Must admit I'm with you, wire brush and one of those green scratchy things the Mrs's uses on the pans work well for me

Rappys instructions were quite interesting I thought, but this claying stuff is not for me

I use one of these



So much easier and quicker to use than a Clay Bar, see the link for some hands on reviews.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... p?t=330602

BTW, Bilt Hamber make some of the best Detailing products on the market today.

I use Bilt Hamber Autofoam ( Snow Foam ) and in my opinion it is one the best pre washes out there, I also use Bilt Hamber Korrosol Fallout Remover, which is great for removing bonded contaminants from your paintwork before you Clay.

Andy...

Hi Andy,

I have used various snow foams & the key is ph neutral. Or you will be stripping wax.

Clay mits have been known to mark the paint.

Rappy

Really, based on what? Interested to hear why?

Thanks,

Rappy

To answer you first reply,

All Clay ( Be it Bar, Cloth or Mitt ) will cause a certain degree of micro marring, but as you know, this is easily removed by polishing, whether that be by hand, DA or Rotary.

Re Bilt Hamber,

Based on my experience, plus the reviews of the many Professional Detailers that swear by their products.

I have the following,

BH Autofoam is one of the best Pre Washes available, I use it every time I clean the Xy.

BH Korrosol Fallout Remover ( for those who don't know, a Fallout remover is a must do stage before you even take Clay anywhere near your paint, it will dissolve all the large bonded contaminants embedded in your paintwork, without it you risk dragging those contaminants all over your paint and scratching the hell out of it as you Clay )

BH Finis Wax, very durable and looks great on a Zinc coloured X-Trail

BH Regular Clay Bar, not used it yet, so will see how it goes.

Have you used any of their products?, give them a go, you might be pleasantly surprised

Andy...

Based on this



Some of my Bilt Hamber products used on the Xy's spruce up last week, and you have to agree, it does look rather good

Sorry matey, couldn't resist

Andy...

Andy, car looks great

I like Autobrite snow foam & purple rain. There really is no right or wrong answer.

I have heard great reviews about BH snow foam. It has great cleaning abilities. The only issue is, it will strip wax, as its not ph neutral.

Rappy

Yes I agree. I use Purple Rain. And no , I have not tried any BH products.

Rappy

There is a BIG difference in polish and wax. A polish cleans the surface by getting a very little layer of your lacquer. There is also a difference in how they have painted (spray) the car: with a extra clear layer (As in metallic) or just a single layer. Single layers can be polished, never polish a clear lack layer!!
If you polish, after that you can use wax. Which brand you use is on you.

Me for instance, use for over 40 years A-1 products. Which is a very good product. In my early days I used Commandant (finest) to polish a car (Not metallic), after that I cleaned it with a light fluid polish and after that I used A-1 wax. It came in fluid and in a can (creamy) Cost you a day, but the result was 150%!

Just a tip: water based lacquers are by far not as strong as the old lacquers... (nitro celluloses) Today they use only water based.

http://wackchem.com/a1-speed-wax-plus-3

Totally agree with you re the Right or Wrong answer, we all have products that we favour and Autobrite make some of the best, think I'll be giving Purple Rain a try in the near future, just been watching it perform on Youtube and it looks very effective.

Agree re BH Autofoam stripping wax, I try and use it at a lower PIR than BH recommend and it seems to do the trick and doesn't diminish the wax so much, trouble is it cleans so good it's hard to give it up.

Andy...