General

Car polisher is a mildly abrasive liquid designed to improve the smoothness and shine of vehicle paint. We have all done it…bought a car because it looked amazing in the showroom and thought it would look fantastic on our driveway. Carnauba wax has various applications and uses and these include food, cosmetics, automobile and furniture wax, molds for semiconductors devices, and as coating for dental floss.

We pictured how jealous our neighbors would be when we arrived home to show off our new wheels!

But the harsh reality is that after two weeks of posing the car has lost its entire original shiny look under the grime and dirt of everyday motoring.

Imagine then that you have spent a Kings ransom on a supercar, a car that mere mortals could only dream of and by the time you shown all of your friends, you (or your chauffeur) need to clean it.

So, what car cleaning products do you use to make the paintwork look like new again without causing the ubiquitous swirl marks and fading commonly associated with traditional car washing?
Because Supercars are special cars, special care must be taken to keep them clean. The trick is not to be scared of cleaning your supercar.

Paintwork: The first step is a routine washing to remove dust, road grime, and other contaminants. The second is a more thorough cleaning process to prepare your car’s paint for a protective coating (such as wax).

Supercars should always be washed by hand – never by an automated machine like you’d find at a petrol station. Taking the time to wash your paintwork correctly will pay off with fewer scratches and swirl marks in your paint. When washing, you’ll need a few simple items: a hose with an adjustable spray nozzle, a wash mitt, a bucket, and some soap. Sheepskin wash mitts are a good choice for cleaning your supercar, but don’t settle for synthetic sheepskin. Natural sheepskin lasts longer, holds more water, and is safer to use on your paint. Be sure that your wash mitt has been thoroughly cleaned since the last time you used it. Pine needles, rocks, sand, and other debris that may be tangled in your wash mitt will scratch your paint.

“The soap you choose when washing your car is important. Don’t use household dish soap or other abrasive cleaners. Use a specialty car cleaning product which is designed to remove dirt and road grime without damaging your paint” says Jonathan Copping of specialty car cleaning supplier Croftgate “Make sure your bucket is clean, put some soap in, and then squirt your hose in the bucket to create some suds.”

“If a shady location is available, it’s best to wash your car here. This will help slow the drying process and allow you to manually dry your car to eliminate water spots,” he continued.

“Before you start washing, be sure you give your car a light rinse with the spray nozzle. Use either a mist setting or a gentle shower setting, but don’t squirt your paint with a spray nozzle at full strength. This light rinsing will remove any loose dust and dirt, and will lessen your chances of scratching your paint with the wash mitt.”

“Get your mitt wet and soapy, and then wash your car, starting at the top. This will save time, as you won’t have to rinse running soap from areas that you’ve already cleaned, and it will help keep your water and wash mitt cleaner, since cars tend to be dirtier on bottom and near the wheels.”
“Don’t worry about cleaning the wheels quite yet. Wash all your painted surfaces first. Work on one small section at a time and then rinse with a gentle stream of water. Continue until all painted surfaces have been washed and rinsed.”

After you wash your car, you should dry it by hand to make sure that you don’t get dried water spots in your paint. If you like using towels, make sure that they are 100% cotton (including the stitching around the edges) to reduce the chance of swirl marks. The best and safest option for drying your paint however, is a chamois. If you are a chamois user, keep a few terry cloth towels handy to dry dirty areas like door jams, wheel arches, and other areas that might stain your chamois.

To use a chamois, simply wet it down, ring it out, and wipe it gently across your painted surfaces. It will act like a sponge and suck up water. Once it’s full of water, wring it out, and keep going until your paint is dry.

Wheels: Supercar wheels come in a variety of shapes and finishes. Some wheels are painted and clear coated, just like your car. These should be cleaned and treated just like rest of the paint on your car. Other wheel types include clear coated aluminum, anodized; chrome polished non-clear coated aluminum, and magnesium.

Wheels usually get dirty more quickly than other areas of your car due to brake dust. When choosing a cleaner, stay away from the “spray on, hose off” products available in traditional car care stores. They are far too harsh for use with the most expensive wheels.

For chrome wheels, use a non-abrasive chrome polish specially designed for that purpose. For non-chrome wheels, use a non-abrasive wheel cleaner. Use a sponge or wash mitt along with your cleaning product to remove all brake dust and grime. For wheels with intricate patterns, try using a boar’s hair brush to reach all the nooks and crannies that are hiding the dirt. Dry your wheels with a soft terry cloth towel when you’re done. Croftgate has recently seen a rare approval from Alcan Europe, one of the worlds leading alloy manufacturers for the safety of its alloy wheel cleaning product.

Tires: There are almost as many varieties of tire dressing available on the market as there are tires. Which product you use depends greatly on how you want your tires to look when they’re finished. You may like the “wet” look or you may want to restore your tires’ original black look, but without excessive shine.

