Before

Green Algae 3rd Brake Light

Ford Focus Green Algae Contamination

Ford Focus Green Algae Roof Drains

During Cleaning

Ford Focus Cleaning 3rd Brake Light for Green Algae

Ford Focus Cleaning Roof Drain For Green Algae

After

Ford Focus Window Rubber Cleaned

Ford Focus 3RD Brake Light Cleaned

Auto Glym Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner

Auto Glym Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner

To me car valeting is just that extra slight step from washing your car and giving a hoover inside, mainly giving your car that clean and tidy look taking around maybe 2 hours. Car Detailing can be a lengthy process and can take up to one week to complete, the length of time it takes to complete will vary from the condition on your car and how you want it to look when the detail is complete.

Personally I always think you can judge how well a car is been looked after by how clean the owner gets the alloy wheels. If the inner rims are spotless then the car owner has really taken the effort to do the best job they can.

Wheel Cleaning
The best way to clean your alloys is to take 1 alloy at a time completely of the car, as this makes the cleaning process so much easier for access and you’re highly unlikely to miss any areas. Firstly give them a quick rinse off to remove the worst of the dirt and then decide your best route for cleaning.
If they are new then a quick wash with a dedicated alloy wheel brush and using a non acidic based wheel cleaner will more than likely suffice, don’t forget an alloy wheel sealent such as Chemical Guys Wheel Guard or Poorboys Wheel Sealant
If they haven’t been cleaned properly in months or even years then you will probably find that a non acidic based cleaner might not cut through years of brake dust, so you will want to use a acid based alloy wheel cleaner such as Meguiar’s Wheel Brightener diluted to 4:1.
I’d give the wheels a good spray and then agitate with a brush leave to dwell for a few minutes and then rinse off, it might take 2 attempts but your alloy wheels will look ten times better. Your next step is to seal them to aid future cleaning and this should also help protect them against corrosion and pitting.

Body Wash
Firstly rinse the majority of the dirt off if you have a pressure washer then invest in a snow foam lance and some snow foam, on of the cheapest place I have found is cleanyourcar.co.uk The snow foam should be left on your car for around 4/5 minutes so help remove small contaminants. Once you have rinsed all the snow foam off fully, you can proceed to the two bucket wash method starting on the roof and working down don’t be afraid to use more than one bucket of warm water ands shampoo or even two mitts one for the top half and one for the lower half of your car.

Claying / Claybar’s
Just because you’ve washed your car it doesn’t mean that it’s fully clean a clay bar process will remove bonded contaminants from the paintwork.
If after washing your body work still feels rough in areas this is due to dirt been bonded to the paintwork and claying will remove this and leave the panel with a very smooth finish. And I would again recommend claying your entire car. 

Paintwork Correction.
Paintwork correction is done by using a machine polisher and usually fixes common paintwork issues such as oxidisation (paint fading), swirl marks and random deep scratches this is normally best left to a professional detailer as paintwork and be made worse as quickly as it can be made better.

Waxing
This is the final step, Carnauba waxes are really durable but its not always the cast that most expensive is best some  Carnauba waxes have come from different industry’s that have more harsh environments and have been slightly altered so they can be used on car paintwork.
Waxing is a LSP (Last Stage Protection) and can be layered so you can put more than one coat on which will enhance the depth and gloss. If you’re going to use more than one coat then you should buff your first coat off and then leave the car for about 1 hour before applying another coat.

There is so much more to car detailing over a straight car valet, alot of the time areas just gets missed on a valet.

The last thing that you would want to do on your route to getting the perfect finish, or maintaining the new paint work on your car, is to use one bucket – trust me!
In bucket one you have your usual car shampoo and warm water and in bucket two you have ordinary warm water. Firstly you’re going to dip your wash mitt in bucket one and then proceed to start washing down the body work on your car. Now your wash mitt is dirty and you want to rinse it off so this is where bucket two comes in. Since its normal water you have a chance you wash your mitt off and if you have a grit guard in the bottom you can rub your mitt against it to remove grit that might be embedded deeper into the wash mitt. The main reason for the two bucket wash method is so that bucket two becomes full of grit and dirt and bucket one is kept clean and grit free minimizing swirls and scratching.
Now that is done you’re free to put your wash mitt back in to bucket one and wash down the bodywork again and keep repeating the process until your car is clean.
You haven’t mentioned a sponge and keep going on about wash mitts.
Due to the natural flat surface of your sponge as soon as it picks up grit or anything that is likely to mark your paint work there is nowhere for it to go so it just sits on the surface of the sponge and happily and unbeknown to you starts to mark your paint work.
Wash mitts have been developed to aid a better washing technique and reduce swirl marks. When you run your fingers through a lamb’s wool wash mitt your fingers disappear due to the deep pile so the same in theory happens to the grit and dirt particles.
Another thing that you can always bear in mind the more pressure you apply when washing the car the more risk you have of inflicting swirls or scratches.
Since the bumpers and lower half of the car will always be more dirty than the roof and top half of your car, it’s also an idea to have 2 different wash mitts one for lower panels and bumpers and then another for roofs and top half’s of panels
While this doesn’t guarantee you won’t get any swirl marks or scratches it does reduce the risk of any damage to paint work. When using a wash mitt with the two bucket wash method the more you wash your mitt in bucket two the more dirt you will remove.