*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

[Irish_Tom]

Hey knowledgeable people, i have some strange scratched blotches on the bonnet of my silver Celica. Looks like someone has scrubbed it with a scouring pad in several places...

Unless I'm very much mistaken, the Farecla range is supposed to be used with a machine polisher. I expect that doing it by hand didn't break down the polish enough to be completely effective. It's possible that it filled in the scratches enough for them to not be noticeable but this then got washed away the next time you cleaned it.

To avoid scratching the car whilst washing it you really need to use the two-bucket method and a lambswool mitt, followed by a waffle-weave drying towel.

Pretty much anything else is going to drag the dirt across the surface of the paint while you're washing or drying and create more scratches.

To get rid of the scratches you already have, get a decent hand-polish (T-cut, Menzerna S203, Meguiars Step 1, Autoglym Super Resin Polish) and give it a really good rub-down. Then use a glaze with filler like Meguiars Step 2 or Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. This will fill in any of the scratches you haven't removed with the polish. Finally put on a decent wax like Meguiars Step 3 to protect the paint for the future.

That's going to be the cheapest/easiest solution. If that doesn't fix it you're going to have to look at machine polishing, either buying the kit yourself or paying someone to do it for you.

 

[MikeHiow]

I helped a friend out with his Civic over the weekend, it was looking very tired, and whilst I didn't get time to get as much as I wanted to do (only really got around to just minor correction on the paint), there are huge improvements;

Some befores:

The state of the clay bar after less than half of the upper part of the door!

50/50 of one of the better panels

And the results:

 

[Rybo89]

Guys would this kit be any good?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_804739_langId_-1_categoryId_165682

Got a tiny little scratch on the bumper and tiny bit of fade on the left wing leading up the bumper.

If anyone could get back to me quickly before i set off, that would be great!

thanks.

 

[ecksmen]

Guys would this kit be any good?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_804739_langId_-1_categoryId_165682

Got a tiny little scratch on the bumper and tiny bit of fade on the left wing leading up the bumper.

If anyone could get back to me quickly before i set off, that would be great!

thanks.

Nope, that's a clay bar for removing containments from the paint surface, if you can't feel the scratch with your finger nail it "may" polish out with something like Megs #83 or similar depending on the exact scratch. Otherwise your looking at filling in the paint and then sanding back and polishing up.

edit

Chap above (MikeHiow) has posted a clay bar result -

That's all the crap that couldn't be removed with normal chemicals (it will strip off wax as well).

 

[Rybo89]

Will polish sort out the slight fade in my paintwork?

I have no clue at all with cleaning products. Never washed the pots, never mind doing a car properly

What is the best stuff i could get from Halfords for this? Thanks

 

[MikeHiow]

That depends what car you have.

For example, Honda's Milano Red, I believe most of the fading occurs in the basecoat rather than the lacquer, so polishing will not bring it up perfect (although, it'll help, as a some of the pinkness will be down to oxidised/marred/swirled surface).

 

[Rybo89]

I have a red fiesta, think its called colarado red or something.

Doesn't matter now, started hammering it down not long ago here, so will have to leave it till next week. Would like the scratch gone though! Me and a friend spotted it straight away coming back to car at Tesco, so we reckon some bint scraped it with a trolley with it being next to the trolley stand.

Only a really light scratch but can't help look at it every time i get into the car.

Also with the fade, it could just be me being picky, as no one else can see it. Just checked pictures of car to try show you but you can't tell from the pictures.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Matthew, sorry it's taken me a while to come back with a list for you, you'll see why in my next post.

Here's what I would do with a budget of about £100 (I'm afraid I went over by £20).

