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

[Mekrel]

Bought a couple of items from a brand I've never tried before. I might do a little pre-wash test tomorrow, citrus on its own, citrus with BH Touch-Less on top and BH T-L on its own.

I've never understood the pre-wash on top of pre-wash thing, although I confess my opinion is purely hypothetical which is surely the surface tension of the citrus is going to stop the foam making contact and doing anything? Sounds like wasting more chemical than anything.

 

[jpaul]

lower is a new k7 attachment for what ?

I still need a spare cannon bottle so I can have one with touchless and another with shampoo - two bottles into the shower

 

[dannyjo22]

Thanks for the replies, when my foam runs out I will get some of that touchless to try. Then use the Auto wash shampoo for my contact wash if required?

 

[Mekrel]

lower is a new k7 attachment for what ?

I still need a spare cannon bottle so I can have one with touchless and another with shampoo - two bottles into the shower

It's a foam cannon holder, I'll attach it to the metal slat board in the garage.

Thanks for the replies, when my foam runs out I will get some of that touchless to try. Then use the Auto wash shampoo for my contact wash if required?

I guess it depends on your opinion/preference, I personally would always contact wash as pre-washes never get the car completely clean. If you're using a pre-wash only and rinsing, you'll get water marks without drying (unless you're using filtered water). Personally I wouldn't be drying a car with a towel if it's only had a pre-wash.

 

[dannyjo22]

Oh yeah I've always contact washed, I was more wondering if the BH auto wash shampoo was a good choice. I don't dry my car anymore since getting the race glaze filter.

 

[adam cool dude]

Oh yeah I've always contact washed, I was more wondering if the BH auto wash shampoo was a good choice. I don't dry my car anymore since getting the race glaze filter.

Yeah same combo I use. I will just Touchless wash during winter then use the BH auto wash in a bucket maybe once a month. You only need a tablespoon to 10 litres so it will last forever.

 

[Mekrel]

Oh yeah I've always contact washed, I was more wondering if the BH auto wash shampoo was a good choice. I don't dry my car anymore since getting the race glaze filter.

I've personally never used auto wash, but if it's like any of the other BH products, it'll be a good shampoo. I've heard it doesn't foam up much, but people tend to obsess over foam when it doesn't make a difference to cleaning.

I might buy a bottle when my mystic bubble runs out.

 

[MrRockliffe]

I've personally never used auto wash, but if it's like any of the other BH products, it'll be a good shampoo. I've heard it doesn't foam up much, but people tend to obsess over foam when it doesn't make a difference to cleaning.

I might buy a bottle when my mystic bubble runs out.

It’s absolutely fine but I would say the dilution amount is a bit optimistic for hard water. If used at 7-10ml in a 10L bucket it’s a lot better IMO



I’m keen to try out the Car Chem Super Suds shampoo, as it’s also 1900:1 dilution but more sudsy.



The BH one is my preferred shampoo. I find it tackles stuff like bird poo very quickly without much mechanical action needed, and doesn’t have any additives in it, making it perfect as a wash before adding a ceramic of some kind.

 

[Mekrel]

Thanks for the tip, water is so hard here they might as well flip the measurement to water per million parts of hardness.

 

[Zaphan58]

Already been said but turtlewax redline is a great product. It did a really good job although does smell a bit eggy. I tried putting it in an old meguiars empty spray bottle which worked but not the best. So probably need a better sprayer.

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Always surprised how a late in the day decision to do a wee Bilt Hamber Touchless snow foam can quickly get the cars back to an acceptible standard.

No point in doing much more at the moment, the roads are filthy... grit, mud, etc.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Always surprised how a late in the day decision to do a wee Bilt Hamber Touchless snow foam can quickly get the cars back to an acceptible standard.

No point in doing much more at the moment, the roads are filthy... grit, mud, etc.

Agreed, it’s a very quick way to make them close to clean again, without scratching the paint and knowing as soon as I drive it next it’ll be covered in mud again.

