[WRC~06~STi]

yes a LOAD of pics but def candy! love that blue color!

[chaos311clarity]

i say keep the overkillstyle write ups on autopia/ag ... unless its a suby haha... and i detail my own car.

[WRX4ME LE 482]

I dont trust anybody else near my car for any reason. I dont even park near other ppl.

[SoaReS]

nobody touches my suby except me.

[DetailersDomain.com]

thanks everyone! I appreciate it the feedback.

[fromSVXtoSTi]

I do my own detailing, but my poor SVX had to suffer through my early years of not knowing WTF I'm doing. Fortunately my STi will not meet the same paint doom. ON the plus side, though, now I'm learning how to paint on the SVX

Anyway,
I don't use fancy products and it still turns out fantastic.
1. Wash with Meguiar's Gold Class soap and a microfiber mitt
2. Dry with nothing but microfiber. Usually a prelim. dry with the smaller detailing ones followed by a final dry with the large, thick ones. I find the large one gets too water logged to do a good job if I don't pre-dry with the small towels (I've never tried a good chamois, so that might be just as good. The cheap chamois' suck, tho)
3. Clay with Mothers, I think (the yellow one)
4. Synthetic seal with Meguiar's #23 using random orbital buffer
5. Generic glass cleaner
6. Depending upon the condition of the headlights, I'll either used Mother's chrome polish, or do a whole long procedure involving a light wet sand w/2000grit, polish w/3m stuff, "glaze" with plastic polish, and "Seal" with carnuba wax.

I just did it yesterday, so I'll try to get some pics later today.

[fullerton]

holy too many picts batman!

looks good, but choose 5 that tell the story best!







and, i only do my own detailing. or touchless carwashes in the winter to rinse the salt off.

[sti2relaxxin]

I live in the city and drive back to my parents house every weekend to wash off the city filth. Blecchhh!

[Szumita]

i love detailing.

[toogood]

haha i can relate to you guys...i love my car an my drive to work is about 30 minutes on a road where thers alot of construction an dust/dirt in the air...so i wash my car every two days...an never get tired of it...i also wax my car with "klasse"...personally i like it better than most of whats out there...been using it for years an no complaints...but either way...theres no better feeling than a smooth shiny ride that girls love to give compliments...(notice the ride...not me...lol)

[twigg107]

I wash my car maybe once every few months....

[psuLemon]

I try to detail my car but I live in an apt so if my brother can't do the cars, I have to take it to a carwash which sucks!

[GuiltySparc]

Originally Posted by psuLemon

I try to detail my car but I live in an apt so if my brother can't do the cars, I have to take it to a carwash which sucks!

i also live an in apt...

ONR No Rinse Wash & Shine

learn it, love it.

[flytojungho]

nice pics!! do you have anymore? i always like to see detailed before and after pictures on cars.

[Crewchief]

Here's my way of doing things.

PC 7424
Mothers Large Buffer Ball
2 CCS 6.5" Orange Pads
2 CCS 6.5" White Pads
2 CCS 6.5" Blue Pads
1 CCS 6.5" Gray Pad
1 5 inch backing plate
XMT Pad Condtioner
XMT Pad Cleaner
Optimum Polish
Optimum Opti-Seal
Poorboy's Natty’s Paste
Mcguire's Gold Class Car Soap
2 boxes of Mcguire's Clay bar
Simple Green
Black Magic Wheel Cleaner
Bugs be gone by seam foam
Oxy Clean Carpet Cleaner (for the floor mats)
Mcguire's NXT interior
Stone Invisible Glass
12 Pack of Cobra Microfiber towels

Spent 7 hours on the car on the the first day, and 6 more finishing it up on the next. The biggest improvment was the polish used with the pc7424. 90-95% of my swirls and water marks are gone! The paint looks better then it did new (minus the rock chips on the bumper and hood). I have never seen black so reflective, ever.







This is a close up off the C-pillar, just to give you an idea on how glossy and perfect my paint is.















4 jack stands and pulled the wheels off (Still dirty in this pic)















Mothers ball put to good use























A few more yesturday when I made it towards the beach (11 Aug 07)









Steps I took.

1. Wash with Mcguire's gold class soap (Did not wash wheels only body)
2. Dry
3. Clay bar with Mcguire's Clay bar. I had to use two boxes to get all the crap out of my paint. 1 box comes with 2 and I went through 4.
4. Rinse car again
5. Dry
6. Used a light cutting pad (Orange pad) with Optimum Polish. Started off at about 2k rpm's till it was worked into the paint then turned it up to 6k rpm and really buffed it in. Some spots I had to do over 2-3 times to really remove all the water marks or swirls. Going in a figure 8 motion or back and fourth if I couldnt do a figure 8. Before use apply a few squirts of XMT pad conditioner so you dont start off "dry buffing", the conditioner keeps this from happening.
7. Remove extra polish with a microfiber and buff out, to get a nice shine.
9. Applied Optimum Sealent and wipe away, very easy to use.
9. Jacked car up and removed wheels.
10. Cleaned wheels with mothers powerball with a mixture of simple green, black magic brake dust remover, and Mcguire's gold class soap. Clean and dry.
11. Cleaned brakes with a damp rag with the same mixture and then again with a soaking rag in just water to rinse them clean.
12. Applied Poorboys wax. Did this by hand. With this was you can apply it to the whole car and then just buff it out with a microfiber.
13. Soaked lug nuts in simplegreen and blackmagic brake dust remover in a plastic cup, then dryed. Put wheels back on
14. Vaccuumed car and used Turtlewax Oxy Clean carpet cleaner to a pepsi stain out of my rear seat. looks like new.
15. Damp rag to clean all the door sills, then dry.
16. Applied Mcguire's interior protectent to all the dash, doors, pillars and center console.
17. Cleaned windows with invisible glass.