Yo, Forty... I was just looking through your gallery... damn. How'd you get that thing so friggen shinny? Any tips/tricks/products you want to share?

 

Sure man! And THANKS!!! Its soooo good to know the hours I dump into working on that car don't go un-noticed. And its even cooler that you guys pick up on it, cause well, we tuners just have a higher standard of appearance.. but anywho...

Heres what you'll need

Meguire's Gold Class Car Shampoo (or something like it, doesnt have to be anything too fancy)
Big Sponge
Big Microfiber Drying Cloth (picked up mine for 6 bucks at Autozone)
2 CLEAN regular sized Microfiber rags/towels (you can usually get these in like 5-10 packs for a few bucks)
Bottle of "Royal Blue" (Now, this stuff is sort of hard to find. I have their phone number at home and will post that later. I'm pretty sure thats the only way you can get it is to call and order it. Or find some type of trade show which is how i got mine)
1 Bucket
and 1-4 hours of time depending on just how shiney you want it Usually takes me 2-3 hours, or before track night or a meet, 4+.

Fill the bucket with water and shampoo


First, i start out by spraying the entire car with water, then grab the sponge and start scrubbing the car in sections. I like to do the top first, and just kinda work my way down. Hood and front fenders, then trunk and rear quarters, you get the idea. After you have wet, scrubbed, and rinsed a section, dry it with the big microfiber cloth. Dont worry about getting water spots on the parts you've already cleaned and dried, as we will deal with those in a little while. Ok, once you have washed, scrubbed, rinsed, and dried the entire car, you're ready for the tedious part.

Royal Blue Defined - Have you ever seen those infomercials where they scratch the **** out of a hood with a key or whatever, then spray on the magic substance and it takes the scratches away? Well this is one of those products. I was very skeptical, untill the guy doing the demo took a Penny that i had in my pocket, and after applying a little dab of royal blue, and minimal effort, the took off 60 years of oxidation. I was sold. Ok, now you have the background on royal blue.

Now, DO NOT DO THIS ON REALLY HOT SUNNY DAYS, if you have to, try to find a garage or something, this stuff dries pretty quick and is a pain to work with once it does. Anyway, take your two regular sized microfiber clothes, and use one to apply the royal blue, and one to take it off. I call this the "wax on, wax off" technique. Apply the royal blue to the rag first, do not apply directly to the car, it will leave visible lines. Put some Royal Blue on the rag, and spread in a circular motion over sections of the car. It will make your paint look really, REALLY dull as you put this stuff on. Try to work it in a little, so that it gets into all the lil cracks, chips, and scratches. Then, once you have the whole section covered, take the other rag and whipe the stuff off, also in a circular motion. The Royal Blue will fill in scratches, make those nasty circles in your paint virtually dissappear, and add a very deep look to your paint. Basically, this is my secret, Royal Blue. After you've gone over the entire car, section by section, making sure you clean up the extra left behind in door cracks, or under the spoiler, etc, you will be left with a shine like no other.

For Glass i use "Inivisible Glass."
Trim - Back to Black (not that good, trying to find something better)
Wheels - Standard Armor All Wheel Cleaner
Tires - "Tire Wet" I believe Black Magic makes it Its the Aerosol can with three settings (High, Med., & Low profile)
Interior - Armor All Protectant Wipes


And thats it! Good luck, and if you have any questions let me know!

Also, i will add the Royal Blue phone number as soon as possible.

 

thats why i voted for him in ROTM

forty...you should PM a DIY on this to Amanda

 

Yeah, after reading that, I'm thinking of the doing the same thing.

 

Ya know, the thought crossed my mind, but i know there are a lot of different techniques that people use. Different strokes different folks ya know? But, i think if i generalize it, instead of using specific product names it might work. I'll pm Amanda and let her take a look and see what she thinks.


And thanks for the nomination bro!

 

Cool, thanks for the write-up.


Forty is the forum shiny guru!

 

No problem




DIY Is now up!

 

really well written. im gena try and get my hands on that Royal blue. is there a website or something for it?

thanks

 

unfortunately no, at least not last time i checked. It said they had one on the bottle but every time i tried it, it was not found. I will post the phone number tomorrow tho. Better yet, would anyone be interested in a group buy? We can probly save a crap load of money that way. I'll give them a call and see if its even an option, and if it is, i'll let you all know tomorrow. In the meantime, think it over

 

I'm in for a group buy. What do you do about wax? Strip it off, do that then re apply?