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

[dannyjo22]

Anyone have a rubber mat cleaner/restorer to recommend? I got some Koch Chemie Guf after watching a youtube video and they came up fantastic but are slippery. Despite the claims of non slip on the bottle I need to clean it off again!

 

[DJMK4]

The amount of soot or dust on my car is unbelievable. I only detailed it not long ago. I have no idea if this is just road dust ? We haven't still yet had a proper wash down of rain so clear stuff

That combined with councils not sending road sweepers out often enough .

It's on majority of panels
.

 

[GravyMonster]

It's just residue from the rain water, or around my area, mist and fog. Unless it's completely bone dry, the car will only be perfectly clean for 2 days, tops. In the winter you'll get residue from the evaporating rain water, and in the summer you'll get sand and dust.

 

[DJMK4]

It's just residue from the rain water, or around my area, mist and fog. Unless it's completely bone dry, the car will only be perfectly clean for 2 days, tops. In the winter you'll get residue from the evaporating rain water, and in the summer you'll get sand and dust.

We have had no rain mist or fog. I still think it's just dirt kicking up off the surface of the roads that never get a good cleaning

 

[V_R]

Little white flies. ******* love my car....

 

[Draeger]

Black pano roof - Okay to use Gtechniq Ceramic C2 (which I have to hand) on it or should I use some sort of glass sealant?

 

[MrRockliffe]

Black pano roof - Okay to use Gtechniq Ceramic C2 (which I have to hand) on it or should I use some sort of glass sealant?

If it’s glass, use a glass sealant


Edit for clarity - won’t do any harm, just won’t do anything.

You’d seal glass for hydrophobic properties and C2 doesn’t last any real amount of time.


C1, a proper ceramic, doesn’t have any hydrophobic properties - hence why you’re recommended to top it with Exo or C2v3/4

 

[DJMK4]

Spent 45 mins on the weekend, got the jetwash out


all i done was give it a once over all round jetwash spray, attached the snowfoam bottle, topped up abit went round with the foam, let it dwell, jetwash off, and its looking sparkly again. Didnt bother doing any handwash with two buckets as it didnt need it


The wax is still super good on there.

It will probably survive another 3.5-4 months hopefully without another wax

 

[Cadder]

Has anyone here got a Parkside pressure washer? I want to get a decent snow foam lance for mine and I'm curious to see if forum users have done the same.

The included snow foam lance is OK but isn't adjustable. I find the foam isn't thick enough..

Anyway, I took quite a few years off from washing my own car but after our latest purchase (and reviews of local car washes) I've jumped back in. My process:

Snow foam (Halfords Advanced) car and let it sit for 5-10 minutes
While waiting, spray wheels with Turtle Wax Red Line and let that sit
Jet wash all of it off
Wash (Meguiars Gold Class) car with lambswool mitt, top down but keeping to bodywork and glass only.
Wash the wheels with different microfiber mitt and wheel brush.
Clay bar on all bodywork
Dry car (chamois cloth)
Meguiars Ultimate Quik Wax all panels and glass


I'd be interested in learning from the more experienced if that looks about right. Any tips?
I think I should have taken longer with the clay bar as I noticed deposits while drying afterward.
I also think a second shampoo and wash is needed as both my clay bar and polish/wax cloth had dirty marks on them. I'd clearly missed bits despite thinking I was thorough.

 

[MrRockliffe]

let it sit for 5-10 minutes

Probably a bit long - it’s likely to dry in that time, which you don’t want as the chemical will become stronger

While waiting, spray wheels with Turtle Wax Red Line and let that sit

Would probably do this the other way round:

Spray wheels, apply snow foam, rinse wheels, rinse snow foam


That’ll be about the right amount of time spent on wheels/body

lambswool mitt

Get a good microfibre - it’ll trap dirt better

Wash the wheels with different microfiber mitt and wheel brush.

I’d tackle the wheels first, because you don’t want to spray dirt from wheels and arches onto the body

Clay bar on all bodywork

Don’t need to clay each time - I’d advise against it because you’ll mar the paint, since it’s a destructive process

chamois cloth

Use a microfibre drying towel. The Turtlewax Ultimate one is quite good and £15 I think.

 

[Nabinium]

Anybody got any suggestions of decent pre-wash to use? Preferably something I can buy at a physical shop at short notice, i.e. Halfrauds.

FYI, I won't have time to use snow foam for my next clean.

Cheers

 

[MrRockliffe]

Anybody got any suggestions of decent pre-wash to use? Preferably something I can buy at a physical shop at short notice, i.e. Halfrauds.

FYI, I won't have time to use snow foam for my next clean.

Cheers

Many snow foams can be used as a pre wash through a sprayer.

I’ve tried a few different ones and I don’t think there’s any value in using anything other than Bilt Hamber Touchless.


I’ve posted results on it before on here, but it absolutely melts road traffic film in the winter, better than anything I’ve used before.



You can get similar results with other products but it just takes a bit more planning and effort.

 

[Nabinium]

Many snow foams can be used as a pre wash through a sprayer.

I’ve tried a few different ones and I don’t think there’s any value in using anything other than Bilt Hamber Touchless.


I’ve posted results on it before on here, but it absolutely melts road traffic film in the winter, better than anything I’ve used before.



You can get similar results with other products but it just takes a bit more planning and effort.

Hmm, not available at somewhere like Halfrauds unfortunately. Does sound like something that's worth getting for the future though, so good shout.

