You cannot do this properly by hand.

It is not THAT hard to do, however, if you invest in the right equipment and materials. There are likely many threads in detailing forums about this, but the highlights are below:

1. Time- you will need a couple of days

2. Space- you need a garage, maybe heated? Light.

3. Clean- Strip off all old wax, dirt. Wash it twice. You want NO dirt whatsoever.

4. Prep- Remove weatherstripping, or mask stuff you do not want to damage (note if you find grit/dirt when doing this, wash again.

5. Paint correction- You will use a random orbital buffer (PC 7424, etc) with decreasing compounds to remove surface imperfections, and then to polish.

6. Wax or Polymer protection. I like Zaino.

Depending on the surface and how much abuse the paint has suffered, you can get a 5 year old car looking pretty nice.... however please don't tell me it's black.



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