VIDEO OF OCTANE IN THE BOTTLE - UNDILUTED
it's got quite a head on it and I will put it up against Meguiars UQD very soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz6xV4awLRg

Now to get back to tips as this thread is for

If you have a car that you drive around everyday (not your best one) and you want to give it a quick and effective wash at the coin op (pro wash, car lovers etc)

It must have clearcoat paint on it

Select Pre soak and soak one side of the car with it
Then select hot soap (or soap if yours don't have hot water) and the two will react and cause a snow foaming effect which means double the cleaning power and tonnes of suds
Spend a minute with the soap going all over that side

Follow same procedure on the other side
Finish up with a rinse of the whole car

Towel dry or drive off and it's all done in 5 to 8 minutes

DO NOT USE PRE SOAK ON SINGLE STAGE NON CLEARCOATED PAINT FINISHES (rub cotton cloth or foam pad and some polish on a section of your car to test if it does or not)
If any colour ends up on the cloth or pad, it is single stage and pre soak will strip the shine and colour right off

Owners of EA to EL Falcons - keep the pre soak away from those black plastic side mirror backings. Stains them badly

Right it's time to get back to basics, this thread is for detailing tips so this is an update on the others

Step 1 - Wash car

Best to go to PRO WASH coin op car wash
Use the hot soap option (for dirty cars) or the pre soak (for filthy cars) and spray the dry car with soap
This provides more solution and lubrication than water so scratching/swirling is minimised

When using their sprayer, spray the water/soap along the paint, not straight at it
You will use less soap/water and not put impact marring in the paint which can happen over time

Once you have done the pre soak and then the hot soap, do a high pressure rinse quickly and finish with a spot free rinse (this is reverse osmosis pure water)

Finish off with a waffle weave towel dry (blot dry for dark cars) as it cuts down chances of swirls and wiping dry for light coloured cars

http://www.prowash.com.au/
Look for locations near you. Better safer cleaning products, excellent pricing and time

Step 2 - Clay
Why clay - remove all foreign matter, iron filings from foundries, bug crap, brake dust and exhaust gases from the paint which washing doesn't remove

Simple application - 50/50 water and soap in a spray bottle as lubricant or use Quick detail spray
Spray one panel, wet the clay and use left and right and up and down motions with no pressure (kneading on occasion) and then remove residue and water with a towel

Do one panel at a time
Approx time needed 30 to 70 mins

Step 3 - Pre polishing preparation
Toughseal step 1 is the best non abrasive pre polishing agent
It will clean all sediment and foreign matter from the paint's pores, remove oxidation, restore lost lustre and smoothness

All old wax and sealant coatings will be removed with this product and make your polishing work easier on your hands

By hand - apply a 3 inch line of product to a foam pad and work like a typical polish. Just make sure to spend a couple minutes to let it do it's work

By machine - any colour foam buffing pad at 900 to 1500 rpm. Use some quick detail spray with it so that it spreads and works for longer

Step 3A - Prepsol. If using a machine polisher, apply prepsol to the paint to remove the toughseal residues as they can make it hard for a machine polisher and the polish your using next to glide over the paint and work properly

Ok thats it for today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_i1I2cFfJ8

hey matt i have a bit of a dilemma you may be able to help me out with...

i bought a $40 Repco orbital polisher. Absolute heap of s**t... im taking it back tomorrow and getting my money back...

reason? i used it on my car with Meguiars Deep Crystal polish. does an absolute top job when applied by hand.

i used this el cheapo polisher today, it applied nicely, but the cheap buffing cover it came with refused to remove any polish residue, instead it kind of "fused" the residue with my paint

now i cant get it off, even with high pressure water and me rubbing it with my hand as hard as i can.

is there an easy way i can get it off?

There is really nothing wrong with those buffers except that the pads they give you are rubbish
Too course

You can keep it if you wish and purchase a couple of bonnets from me which are what the pro's at permagard use on boats and cars every day around the nation

Prepsol could be a help. That first followed with that polish by hand or even a stronger one

hmm what kind of bonnets are they? if theyre not too expensive i'll grab a couple.

this orbital polisher has only a 120W motor so its by no means powerful.

your right it is not, the idea of this orbital is to spread waxes, sealants and non abrasive polishes, glazes and quick detailing spray such as Driven's Quick Spray

The bonnets are $15 dollars each and are machine washable and both sides can be used

Thanks Matt for fitting me in on Friday and the application of the trim dream looks fantastic. People who have seen it can not believe they have not been painted. Still to commence work on preparation and polishing of the car ans hwen finished will post some pics and hopefully I will get to your workshop day so owners can truly see the results of your inqusitive and inventive mind.

For those of you with BF, BA Trim Dream is a great product that really does enahnce the visual appeal of the car particulalrly darker coloured vehicles. Mine is a Harvest Green BA XR6 and I have only had one application with another to follow. For those with bleishes on paint such as I did courtesy of dodgy finish from repairer Matt applied Trim Dream to the paint in exactly the same process for the trims and the results truly astounded me.

So matt thanks again mate and I will be in touch again soon.

For those of you who live in SA give Matt a go and support him his products are truly revolutionary.....I now think Meguiars means mediocre in a language somewhere else on earth!

Thankyou coombesy
My pleasure, I cannot wait for two more applications of step 3 to go on and get the trims as good as my fathers BF XR6 turbo

That's had three and as you know it looks mad

Trim dream better get patent approval cause otherwise I'm stuck to applying it professionally which is not a bad thing but I want everyone in Australia who has a late model car to use and love this stuff

Revolutionary is correct.
Trim Dream V5.0 has been sidelined due to a no show of my parcel of new ingredient

Anyway, cheers for the business, I'll really look after your car care needs

As are listed on my brand new business cards, my mobile number is my 24hr/7 day technical advice, customer service, product query and order line

call me anytime.
I'm here for you all and look forward to seeing Dream Machines on the sponsors list of this site in next week or two

Matt, where is your workshop located? I might try and drop in sometime and see what you can do for my car.

Hey Alfy, where did you get the idea for your sigline?

Mike

lol i was wondering for ages what you were meaning, then i read yours. i actually didnt get the idea from you lol, one of my mates said it and i thought it was cool lol.

ah well i'll remove it for ya lol

Nah, no worries mate, put it back up. We're all part of the brotherhood!

Mike

Hey Aurora
Im soon to have a convertable and am worried about keeping the vinyl roof in great shape. I work out at the airport so it will be getting nasties on it from teh jets flying overhead.
Do you have any products to keep the vinly protected from the elements.

Cheers in advance!

Good day ReGiE

Vinyl roofs will benefit from Carlack 68 Plastic care and Renovo Vinyl Ultra Proofer

Place to get carlack 68 is extrashine.com.au
Unfortunately no one in Australia sells Renovo, you will have to order from O/S

Though play with Carlack 68 for a while and hopefully that will look after it
I use it alot and is silicone free

im assuming that carlack is for the plastic window? i wont have to worry about that. And ill look into the Renovo for the vinyl. thanks a lot mate

no, carlack 68 does vinyl, plastic, rubber and leather