How to Get a Professional Finish on Your Car at Home

Never, ever detail a car in direct Aussie sunlight if you can help it. The water dries too fast and leaves spots, and your polish will go gummy. Find some shade or wait until the arvo when the sun's lower.

Always wash your wheels first. If you do them last, you'll splash dirty brake dust all over your clean paint. I use a dedicated wheel bucket and brush for this.

Give it a good blast with the pressure washer to get the loose grit off. If you've been out in the red dust, spend double the time on the wheel arches and door sills.

Chuck your snow foam in the cannon and cover the whole car. Let it dwell for 5-8 minutes but don't let it dry. This softens up the bug guts and dirt so they slide off without scratching.

One bucket with soapy water (I like Meguiar's Gold Class), one with plain water to rinse your mitt. Wash from the roof down. (Trust me on this one, don't start at the bottom).

Spray an iron remover (like Gtechniq W6) over the paint. It'll turn purple as it dissolves metal fallout from brakes. Essential if you live near a train line or heavy industry.

Run a clay mitt over the wet paint with plenty of soapy water as lube. This pulls out the 'grit' you can feel with your hand but can't see. Your paint should feel smooth as glass when you're done.

Use your big drying towel. I like to 'pat' the water off rather than dragging the towel across the paint. Less friction equals fewer swirl marks.

Use blue painter's tape to cover black plastic trims and rubber seals. If you get polish on them, they'll turn white and it's a right pain to get off later.

Apply 4 peas-sized drops of compound to your foam pad. Work in a 50cm x 50cm section at a time using the DA polisher. Move slow, use light pressure, and let the machine do the work. I made the mistake of pushing too hard on a black Commodore once, ended up with a haze that took me hours to fix. Be patient.

After polishing, the paint looks great, but it's covered in oils. Spray your IPA wipe and buff it off. This leaves the paint 'naked' so your protection can actually stick to it.

If you're using a ceramic coating, apply it in small sections. Wipe it on, wait for it to 'flash' (it'll look like beads of sweat), then buff it off with a clean microfibre. If you're using a wax or sealant like Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection, just follow the bottle, usually, it's a wipe-on, wait-to-haze, wipe-off job.

Get a torch or use the sun to check for any high spots or missed wax. Clean the glass with a dedicated glass cleaner (Stoner Invisible Glass is the duck's nuts) and you're golden.