Experimenting with Dodo Juice!

[melbourne720]

Instead of the usual polishing routine, I thought I'd treat the motor to some Dodo juice and some other goodies

First the standard rinse, wash, rinse.

First departure to the usual was using a Sonus de Wonder towl to dry the car:-

Expensive (£16.95 for 2) but they are (a) very good and (b) massive! 1 towl did an entire BMW 3 series without needing to be rung out.

Next I tried some detailing clay. I used Sonus SFX Ultra-Fine Detailing Clay Sampler

Had a go, certainly was starting to shift some some of the bonded on dirt.

Next I used the Dodo juice!

As the car is black, I opted for Purple Haze

£32.50. This stuff is for dark colours only, and is a soft wax. It was easy to apply, but I think I applied too much as it took ages to remove. I also went through 3 polishing clothes. The end result:-

2 hours well spent.

 

[melbourne720]

Looking very nice there - how long will it stay that shiney though?

Until it rains, and then I get cool beading

 

[melbourne720]

Stunning

ta

Not so sure tbh, maybe if I saw you use it on my car I'd get an idea of how good it is

Looks well nice, good reflextion there......what's the durability like?

The guy with the silver seat neon next door car in front asked if I got bored with waxing my car, and wanted to wax a silver car... lol

I'll let you know what the durabilty is like over time, and report back. I'm hoping it'll protect the paint for the future, and only have to reapply every few months or something.

Nice

I must buy some proper cleaning stuff for my car..

at the moment its.. farm power washer with traffic film remover.. then power wash again with water.. then wash and wax with a sponge.. ( I do remove any dirt first )

still comes up nice and shiny though

Shiny is what matters.

 

[melbourne720]

do you always park under the tree etc?

Not always, and it is far from ideal. Parking at the moment is a bit mental on our street, and my preferred spot of outside my house was taken. I had to park close to the house as I was going back and forth with my ever expanding collection of details products!

I need that in my life

First 'wax' I have applied, normally I just wash, dry and polish. It is quite different to polish, I was expecting more of an instant effect, whereas in reality you get more from the wax if you buff it hard 'ahem'.

that looks like just the stuff I need, a good little shopping list

What cloths do you use for applying/removing the wax?

I started using a standard polishing mit (Wilko's), then that got saturated with wax. After that I went through a few pieces of that standard cheap stocking cloth. Next time, it's microfibre all the way!

 

[melbourne720]

I currently fail when drying my car using a microfibre.

Please explain the Sonus thing and whether its worth 17 quid.

Well the idea is that these microfibres suck the water away from the surface of the car (probably using some variation of the capillary effect, although that is speculation on my part) and lock the water away inside the towel.

I used one towel on the car, just by laying the towel flat on the wet surface and dragging it by the ends. You can tell how much water is locked away by how heavy the towel is afterwards. One application per surface is all I needed.

Yes they are expensive, but I'm hoping these (2 in a pack) will last a while. They certainly made the processes of drying the car very quick, compared to a standard chamois leather dry.

 

[melbourne720]

yes i'd like to know too, the leather I use is hard work.

If that cloth is as good as you say i'll definitely be buying one!

That stone chip on the bonnet is dying to be filled in

I'd recommend getting one between 2, then less then a tenner each. If you look after one then you might not need the other (although it is a nice to have).

I'll look into getting the stone chip filled in, then perhaps the other less obvious scrapes too!

Can't speak for the Sonus ones but I have another brand with a similar waffle wave pattern. I also failed at drying with microfibre until I bought a waffle weave towel. The microfibre cloths I had were like an ordinary towel only made from microfibre and they were useless for drying. However these waffle weave ones have an enormous capacity to hold water and I can get round the whole car without wringing it out.

I bought a single 38"x28" towel for £10 (can't link as they are a competitor), after using it for a few months I think it is worth a tenner but some may disagree.

Sonus is like that too.

Tail-pipes could do with a polish.

What's best for the chrome?

 

[melbourne720]

I used the cleanyourcar foam applicator pads, I got 2 (£1 each) and they are excellent at applying wax.

Must say it looks great but if I spent all that time and money making my car look amazing I wouldn't dare drive it anyway as within 30 mins it wouldn't be as nice!

Hopefully the wax will seal in some of the niceness!

This detailing is pretty addictive though, no doubt I'll do it all again in a few months. I could do with some good wheel sealant if anyone could recommend me one? I know those wheel will look carp again after a day or two

 

[melbourne720]

Hope that tree doesn't drip too much sap on your shiny car too soon.

I'm 'detailing' my car tonight before the show at the weekend. Just got to get another fine roller.

Moved it since that picture. Some bits of the car already have some sap on, so it wasn't as successful as it could have been.

Next time, (a) not under a tree and (b) I could have spent a bit more time on the sideskirts with the clay, but it was after a full day at work, excuses, etc...

Also definitely get some wheel wax, and have ordered some autosol stuff for the tailpipe.

 

[melbourne720]

This might sound barmy, but try using soil on your tail pipe. Just make sure there's no stones in it first.

It does! Does it clean it well?

 

[melbourne720]

Cheers Toker.

Also, assuming it is compatible with the rules, I can recommend cleanyourcar very highly. Ordered on the friday, arrived on the monday with personally acknowledged order e-mails (both upon ordering, dispatch and arrival time), and biodegradable packaging (even if you're not green, packaging takes up so much waste in the bin).

 

[melbourne720]

Really nice job, could have done the arches

Yeah, just noticed they look a bit carp. Will have to drive in straight lines

My mate did it to my tail pipes and I couldn't beleive how good it did it! It cleans chrome the same way autosol does, its mildly abrasive.

Will give it a go then, thanks for the tip
...
..

Mrs Melbourne: What are you doing?
Me: I'm cleaning the tail pipes of the beemer.
Mrs: With... dirt?!?
Me: Yeah, some guy of the forums swears by it.
Mrs: I think they're taking the ****

 

[melbourne720]

Cool. What's APC?