*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Looks expensive stuff, would an alternative thats cheaper not be more cost effective? Even if you need to apply it twice as often (which still isn't all that often?).
 
Duke said:
Thanks for the update. My GTi has a lot of black plastic on it. With the paintwork being black as well, it looks great when matches in and really bad when it goes grey.

I'll look into it and will probably give it a shot. Cheers
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I would recommend it, apply very carefully and buff off with a disposable paper towel rather than a microfiber (unless you have an old one you never want to use again) beware of getting it on paint too, wipe off any excess before it is dry otherwise you will have to clay off any over spill.

Phil W said:
Looks expensive stuff, would an alternative thats cheaper not be more cost effective? Even if you need to apply it twice as often (which still isn't all that often?).
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To be honest I think it was worth the price, it has restored all of the plastic on a 12 year old car to new condition, makes the car look so much fresher and will hopefully last 1 - 2 years.

I've tried lots of other plastic products in the past because I have a lot of plastic on my car and all pretty faded. The problem is that most wash off within a week or two and its very frustrating having to re apply it all of the time. A lot of them leave a very nasty looking shine as well, this has a nice finish.
 
Hi all,

I cleaned my car last weekend and I used Turtle Wax Refine and Shine Clay Bar kit to clay one of the panels. I only did one panel as I ran out of time, but the panel I've done now has lots of really tiny, very shallow scratches in it, as if the clay wasn't doing what it was meant, and just dragged any grit across the paintwork.

I was using plenty of the lubricating clay spray that came with the kit, and I didn't think I was pressing that hard. The clay hardly came away dirty anyway.

I'm almost certain it was the clay bar stage that I did it at, since all the tiny scratches are in the same direction as I did the clay in, and not in circular motions like a mitt would create.

Any top tips on claying? Any idea where I might have gone wrong?
 
Did you wash the panel before claying?

Did you drop the clay bar at any point?

Did you keep turning and folding the clay bar as you went?

What did you do after claying the panel? Clay is a preparation stage, not a finishing stage, so after claying you should have then polished and waxed.

If you just left it after claying then you're effectively leaving the 'bare' surface exposed to the elements.
 
Nazbit said:
I would recommend it, apply very carefully and buff off with a disposable paper towel rather than a microfiber (unless you have an old one you never want to use again) beware of getting it on paint too, wipe off any excess before it is dry otherwise you will have to clay off any over spill.
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Noted, thanks. I did try some other stuff before which sounds similar and it made a complete mess if you weren't careful with it.

Found a couple of videos -


 
Panzerbjorn said:
Did you wash the panel before claying?

Did you drop the clay bar at any point?

Did you keep turning and folding the clay bar as you went?

What did you do after claying the panel? Clay is a preparation stage, not a finishing stage, so after claying you should have then polished and waxed.

If you just left it after claying then you're effectively leaving the 'bare' surface exposed to the elements.
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Hi Panzerbjorn,

Thanks for the response. The "recipe" was as follows:

- Rinse car with water from hose.
- Doused in foam using Turtle Wax Zip Wax Wash and Wax and a funky little hose attachment.
- Rinsed off.
- Two bucket method, one panel at a time, with the aforementioned Zip Wax.
- Dried with microfibre.
- Clay Bar stage (ensured panel is dry, sprayed with lubricant, clayed).
- Autoglym Super Resin Polish and buffed to a shine.

I didn't wax at the end as I didn't have any.

I didn't drop the clay, and I was turning it when it picked up contaminants. Perhaps I wasn't doing it often enough?

It seemed to me the clay was quite hard though, does it need to be kneaded into a softer consistency?
 
dangermouse425 said:
It seemed to me the clay was quite hard though, does it need to be kneaded into a softer consistency?
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Sounds like you did pretty much everything right — I always knead it until it feels like soft Blu-tac but it shouldn't have made too much difference.

Maybe having cleaned it, you've just made the scratches visible...

Best thing to do is try some proper polish rather than SRP which is more of a filler. If the scratches aren't going away with a hand polish it might be time for a machine polish.
 
Gave mine a going over again earlier this week.

I have been using Britemax Extreme Elements and have topped it with Souveran Concours - note the pictures are before waxing this is just with Extreme Elements.

Very impressed with this stuff and good value for money.

rear.jpg


side.jpg
 
Panzerbjorn said:
Sounds like you did pretty much everything right — I always knead it until it feels like soft Blu-tac but it shouldn't have made too much difference.

Maybe having cleaned it, you've just made the scratches visible...

Best thing to do is try some proper polish rather than SRP which is more of a filler. If the scratches aren't going away with a hand polish it might be time for a machine polish.
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Thanks, any recommendations for a proper polish?
 
Discovered that RainX makes defrosting a whole load easier in the morning, chuck a jug of tepid water over the windscreen, get in, drive off.
 
PiKe said:
Discovered that RainX makes defrosting a whole load easier in the morning, chuck a jug of tepid water over the windscreen, get in, drive off.
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Which is the same without RainX.. if you're brave enough to throw water on your windscreen :confused:
 
I used RainX on my previous car. I found it worked well at high speeds, as the water easily ran off, but when at low speeds and I wanted to use the wipers, it just smeared really badly.
 
Whoever recommended Zaino Z10 is genius.

I applied some this morning for the first time and indeed the smell is addictive. It didn't restore any suppleness in my leather though but I find standard E46 leather to be quite hard anyway whether it's old or new so I guess the restoration properties apply to softer leathers out there.

It leaves a nice lustre to the leather though and the smell is just amazing.
 
Lul, not washed my car for a good couple of months now :p It's a bit of a heap anyway.

Wash the Starlet GT Turbo tho, even if its on axlestands and isn't even running :o
 
The black leather in my BMW is looking shiny and just a bit "old" and i was wondering if there’s a particular product that will get it looking a bit "newer"

If you look at the back of the head rests for example these have a nice matt finish which i what i want on the rest of the car :p
 
Try Zaino Z10, it won't make a major difference but enough to freshen it up looks and feel wise.

And then there's the smell.


Oh god the smell is amazing!
 
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