Detailing Addicts NI Meet 2015

Detailing Addicts NI Meet 2015

In Shine We Trust 

Text and Photos: Reinis Babrovskis

Northern Irish car detailing enthusiasts from "Detailing Addicts" held its first public meet on September 18 at the local car care product manufacturer "50cal" base in Belfast. The meet was organized to showcase some of the cleaning products available on the market, exchange some of the detailing tips and obviously to have some fun.

For the first of the "Detailing Addicts" meets, the representatives from 50cal kindly offered to do a small demo of some of their detailing products. As suggested by many, it is the wheels of the car than can prove to be the toughest to clean due to the constant subjection to various contaminants of the road, i.e. tar, iron, rubber and dirt, so it was agreed it would be beneficial to learn about the techniques and products to use to improve the wheel cleaning and protection.
I was forewarned to bring the car along as dirty as I could, and I did my best, as you can tell from the pictures - I hadn't cleaned the wheels in more than few weeks.

Jonathan from "50cal " suggested a 6-Stage technique for a full protection and care of the wheels.

Stage 1 - removal of iron contaminants, often neglected by many car owners. The harder the car is driven, the more iron contaminants it leaves.
"50cal" Decon Iron Fallout Remover was used for this task an it worked perfectly.

Stage 2 – without rinsing the Decon Iron Fallout Remover Jonathan applied the "50cal" Retaliate RTU Alloy Wheel Cleaner. This was allowed to rest for 5 minutes before power-washing both of the products down.

Stage 3 - in cases of heavy ingrained soiling in the grooves, use "50cal" APC (All Purpose Cleaner) diluted at 3 to 1, then allow to rest for 3 minutes. This was then agitated with a wool wheel brush, then rinsed.

Stage 4 – where required "50Cal" Target Tar and Glue Remover can be used to remove the remaining contaminants. The product was applied, agitated and removed immediately with a power hose.
Stage 5  – when the wheels were fully dry  Jonathan proceeded to apply the new "50cal" Nano Polymer sealant for alloys - SiFlion “Alloy”. This was allowed to cold cure for 15 minutes, then buffed off with a clean plush microfiber cloth.
Stage 6 – once the alloys were sealed, Jonathan proceeded to apply the "50cal" Cammo Tyre Dressing. He sprayed the wet look dressing across the tyres before evenly distributing them with an applicator pad.

Between stages 3 and 4, Jonathan used the time to cover the car with the "50cal" Ambush snow foam, letting the built up dirt to dissolve before rinsing it down. This was then followed up with a foaming using the "50cal" Tracer high gloss neutral shampoo, which was massaged in with a microfiber mitt before rinsing. After hosing it down, a fine mist of "50cal" Stealth Quick Detailer was applied to aid the de-watering as well as to seal in the gloss. Any remaining rinse water was removed with a clean microfiber towel. The car was finally buffed with a clean microfiber cloth, to bring out the gloss.

Following the demonstration, the attendees drove to the near by road where we decided to use the autumn sun to capture some shots of the cars that attended the event.

Once the photos were done we moved to the "50Cal shop" located above the "PMG Autocare" in West Belfast for some delicious BBQ, courtesy of Davey and "50cal". The night was finished off with some racing simulator and usual banter. The evening proved to be a huge success and we hope to meet soon for the next one! Keep an eye on Detailing Addicts and 50cal pages for more info.