unfortunately I am not able to remove the water spots from the wiper arms with this method, but I think I may have something else that will work. More on that later.

Review
#47 - Great for removing water spots from things that you can't use polish to remove them from. It does not tend work on glass, or paint, but none the less, it is useful. As you can see great results can be accomplished from this item.

LTD - Great in every way. I am sure I will have a better write up for this later.

MF - Costco MF towels for me are great for dirty work, where you need a MF towel. I use these for my wheels and engine bay. I have the better Meguiar's version for my paint. I think for the price, you almost can't beat it. I don't feel like there is a need to purchase expensive MF towels when you are just going to use them for dirty jobs, use these for times where you don't want to ruin your good towels.

**MDetail** · Mar 4, 2009, 08:29 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

Shortly after I took care of my engine bay. Although the car is not that old, I drive 18k a year, and a lot of that is in Palmdale (Desert.)

Items Used:
Meguiar's APC+ 4:1 in a Hot Wheels Foaming Spray Bottle APC+(6.49 w/spray bottle)
H2O in Walmart Bottle H2O (Water Free / Bottle 99cents)
Meguiars Hyper Dressing 3:1 HD (10.99 w/spray bottle)
Megs Last Touch Detail Spray 1:1 LTD (8.49 w/spray bottle)
Toothbrush (Free old toothbrush)
Walmart/Home Depot Paint Brush (.59)
Costco/ADS MF Towel MF (about $1 each)

I personally do not cover any engine parts, but I do all of this by hand, even dirtier engines I do by hand. I think that you get alot more detailed when working by hand. This is why I put water in a spray bottle.

Here is what it looks like before:

1. Let your engine warm up for about 1 minute.

2. If you have bad aim, line your surrounding car body parts with plastic (like the drop mats for painting). Then spray APC+ degreaser around your engine. I use a foaming sprayer because I think it tends to work better for me.

3. As you are letting the degreaser set, work on the bottom of your hood, and top of the bumper. Use your LTD spray to get that grime off the bottom of the hood and top of your bumper. Here is some of my progression.

4. Go back to your engine, and work by sections. Agitate the APC+ you already sprayed. Clean it with H2O, then respray if necessary. I use the toothbrush and paintbrush for hard to reach areas. Use your MF towel to reach the easy areas.

5. Once you have finished cleaning all the areas of your engine bay, make sure you rinse it with H2O in a spray bottle. (I never use the water hose to rinse the engine.) Let the engine dry. This is a good chance to look back over the engine to find any spots you missed.

6. Make sure your engine has cooled down. Spray your diluted HD liberally in the engine compartment. I found that Hyper dressing 3:1 gives you that OEM clean look. (I can't remember what goes first, product or water, but I use 3 parts water 1 part Megs HD.)

7. Let the HD set for 3-5 Minutes. Come back and wipe it down with a MF towel.

8. Enjoy!! HD is so great, you can come back later and give the engine bay a quick wipe down with just a MF towel to bring back that bling bling look. This stuff lasts quite a while.

After Shots.

**Carfire** · Mar 4, 2009, 08:38 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

Looks Great!!
Nice Work!!
Glad to See You Are Using the Products with Success and Happiness!!!

**Markus Kleis** · Mar 4, 2009, 08:41 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

GREAT pictures and thorough write-up.

Thanks a bunch for sharing!

**Megafast13** · Mar 4, 2009, 08:42 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

Nice Write Up! Thanks for sharing, using those products too

**MDetail** · Mar 4, 2009, 09:05 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

A couple weeks ago here it was raining left and right, but I had just received a bunch of new detailing supplies that I was just itching to use, plus I love the rain, and being able to listen to the rain while I was detailing was awesome. It was raining so I decided to go with the "waterless wash." Kind of ironic, huh?

Items Used
Wash Mitt WM ($4.99)
Home Depot 5gal Bucket
Grit Guard GG ($8.95)
Meguiar's Water Magnet Waffle Weave Drying Towel WW ($8.99)
Optimum No Rinse Waterless Wash ONR

I started by preparing to wash it. Here is what it looked like first.

I taped around the edges of my ski/surf rack so I would know exactly where to place it when I was putting it back on, this way I don't have to re-measure everything again.

Rings were left around the outside of the "feet" for the rack system.

The items I used for this job (plus a wash mitt, and drying towel.)

First start off by pouring the correct amount of ONR in your bucket. If you are using a GG you will want to add a bit more water since the "bottom" of the bucket will be higher up, this in turn means you must use more ONR. Do not use this method if your car is truly dirty. This is only for vehicles which are slightly dirty (1/2 -1week dirtyish I would guess from my experience.

