*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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GingerNinja1989 said:
Tried Natty's Blue myself on the weekend (on my parents' car 'cos I didn't have time to do my own). Epic results!

Anyway, there are swirl marks on my car that I just can't shift with trusty SRP. Anyone got any ideas, short of machine polishing (in case I fluff it even more)?

Don't think they're major swirls, just caught my eye in the sunlight.

:)
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Thats what the black hole is for - its a glaze and fills light swirls
 
Duke said:
Are the detailing sprays good at stopping water marks? I spend quite a while drying mine (black car) but still get odd marks on it due to having hard water here in the west country.
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I use the meguiars spray...works pretty well to be honest. I find it works great on nearly anything. I tend to do the windows, mirrors (its great for these) and chrome. Then on any spots which have water marks left.

I only use it after washing the car though, never when its dirty. :)
 
Washed my car the other day. Just a wash, no waxing or anything. Will wax i through the week.

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GingerNinja1989 said:
Tried Natty's Blue myself on the weekend (on my parents' car 'cos I didn't have time to do my own). Epic results!

:)
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Same. Ive used Blackhole before and thats very good.. But i went to a car show at the weekend, and bought some Nattys Blue because id forgot my wax. I waxed the car quickly and the results were great! And it smells amazing too so win win? :)
 
How do you guys clean your engine bays then? Car I've just bought is in great condition everywhere except the engine bay, just not been properly cleaned in 30k miles I think! Not terrible but could do with a clean and dress.
 
I mix up some strong degreaser into a spray bottle and use a stiff brush to work it into as much of the engine bay as possible.

I then rinse it off using the two bucket method and an old micro fibre wash mitt, then dry everything with an old MF cloth.

The final stage is to dress all of the plastic/hoses etc with a decent protectant like 303 Aerospace (I've been using Meguiar's Vinyl spray since I moved over to Poorboy's Interior Dressing for the cockpit).

If you've got any shiny metal bits then you could polish them with some Autosol metal polish but this is really only if you have some bling under the bonnet.

Depending on how exposed the electronics and wiring are you might want to cover them with a plastic bag or something but you should be fine as long as you're careful.

Some people jet wash their engine bay. I've done it twice on two different cars but I wouldn't recommend it. My old Corolla was fine and didn't have any trouble but I managed to get water into the spark plug combustion chamber when I tried it on my old Laguna.

Since then I've just done it as described above.
 
Does anyone else find the Autoglym shampoo is rubbish?

I might as well be cleaning the car with a bucket of warm water, even using double the concentration the bottle suggests, just get no 'suds' at all :/
 
Kenai said:
Does anyone else find the Autoglym shampoo is rubbish?

I might as well be cleaning the car with a bucket of warm water, even using double the concentration the bottle suggests, just get no 'suds' at all :/
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I find blasting it with the hose in a the bucket lathers it up a bit :p
 
Kenai said:
Does anyone else find the Autoglym shampoo is rubbish?

I might as well be cleaning the car with a bucket of warm water, even using double the concentration the bottle suggests, just get no 'suds' at all :/
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I don't find this, a couple of capfulls in the bottom of the bucket then 10 litres of hot water on top and it gets pretty soapy.
 
A shampoo does not need to foam or have loads of suds to be doing it's job, which is primarily to lubricate.

My car got the Gtechniq treatment yesterday;

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Cleaned, clayed, a couple of scratches wet sanded, these and a few lighter bits were done with P1 and Menz compounding pad, then the rest of the car was done with P1 and Menz finishing pad (it was pretty good from last time, to be fair). All topped off with C1 on the paint and G1 on glass.

 
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The shampoo should help break down mild dirt, but it's primary purpose is to lift it away from the paint and lubricate the surface so you are not dragging this dirt around your paint work.

I've tried more shampoos than I care to remember, how much a shampoo suds is no where near relative to how good it does it's job.

To be fair, as long as it's half decent most shampoos are much of a muchness if you're using some kind of half decent sealant or wax.
 
Damn Mike that looks awesome.

Way too windy to be cleaning the car today went out and started cleaning it but its pointless dirt getting blown straight back on :(
 
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