*** Car Wash / Valet / Detailing Thread ***

Uther said:
Would something like this work? I assume it could just fit on a hosepipe from a tap too?
www.theultimatefinish.co.uk

Aqua Gleam 30ppm De-ionising Water Filter (Small)

Aqua Gleam 30ppm Filters are the best car water filter for hard water areas, durability to give you 25 rinse in hard water areas for a spot free finish for your car paintwork.
www.theultimatefinish.co.uk www.theultimatefinish.co.uk
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30ppm will still give you water spotting. If you have particularly hard water you could have 2 in series, but it’d be fairly pricey and I’d only use it for the final rinse stage.



You might be better with a proper home water filter which can self clean with salt.
 
MrRockliffe said:
Welcome to the rabbit hole that is car detailing, where you'll spend the next few months finding that product, then once you do your brain goes "yeah but what if there's something better".


The next thing you know you've spent £££s on loads of different products, only to realise how you apply them is more often than not more important.



Oh wait sorry you didn't ask for my life story.




Short answer: yes there are products which can help it stay much cleaner.


Long answer: you need to try different ones to see what works for you.



A slick ceramic coating would be the most ideal, but you can get similar effects with less permanent products, such as Gyeon Cancoat Evo
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My cleaning "kit" is a bit of a mismatch from various suppliers. I've never found one supplier that seems to work in all areas. However this was built whilst I had my mostly vinyl wrapped black car.

Because of disability most of the cleaning is done via jetwash/pump sprays because I struggle with a lot of bending.

Prewash - Citrus (Sam's Detailing)
Main wash - Polar Series (Autoglym)
Drying - Drying Towel & Drying Towel XXL (Sam's Detailing)
Protection/quick detailing - Chromance/Gloss Boss (EZ Car Care) Although I do have some other QD's in the bag from freebies (Meguiar's & ValetPro)
Glass Inside - Clarity 2.0 (EZ Car Care)
Glass Outside - Glass with rain repellent (RainX)
Interior - Finito/Hide/Ultimate - (EZ car care)
 
Resident said:
My cleaning "kit" is a bit of a mismatch from various suppliers. I've never found one supplier that seems to work in all areas. However this was built whilst I had my mostly vinyl wrapped black car.

Because of disability most of the cleaning is done via jetwash/pump sprays because I struggle with a lot of bending.

Prewash - Citrus (Sam's Detailing)
Main wash - Polar Series (Autoglym)
Drying - Drying Towel & Drying Towel XXL (Sam's Detailing)
Protection/quick detailing - Chromance/Gloss Boss (EZ Car Care) Although I do have some other QD's in the bag from freebies (Meguiar's & ValetPro)
Glass Inside - Clarity 2.0 (EZ Car Care)
Glass Outside - Glass with rain repellent (RainX)
Interior - Finito/Hide/Ultimate - (EZ car care)
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I think you can make some improvements to your products and processes to make it easier for you


I recognise some people love Polar Blast and Polar Wash, but I’ve never found it effective.



Try out Bilt Hamber Touchless and Touch On. Both applied by a snow foam lance.


You could even use the Bilt Hamber Auto Foam as a PH neutral contact shampoo for washing if you wanted to, at lower concentration to keep cost down, in addition to the aforementioned products.


That’ll give you:

Pre wash
Wash
Hydrophobic coating to keep it looking cleaner



Gyeon Wet Coat is supposed to be nice too, but Touchless is so easy to apply that I’m not sure I’d bother. Gtechniq have a new Hydro Coat too.



I’m sure there are other good products but I’ve not yet used them to be able to vouch for them personally.



On the other hand, I’ve been using Bilt Hamber for 6 years and know it very well.
 
Any recommendations for a matte friendly quick detailer? I found GYEON Q²M Cure Matte REDEFINED but it's always nice to hear from people that have actually used it/similar.
 
MrRockliffe said:
I think you can make some improvements to your products and processes to make it easier for you


I recognise some people love Polar Blast and Polar Wash, but I’ve never found it effective.



Try out Bilt Hamber Touchless and Touch On. Both applied by a snow foam lance.


You could even use the Bilt Hamber Auto Foam as a PH neutral contact shampoo for washing if you wanted to, at lower concentration to keep cost down, in addition to the aforementioned products.


That’ll give you:

Pre wash
Wash
Hydrophobic coating to keep it looking cleaner



Gyeon Wet Coat is supposed to be nice too, but Touchless is so easy to apply that I’m not sure I’d bother. Gtechniq have a new Hydro Coat too.



I’m sure there are other good products but I’ve not yet used them to be able to vouch for them personally.



On the other hand, I’ve been using Bilt Hamber for 6 years and know it very well.
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I'll look into those.

