Clay & Seal in the shed

Hats off to the guys again in the shed - Dave & Chris for an educational oversight into a full clay and seal on the car.

Wanted to get this done before Christmas and after agreeing a date with Chris, Dave decided he wanted in also to lend a hand.
They gave the car more care in a couple of hours that would put my own efforts to shame.

Following an initial full wash by hand, Iron X was applied all over the body of the car to remove any particles and fall out on the paint work, this stuff is great and after a few minutes shows up all the residue that the hand wash just doesn’t remove, tar and dirt stuck to the paintwork.
Another wash down to remove the last of the Iron X and the car was ready to be clayed. What has always seemed a difficult and complicated task I got my own clay and worked with the lads on a few panels. Once the area to be clayed has been lubricated with water (we used warm water today), the clay just glides over the surface, frictionless, and every now and again a few ‘bumps’ are found which you may not even feel, these are bonded environmental contaminants on the paint surface that are removed with a bit of elbow grease.

Clay complete, another wash down to remove any final residue – again. Next up, car needs to be dried, large microfibre towels are the perfect accessory to remove any excess water. The shine on the car right now looks good, but we’re not done yet, there is still more the come.

Now for some sealant, Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. This seals and preserves the finish on clean paintwork. EGP is a non-abrasive protective sealant and contains hard waxes, resins and oils which are exceptionally resistant to most weather conditions.

Applied in small amounts using an applicator pad it needs about 30 minutes to settle in before being buffed off with a microfiber towel.

So to sum it all up:
- Wash with safe shampoo
- Detar
- Rewash
- Clay
- Rewash
- Dry
- Seal with Extra Gloss

The results speak for themselves and the shine from the protection is like a new car. If you want to give your paintwork a winter seal, this is the way to go.

PS: It was such a dull day today the reflections could only be seen on camera indoors, outside the results stand out straight away but harder to capture.

Thanks guys for your patience today, lots of questions as usual :smiling:

Car looks great!

I attended a training day with Chris & Dave some time back when they ran it and like yourself it was really useful to learn/understand the process and how to use some of the products without fear e.g. clay. Neighbors still think your nuts washing a car like this, but what can you do, ignorance is bliss. :wink:

Thanks for the detailed feedback Brian and what a lovely car you have! Pics don't do it justice.

Nice intro to detailing, we don't mind people asking questions and trying stuff out, at the end of the day if we can teach people the basics of how to even maintain a finish we are even happier to do the work.

There is nothing worse then working on a car getting it to a good level and knowing that its going for a TFR and brush wash the following week!! Anything else just ask and hope to see you soon :)

Long time since we have done a training day, never seemed to get time this year but maybe in the new year might hold a little day for people if the interest is there :)

^^^^^ Defo interested in a training day Chris. You can put me down as a definite for starters.

I need to get started looking after my car properly but need pointers on the basics and what products to buy. I'm around over the Xmas even if you had half an hour to point me in the right direction on products?

Cheers

Stephen, have a quick read of the two threads that are sticky as "Important Threads" in this section!
If you've any questions, dont hesitate to ask! Well worth doing the training day also, as other questions arise when you are actually seeing things being done in person, good to practice using clay, etc....but a read over those threads will ease you into it! :)