Detailing the XE

[TheMilko]

So today, I set out to give the XE its first detail and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share my process with you all.

Firstly, here's a few before shots of the car, which as travelled just over 500 miles this week, in the daft British summer weather.

So to minimise the risk of inflicting swirls on the new paint and remove any residuals of the delivery sealant, I sprayed the paintwork with a mild solution of APC, let the APC soak for around 5 minutes, then I applied a layer of snow foam.

This was then left to soak to loosen any grime, before being power washed off.

Then the wheels were washed with a selection of different brushes using a strong solution of APC, followed by an iron fall out remover and then they were given a quick squirt of a tar & glue remover to remove any final contamination.

After the wheels, it was time for another coat of snow foam and then all the seams, joints & door shuts were given a brush with a long haired detailing brushed.

After all this was completed, the car was power washed again and it's time to hand wash the car using the 2 bucket method.
On this occasion I was using a new cyclone grit guard, which is meant to be the latest best thing in grit guards.

New Cyclone grit guard

After the hand wash, the car was power washed off again and dried using a couple of quality drying towels.

For those who have not used or heard of the 2 bucket wash method or grit guards, here's a good example of why it's a good method to adopt.

A previous photo shows the clean rinse bucket, its the one without any suds in it. Now look at the color of the same water in the same bucket, even after the car has been snow foamed twice and power washed twice, there's still a large amount of dirt on the car prior to hand washing. This dirt now resides in the rinse bucket.

The bucket below is the wash bucket and the water is still clean and usable. So by alternating between the two buckets, you are minimizing any risk of rubbing particles of grit into the paintwork thus not inflicting those horrible swirls and scratches.

Now that the car is washed and dried, it's time to cleanse the paint work further before applying a quality wax.

After nearly 10 years of detailing as an hobby, this last year I have found a range of products that gives me the visual rewards and paintwork finish, that I've always craved.

Whilst the Swissvax range of products is dearer than most other car products, the ease of application, removal and the final finish is well worth it. Plus a little product goes a long way.

So today's choice of products are -
Swissvax cleaner fluid regular - to prepare the paintwork for the wax.
Swissvax Shield wax - to seal in that fresh contamination free paintwork.
Swissvax Autobahn wax - to seal the alloys.

The cleaner fluid is applied by hand using a microfiber applicator, in a forwards and backwards action.

Here's the roof with a coat of cleaner fluid applied.

After applying to a panel at a time, the cleaner fluid is buffed off again by hand to reveal the finishes in the below photos.

Now just as I was buffing off the final panel, the blinking sky's opened and I never got the chance to apply a coat of wax.

That's one of the major downsides to being an hobbyist and not having a workshop or double garage.

Ho well, there's always another weekend.