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The Car Detailing Topic


Frederic

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In our best attempts to keep our cars a bit clean in this harsh environment, which is a challenge considering the amount of sand and dust flying around, i'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions to upkeep both the exterior and interior of the car in best possible condition, which should help when selling the car later on.

I'll start with my experiences on my wifey's 2008 Pajero:

Paint and bodywork

- Avoid mall or parking car-washers, they don't use enough water and their dusty sponges create swirls in the paintwork. 

- Once a year, i bring the car to a detailing shop that does a complete inside out cleaning and polishing. It restores the original paint, and they are able to remove stains from upholstery and seats pretty well. 

- I tried scratch repair pens but imho they only make things worse.

- I wash the car myself weekly with sufficient water, and "soft" cleaning detergents like some liquid soap. Microfiber cloths are great. There are many ways to wash a car. I always start with a complete hose down from top to bottom to remove sand and dust and cool down the bodywork, followed by doing a part of the car, and rinsing after every few minutes. Letting the soap dry on the car is very harmful. Never wash the car when exposed to the direct sun.

Wheels, Tyres, Rims

- I clean the rims during the weekly washing. The black soot from the brakepads can be easily removed with some JIF/CIF. I don't tend to buy the fancy sprays.

 

Interior

- With kids, dogs, camping activities, etc.... it is a major challenge to keep the interior a bit tidy. I am not a  fan of keeping the plastic covers on everything as you see often, so that means vacuuming and lots of elbow grease every couple of weeks. I am not a perfectionist but do like to keep it a bit tidy.

- Dashboard sprays: I really hate them as they make things feel greasy and fatty, and the last time they applied it it left permanent damage to the plastics (chemical reaction maybe)...

 

Engine

For the real freaks :). Do not hose down the engine bay on an older car, as you won't be able to start it any more. I just use a microfiber cloth from time to time to wipe off most of the sand and inspect the pipes, hoses, and components for cracks or damage. 

 

Please do share your DIY tricks, hacks, and suggestions !

 

 

 

Edited by Frederic
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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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There are two ways to look at this problem:

  • Don't eat outside food, breathe outside air if you are allergic or prone to falling sick quickly.
  • OR raise your immune system to next level so most of things wont impact you.

I got my Pajero sprayed almost 3 years back (Nov 2016) and used the most hard wearing lacquer, and then used 3M coating and till date paint looks great and cleaned  every week from my building cleaner - 1 bucket style.

For interior you can look into scotch guard your complete interior for not having any stains or spill. Then use bushranger rubber mat that are washable and have thick grooves to hold any food or sand. Every week you can just do quick vacuum than using so much elbow grease.

For detailing interior every year, I don't mind (if needed) but exterior polishing every year will soon fade the original color of your car and leaving a fade spots all around - max 3-4 years as polishing do scrape the original paint to bring that shine and gloss back. I did with my Pajero once (5 years back) and then next summer I started observing the fading spot all around like a dalmatian. I know it must be the age but that polishing probably scrape off that last layer of paint left.

So polishing once in 5-6 year is acceptable if it really needed and I meant for polishing that uses grinder. Wax polish is acceptable for that shine and lustre look or for repelling water stains etc for rainy countries.

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.18 AM.jpeg

 

After the Repaint with Octroral Paint (Netherlands) and Standox (Germany) Lacquer and hardener.

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.21 AM.jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.19 AM (1).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.19 AM.jpeg

 

After the 3M Paint Protection Coating for 650 Dhs. I think it was 850 for external and internal with scotch guard.

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.22 AM (6).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.22 AM (3).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.22 AM (2).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2019-07-31 at 10.02.22 AM (1).jpeg

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Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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22 minutes ago, syedyaseer said:

What will be the remedy for scratches. I have notice quite a few scratches on my Barado. Its irritating when your car is neat and clean. Any DIY sloution are also welcome. 

small scratches can be made less visible with some swirl or scratch remover from the shop and applying it yourself. Bigger ones can be done in a detailing shop with a buffing machine, but be aware that you don't actually remove the scratch. You rather brighten up the paint surface so it shines more and makes the scratch less visible.

 

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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Hi, guys!

Could you pls share your experience in restoring small chips on the body?

I have a few of them on my Prado, both on metal surfaces and on plastic ones. I believe they are caused by furious shoppers in the malls 😃

The biggest one and the most irritating one I have on a driver door handle, as big as 5mm. I do not want to repaint the whole thing but don't know where to buy a bit of paint and small handy brush to make it not perfect but at least less visible.

Any advises?

Thanks!

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3 hours ago, Mikhail Lukichev said:

Hi, guys!

Could you pls share your experience in restoring small chips on the body?

I have a few of them on my Prado, both on metal surfaces and on plastic ones. I believe they are caused by furious shoppers in the malls 😃

The biggest one and the most irritating one I have on a driver door handle, as big as 5mm. I do not want to repaint the whole thing but don't know where to buy a bit of paint and small handy brush to make it not perfect but at least less visible.

Any advises?

Thanks!

Go-to any automotive paint shop and give them your colour code. For a perfect take a sample, like the fuel door flap.

In 5 minutes he will mix you up a batch

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