The AutoGlym Polar worked really well on the black car but it was 90% vinyl & I didn't normally follow the instructions, opting for a higher amount of the concentrate to water ratio on the snowfoam lance.

On the one I use they recommended a 50/50 ratio on the mixer but I had it set at 60/40 bottle/water for a slightly thicker foam
 
Resident said:
I'll look into those.

The AutoGlym Polar worked really well on the black car but it was 90% vinyl & I didn't normally follow the instructions, opting for a higher amount of the concentrate to water ratio on the snowfoam lance.

On the one I use they recommended a 50/50 ratio on the mixer but I had it set at 60/40 bottle/water for a slightly thicker foam
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That would make it quite expensive, no?

For example I use about 200ml of Touchless in a lance to get good cleaning results.
 
The one area of my car still giving me trouble. Interior Piano black on my Mini. I daren't go near it with a vac/microfibre cloth of any description so far or even found a soft enough brush! Even breathing seems to mark it. Anyone have any top tips and products for Piano black interior plastics?

Got up very early on Thursday and gave my Mrs car a machine polish and wax after a through decon, compounded the black roof as well as that had taken a battering due to being parked under trees at work. Looks better than the day we picked it up. One thing for sure our next cars will not have a black roof and exterior plastics will be minimal as a major car buying consideration! :D
 
dannyjo22 said:
The one area of my car still giving me trouble. Interior Piano black on my Mini. I daren't go near it with a vac/microfibre cloth of any description so far or even found a soft enough brush! Even breathing seems to mark it. Anyone have any top tips and products for Piano black interior plastics?

Got up very early on Thursday and gave my Mrs car a machine polish and wax after a through decon, compounded the black roof as well as that had taken a battering due to being parked under trees at work. Looks better than the day we picked it up. One thing for sure our next cars will not have a black roof and exterior plastics will be minimal as a major car buying consideration! :D
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Don’t forget that when using a compound, they typically have fillers in. As you wash the car, it’ll remove them and you might think it’s scratched again - in reality it’ll just be that it wasn’t corrected enough


For piano black trim on the inside, you’ll want to use something very lubricated.


Maybe some of the good quick detailers would work. Make sure to use a high like micro fibre, folded twice and low pressure, as it’ll reduce any marring you incur.
 
I know there will be numerous favourites and personal opinions on this but what other spray applied/rinse off wax protectors/hydrophobic protection do people recommend? Been using Koch Chemie PW and it's been very good, coming to the end of the bottle now so thought I might try something else. Used AG Polar Seal previous to the PW and it seemed okay but the Koch Chemie stuff to me at least, seems better and lasts a little longer.

I've seen Gyeon Wet Coat mentioned a lot here, any others worth considering?
 
Draeger said:
I know there will be numerous favourites and personal opinions on this but what other spray applied/rinse off wax protectors/hydrophobic protection do people recommend? Been using Koch Chemie PW and it's been very good, coming to the end of the bottle now so thought I might try something else. Used AG Polar Seal previous to the PW and it seemed okay but the Koch Chemie stuff to me at least, seems better and lasts a little longer.

I've seen Gyeon Wet Coat mentioned a lot here, any others worth considering?
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I use Auto Finesse Aqua Coat. It's easy to use and the beading is excellent. Good value too, I last bought a few bottles at £10 a litre.

Currently £14 on ebay which is still OK.
 
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Good conditions for a clean this morning, warm but overcast. Been using the 1 bucket method recently and finding it works really well. So after a pre-wash (snow foam), I'll foam the car with shampoo (CarPro Reset) through the lance, then get to work on the contact wash with just a rinse bucket.

I need to buy some protection, anyone had any experience with Collinite No.100 Beadcoat?

IMG-2003.jpg



IMG-2002.jpg
 
MrRockliffe said:
Don’t forget that when using a compound, they typically have fillers in. As you wash the car, it’ll remove them and you might think it’s scratched again - in reality it’ll just be that it wasn’t corrected enough
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Yeah but her car is 6 years old and was one bucket washed or by Tesco's for the majority of its life so I'm not that fussed as it's going to be swapped soon. Either way would you suggest a different method?

I was using Meguiars Ultimate compound which I've read elsewhere doesn't have any fillers. The polish though does iirc.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Yeah but her car is 6 years old and was one bucket washed or by Tesco's for the majority of its life so I'm not that fussed as it's going to be swapped soon. Either way would you suggest a different method?

I was using Meguiars Ultimate compound which I've read elsewhere doesn't have any fillers. The polish though does iirc.
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I’ve never come across a polishing compound that doesn’t have fillers - even ones which say they don’t.


I’d still try a good QD for the black trim but if you want to correct it, try something like Rupes Uno Advanced, as the fillers are designed to dry hard and act as a semi permanent filler


I use it on black quite a lot for that reason. Takes less effort to get a good appearance.
 
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