 

[jpaul]

Salt on local roads is probably doing more damage to the suspension and underbody metal components ... beyond the wheel arches I'd like to know a good strategy
(or just wait for the rain) e: can you pretty mutch spray the car underneath up to the bulkhead ?
Need to redo the door seals with gummifledge, too as that's the bit where you hear the car crying out.

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

A picture is worth a thousand words

 

[Firegod]

Anyone ever had trouble running a pressure washer from an extension reel? I've tried two different ones (both quite new) and it is hit and miss whether the karcher sparks into life. My workaround is to plug direct into socket outside. I was wondering if some sort of safety feature on the reels is getting in the way. Or, is the pressure washer on its way out? It is a refurbished K4 Power Control - only cost £115. Had it since June 2022. Extended the warranty but that expired June 2023. So it is coming up to 3 years old shortly. Thanks.

 

[Street]

Always surprised how a late in the day decision to do a wee Bilt Hamber Touchless snow foam can quickly get the cars back to an acceptible standard.

No point in doing much more at the moment, the roads are filthy... grit, mud, etc.

It was my first time using Touchless today and was impressed how much dirt it shifted. The plan was to get out early and wash the cars properly before heading to the match, but the recent cold weather had disintegrated the hose connector on my outdoor tap and by the time I'd bodged that I was cutting it fine to do a proper clean. The missus's Mini gets less use than mine and wasn't as dirty so I just blasted it with Touchless and it came up great. It also shifted most of the muck on mine so only needed a quick going over with the mitt to get it clean. Quite pleased with the results seeing as I only had 30mins to do both cars.

 

[jpaul]

Anyone ever had trouble running a pressure washer from an extension reel?

cut the 50m hoze into a 30+20 ...

probably depends what you water pressure is https://www.copely.com/tools/flow-rate-calculator/

my mains ~2bar, pressure washer needs 10L/min so a micro/9mm hoze wouldn't work even over 10m, versus 15mm I have with a run of ~30m (which I cut down from original 50)

Quantity Fluid Flow vs Bore Diameter Data
Bore Diameter 1.800 3.600 5.400 7.200 9.000 10.800 12.600 14.400 16.200 18.000
Qty fluid flow (ltrs/min) -0.046 -0.038 0.250 1.026 2.476 4.778 8.093 12.574 18.366 25.604
Pressure (bar) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

 

[Jonnycoupe]

and how do you put fittings on the end jpaul? YOu are allowed to ignore some posts and not just poaster utter waffle for the sake of it....

No ideal what that calculator is trying to tell us either, pressure washers just dont have the flow rate to worry about frankly.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

It was my first time using Touchless today and was impressed how much dirt it shifted. The plan was to get out early and wash the cars properly before heading to the match, but the recent cold weather had disintegrated the hose connector on my outdoor tap and by the time I'd bodged that I was cutting it fine to do a proper clean. The missus's Mini gets less use than mine and wasn't as dirty so I just blasted it with Touchless and it came up great. It also shifted most of the muck on mine so only needed a quick going over with the mitt to get it clean. Quite pleased with the results seeing as I only had 30mins to do both cars.

I did similar to mine, quick watering can over the car to wet it drive to Tesco and citrus prewash near the jet wash and waited a few minutes before rinsing over for the sake of £2 in the machine. Couldnt see my rear number plate so its a great 80% of the job for 10% of the effort.

 

[jpaul]

and how do you put fittings on the end jpaul? YOu are allowed to ignore some posts and not just poaster utter waffle for the sake of it....

No ideal what that calculator is trying to tell us either, pressure washers just dont have the flow rate to worry about frankly.

you move the fittings from the end of old hoze ! you need a flow of waterdelivered to the pressiure washer so it can sustain its high pressure output
10l/min on my k7, and if you have a hoze that is too long the effort of pushing the water through the hose is too great and you can't deliver it
this is physics ..