[Detailed Image]

At Detailed Image we take pride in our relationship with many top notch detailers and are happy to share their knowledge on our Ask-A-Pro Blog. "My wash process for maintenance washings" by Eric Schuster of Envious Detailing is a brand new article that highlights a great eight step process for a simple wash that will leave your car with a great clean finish! Check out our preview below:

My wash process for maintenance washings (Preview)
Step one: Pre-rinse the car with a sharp stream of water via pressure washer or hose and nozzle. This will loosen and flush away the lighter dirt and debris from the paint, wheels, tires, glass, etc. if at this time you would like to apply shampoo to the car to start the breakdown process, use a foam gun and coat the entire car. If it’s a hot day, only coat the half of the car you will be working on first, then the second half. Don’t let the soap dry on the car.

Step two: Wash car with shampoo
Using a chenille mitt, sheepskin mitt, soft sponge, etc, begin at the top of the car and work your way around. I like to break the car into sections such as the following: 1 – half the roof, half the windshield and rear window, drivers windows front and rear, then re-soap after rinsing mitt out in water only bucket. 2 – drivers front and rear doors, rinse. 3 – half the hood and drivers fender, rinse. 4 – passenger half hood and fender, rinse. 5 – passenger half roof, windshield, rear window, front and rear side windows, rinse. 6 – passenger front and rear door, rinse. 7 – rear trunk lid and truck vertical, rinse. 8 – rear bumper, rinse. 9 – front bumper, rinse. 10 – both side skirts and behind wheels, rinse. (To continue reading, check out this article (My wash process for maintenance washings) on the Ask-A-Pro Blog)

If you enjoy this article you may want to check out these as well:
How To Properly Wash and Dry a Car
How to Safely Wash Your Car in the Winter
Winter Washing with Optimum No Rinse (ONR)

If you have any questions or need any recommendations please do not hesitate to ask!

Greg @ DI

[dman1239]

Great write-up! Love all of the info that you put out there. Had one question for you, Im a newbie to full details. I plan on doing a wash, clay, swirl remover, glaze, sealant and wax on top of that. What pads do you recommend that I should use for each step?? Thanks

[Detailed Image]

Originally Posted by dman1239

Great write-up! Love all of the info that you put out there. Had one question for you, Im a newbie to full details. I plan on doing a wash, clay, swirl remover, glaze, sealant and wax on top of that. What pads do you recommend that I should use for each step?? Thanks

Glad to hear the articles are a big help!

Oh man that's a tough question it really just depends on what specific products you are using for each step, even still there is no one right answer. Here is a general guide though that should be a big help to get you started in the right direction.

Surbuf R Series - Heavy Cutting Polishes
Yellow and Purple Foam - Medium to Heavy Cutting Polishes (purple pad finishes down much better)
Orange and Cyan - Medium Cutting Polishes
Green - Light Cutting Polishes
White and Tangerine - Polishing Pad for Light Polishes, AIO
Black and Crimson - Fine Polishing Pad for Glazes, Sealants and Liquid Waxes
Blue - Ultra Fine Polishing Pad for Liquid Waxes and Sealants

If you need more assistance let me know what specific products you had in mind or if you need help in that area as well.

Greg @ DI

[dman1239]

Greg, I got the wolfgang swirl remover and glaze. After doing the swirl remover and glaze I then plan to follow it up with Blackfire wet Diamond. After the sealant I am doing the Poorboys World Natty blue. Do you think this is good plan of attack. Also what pads do you think I should use with this set up and how many? Thanks for all of the info I am very new to this.

[Envious Eric]

Dman -

are you sure that wolfgang glaze will allow a sealant to bond to the paint still? If not, skip the BFWD and just apply the carnuba. It will be a waste of time to try and apply a sealant on top of a glaze. you wont get the durability from it since its not actually bonding

orange, white, black, blue pads are what you should use. I have more cutting than polishing, typical car gets 7-10 cutting pads, 4-5 polishing pads, and 3 finishing pads, one sealant pad

[Detailed Image]

Originally Posted by dman1239

Greg, I got the wolfgang swirl remover and glaze. After doing the swirl remover and glaze I then plan to follow it up with Blackfire wet Diamond. After the sealant I am doing the Poorboys World Natty blue. Do you think this is good plan of attack. Also what pads do you think I should use with this set up and how many? Thanks for all of the info I am very new to this.

Overall I like your plan and that is the right order if you want to use all of those products. As Eric mentioned a glaze will limit the sealant from fully bonding it's just a question of too what extent. Some are very slight others can be a bit more noticeable. I haven't used the Wolfgang's one so I can't comment on that one. Not sure what swirl remover you got but if it's a light polish I'd recommend the following:

Swirl Remover - Minimum two White or Tangerine Pad
Glaze - At least one Black Pad
Sealant (Blackfire Wet Diamond with Polycharger) - At least one Blue Pad
Wax - At least one Blue Pad if it's a liquid for paste waxes apply by hand with a foam app
Poorboy's World Liquid Natty's Blue Wax or
Poorboy's World Natty's Blue Paste Wax

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to help.

Greg @ DI

[K20A2_S]

THis is probably a stupid question, but I'm a newb.

When do you use a sponge vs sheepskin mit?

I plan on buying this package: http://www.detailedimage.com/DI-Pack...mate-Kit-P366/

and noticed it has 2 sponges, and 2 mits? I thougt they were both used for same thing?

I only plan on washing, claying (also going to order), washing, waxing (carnuba probably, please recommend a brand). Then following your guide for maintenance washings, until I wax again. The car is a weekend car (garage kept), I have a daily driver, so I figured waxing every 6-8 weeks would be enough.

Whenever it comes to polishing/buffering, I'll probably pay somebody to do that since I'm not fully comfortable doing that.

Am I missing anything else?

[Bobble]

@Dman

Did you get the Wolfgang twins as advertised that way? If so the Wolfgang Finishing glaze is actually a light polish (2500) with a glaze mixed in and it's actually rebadged Menzerna or made for PBMG by Menzerna depending on what you read and believe. As such it would be ok under a sealant since Menzerna and PBMG advertise it as a step before Power Lock or Wolfgang's sealant. I'd still do an IPA wipe after it before the BFWD.
Eric's point I believe and sorry for speaking for you, is sealants really only play well with certain glazes, namely acrylic ones.