<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/detail/msgs/55428.phtml">Weekend detail, x-post from Detail Forum......</a></li></ul>

I think what you'll find is that the car is much easier to detail now, because you won't have to go through all of the steps each time and each step will go by faster. This, of course, is assuming you do a basic wash every couple of weeks and maybe clay every three.

With regard to polishing to remove scratches and swirls, that can some times take a while. It takes time and not technique. Now that you have the car nice and clean, what you can do is pick a body panel to work on each weekend and put maybe 30 min to an hour into it.

To keep the kids involved, you could try having them work on the interior of the car instead. Leather is much less sensitive to a dirty wipe than paint is. Since the kids don't drive [yet], the messes they make are all going to be on the inside of the car as well, so this would mean they get to clean up after themselves.

I no longer fret about keeping my cars detailed like I did when I was younger. Cosmetically, they take far too much of a beating driving back and forth to work on the highway, particularly during the winter.

So, now I just do a thorough job every spring to 'undo' what I can and protect them for the next 12 months or so. And just enjoy driving them in the interim!