Regardless of which tyre dressing product you choose, you must be careful that you apply the dressing only to the outer edge of the tyre. If tyre dressing drips, runs, or is accidentally sprayed on the tread of the tyre, your tyres could become slippery and create a dangerous situation for the driver.

Glass: Keeping your windshield and windows clean is an essential element of Ferrari detailing. A number of cleaning products are available, but choose a product that has no dyes, perfumes, or any other chemicals that lead to hazing on your window surfaces. Make sure it is safe to use on window tinting film, and prevents fogging when used on the inside of your windows. Use lint-free towels, microfibre or newspaper when wiping off glass cleaning products to prevent streaking.
Once your windshield is clean, try using a window polish to make rain roll off your windshield as you drive. Apply a liberal amount with a circular, overlapping motion. Allow it to dry to a haze, and then polish clear by sprinkling a small amount of water on your windshield and then wiping with a clean towel.

Protective Coats: In order to keep your paint protected, it is essential to apply some sort of protective coating periodically, such as wax or polymer protectant finish. How often you apply the paint protection depends largely on which product you choose, how often you drive your car, and the weather conditions in your area. A general rule, however, is that your car’s paint should be protected at least every 6 months.

Before applying a protective coating, however, you must prepare your paint’s surface. Surface preparation starts with a good washing following the guidelines above, but further preparation will enhance the results of your protective coating. Surface preparation removes any old wax, thoroughly cleans your paint, and helps your protective coating adhere to your paint’s surface when you apply it in the next step.

If you choose to wax your supercar, make sure you use a very high grade Carnauba wax. Waxes can be applied by hand, or by machine. Machine application helps make sure your wax is applied evenly, but can damage your paint if the wrong type of machine is used. If you plan on using a machine, make sure it’s a random orbital buffer. If you plan on applying your wax by hand, then make sure you’ve got plenty of time and patience to do the job right.

Proper waxing entails applying the wax evenly, allowing time for the wax to create a haze over your paint’s surface, and then buffing the haze to a brilliant shiny finish. Use a high-quality sponge applicator to apply the wax, and use lint-free 100% cotton polishing cloths to remove it. Follow the instructions that come with your wax products to ensure the best results.

While waxing can provide good results and adequate protection for your supercars paint, there are a lot of problems with wax. Wax removal must be timed properly so that you don’t have a lot of trouble removing the haze left from the dried wax. Wax build-up is a consideration, especially since waxes will turn yellow over time. It requires a lot of work to get the wax out of emblems, from around lights, off of rubber, and other difficult locations on your car. And a coat of wax doesn’t last very long under normal driving conditions. In general, waxes are good protection, and we’ve been conditioned to love the way water beads up on a fresh coat of wax. A fresh wax job also has a nice sheen when sunlight hits it.

But wax technology hasn’t changed significantly over the years, while paint formulation technology has. For this reason, many supercar owners are switching to a polymer-based protectant finish as a substitute for wax. A polymer-based product can bond to a clean paint surface – waxes can’t. Applying a polymer-based product is more like adding clearcoat to your car. Build up isn’t a problem, since multiple layers of finish will actually protect your paint even better and make your finish more brilliant.

This can be applied by wiping a thin layer of the polish in a non-circular fashion over the entire painted surface of your car. For the first application, allow the polish to cure at least overnight. You could theoretically allow the polish to dry for months, and it would still wipe off easily with no adverse affects. As the polish cures, it turns into a white haze. After it is fully cured, it can be wiped off quickly and easily with a soft cotton polishing cloth. You should re-apply the polish every 6-8 months, and each application creates stronger protection for your car’s paint. Follow-up applications only require 15-20 minutes curing time.

Engines: Just because your engine bay isn’t in plain view doesn’t mean you should let it stay dirty. Grease, oil, dirt, dust, grime, and other contaminants can make a beautiful engine look dull and uncared for.

Before using any liquid cleaners in your engine bay, however, make sure that electrical contacts are covered. Spray a degreasing agent onto your engine and allow it to work for 5-10 minutes. For stubborn spots, use a detail brush to scrub away the dirt. Rinse away the degreasing agent and allow to air dry. Do not use any flammable dressings on hoses, wires, or any other surfaces in your engine bay, as they could cause a fire if exposed to high temperatures.

The only remaining part of your detailing project is the black trim that adorns your supercar. Most tire dressings are also good choices to dress black rubber, plastic, and vinyl trim on your vehicle.

To try Croftgates supercar cleaning products, click here to go to their website http://www.croftgate.com or contact them directly on 0044 (0)1200 420 198

David Croftgate – Is an expert on Car cleaning products [http://www.croftgate.co.uk] and Croftgate was recently awarded The Royal Warrant for supplying The Royal Family due to the quality of the products.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_Croftgate/215890

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Introduction

We realise that you love your car and want to keep it looking for years, that’s why we stock the largest range of professional car detailing products Australia that will give you the very best results.

