maestegman

Just booked the Macdonald Portal Hotel for the 16th too - £78 for a double room with breakfast. Excellent.

OK. After a long, hard (but very enjoyable) day. I've given my Zed her first good clean under my ownership.

Following advice (and about £200 of detailing goodies), I did the following:

1. Hose down the car

2. Wash with Chemical Guys Wash and Gloss and bilberry wheel cleaner

3. Dry with MF towel

4. Apply Poorboys SSR, Poorboys Wheel Sealant and buff

5. Wash with Chemical Guys Wash and Gloss

6. Dry with MF towel

7. Apply Dodo Juice Ranforest Rub and buff

8. Wash with Chemical Guys Wash and Gloss

9. Dry with MF towel

10. Vacuum interior

11. Clean interior with Poorboys Natural Dressing, Megs Leather Wax and Megs Glass Cleaner

12. Apply Megs X Metal Polish to exhaust and buff

13. Apply Megs Tyre Shine

Comments:

a. Great smell on all the products!

b. Poorboys SSR was a sod to buff out (not sure whether I left it on the car too long though).

c. Amazed by how little Wash and Gloss I needed to use.

d. Probably applied far too much wheel sealant and, consequently, was difficult to buff out.

e. Failed to get the exhausts and the wheel crevices particularly clean (tips?).

f. Large microfibre drying towel was astonishing - beat chammy hands down.

g. Used bare hands to apply Dodo Juice - found this easier than using the pad.

h. Dodo Juice was fab - easy to buff, smelled lovely and left the car really shiny.

i. Poorboys Natural Dressing is fantastic stuff - great smell and superb finish with zero effort.

j. Really impressed with Megs X Glass Cleaner (best I've used).

k. Didn't really need to buy the Megs Leather Wax as the PB Natural Dressing would've sufficed.

You'll note that I didn't include claying in the process. I'll probably do this in future although I'm happy with my efforts today.

Obviously, I'm a complete novice at this and I'd genuinely welcome comments.

One thing is for sure - I got a lot more satisfaction out of this than paying for a valet (even though it would have been far less expensive!)

OK. I'm a strong coffee away from getting stuck into the car. Bad back from rugby, sore head from Grolsch but can't wait to start. I'll take some piccies too and, with any luck, I'll post tonight.

Thanks again Stew et al.

Thanks guys. I was going to start the job today although I got roped into playing a game of rugby. It was actually a tough call between the car and oval ball!

If I'm not too stiff (at 37, I should be playing golf) tomorrow morning, I'll spend all day on her.

BTW, add the following to my original list:

Megs X Tyre Cleaner/Shine

Megs X Metal Polish

AG Carpet Foam

Bloody Halfords 3 for 2

I also tried to add photos of all the stuff I bought but failed miserably. Any help in posting images would be welcomed. I also took a photo of all the car cleaning/polishing products I had in garage before joining this site. Should give a few of you a laugh!

PS My dad thinks I'm mad buying all the "rubbish" I have. Apparently, some Fairy Liquid and a tub of Mer is all I need!

Thanks drewbie. It WAS a painful first shop although I'm really looking forward to spending some time on the car. It was professionally valeted before I bought the car (about 3 weeks ago) but I'm sure I'll be able to add to its appearance following the excellent advice I've received from this forum.

In addition to the £132 I originally spent on detailing goodies, I've also spent £25 at Halfords (Megs Leather Cleaner, AG Glass Polish, some more MF cloths and some horribly expensive TW Glass Cleaner).

Although originally omitted from my shopping list, I might just buy a Megs Clay Kit as well tomorrow morning.

A grand total of (approx) £200!

God help me if the missus finds out!

Yippee! My detailing goodies from Clean Your Car arrived this morning. Can't wait to get stuck into the beast on the weekend

I'm living near Llantrisant now but would love to move back to the Old Parish.

Are you doing the North Wales meet?

Just seen this. Priceless.

Stew - would be even funnier in the US

Cheers Mike. Yes - I've looked at these and they're really good. The eBay one is original Nissan so I'll see how I go with this before buying the other guy's partition.

This is a very important point sl114.

Several of my mates had never seen (or been aware of seeing) a Zed before I picked one up. Interestingly, as they all knew I was torn (realistically from a financial point) between a 350z, a Boxster and an SLK, it has been universally recognised that I have made the right decision in purchasing a Zed.

It is clear that the relative scarcity of Zeds on the road makes them far more appealling.

I have to say though that the few SLKs (new ranging up to 10 years old - new and old models) and the numerous Porsches (10 year old Boxsters up to 2 year 996s) I drove were all, in their own way, fabulous cars. I haven't driven (or even seen in a flesh) a GTR so I can't comment. It does look a fantastic bit of kit however.

My original post concerns that of value. I genuinely believe that I've bought the best value sportscar on the road today.

However, as soon as my Child Support Agency payments stop in 2016, I suspect that I'll be looking at some stupidly expensive Porsche (or maybe a GTR ) Until then, I'm VERY happy with what I've got - and I'm really looking forward to when 130 quid's worth of CYC detailing goodies arrives on my doorstep (hopefully) tomorrow morning

Many thanks Mike. I've put a bid on this and I'll see how I get on before looking at the home-made ones.