Mark's Car Show Tips
Prep tip for Car Show
Getting ready for this year’s show season can be hectic. I start with looking for shows that I want to go to for the season. Google is your best friend on this front; I start by searching for local shows in my city. I then start looking at local clubs, sometimes the local clubs can have more information than Google can find by searching “local city car shows” replace “local city’ with your town or city. If you have a gmail account, you have access to an online calendar that you can set up all the events you are going to for the season. Once you have the calendar setup with your events, you now have time frames that you can schedule time to prepare your car, send in registrations, and plan for what to take to the show like food, sun screen, water, and so on.
Car prep tips for Car Shows: Season Start
Want to start the season off right? I start by getting my car ready since my car sits in the garage for the winter under car covers. Even though my car is under covers, it does not mean that it stayed clean over the winter since we have high winds and my garage is not sealed tight, dirt and dust still gets under the cover. Once I get the car uncovered and outside, I wash the car, but I do what all car wax manufactures tell you not to do. I wash my car with “Dish Soap”, yes that’s not a typo. Using dish soap for the first wash of the season will strip off all of what you did last year; all the times you waxed, quick detailed, or used a wash and wax. The reason I do this is that I use a clay bar kit to get all the contaminants from last season off the paint. The clay bar kit usually comes with the bars and some kind of lubricant like quick detailer; this is almost like wet sanding and does leave your paint finish feeling smooth to the touch. Be sure to use clean microfiber cloths; you are working on the clear coat layer of the car and you really don’t want something in your cloths scratching your clear coat. Now that I am done with the first wash and clay bar, I move on to my 3 day before car show prep work. I will post the 3 day prep in what I do each day to get my car shining like below.
Car prep tips for Car Shows: Day 1
If this is not my first show of the season, I start off by washing the car with a good wash and wax and microfiber mitt, making sure to get all the nooks and crannies like in the wheel wells, the underneath spoiler, and under the side skirts. I can’t stress this enough, rinse the mitt often, nothing like taking sand or rocks across the whole car. I fully dry the car with a “clean” soft towel or microfiber towel. Clean cloths and towel are key to a great end result, using the same drying towel that you used last year and have not washed, is just putting dirt back on what you have just washed. Once dry, I start with a cleaning wax, since I have a black car I use a black color wax that not only cleans but also can hide a lot of the smaller scratches that I have in the clear coat. I do this waxing by hand and not with a buffer or orbital. Waxing by hand on this first waxing will get you up and personal with your car so that you can see whatever imperfections, scratches, or dings that you might want to deal with before going any further with the wax job. After applying the wax to the whole car I usually wait about 10 minutes before buffing out. One item I use to buff out special sections of the car like near the rubber trim around the windshield is a plastic squeegee that you would use with applying vinyl graphics. I wrap the squeegee with a microfiber cloth to get into those tight areas that you just can’t get into. Some detail shops will use a plastic razor blade to get into these tight areas. I go around the car two or three times to make sure that I buffed all the applied wax and checking all the areas that would be hard to get a towel into. Once all of this is done I wait about 12 - 24 hours to move on to the Day 2 process.
Car prep tips for Car Shows: Day 2
After letting the day one wax cure for 12 – 24 hours, I start this day off by making sure the car is free of dust. I go over the car with either a California duster or a Swiffer. Now that the car is free of dust I can start my next coat of wax. Again I don’t use any machines on this waxing since I use Carnauba wax and it’s in a can and not in a bottle. After I have applied the
wax to the whole car I wait about 10 minutes before buffing the applied wax. Again I wrap the squeegee with a microfiber cloth to get into those tight areas. After going around the car a couple of time making sure that I buffed all the wax off and getting those tight spots, I work on the wheel wells. Since my wheel wells are plastic, I use an interior spray cleaner to get the last bit of grim off from the wash. I then go back over the wheel wells with a spray quick detailer, using two different microfiber towels. The first towel is to get the bulk of the quick detailer off and the second clean towel to buff out the detailer. I also do the same with the door jambs, trunk, and under the hood, don’t worry too much about getting the quick detailer on the fresh wax, it buffs out and does not affect the carnauba wax. Once I am done with all this I wait another 12 – 24 hours to move on to the Day 3 Prep.
Car prep tips for Car Shows: Day 3
Again, after letting the day two wax cure for 12 – 24 hours, again I start this day off by making sure the car is free of dust as I did in the Day two process. The interior is my main focus on this day, wiping down the dash, door panels, door sills, and seats with Quick Interior Detailer Cleaner. Once all those items have been wiped down with the cleaner, I wipe them down with Supreme Shine High Gloss Protectant. The seats in my car are leather and I use Rich Leather Cleaner Conditioner to get the shine on the seats. Then I move to the windows using a good glass cleaner and these microfiber towels for windows that I found at Advanced Auto Parts. I have heard all the tricks to windows like newspaper, paper towels, or even hospital dress towels, but I have to say these towels I found at Advanced do the job better than any of those old tricks. Last item on the interior is to vacuum all the carpeted areas and don’t forget the trunk, some show judges (this is more for judged competition shows where your car will be gone over by two or three judges) will ask you to open your trunk in the case of a tie breaker or the judge wants to see what’s in the trunk. Once I have the interior done I start on my tires and wheels; for my tires I use an application sponge and spray Hot Shine Tire Spray into the sponge applicator, I do this away from the car so that I don’t get overspray on the body. Don’t worry too much if you do get some overspray on the body of the car, it will wipe off and wont ruin the two days of waxing you have done already. The wheels, I do my chrome tip but I don’t use the metal polish unless I see some spots that need polish. Now it’s time for the last waxing, this time I use an orbital with a microfiber pad to apply the Tech Wax 2.0. The orbital will speed the last waxing up considerably compared to doing this by hand. After I have applied the wax to the whole car, I wait about 20 minutes this time before buffing the applied wax since I get around the car pretty quickly with the orbital. Again I wrap the squeegee with a microfiber cloth to get into those tight areas. After going around the car a couple of time making sure that I buffed all the wax off and getting those tight spots. After all this the car is ready for the show and loading up all the things you will take to the show with you. I will go over what I take to the shows in different tip.
Car prep tips for Car Shows: Chrome
Do you have dingy Chrome parts on you show car? I have found that if you use metal polish sparingly to take of the yellowing or grunge, then use a quick detailer after the polish, the results are amazing. I use Meguiar’s metal polish first by putting a dime size dollop on a microfiber towel and work small sections of the part you are working on. Making sure to have a second clean microfiber towel to wipe off the residue left by the polish. Once I have completed the polish work, I then go over the part with Meguiar’s Quick Detailer. I use one microfiber cloth for applying the Quick Detailer, then a second clean microfiber cloth to buff out the part. As you can see from the pic, the chrome wheel looks amazing. I am not pushing Meguiar's products, I am just stating what I use.
Prep tips for Car Shows: What to take to the show
Coming soon!