All of this can be ordered at CleanYourCar.co.uk:

• Sonus Sheepskin Wash Mitt £7.95 (better than a sponge)
• Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo £4.95 (excellent car shampoo)
• CleanYourCar Huge 'Fluffy' Drying Towel £8.95 (it's important to get a good towel)
• CleanYourCar - Ultra Fine Detailing Clay £7.95 (very important before polishing and this can be used with water)
• Bilberry Wheel Cleaner (1 litre) £8.95 (brilliant wheel cleaner but if your budget won't allow it, don't worry too much)
• Poorboys Wheel Sealant £12.95 (good 'wax' for wheels which will last forever)
• Trim & Tyre Dressing Applicator £2.95 (you could use a foam pad but this makes it really easy)
• Meguiars High Gloss Tyre gel £8.95 (this is the best I've found)
• Autoglym - Super Resin Polish £9.95 (personally I don't use AG stuff any more but for your budget, you can't go wrong with SRP followed by EGP below)
• Autoglym - Extra Gloss Protection £8.95 (as above)
• Meguiars Foam Applicators Pkg/2 £3.95 (for applying the SRP and EXP, you might need a couple more of these but two is a good start)
• Ultra Fine Buffing Towels Pkg/2 £3.95 (for removing the SRP and EGP, as above, two is a minimum, I've got a whole box full of towels / pads etc but it is expensive to buy loads in one go)
• Poorboys Natural Look Dressing £10.95 (perfect interior dressing for all of your dash surfaces except the steering wheel, gear top, handbrake and pedals)
• Meguiars Last Touch Bottle £1.95 (for filling with water to use with the clay)
• Meguiars APC bottle £1.95 (for filling with Tesco APC for cleaning the interior)

Total £114.20 + delivery

I'd then go to Tesco and buy their cheap All Purpose Cleaner for about £3.00

Sub Total including delivery and Tesco ~£120

This doesn't take into account that you'll need two buckets for washing but they can be picked up for a couple of quid at Tesco while you're buying the APC.

If you've got any old tea towels / towels lying around you can use them for drying the wheels / arches / interior etc, just don't use them on the body work.

Obviously the budget doesn't allow for a pressure washer and snow foam lance so I would take it to a jet-wash before the cleaning commences. Just make sure you don't use the brush at the jet wash (cover in foam, leave for a few minutes and then rinse off, don't bother with anything else).

I have to say, I really struggled to put together a list for ~£100 to do the whole car. If I were you, I would probably drop the Poor Boy's Interior dressing and get some more applicator pads and buffing towels, then just give the interior a good vacuum and clean with APC.

If you have any questions about what to do with the above give us a shout.

This should be a sticky of some kind - very useful

 

[ScarySquirrel]

So after my big 6 hour detail last week I thought I'd give the car another clean today to see how much easier it is. I was really really amazed! It was almost effortless to clean, and it really came up a treat as well. I finished it all off with a layer of AG EGP as well.

 

[Irish_Tom]

This should be a sticky of some kind - very useful

Thanks mate.

So after my big 6 hour detail last week I thought I'd give the car another clean today to see how much easier it is. I was really really amazed! It was almost effortless to clean, and it really came up a treat as well. I finished it all off with a layer of AG EGP as well.

Good work SS, looking lovely!

==

When I got back to Portsmouth from Cornwall over Christmas I noticed not one but two massive scuffs along both of the rear quarters of the E60.

They started at the rear-most edge of the wheel arch and ended at the very back of the bumper! I have no idea how they got there as they were covered up with dirt from driving around in the snow at Christmas.


So this is what I was doing yesterday. I started by washing the whole car with Wekstat Auto Body Wash using the two bucket method.

I then clayed the areas I was planning on polishing and gave those areas another quick wash.

Then I attacked it with Menzerna S100 and a Menzerna White Compounding Pad. This is a very strong cut and took the worst of the scuffs and scratches out but it leaves a very dull finish.

To improve the finish and remove a bit more of the damage I then used Menzerna S203 and a Menzerna Orange Cutting Pad. This was an improvement over the S100 but still wasn't quite a mirror finish.

Finally I went at it with Menzerna 85RE and a Yellow Finishing Pad and I have to say, I was very pleased with the results.

I then used the BlackFire Wet Ice Over Fire kit to really make it sparkle and protect it for a while.

