First time ive posted in this room but i have read things in here quite often.

Now i am not and am never going to be a professional detailer or any good at it for that matter, However what i do want to do is at least try and correct a few issues and get some pointers when cleaning.

At the moment whenever i like a car i clean it myself. My latest car i am now starting to like and therefore want to give it some TLC.

its just came back from the paint shop after having some bits done and its actually looking fairly good.

This is normally what i would do next.

One Bucket.
One 99p sponge.
Meguiars Purple shampoo stuff. £16 bottle.
wash the car with that little lot in medium temp water.

Then

the dreaded T-Cut one panel at a time.
Then Mer again one panel at a time.
Then my Zymol Wax after.

Now generally this actual gets the car really shiny and brings a lot of colours back to life (hard to believe aye!)

Then i back to black all plastics and put some tyre shine on and jobs a goodun!

now i know this is all wrong and this is why i am asking for advice.

I dont want to spend a fortune on products to start off with but i can spend a bit, I also dont want 50 different products as i am just a noob.

The car in question is an Orient Blue (fantastic Colour) 330 m sport cabriolet, i will post pics when i start.

The bodyshop as done some mopping to not a very good standard and have left swirls etc etc and as its dark i know im going to have trouble. Im not to sure about buying a machine polisher yet so whats the best bet with hand polishing?

Also ive never clayed a car before but im thinking of trying to do this one (less panels!)

let me know what im doing wrong guys and what i need to do with this one.

Cheers

Rob

ps. anyone thats local and wants to come and show me are more than welcome