Here is my hopeful detailing routine, please tell me what you think and reply to my question at the end.

1. Wash car completely with Dawn soap (stolen from mom)
2. Clay the car with Mother's Clay Bar ($16.95 from http://store.yahoo.com/autogeek/megovclay.html )
3. Wash the car again with Turtle Wax car wash ($4 for a gallon jug at Wal-Mart and it is actually quite good)
4. Apply 3M SMR (swirl mark remover) to get rid of the relatively bad swirl marks on the hood ($11.75 from http://store.yahoo.com/autogeek/3mperswirmar.html )
5. Apply Klasse AIO (All-in-one)
6. Apply Klasse SG (Sealant Glaze) ($32.92 when purchased in conjunction with AIO through http://www.properautocare.com/klasconkit.html )
Detailers Pride Paint Sealant is not yet ruled out as a possible option for this step.
7. Take a nice long break and then wash car again with Turtle Wax car wash.
8. Apply S100 carnuba paste wax over the SG until my arm falls off. ($14.95 from http://store.yahoo.com/autogeek/s1capawax.html )
9. Apply Forever Black Trim Kit ($12.79 from http://www.properautocare.com/fb-1k.html )
10. Clean my ugly bottle caps with lots of elbow grease, some Simple Green, and a wheel brush.
11. Wash car one last time.
12. Clean windows from outside. This is quite easy if you have a $.99 squigge (sp?) from Wal-Mart or you steal one from a gas station.

Total: $93.36 without shipping, quik detailer, applicator pads, cotton or mf towels. I'm sure you can find these products for cheaper and probably come out for around $80 but I whipped this up pretty quick.

I'm not at all familiar with microfiber towels so does anyone know where I can get them for the cheapest and if they are re-usable. I would hate to spend $6/towel and have to throw away like 4 of them.

My only previous detailing experience came when using the 3-step Meguiar system which I was very unhappy with. So what do you guys think about this one?

Your process looks pretty good other than the fact that SMR won't really remove deep swirls... it'll just hide them. I'd recommend Meguiar's DACP (dual action cleaner polish) for swirl removal. Other than that, go nuts, take your time, and have fun :D

As far as microfiber go, I've had great experiences with the pakshak towels. get them at www.pakshak.com, and yes they are very reusable, just toss them in the washing machine like any towel and wash them (but make sure you don't wash MF with any other type of fabric).

The one thing that kinda bothers me is that I don't see any mention of using a PC (Porter Cable Random Orbital Polisher).

Although you can remove swirls by hand, it's not likely for a non professional detailer to do so...I personally only know of two detailers who can remove swirls by hand, and they've been in the business for over 10 years. One other person that I know have has removed swirls from their car by hand, but it took him over 6 months to do so, working a panel at a time. If you don't have a PC or do not have plans for getting one, I'd ditch the SMR step. You're just not going to be able to use the product effectively.

Another observation would be that if you intend to layer DPPS or SG, you can't apply S100 or any other type of carnuba product because synthetic sealants will not bond to carnuba layers. I'd also recommend that you not use Turtle Wax Car wash for this reason - they claim that it has carnuba in it...probally not much, but why take the chance.

Also, clean your wheels before you polish/wax the car. Simple green will remove waxes. Unless you plan on taking the wheels off the car, using simple green with them on the car is going to strip the wax/polish around the wheel wells - either during the spraying or the rinsing phase.

Clean the dirtiest part of the car first. ie. wheels, wheel well, engine bay, etc.

Don't forget to detail the interior.

Yes, this will all be done by hand as I don't have it in my budget to buy a PC Orbital Polsiher as of right now.

If you don't have a PC and you were unhappy with the results of Meg's 3 step consumer product, I'd recommend you skip both the clay and SMR. You don't have a PC, so removing microscratches and swirls is not going to be an easy no-brainer. SMR and clay will probally cause both of those, especially in the hands of someone who hasn't worked with it before.

I've found that Meg's 3 step (my second set of product many years ago) did a decent job. It didn't cause additional swirls/scratches, and did an adequate job of protecting the car. Appearance wise, it was as better than most "spray" waxes, but it's not as good as Klasse, P21S, Zaino, etc. Why weren't you happy with Megs?

I guess I got exactly what I paid for with the Meg's. The Paint Cleaner claimed to remove slight swirl marks and oxidation from the car. However, it did nothing in the sort of removing swirl marks and covered up the oxidation for about a day (the oxidation isn't bad, just a little on the hood as you would expect with an 11 year old car). The polish lasted about 4 days, but from reading other posts on this forum any brand of polish will only last for up to a week. The carnuba wax beaded water AMAZINGLY well, but didn't produce the "wet and vibrant" look it had promised. I still have lots of little scratches on the door and a few really tiny paint chips on the hood which the 3-step system seemed to bring out. I suppose I will use an Autosharp pen and Scratch-X on the next detail.

*Edit*: Also, I saw a little cheap "polisher" at Wal-Mart for $20, but I assumed that it would swirl my car worse than it already is. Has anyone used one of these?

stop wasting money on cheap temporary fixes. save some cash and buy a PC... :dunno

PC is good but any orbital buffer will inmprove things dramatically. Make sure you use the proper pad for the amount of cutting you wish to accomplish. Cloth=least, foam=medium, wool=most. wool with 3M fine cut rubbing compound is a good place to start. If the oxidation isn't gone use medium cut rubbing compund w/a wool pad.

Originally posted by ///M3ryder NY
stop wasting money on cheap temporary fixes. save some cash and buy a PC... :dunno

But that is 5-6 tanks of gas!!!

Get Zymol products, these things are AWSOME!!!!!!

Get some of this if you can:) :http://www.zymol.com/vintage2.htm


just kidding, i use Zymol and I really like it!