How to Protect a new car

[Freemo]

Hi All, In the next few days I will be taking delivery of my first ever brand new car. (ok at 37 this is a bit sad but what the heck. Over excited is not the word)

Never having a new car before I want to keep it pristine from the very start and was wondering if I needed to apply anything to it to help protect the paint. My old cars were always given a bucket of water and on the odd occasion a dose or turtle wax and that's about the limit of my knowledge.

I have been reading a number of post on here about detailing/correct way to wash etc but the shear number of product out there is not only confusing but a little scary. I think I have my head around the snow foam/pre-wash/shampoo issue thanks to Clean your Rides posts but I am completely clueless when it comes to waxes, sealants, polishes etc. For a start whats the difference - am I supposed to apply one then the other or do they all do the same job. I really don't want to screw up the paint by doing something wrong. And the more posts I read the more confused I get.

Any recommendations on products would be gratefully received,

I have gone for the Dstyle in belle-ile blue with the Black roof if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance

[lfcrule1972]

Andy at CYR will be able to give you some guidance no doubt and can also recommend great products, he's in most days I think, failing that there will be others with almost as much knowledge who can offer some interim advice

Congrats on the new car, I was 39 when I purchased my first brand new car....

[WTF]

Welcome

You'll learn lots from posts and information from others on here. I've come a long way since my one bucket, sponge and washing up liquid days!

I'd say key things to have:

Noodle/wool mit - no orange sponges here
A good shampoo - Megs Gold class is really nice
A good microfibre drying towel
From here its up to you how intense you want your cleaning to be. But all of the above you can pick up from Halfords. And there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of the 3 for 2 offer that always seems to be on! Its sometimes nice to just go and pick things up and take a look at what you are buying rather than doing online.

[mk2k41]

Welcome to the club . http://www.ds3club.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9594 this thread is a good place to do some research . I started it when I was in exactly the same position as you, and now it's over a year later and I'm hooked on car cleaning and have far too much stuff and money invested in it!

[mjogreen]

Imo most of the cleaning stuff Halfords sells is good and on 3 for 2. Autoglym is probably your best shout for a big variety of products and all self explanatory

Waxes you only apply maybe once every 6 months at most. I usually Polish my car every couple of weeks using SRP (doesn't take any paint off so can be used more often). Using decent sealants as far a I'm aware they should last for ages. Like a few years. Carbon collective Sealants come well recommended but I've never used them myself.

[L22]

freemo, I myself have just purchased the blue with the black roof, I personally use Autoglym super resin polish followed by Soft99 fusso and Authentic wax, there is other procedures like fallout remover , claying etc etc etc and the more you read whats available the lighter your wallet will become, have a look throught this forum,
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?

[Freemo]

Thanks for the advice. My main worry is that i work for a plaster company and if it rains are there is fog the airborne particles of plaster get trapped in the water and fall on the cars leaving a horrible pinkish film. I really want to try to protect the paint as much as possible from this.

[Clean Your Ride]

I have been fortunate to have had a lot of brand new cars from new Freemo and I always follow the same regime.
Firstly you need to get rid of the rubbish that the dealers put on and get your own stuff on there.
As L22 says, Soft99 Fusso followed by Authentic Premium wax is a good combo. Fusso is a sealant so is ideally suited to sit on bare paint. As it is new paint, you won't need SRP just yet so can go straight on with a sealant.
I have just used a new combo to me on my recently new car of Sonax Polymer NetShield sealant topped with ODK Waxes Glamour followed by a QD.