Wash your car panel by panel, first wash, second dry. Use your WM soak it in the bucket w/solution, wash the panel, then dry it with your WW. Once you have finished this process with the whole car, you can return with a clean MF and some LTD and go back over the whole car, misting and wiping. Megs LTD really leaves a nice slick shiny surface.

(no pics, sorry)

After the car was washed, I wanted to try a new clay replacement.

However I did not care for it. One side is sponge like, and the other feels like rubber. You are supposed to rub the rubber side against the body panels (with lube in between) to remove contaminants from the paint. This felt much more difficult than actually claying the car. It left many steaks across the body panels and I was unhappy with the results. But no need to fear, I was going to polish the car anyways.

**MDetail** · Mar 4, 2009, 09:32 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

That same night I started the polishing process. It was getting kind of late, so I just wanted to see what combo was the least aggressive, but would still achieve the results that I wanted. This turned out to be the Meguiar's W8207 Pad / m205. I have a few scratches and very minimal swirls, so this combo worked perfectly for me.

Items Used
Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher - Megs G110 comparable (149.95 kit)
Meguiar's W8207 Polishing Pad ($11.95)
Meguiar's m205 Ultra Finishing Polish ($11.99 12oz)
Meguiars Supreme Shine MF Towel SSMF (6.59 3pk) I can't imagine buying less than 3 of these.

There is a whole post by Mike on how to properly use the DA polisher so I won't get into that. I will try to find the link and post it here. I used his method of polishing.

Before I believe the ISO was higher on this than the after, but still improvement.

After

**MDetail** · Mar 4, 2009, 10:03 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

Just as the wheels are a part of the car, the license plate is as well. I usually like to take the license plate off once a month to clean the body panel behind the plate. This time I also gave the license plate a little treatment as well.

Items Used:
Costco/ADS MF Towels (About $1 each.)
Meguiar's Cleaner Wax (Consumer Line) ($6.99)
Meguiar's NXT All Metal Polysh ($6.49)
Meguiar's Last Touch Detail Spray ($8.49 bottle w/sprayer)
Buff & Shine Boars Hair Interior Detail Brush ($2.49 or 3 for 7.49) I purchased 3

1. Spray LTD on your License Plate and wipe down with your MF towel.

2. Make sure you have removed all bugs/tar/debris from your license plate.

3. Apply cleaner wax to your license plate.

4. Give your license plate a final wipe down.

5. Turn your license plate over, and give the back a little love. Spray the aluminum side with your LTD and wipe down with a MF towel.

6. Get your metal polish and MF towel out. Polish the back side of your license plate, your MF towel will turn black by the time you have polished the aluminum correctly.

(not really noticeable but the right half is unfinished)

7. Admire the shiny metal you will probably never see again.

Now you may have a license plate frame you want to take care of as well.

8. Spray your LTD on the License Plate Frame.

9. Agitate any dirt on the frame with your boars hair brush. Even though the name says interior brush, they have worked great for me on the exterior of my car without installing scratches. I use it to agitate wax in crevices, or hard to reach dirty areas.

10. Give your License Plate Frame and License Plate one final wipe down

http://www.schotography.com/photos/albums/uploads/Auto%20Detailing/08HondaFit/normal_FD_120.jpg

Re-install on your car.

**roushstage2** · Mar 4, 2009, 10:19 PM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

Nice write ups thus far! Great thread.

The only thing to note for those reading who may not know what ONR is, in post 8 it is referred to as a "waterless wash." It is actually a rinseless wash.

**J. A. Michaels** · Mar 5, 2009, 03:56 AM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

Looking great. Very good and thorough write up.

**christian6984** · Mar 5, 2009, 04:28 AM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

nice write up.

**dragonballz** · Mar 5, 2009, 08:15 AM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

What is LTD?

**MDetail** · Mar 5, 2009, 08:25 AM

Re: Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

I have to ask Mike to let me edit the first post. At the top of the posts when I post "items used" I put in bold the short version I will be referring to in the rest of the post. In the post when I talk about that item I will refer to it by the bold word or letters I posted above. Example:

Items Used
something
something else
Meguiar's m205 Ultra Finishing Polish

Then lower in the post i will talk about how I completed that project. Blah blah blah blah blah m205

m205 would then refer to Meguiars Ultra Finish Polish also known as m205.

LTD is Meguiar's Last Touch Detailer. LTD

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Mike's Super Post - Detailing/Reviews/How-to - Updated often

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