Be sure you do two things before you even touch a customer’s car:

Learn a set of professional skills, including: the best way to bring engines to like-new, best way to remove carpet and upholstery spots, how to destroy smells, how best to polish as well as wax paint to the point of a better-than-new look, how to get rid of water spots, how to detail “nooks and crannies” (dials, vents, toggles, under seats, etc).

Buy professional gear. Don’t spend too much! There are just a handful of completely necessary items: wet/dry shop-vac, Cyclo polisher and waxer, electric power washing unit, and the all-important air compressor.

Understand professional marketing tactics. Today’s detail business must have good, working relationships with local vehicle businesses (dealers, mechanics, reconditioning shops, and body shops). It must also have a professional, visible website.

There are 3 resources you can find for training as a detailer:

• Apprenticeships.
• Car Detailing Schools.
• Learn from the house.

Let’s take a moment to look closer at your options.

Option 1: Apprenticeship

If you asked me, I’d say that this is the most thorough means of getting the business knowledge. Simultaneously, it is also the toughest to arrange.

It will require that you labor for 6 weeks at an reconditioning shop more than 1 hour from where you live. Contact auto reconditioning shops outside of your area and explain that you want to start your own shop. Be clear that you will NOT be a competitor even if you do happen to be starting a mobile car detailing business. Offer to work at minimum wage or even less in exchange for total immersion in the technical and business workings of their shop.

For the first weeks, you’ll ideally be performing actual detailing: interior, out, and under hoods. You will encounter all the common cases (beverage spills, dog hair, food spots) that drive into a pro shop. You will get much faster at making them clean again as the owner shares his top car detailing tips.

3 weeks into your apprenticeship, you should start to learn the business aspect of the shop: what things to buy, where to get them, how much you should pay for them, how to get your name out there, keys to running a website, how to advertise to dealerships, how to treat customers, how and at what point to run specials, how to handle complaints…all of the plethora of issues that show up at a detail business daily. This portion of your training is far more critical than the first weeks in which you learned the fundamentals of how to detail a car.

At the end of 6 weeks, you should have adequate knowledge to do it on your own. But expect plenty of new issues to come up in the first half year that you will have to confront and succeed at fixing on your own.

On the job training only works – but only if you are ready to drive to a distant shop for 6 long, barely or not paid weeks, and only if you have a shop owner on board. I repeat: you may have to work for nothing (ie, an internship) to get a detail shop owner to agree to this.

Pros: Completely all-encompassing, hands-on learning in a real detail business.

Cons: Very hard to locate a shop owner receptive to training you.

Option 2: Reconditioning Schools

There are lots of detailing schools around the country which specialize in training prospective business owners with formal detailing lectures and seminars:

Detail King – located in PA.
RightLook – based in San Diego, CA.
The Total Pros – based out of L.A., CA.
Detailing Success – located in Big Bear City, CA.

Enroll for 16 hours in training classes, if not more. Be ready to pay at least $1200, including travel costs, and be gone for at least three days. Make sure that you pay for and get adequate marketing training – since it’s marketing-not your ability to do good detail work-which will make or break your business.

I have heard good things about these 4 companies, but at the top seems to be Detailing Success in Big Bear-run by Renny Doyle.

Pros: Doing based learning. Schools offer technical and marketing training from teachers who have done and seen everything there is to see.

Cons: A lot of money. Not a truly real-world experience in which you can learn how to deal with real-world customers and real-world issues (broken tools, irremovable odors, customer troubles, etc.)

Option 3: Learn at Home

There are books and DVDs you can find on Amazon.

Theses books and DVDs offer excellent technical training. They do show you ways in which to detail cars fast and thoroughly. However, they are mostly lacking in marketing training. They’ll cover marketing and sales, in general, however they offer not enough specific advice. For example, they recommend shelling out for phone book advertising. Phone book advertising is all but history in the car detailing business today.

Pros: Price and availability. A truly practical way to use your time and funding.
Cons: Doesn’t have a hands-on component.

Conclusion

How one chooses to train ultimately depends on budget and time availability. There isn’t objectively a right or wrong way to gain the skills needed to run a detailing business.

Here are 2 important pieces of wisdom for new detailers:

No need to overspend on supplies and equipment. It’s possible to do excellent work with only a few items of hardware and chemicals.

The real training will happen in your first 6 months as a detailer, independent of what method you used prior to going into business. Every vehicle is unique. Each customer (along with what they’re looking for) is different. After 6 months you can expect to have gained a whole lot of confidence.

I wish you luck!