Would you recommend any other products that I could get at fairly short notice, like from Halfrauds? I don't mind spending a bit more effort on it.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Hmm, not available at somewhere like Halfrauds unfortunately. Does sound like something that's worth getting for the future though, so good shout.

Would you recommend any other products that I could get at fairly short notice, like from Halfrauds? I don't mind spending a bit more effort on it.

I’ve been trying to have a think but I’ve only tried Polar Blast and found it pretty pants.


I haven’t tried the Halfords Advanced one, but their other stuff has reviewed quite well, so it might be alright.

 

[Nabinium]

I’ve been trying to have a think but I’ve only tried Polar Blast and found it pretty pants.


I haven’t tried the Halfords Advanced one, but their other stuff has reviewed quite well, so it might be alright.

Thinking about it, I was planning on cleaning the car today, but might just leave it for next weekend, so I have time to order the better stuff that you mentioned earlier.

Decent dry weather today. Sods law it rains next weekend!

 

[Nabinium]

@MrRockliffe could you recommend a sprayer to use for the Bilt Hamber Touchless please? I did have a snow foam lance, but I left it at the inlaws and won't get it back until Christmas.

Seen https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/ik-sprayer-ik-foam-pro-2 - will this be effective enough, or are there better options?

Also, what's the recommended dilution? This PIR and 0.5% stuff goes over my head honestly.

 

[VaderDSL]

@MrRockliffe could you recommend a sprayer to use for the Bilt Hamber Touchless please? I did have a snow foam lance, but I left it at the inlaws and won't get it back until Christmas.

Seen https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/ik-sprayer-ik-foam-pro-2 - will this be effective enough, or are there better options?

Also, what's the recommended dilution? This PIR and 0.5% stuff goes over my head honestly.

I use a cheap garden pump sprayer, but those foam sprayers are better. PIR in those pump/foam sprayers are just the dilution ratio multiplied by the capacity.

So if you have 1250ml of fluid in the pump sprayer, if you have a 2% PIR it's just 1250 * 0.02 so 25ml of touchless then the rest water to make 1250ml.

I tend to use 2% as the car is usually very dirty when I clean it, if it was a light coating of dust in summer, maybe 1% or lower.

Getting the corect PIR from a snow foam lance is trickier. You have to measure how much total liquid your pressure washer puts out including the quanitiy in the lance.

So for example you fill your snow foam lance with say 500ml of water, run the pressure washer into a bucket until the 500ml lance is empty, (you can just do a smaller quantity then multilpy if you want), measure the total quanity, e.g 12000ml multiply that by the PIR, say 2% (0.02) that is how much touchless goes into the lance, 240ml touchless, 260ml water to make 500ml.

But honestly, no need to get too fussy, as long as you're in the ball park I wise, it's fine.

 

[Nabinium]

I use a cheap garden pump sprayer, but those foam sprayers are better. PIR in those pump/foam sprayers are just the dilution ratio multiplied by the capacity.

So if you have 1250ml of fluid in the pump sprayer, if you have a 2% PIR it's just 1250 * 0.02 so 25ml of touchless then the rest water to make 1250ml.

I tend to use 2% as the car is usually very dirty when I clean it, if it was a light coating of dust in summer, maybe 1% or lower.

That makes a lot of sense, thank you!

 

[MrRockliffe]

@MrRockliffe could you recommend a sprayer to use for the Bilt Hamber Touchless please? I did have a snow foam lance, but I left it at the inlaws and won't get it back until Christmas.

Seen https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/ik-sprayer-ik-foam-pro-2 - will this be effective enough, or are there better options?

Also, what's the recommended dilution? This PIR and 0.5% stuff goes over my head honestly.

Won’t be big enough.

You’ll be filling and pumping it up every few seconds.

The one you linked in designed for wheels really.


You’ll get away with any garden sprayer, so long as it’s a 5L capacity or larger.


A larger capacity will give you the flexibility to fill it less (i.e. 6L in a 12L tank), which means that you won't need to pump it up as regularly while using it.


PIR is just a measure of dilution. Easy to do for a sprayer, as it's a direct calculation - 2% PIR means for every 100ml, 2ml is Touchless. So for 10L, that's 200ml. I always go with 2% because I don't care enough to assess the car on every wash - I just get on with washing it.


Harder with a snow foam cannon, because you need to measure it as an output of the lance and the bottle, but generally I work on 300ml in a 1L bottle with a Karcher K5 or equivalent with higher flow rate (~500L/h) and the MJJC cannon.




I've talked about this before, but quick pro/con for sprayer/cannon


Sprayer:

- Quicker to set up, as you'll go through it more slowly and if you make 6L that'll last at least 2 washes (car size dependent)
- Because you use less (lower flow rate) it's more economical/cheaper
- Because you use less, dwell time is lower - likely need to go round the car at least twice and it'll dry as you spray it
- Can't use in the summer as evaporates as it hits the panel, unless wet (but then diluting the chemical)


Foam cannon:

- Have to set up each time, but you could buy multiple bottles and make 3 up in one go, store them for future
- Higher flow rate means more product used, so more costly
- Better cleaning power as a result, as physically more product on car dwelling longer
- Can use in the summer more effectively, as more product on the car




I've switched between the two but have settled on a cannon, as I just prefer it. The cost differential is ultimately minimal because touchless is only 2% PIR vs 4% on other products.

 

[Nabinium]

Foam cannon would mean I'd need the pressure washer, right? I'd have to fetch the pressure washer from the inlaws, which won't be possible for a month and a half.

So I suppose a garden sprayer is the only option for the time being.