RE: Newbie to Z3's and cleaning properly

[woodsta888]

Dear all,

I recently purchased a 99 2.0 Z3 for my better half. We were looking for something cheap to run and after looking and hating everything I asked what she wanted and she said a Z3 as she always wanted one.

Last weekend I washed and polished it with autoglym products and I overheard someone at the gym on about claying. he same person is lending me a full detailing kit by Maguiers.

Do I need to use a detergent that will take the polish off the paint that I applied last weekend to get the benefit of the clay removing the dirt from the actual paint underneath? Or do I just wash it with the shampoo meant to preserve finishes and clay the polish.

If I need to remove the polish can someone recommend a dedicated shampoo please.

Great forum by the way, I gleaned lots of knowledge about buying a Z3 from here leading to an informed and v happy purchase. My GF has told her freinds that she thinks I love the car more than her since we bought it!

Thanks in advance

[Justin Time]

Do I need to use a detergent that will take the polish off the paint that I applied last weekend to get the benefit of the clay removing the dirt from the actual paint underneath? Or do I just wash it with the shampoo meant to preserve finishes and clay the polish.

Claying will remove any surface contaminants including polish so just wash then clay, polish and wax in that order. If you use a durable wax such as Collinite 476 or Meguiars 3 stage wax you'll find you won't have to re-clay or polish the paintwork for several months, and you can use a lightly concentrated shampoo/water mix to remove grime that builds up on the wax without removing the wax layer itself.

Welcome to the forum.

[Jonttt]

I would wash with a very diluted "fariy liquid" to strip the wax (this is the only time you should ever use a household detergent on car as it contains soooo much salt ), clay and then rewax (you don't need to polish unless you want/need to remove some swirls so for a first go I would skip this step).

You need to use a lubricant with the clay so make sure you get that as well

[woodsta888]

Thanks for the tips people. As I thought Jonttt, I need to remove the Autoglym SRP first otherwise my clay will get full of the poish/wax before I got down to the contaminants.

I have read many websites and all guides seem to assume there is no wax or polish on already.

I think I'll wash it with a light solution of fairly liquid to remove the wax and rinse thoroughly, then wash it with a decent maquiers cleaner to prepare the surface and remove any residue, clay it, polish out any imperfections then apply a protective layer of wax.

I've been givven a bag full of meguiers car detailing stuff. Though the car shampoo seems to prtotect layers of wax etc, hence my question.