How to properly detail a car

[bmw246]

So kinda sounds silly but is there anywhere that I can learn how to properly detail a car? What products are good, buffing, waxing, clay barring etc? I'd like to learn how the professionals do it. Any advice? In the Chicago NW burbs

[xtcdetail]

Most of the time, it's not about the products you use, but the way you use it.

Most of the products are mode the same way, some are ph balanced, some are water based, oil based, etc. I tend to stick with water based product and ph balanced soaps.

(WAX)
As far as wax goes, I love pinnacle paste or liquid wax. They're nice and smooth, leaves a great shine and doesn't break the wallet. Not to mention, you can use it multiple times. But as of lately, I switched over to DodoJuice. Especially after seeing the result on two of the forum member's car. It goes on like butter, and leaves a slick finish/shine.

(CLAY)
As far as wax goes, I like to use the one you get from convenient stores, (meguiars to be specific). Mothers and other brands works great. Meguiar is more balanced for medium to medium hard clearcoats. But will leave micro scratches or marring if used improperly. On cars with softer paint (only need clay bar and NO PAINT CORRECTION).
I would use a fine grade claybar (usually order it from detailed image)

(BUFFING)
It all depends on your cars paint, some manufacturer uses really hard paint and some use soft paint. From my experience, Audi and VW's paint is a pain to work on, a small volkswagen GTI took 12 hours for a minor paint correction. After detailing a few m3 and a m4, I would say, the paint hardness on the f80 generation is a little bit on the medium side. You can easily correct the paint using a soft cutting pad with polishing compound. Cutting compound might be needed for the deeper scratches. Feel free to visit my page on facebook! It's under the name xtcdetail

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!