Carbon Black is a very strange colour. It's one of those blacks that looks blue in certain lights and it's also one of those metallic paints that can look completely matt in certain lights. The light yesterday evening was rubbish so these shots aren't great. They really don't do it justice but they do give a reasonable representation of the work done.


I stupidly forgot to take 'before' photos so you'll just have to make do with the results:

This is the area where the worst of the scuff was on the off side.

This is the area that I polished on the near side and blended the polish in around the curve of the bumper.

Here's a couple more shots of it finished without the red lines all over it:

And here's a close up of what's left of the damage on the off-side wheel arch:

You can't really see these marks unless you get close. I've got some touch-up paint and lacquer to fix some stone chips on the bonnet so I'll get these filled in when I do that.

All-in-all I'm really pleased with my work. It's the first time I've touched the E60 with the rotary and I was a bit apprehensive but once I got going it was clear that the hard BMW paint can take quite a bit of cutting without any trouble. I'm definitely glad I did the Corsa the other week to get a bit of experience though.

Now that I've seen what kind of a finish can be achieved, I'm very keen to do the rest of the car. However, it took me four hours to do both rear quarters because it needed three separate passes so it's going to take forever to do the whole thing!

 

[Bennie-Mac]

Unless I'm very much mistaken, the Farecla range is supposed to be used with a machine polisher. I expect that doing it by hand didn't break down the polish enough to be completely effective. It's possible that it filled in the scratches enough for them to not be noticeable but this then got washed away the next time you cleaned it.

To avoid scratching the car whilst washing it you really need to use the two-bucket method and a lambswool mitt, followed by a waffle-weave drying towel.

Pretty much anything else is going to drag the dirt across the surface of the paint while you're washing or drying and create more scratches.

To get rid of the scratches you already have, get a decent hand-polish (T-cut, Menzerna S203, Meguiars Step 1, Autoglym Super Resin Polish) and give it a really good rub-down. Then use a glaze with filler like Meguiars Step 2 or Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. This will fill in any of the scratches you haven't removed with the polish. Finally put on a decent wax like Meguiars Step 3 to protect the paint for the future.

That's going to be the cheapest/easiest solution. If that doesn't fix it you're going to have to look at machine polishing, either buying the kit yourself or paying someone to do it for you.

Thanks for the advice Panzerbjorn, according to the bottle on the Farecla it recommends using the Farecla Waffle pads to apply the polish which i used, however I didnt use any wax afterwards so hopefully doing it properly will yield better results.

I only just got the car, and to be honest it looks like its been washed by a chimp once a week for 10 years. Desperately needs a good claying as the amount of tar spots is unreal... I shall heed your advice and sort myself out with some proper kit and give it a good weekends cleaning

While im at it, can anyone recommend a good clay bar and detailing spray? (beginner to claying btw) I have a feeling i may need a "heavy duty" example as like i said theres 10 years worth of build up on the car.

 

[hohum]

Bilt Hamber clay is supposed to be pretty good, and I guess it also works out better value because it can be used with regular water as a lubricant.

 

[MikeHiow]

On that, avoid T-Cut, SRP is more of a filling/glaze polish and EGP is a LSP not a glaze, you won't want or need to be putting wax over that.

I'd personally be looking at PBW Black Hole or White Diamond, depending on whether it is a light or dark car.

 

[Ricochet J]

Here's a long winded post:

I have an X Reg Focus. The paintwork has taken a beating. Mechanically, I do look after the car. I am happy with the car but I am tired of returning to a dull green coloured Focus - I have seen the original unfaded metallic green on the inside of the door panels, and it's a very nice colour. What I would like to do is:
- RESTORE the paintwork to factory conditions.
- Complete respray is not an option, due to the value of my car, and the costs associated to do this.
- The current paintwork has A LOT of dirt, grime, crap inside of it. I have tried to wash it out to no avail.
- I want to restore the faded grey/black plastic trim back to black.
- The current paintwork is PEELING off from a scrape. This is on the corner of the bumper.
- I would ALSO like to clean my engine bay. I was told I would need WD40, a clean cloth and patience. Is it advised to clean the engine bay with WD40?

