Need Help With Choices

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wacomme

New member
I'm not a professional. However, a decade ago I got into detailing my car, a 1996 BMW 318ti, red. To this day the paint job looks great. However, besides garaging the vehicle nightly, I've neglected detailing the past three year. The car hasn't been waxed in over a year and most of my car washes have been the gas station car wash variety - touchless.



I now want to revive my detailing efforts. Perusing my aged detailing supplies I notice I'm out of wax and a good cleaner, although I do have some Zymol Cleanse HD left. I used to use a 3M polish followed by One Grand brand wax. I'm also short on detailing towels; I used to use Zymol 100% cotton towels. Anyway, I came to this site to find a few recommended products and was blown away with the detailing changes over the past few years. I read the learning threads, and added to my purchase cart the products I think I need. Before I pull the "buy" trigger I thought I'd post my product plans here and get your thoughts, recommendations, and possible changes.



  • Shampoo: I'm getting low on P21s. I'm planning on adding a bottle. Is Sonus any better?
  • Cleaner and Sealer: I thought I'd go the route of the Ultima Paint Sampler. This includes Paint Guard Plus, Paint Prep Plus, and their detailing spray. A MF applicator is also included. Should I purchase a second applicator for about $6? Also, I have never used clay before. Would the Ultima Elastrofoam Paint Cleaning System be a good purchase for $38, in addition to the $40 Sampler? I have water spots on my car, but the paint surface is surprisingly smooth despite its neglect. I have an old bottle of Meguiar's Swirl Remover #9. Should I use this instead of the Elastrofoam Cleaning System? It would save me $38. Or should I consider a different clay product, such as the $15 Sonus SFX Detail Clay Bundle in lieu of the Ultima Elastrofoam product?
  • Towels - Is the Der Wunder Towel Trio, $38, a good buy on MF towels? Do I need more than the included six towels. Would the $13 Ultima Autospa Buffing Towel be a good addition to the Sonus towels?
  • Wheels - I still have a lot of P21s Gel. I'll use it up despite its age.
  • Plastic Trim - I'm running out of Rhino Black Again. Should I buy more, or is there a better product for darkening and protecting the black trim?
  • Interior Vinyl - I've been using Lexol. Is Sonus Total Eclipse any better? I need to buy more.
  • Other - I have some 3M carpet cleaner I need to use up. I also have Total Car Wash for the engine, and some rubber seal protecting products. I have a good fluffy chenille wash mit and some foam applicator pads. Is there anything I'm missing?



I appreciate your feedback, and thank you.



Sincerely,



Michael
 
Michael:



I cannot comment on each and every one of the products you mentioned, but I'll comment on those I can. I have a black 97 BMW 540i so I'm guessing our regimen to be fairly similar; I'll tell you what I'm doing for comparison purposes.



  • P21s shampoo should be fine; I can't comment on the Sonus but I would imagine it to be similar. I use Meg's NXT.
  • I generally use a claybar and QD lubricant to remove surface contamination twice a year. Your paint may feel smooth, but after 3 years if you haven't clayed it I would suggest you do so; you will be surprised how much smoother it will feel.
  • Ultima has a good reputation on this board from what I can tell, but I have not used it personally to comment on it. The main thing you should be looking for here is a polish and/or cleaner to bring out the lustre of the paint before you seal/wax it. The cleaner would likely be a non-abrasive chemical cleaner and a polish will have some mild abrasives to clean/burnish the surface. I'm not sure which category the Zymol HD Clense fits into. The Megs #9 Swirl Remover is a polish that also contains some fillers like a glaze which will hide blemishes you haven't polished out. Ultima's sealant should do well as a LSP. I like the Menzerna polishes and sealant; I also like Blackfire polishes and sealant.
  • Those should all be good MF towels that will serve you well; take good care of them. You may want to get some inexpensive ones for general duty cleaning on door sills etc. and use the better ones for their specified purpose.
  • Your P21S gel for tires should still work well so use it up.
  • I don't know how faded your black trim is, but I've yet to find anything that restores the black side moulding or bumper trim to its original color lustre for more than 5 mintes. Wish I could help here, but I can't.
  • The Lexol for interior vinyl should be fine.

Keep reading on the board here to see what products others like and take a chance on a couple that strike your fancy. You may want to watch the Classifieds area to pick up some smaller quantities while you're experimenting. In any case, have fun and let us see a pic of the 318 when you're done.



Nick
 
BTW, you didn't mention it, but you should certainly include a random orbital polisher of some sort; you just won't get the same results by hand that you will with a random orbital polisher. Regardless of the products you select, that should give you the biggest leap in terms of results from three years ago.

Nick
 
ZeroDfx said:
BTW, you didn't mention it, but you should certainly include a random orbital polisher of some sort; you just won't get the same results by hand that you will with a random orbital polisher. Regardless of the products you select, that should give you the biggest leap in terms of results from three years ago.

Nick
Click to expand...



An orbital, really? It seems like a lot of money for a job I do once or twice per year. If I go the route of a sealant such as Ultima, all I'd use the orbital for is the polish, and with a little clay work the rest of the year I might use the machine once in a year. Then again, I could detail my wife's Jeep. Nonetheless, detailing isn't my profession, or even hobby. I just want a protected and nice looking vehicle.



Nick, I'm not putting down your idea of an orbital. I'm just questioning the value for my needs.



Michael
 
Having been out of the loop for three or more years I'm basically starting again from scratch. Besides microfiber towels, what products do you recommend for a paint detailing job?



Michael
 
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