Lets talk a little about Detailing

[Alexlind123]

What does your full detailing routine involve, whether you do it yourself or have someone else do it? Give specifics on interior, exterior, and the products that you use.

I will post my "routine" in a bit.

[ThoreauHD]

I wish I had a routine. I can't find a detailer that covers all the bases. Steam clean carpets, leather conditioning, perhaps engine exterior clean, some of the things I dream about but haven't found yet.

[CharlesAFerg]

Given the topic, what is best to get rid of those damn rock chips and wax the paint? Mothers?

[Alexlind123]

Given the topic, what is best to get rid of those damn rock chips and wax the paint? Mothers?

You can get rid of the rock chips very well with the BMW touchup paint. It comes with a clearcoat so you can get it nearly perfect. I use Meguiars wax.

[GoldenOne]

What does your full detailing routine involve, whether you do it yourself or have someone else do it? Give specifics on interior, exterior, and the products that you use.

I will post my "routine" in a bit.

My "routine" for a full luxurious cleaning is happens about every 3-5 months. In between, I just do the basic handwash and squeege dry, vacuum interior.
Exterior:
1) Do the basic handwash (with a little extra love )
2) If needed, claybar
3a) Pre-wax cleaner
3b) Sealer and Glaze
3c) Wax

Interior:
1) Vacuum pretty much everything
2) Steam clean floor mats and carpet, including trunk.
3) Wipe down plastic interior pieces
4) Leather cleaner on respective pieces
5) Armor-all on plastic pieces

I just switched over to Mothers products from Meguiars and not a bad transition so far, impressive results. I do all the work myself because I like to save money

[ThoreauHD]

Bavarian Autosport has the exact matching touchup paint for 20 bucks. The color is listed on top of your strut mount under the hood. It's right up top on a sticky. Can't miss it.

[Jay 535i]

Bavarian Autosport has the exact matching touchup paint for 20 bucks. The color is listed on top of your strut mount under the hood. It's right up top on a sticky. Can't miss it.

It's in German. If you didn't know that, you might not find it

[angrypancake]

what do you use to steam clean? (duh, a steam cleaner, but still)

for detailing the exterior, i use the following, as found HERE in this thread

• Car Wash- Mothers California Gold wash
• Viking wash mitts.
• Good microfiber towels, and some regular 100% cotton towels
• Clay - Mothers or Clay Magic.
• polishing compound- turtle wax
• wax- turtle wax hard shell.
• Quick Detailer- Z6 for for Zaino details, i used meguiars

for my interior... i just yanked out my seats and center console today to give everything a hell of a cleaning (read: project coming up, heh heh heh)
products.... uhhhh vacuum, a lot of time?

[Alexlind123]

I took out my front passenger seat in order to diagnose (and hopefully fix, i havent plugged it in to try it yet) a problem with one of the movement functions. To say the least, it was NASTY under where the passenger seat was. It looked like someone had spilled a drink over the edge of the console and let it pour down and soak into the carpet, and that wasnt all. My dad was at home depot today, and i called him to ask him to pick up one of those Bisell carpet cleaning machines since i had my seat out. Lemme tell you, it works GREAT. I managed to get the horizontal surfaces and the side of the console before i noticed raindrops hitting my head through the open sunroof I cant wait to do the other side, if its raining tomorrow i will just do it in the garage although sunny weather is best for this sort of thing.


My normal routine consists of:

INTERIOR
1) removing all items that arent held down (cell phone/charger, old homework assignments, books, coat, etc.)
2) wiping down the seats and other hard surfaces with a damp cloth (i need to find an interior cleaning product for this now that i have been warned away from armorall
3) (only did this once so far) Use meguiars leather cleaner/ conditioner on the seats to bring out their youthful suppleness and luster.
4) remove floormats and clean thoroughly (i only have one floormat as it is now :'( )
5) vacuum all carpeted surfaces
6) Use Bissell cleaner on carpet if needed (in progress of the first time)
7) use a little brush to clean the dust from all the vents

EXTERIOR

1) hand wash and dry
2) Use meguiars quick detailer spray to freshen the wax between re-waxes
3) Wax as needed with meguiars liguid gold wax

Future exterior plans:

1) Use black-again or similar product on black trim as needed
2) Buy a clay bar and do that whole thing

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

on the dash a call out my three sons.

wash rims with simple green and tooth brush

hand wash/shampoo car with mitts

hand dry

compound any spots

hand wax with carnuba

armour all all plastic and rubber in, out and under the hood.

wipe down leather and condition

clean windows

vacuum "inside the trunk too you little buggars"

spray tires with stuff

Whew...I am tired...good job kids.