*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Guys,

The Mag's Bug and Tar Remover and the Mag's Clay Bar Kit did the trick!!! :)

Spent 4hrs cleaning the car today as it was a lush day.
Washed it, died it, used the Mag's bug and tar remover pretty much the entire lower section of the car as there was so much bugs and tar spots on it. Mag's got rid of around 50/60% of the muck.
Then clay bar'ed it removing a fair bit. There are still some spots left but they are not really noticeable now. I would say 90% of the dirt is now removed! I'm sure the remainder will come off the next time i spend another 4hrs on it!

Really cant believe i never clay bared the car before! It is amazing at removing tar spots and dirt spots which have been on the car for months and months! They just wouldn't come off in the wash and with rubbing with a terry towel but the clay bar was effortless in taking them off!!

There was so much muck that i had to throw the clay bar away. Am going to order a few more and will be doing this a lot more now.

Finished off by waxing the entire car to provide protection against further bugs and tar. Car really looks awesome now and the shine is unreal!!

Many thanks for the tips guys!
 
tummelv said:
They don't usually look so white as they are in this pic but they're definitely not the solid black they should be. More of a dull grey.

J8Psu.jpg
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When they're that bad, using products are only a temporary solution. You need to get some heat on there from the likes of a hair drier.

Obviously you need to take care, paint and plastics won't like lots of heat. Gentle blowing with a medium heat will restore them back a lot. Then you can improve that look with a product afterwards.

Edit -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-UPsfvhmTc
 
As the weathers nice I've started washing the car myself again. Current routine is for the exterior is:

Wash with Autoglym Shampoo
Dry
Polish with Autoglym Super Resin Polish
Tyre Black the tyres.

and that's it. I have Zymol polish also, but it leaves very powdery finish.

I'm thinking of adding a clay bar into the mix and getting a snow lance attachment for the Karcher pressure washer.

Is there anything else anyone can add? What more could / should I be doing?

Going from a black to silver car has made washing the car a little less rewarding. On the plus side the car looks cleaner for longer. I've had a number of people saying my car looks clean when I haven't washed it in a month or so!
 
TS7 said:
As the weathers nice I've started washing the car myself again. Current routine is for the exterior is:

Wash with Autoglym Shampoo
Dry
Polish with Autoglym Super Resin Polish
Tyre Black the tyres.

and that's it. I have Zymol polish also, but it leaves very powdery finish.

I'm thinking of adding a clay bar into the mix and getting a snow lance attachment for the Karcher pressure washer.

Is there anything else anyone can add? What more could / should I be doing?

Going from a black to silver car has made washing the car a little less rewarding. On the plus side the car looks cleaner for longer. I've had a number of people saying my car looks clean when I haven't washed it in a month or so!
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Bilberry wheel cleaner! :)
 
TS7 said:
As the weathers nice I've started washing the car myself again. Current routine is for the exterior is:

Wash with Autoglym Shampoo
Dry
Polish with Autoglym Super Resin Polish
Tyre Black the tyres.

and that's it. I have Zymol polish also, but it leaves very powdery finish.

I'm thinking of adding a clay bar into the mix and getting a snow lance attachment for the Karcher pressure washer.

Is there anything else anyone can add? What more could / should I be doing?

Going from a black to silver car has made washing the car a little less rewarding. On the plus side the car looks cleaner for longer. I've had a number of people saying my car looks clean when I haven't washed it in a month or so!
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My routine is as follows, see if there's anything you're missing/doing differently :)

Rinse
Wash with AG shampoo
Rinse
Dry
Clay*
Polish*
Wax*
Detail spray
Clean wheels with AG wheel cleaner
Rinse + Dry wheels
Seal wheels with AG wheel sealent (Only recently started doing this)
AG Tyre dressing
AG glass polish windows in and out
AG Vinyl & Rubber care on all seals around doors/windows

* is things which are every 3-4 months..
 
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Thanks for that - any recommendations as to which wax to use? Never used wax before.

Going to get some Glass polish as well. Cannot stand dirty windows, the current one isn't properly getting rid of the water marks embedded onto the windscreen.
 
Meguiar's Smooth Surface Replacement Clay Bar £8.42
Am I looking at the right thing or is there a differnet pack I need to be getting?

It's on amazon but it doesnt say how much of the clay there is and I don't want to be buying a piddly little amount when I coudl get a proper sized (??) block

Brother has advised Autoglym High Definition Wax, erm Im not paying that much lol.
Mate advised some Mirror image for polish anyone used it or am I better off using the 3 for 2 and grabbing a few AG bits at halfrauds?
 
Twice if you have a car with lightweight paintwork, once if it's a German car I guess :p

I do mine once and it's all buttery year round.
 
lmfy2k said:
you don't need to clay every 3-4 months, twice a year is sufficient imo

as for clay go for the Bilt Hamber Auto Clay (http://www.bilthamber.com/pro-introduction.php?cname=Clays, Wax :: Polish&name=auto-clay soft)
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THIS
i have used this clay, i have a block of soft and a block of medium. it really is good and the blocks are massive and will last ages.

i also only clay twice a year, once arround now and again just before winter when i apply a longer lasting wax to see me through the winter weather,
 
£15-20 on that autoclay

am I looking in the wrong places lol

EDIT: Halfords have the meguirs one 9.99 (50g) and its in the 3 for 2?

EDIT: which autoclay? soft or normal? (which is easiest as Ive no clue what Im doing :p)
 
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~Divine~Wind~ said:
£15-20 on that autoclay

am I looking in the wrong places lol

EDIT: Halfords have the meguirs one 9.99 (50g) and its in the 3 for 2?

EDIT: which autoclay? soft or normal? (which is easiest as Ive no clue what Im doing :p)
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Whatever you get is going to be a revelation for you, it really doesn't matter at this stage. If you get properly into detailing and want loads of stuff then you could try others out.

That Megs clay is what comes in their kit with detailer and stuff which is what I used the first time I did mine. Worked wonders.

Though that one you talk about is 50g for £9.99, on CYC you can get 240g of their own stuff which will do just as good a job for just £12.95. http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/detailing-clay/cleanyourcar-fine-polyclay-240g-/prod_367.html
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
£15-20 on that autoclay

am I looking in the wrong places lol

EDIT: Halfords have the meguirs one 9.99 (50g) and its in the 3 for 2?

EDIT: which autoclay? soft or normal? (which is easiest as Ive no clue what Im doing :p)
Click to expand...

£11.94 delivered for the BH Soft on auction site mate
 
lmfy2k said:
£11.94 delivered for the BH Soft on auction site mate
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yep even from the Bilt-Hamber Laboratories website its £13.90 delivered for 200g
i would try the soft first as i found the medium a little to hard,
i found the soft did the job well and was very easy to use especially for my first time.
just dont do what my mate did, and try to re-use it after he had dropped it, put a massive scratch up the wing.
"if you drop it, bin it"
 
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