Robert Keppel is former owner of a car detailing business and author of an ebook offering car detailing training online. Better results of car detailing products, click here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bob_Keppel/569203

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Car Paint Protection in Melbourne is important in recovering your automobile paint to its previous glory. It likewise shields it so you auto has fantastic appearance for several years ahead. Lots of auto hygiene items exist in the market today and all of them claim to supply protection to your auto paint. Yet the reality is that not all these products coincide, the same way not all automobiles are comparable. While every automobile could essentially get you from point X to Y, there is still a huge difference between automobile designs. The exact same puts on vehicle wax, paint protection and gloss. Every one of these products give certain amount of sparkle, however that is as comparable as they can obtain.

In this article, we teach you, whether you are a brand-new car proprietor or a not-so-new one, on the key realities regarding paint protection items that are available in the marketplace. By doing this, we believe you could make the appropriate selection when selecting the best defense for your precious auto.

Are all car paint protection products the exact same?

Of course they are not. There are numerous sorts of paint protection products and they have varying high quality and cost. Nonetheless, when buying car paint protection Melbourne folks ought to not make the mistake of basing their decision completely on the rate of that defense product. As an alternative, your choice on the kind of security you decide on ought to be notified by just what it is that you wish to achieve. A product that offers protection versus UV rays, bird going down road salt, acid rain and bug residue all rolled into one is definitely a lot more costly than a product that only gives momentary sparkle.

Another point is that various products give varying levels of luster. If you wish to buy an item that gives you a much longer beam however calls for much less maintenance, be prepared to pay a few additional bucks for it. Bulk of protectants that are offered available presently give only restricted amount of defense versus the aspects pointed out above. Many of them do not give long-term luster and need reapplication. For that reason, it is vital that you beware of exactly what you select for your auto.

Can car paint protection assistance keep your car s worth along with resale value?

The paint work and look of a vehicle will certainly help in keeping not just its worth yet also resale value. An automobile that is well preserved with a mirror finish paint, has actually an improved resale worth. It additionally conserves you cash and time now. With a great paint protection, a bunch of time is minimized cleaning it because grime and filth are conveniently gotten rid of. Also, it gained t require polishing to maintain its appearance.

What are a few of things you can expect from a great car paint protection?

Among the main benefits of car paint protection is that it includes real worth to the automobile. An appropriate paint protection application can offer your automobile extraordinary glass luster in addition to maintain its value. For these reasons, folks are typically prepared to component with $1000 simply to obtain great paint protection. When done properly, there will be much less shaving and the cleaning will certainly be much easier in instance your car obtain filthy and should be washed. This translates to much more financial savings in future.

Can your auto s paintwork be ruined by merely bird dropping?

The response is of course. Possibilities that your auto is obtaining damaged daily without you probably noticing are really actual. Many people simply think that the greatest threat to their vehicle s paintwork is UV rays. While this holds true, the harm comes after many years. Bird droppings are however much more prompt risk. They create damage in just an issue of days.

Bird droppings, as you know, are the item of a bird s intestinal system. Without going excessive into biology, droppings can have high levels of acids which can damage the paintwork.

Lots of people are stunned by the quantity of harm that could arise from a bird going down. While it could go undetected to an untrained eye, a specialist that understands exactly what he desires in auto will effortlessly view it.

Is car waxing the most effective solution?

Although car waxing is beinged aware to offer immediate sparkle, it is not the very best remedy. The reason it is called wax is considering that it is made of wax. And as you recognize, wax will certainly melt when exposed to warmth. When polished paint is used on your car, it ends up being soft when exposed to heat. This releases shine as well as makes your car a lot more susceptible to alluring pollutants. It is fantastic for show autos because these do not rest in the sunlight for an entire day daily.

By its extremely attributes, wax seldom sticks to the car surface. Wax can not adhere well to any sort of surface. Just try sticking wax to any kind of surface and you will see this. In the same way, wax ultimately cleans off of your vehicle, which will leave your car with much less or no protection in any way.

Just what are the other things that you should learn about car paint protection?

The should properly take care of your car, that is, outlining and washing, could not be overemphasised. Picking reputable auto wash outlets and detailers is not only vital however likewise protects your automobile from harm. Basically, manage the paintwork of your car similarly you would certainly take care of your skin. Anything that succeeded t damages your skin succeeded t damages your car s paintwork.

An additional essential thing is a top quality automobile hair shampoo. This reduces surface scratching that arise from friction when the vehicle is being washed. You likewise need a soft stack clean mitt or sponge and it must be of high quality. If you wish a streak-free drying out, you have no alternative but to demand a terry towel or a leather-made chamois to dry your vehicle.

Conclusion

Just like anything else, you only get exactly what you have actually paid for with car paint protection. It is essential to select the right area to clean or information your auto. This must be assisted by the period of time it requires to wash your automobile safely and correctly. Click here for extra protection of your paint in our shop.