Tools:
- I have time and patience at my disposal. I am a quick learner and I'm not clumsy with tools. To give you an idea , I can happily remove an entire dash board to replace a part that's hidden away.
- I have an orbital sander. My intention is to put polishing pads on this to polish the car.
- I DON'T have a pressure washer. I live in a flat so the bucket method will be adopted.
- I have a friend who's happy to help me.

Please advise me. I am aware of detailing world and I am reading that site as well. Many thanks!

 

[Joshy]

Is stuff like this any good:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_753637_langId_-1_categoryId_165671

I want to make my 20 year old black paint work look, well, less 20 years old. Ordinary Polishing/Waxing only seems to make things worse as it makes all of the imperfections much easier to see and always leaves me depressed that I don't have enough pennies in the piggy bank for a respray

The paint work is naturally pretty crap and has been neglected over many years, I know it is never going to be close to perfect but slightly less sheddy would be nice.

 

[hohum]

That black box kit is considered a 'cheat' product, but in all honesty it's supposed to give pretty good results going by reviews I've read on it. Obviously not permanent, but a damn sight cheaper than having your paintwork corrected by a detailer or respraying the car. I'll probably be giving the kit a go myself this summer as the black paintwork on my car really has seen better days, plus it's a ugly swirly mess in direct sunlight. I'd love to get it corrected properly, but it's just not financially viable for me.

 

[Bennie-Mac]

Bilt Hamber clay is supposed to be pretty good, and I guess it also works out better value because it can be used with regular water as a lubricant.

Thanks for that, ill add it to my list

On that, avoid T-Cut, SRP is more of a filling/glaze polish and EGP is a LSP not a glaze, you won't want or need to be putting wax over that.

I'd personally be looking at PBW Black Hole or White Diamond, depending on whether it is a light or dark car.

Forgive my ignorance but what is LSP? The car is silver so ill look into the White Diamond stuff. Cheers

 

[Begbie]

Now decided it is about time to give the car a good going over every now and then. The difficult bit is, there is no hose here. I already have a few old MFs, SRP, AG Glass Polish, MEGS Trim Detialer, Metal Polish and a bucket with a Tesco MF wash mit.

Now thinking about ordering the following, can I change anything? Anything better value for money than what am looking at just now? O and if it makes a difference, I can shop from Polished Bliss as it ain't too far away from me but -

CleanYourCar Huge 'Fluffy' Drying Towel CLEN5 £7.46 £7.46
Chemical Guys - Citrus Wash & Gloss CHES1 £5.79 £5.79
Eurow - Sheepskin Wash Mitt EURW1 £7.46 £7.46
Collinite 476s - Super Double Coat Wax - 18fl.oz COLD4 £19.96 £19.96
Valet Pro - Bilberry Wheel Cleaner (1 litre) VALB7 £7.46 £7.46
Meguiars Wheel Spoke Brush X-1160 £7.46 £7.46
Chemical Guys - New Look Trim Gel CHE07 £9.96 £9.96
Poorboys Natural Look Dressing POO810 £9.12 £9.12
Ultimate Ultra-Plush Buffing Cloth Pkg/3 16" x 16" ULTH5 £9.96 £9.96
Blue Perl Microfibre Applicator Pads Pkg/2 BLU915 £3.29 £3.29
Subtotal: £87.93
VAT: £17.58

 

[MikeHiow]

Have a look at Optimum No Rinse, Begbie. There is loads about it on the forum - no need for a hose!

Simply go to your local jet wash to blast off any nasty stuff if it's bad, then wash your car with literally half a bucket of water and some ONR

 

[topgun06]

Used the Nilfisk C120 this weekend.

First impressions? Very impressed!

Its much quieter and sturdier than the Karcher. Plenty powerful and is great for the £99.