21 replies to this topic

[BleepyEvans]

I've never really paid much attention when it comes to cleaning cars, get the cheapest shampoo on the shelf, put some in a bucket add water and sponge the car down.

 

Now I have my mini I want to obviously put a bit more care into cleaning my car. I've spent the past few days looking at full blown guides on how to shampoo, polish and wax cars. But all the guides use machine polishers, and I dont really to spend the money on something when I could quite easily do it by hand (although I understand chances are I might not get as good results).

 

So basically, does anyone hand polish their minis? If so what polish and pads do you use? 

 

Thanks

[minimadben]

I felt the same, but I needed to do all I could to cut it back and polish it back up , after searching for a few days I managed to buy a Silverline-261362-Orbital-polisher for £19 from amazon the vibration was a little violent but it took me 10-15mins to do the whole car it's a no- brainier spend the money and save yourself hours of time and elbow grease. The pads are cheap enough replacement ones being £5.99 for 5.

[Mini 360]

I felt the same, but I needed to do all I could to cut it back and polish it back up , after searching for a few days I managed to buy a Silverline-261362-Orbital-polisher for £19 from amazon the vibration was a little violent but it took me 10-15mins to do the whole car it's a no- brainier spend the money and save yourself hours of time and elbow grease. The pads are cheap enough replacement ones being £5.99 for 5.

15mins to polish an entire car?!  Took me 8hrs last time I did the mini to get it 100% swirl free.

[Carlos W]

You need to know what you're doing with a machine polisher as you can very easily damage the paint work!

 

There are some really good detailing threads on here! 

[stevearch0]

Depending on the condition of your paintwork a buffer is only really necessary to renovate faded, scratched or uneven paint finishes.if its just a quick shine up job, i personally use good old cotton rags, eg old t- shirt and some autoglym radiant wax polish. I was a paint refinsher for nearly ten years, and the amount of people went mad with buffers/polishers and damaged their paintwork without getting advise!!!!!  Please be careful!!

[glyn]

There is no end to the amount of time and effort you will use once you start polishing your mini. Post some pics of the results.

[Carlos W]

Depending on the condition of your paintwork a buffer is only really necessary to renovate faded, scratched or uneven paint finishes.if its just a quick shine up job, i personally use good old cotton rags, eg old t- shirt and some autoglym radiant wax polish. I was a paint refinsher for nearly ten years, and the amount of people went mad with buffers/polishers and damaged their paintwork without getting advise!!!!!  Please be careful!!

 

Completely agree, I bet the raised section down the middle of the bonnet for example is prime for burning through if you don't know what you're doing!

[stevearch0]

Had a bloke come to me a few years back with a problem. He bought a polishing head and put in on a 5 inch grinder!!! Didnt know about the different speed!! = resprayed bootlid :0(

[stevearch0]

Having said all that, as long as you get some good advice, give it a go!  It can be very theraputic in a weird way and very satisfying when it turns out well

[minimadben]

yep 15 minutes , its a mini, not an evo 8 ? common sense is all it needs.

[Twincam]

It all depends on how far you want to go... My daily gets the usual treatment but no way near of my classics. It's never seen a rotary or a DA and probably never will.

Once machined, you basically need to reduce the swirls you could inflict by doing various methods such as the 2 bucket method (referred to 2bm on many websites) and never use a sponge (i also have stopped using chamois as they can inflict swirls). There's so many other methods and routines - check out detailing world.

yep 15 minutes , its a mini, not an evo 8 ? common sense is all it needs.

Out of interest, what products did you use? 15 minutes is extremely quick, quickest time I managed on my rotary (DA takes me slightly longer) was six hours.. that includes setting up (taping etc)

[the_samkingdon15]

I used to valet cars and occasionally still do.. 

I generally clean the car with was and wax until its pretty much spotless, use a chamois to dry and use autoglym polish for finishing.. 

just work it in by hand, leave for 5 minutes and use a polishing cloth to buff..

Usually spray tyres with tyre shine and black rubber trims.. 

Does a bloody good job.. 

[kezzkitkat]

If your occupation is refinishing that would be a valet
Not calling you or anything but for me that wouldn't be substantial for myself or for any customer that's asking for a polish
I really would recommend in a mop best thing would be is a electic da sander as then you can use a trizac pad which I insit you use as you use less polishing compound and less time in polishing and less risk of breaking through as you not spending ages on it we tend to use the 3m polishing kits and I have one at home which is absolutely brilliant but quite expensive however would last you a long while. Wouldn't even think of hand polishing unless im rectifying (dirt enclustion) but is possible but have to make sure that grade of abrasive you have as most people refer to da's so you would have to double the grade of abrasive for by hand

[BleepyEvans]

Thanks for the responses.

 

You need to know what you're doing with a machine polisher as you can very easily damage the paint work!

 

There are some really good detailing threads on here! 

This is exactly why I don't want to buy a machine polisher. I would rather under polish my mini then over do it. Its in very good condition as is, and dont think I want to take polisher to it.

 

 

Once machined, you basically need to reduce the swirls you could inflict by doing various methods such as the 2 bucket method (referred to 2bm on many websites) and never use a sponge (i also have stopped using chamois as they can inflict swirls). There's so many other methods and routines - check out detailing world.

Yep I would without a doubt be using the 2 bucket method. 

That's interesting about the chamois, would you use a synthetic chamois instead or a waffle style towel?

 

 

Has anyone used this stuff? http://www.cleanyour...le/prod_29.html

What are peoples thoughts on the Dodo Juice products?

 

 

Thanks

Edited by BleepyEvans, 04 February 2014 - 08:16 PM.

[kezzkitkat]

You could use some 3m hand glaze though