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

silverblack said:
Our Nilfisk C110 is just over 13 years old,got it for the grand price of £37.99 :cry:
Used it last week with the Bilt Hamber snow foam on both cars, too cold out for a full wash.
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That’s very good value. I picked up a K5 universal for about £190, which I thought was good, but £38 is very decent for 13 years of use!
 
MrRockliffe said:
Most interior cleaners foam up pretty well, especially the ones from brands such as Autoglym, since most people think more foam = more better :)

5L Surfex HD, diluted down to 2% is all the interior cleaner you’ll need*

At 2%, 5L will give you 250L of cleaner for ~20 quid.

You can even increase the concentration to 5 or 10% for exterior. I use 10% and 15% on wheels/tyres depending on how dirty.



*not for leather though.
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Thank you :) my wheels aren't great annoyingly. They might have to get the brush treatment as I've struggled to get the last bits of crap off. I just hate doing them. They so bloody awkward and low to the ground.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Thanks. Will do. Any tips?
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Yeh, don't worry about it. Before I bought a rotary (decades ago now) everyone said the same thing and I was terrified of striking through the lacquer. As it turns out, you'd have to be a monumental div to do it. Short of you turning the polisher up to a fast speed and then just putting the polisher on a single area for 10-20 seconds and not moving it - you'll be absolutely fine. Just focus on a small area at a time (half a large panel or a full small panel), assess how scratched the panel is as to whether you need a more aggressive or less aggressive pad and then do several passes, wipe, reassess and either go down to a less aggressive finishing pad or go for another few passes of the more aggressive pad. It's pretty much the same as sanding a piece of wood.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
It's a random orbital one. Honestly, I just watched a video and the had a go at the bonnet and it was fine. It's only 12V so I don't think it really has enough power to do any damage! May not even get the small scratches out for all I know.
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A single stage definitely won’t get out proper scratches. All you’ll be doing is wearing away at the edges of the scratch, making them less pronounced.


Think of it as a valley - the cliffs/edges of the valley will be less sharp, but the valley will still be there.



You want to load up the pad first, dab on the panel. Do smaller areas at first, I’d say about 40cm^2


Once dabbed on, lower speed (30-45%) and spread across the panel.

Then up the speed to 60-70% in hatch pattern. I.e. horizontal one line at a time, then vertical one line at a time. Each line should slightly overlap. Go slow, low pressure on the panel, let the polisher do the work.


I would do 2 of each horizontal and vertical.
 
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Thanks guys. I've given most of the car a once over with it. Frankly, there are some deep small scratches and the other stuff is really minor. Chipsaway or whatever could fix them all in a couple of hours if someone was so inclined (I'm not)
 
kona786 said:
I strongly advise this wash mitt over the noodle type. Used a noodle one for years and was surprised at how much better a microfibre one is.

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I keep a noodle one for the wheels. And I liked the microfibre one so much I use another for the bottom third of the car instead using my old noodle mitt, which I have many of.

Why do I like it? Holds suds better, lighter and you can feel the wash better. And also dries in less than half the time.
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@iMacMart
 
My car hadn't been cleaned since September. A combination of it being T-boned in November, breaking down mid December, moving house and being in Canada over Christmas means I haven't had time or physically had access to the car.

New house with a driveway, and access to outdoor power and water meant I could put my new OR11 pressure washer to use. A bit of a PITA having to calculate PIR again due to having a new machine and swapping the orifices in the foam cannons to handle the higer through put.

Did the following
Cleaned the wheels with a Brakeaway pre-wash, and GT Iron Oxide and their wheel shampoo
BH touchless followed by a rinse
CarPro descale, followed by a contact wash with Mystic Bubble shampoo
Rinse & dried
Sprayed over with Labocosmetica Sidero
Rinse & dried

The off side no longer has any protection after the driver's door was replaced, and the back doors and rear quarter was re-painted following the T-bone. I'll get a detailer to polish the car and re-coat the whole thing, there's a scratch that has appeared on the driver's door that has appeared after being recovered in December.



 
Just to lower the tone in here a bit... Had a couple of good car wash experiences (i.e. the car got a bit cleaner without picking up any bodywork damage). One of which was a local Karcher branded job at a Shell. I mean, the planetary wheel cleaner wasn't working on one side but for a mere £10 of my (employers) hard earned cash, what do you expect?

Anyway, said car wash was out of order as was the one at the local Tesco so I tried the local BP that my colleague uses and has never had an issue.... 5 inch scratch on the passenger rear door. I must be jinxed.

Anyway, old girl behind in a Yaris pulled in behind me as I drove out. I was faffing about with my receipts and stuff and glanced back noticing she was on the wrong side of the guidelines. I chuckle to myself wondering how long it would be until she realised why the machine wouldn't move... Except it did move. Straight into her front bumper! By the time I'd done the one way system out of the car park in her panic she'd managed to get her car at about a 40 degree angle across the width of the car wash. Top work!

The wife's car needs a wash so I'll get a chance at keeping my eye in when it comes to car cleaning amongst my regular company car torture in the scratch-o-matics.
 
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