*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

[Blackhawk47]

I miss my old house where I used to have a tap in the garage. So I could just pull the hose out from there and not make any mess.

Now though I have to trail it about 30ft from back of house to the driveway.

 

[phil675]

It's annoying when you move the hose mere inches, the water stops flowing and you have to go on a kink-hunt.

 

[Raymond Lin]

The first time I clay my car, instead of turning off the hose in the tap in the kitchen I simply put it on lock on the trigger gun. Blissfully, unknowingly that the the attachment of the hose at the tap can't hold the pressure (it seems to be the weakest point) and water sprayed everywhere. All the while I spent 45 mins claying outside. Came in the kitchen afterwards it had flooded the kitchen in an inch deep of water.

The spray was spraying up and to the side, everywhere but down into the sink, no only water all over the floor, some seeped into the adjecent living room, some got into drawers (!), it had also sprayed on the control box for the gas central heating boiler!

So after mopping it up, I had to pay a gas man/electrician to come and replace the control box at the cost of £100.

That was one expensive session of car cleaning.

So, from then on, any kink in the hose I get scared about water spraying in the tap and I put a towel over the tap now so if it does leak and spray, the towel would cover and stop it.

 

[Blackhawk47]

Found a video of the guy that uses flash to clean his car.

 

[MORE SPEED]

Looking at buying some stuff to clean our Panther Black Mondeo. Hasn't had a proper clean in about 50000 miles, and a wash in about 10000 miles I guess

Don't really have much at the moment apart from two buckets, so thinking of:

Meguiars Lambswool Wash Mitt
Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo
Collinite 476s
Carlack 68
Applicator Pads
Microfibre buffing towels
Microfibre Drying Towel
Bilt Hamber Clay Bar

Is this the best order to do it in bearing in mind, it is in a right state at the moment with tar etc:

rinse>wash>rinse>AG Tar Remover>clay>rinse>wash>dry>CL68>476s>476s

I'll upload a couple of pics tomorrow to show how bad it is.

Any other better suggestions would be great.

 

[Howard]

Tardis but you're limited in where you can get it from.

Thanks, will get hold of some, it looks like it'll do the trick. Plenty of online places seem to sell it

The usage instructions say to discard the cloth you've used once you've covered each panel on the car.. Is that really necessary? Seems like a bit of a waste.

 

[Neil777]

Thanks, will get hold of some, it looks like it'll do the trick. Plenty of online places seem to sell it

The usage instructions say to discard the cloth you've used once you've covered each panel on the car.. Is that really necessary? Seems like a bit of a waste.

Yeah, it's not likely to go down well putting a tar covered cloth in the washing machine.

 

[Blackhawk47]

MORESPEED, I am assuming out of that list you already have buckets for car washing and not going to use the kitchen sink.

 

[MORE SPEED]

MORESPEED, I am assuming out of that list you already have buckets for car washing and not going to use the kitchen sink.

Hehe, yeah got two buckets already

I'm thinking I might switch the carlack 68 for AG SRP, as there are lots of swirls in the paint.

 

[Maccy]

Just finished a long cleaning session, weather was perfect - fairly warm but cloudy.
Cracked out the EGP after clawing last week, forgot how much of a pain it is to buff out!!

 

[Howard]

Yeah, it's not likely to go down well putting a tar covered cloth in the washing machine.

I don't wash all my 'detailing' cloths after one use...






... Does everyone else?

 

[Princey]

I never wash them, just buy more. =/

 

[shauncr91]

I don't wash all my 'detailing' cloths after one use...






... Does everyone else?

Anything used for dirty jobs like wheels and engine etc gets washed often more than once, things like glass and cloths used to buff wax off get used a couple of times before washing.

Picked up some Autosol yesterday and cleaned my exhaust with it, it had black spots inside which I couldn't get off with anything but Autosol brought it up perfectly

 

[Blackhawk47]

I wash near enough everything after washing except if I have cleaned the glass etc, I use that MF again.

Sponge, drying towel etc all goes in on a 40c wash and then a spin if it needs it.

 

[Neil777]

I don't wash all my 'detailing' cloths after one use...






... Does everyone else?

I was more making the point that I wouldn't put any cloth that had been used to wipe up tar into the washing machine.

As long as you haven't been driving down a freshly laid road you should get a few uses from a cloth before binning it though.

 

[Goose]

For those that use SRP how long do you spend working it into a given area?

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Looking for some advice on cleaning a Boxster roof.

Parents is looking very tired, appears to be some sort of green stuff growing/taking hold at the sides...
What products are good for deep cleaning fabric roofs. Would ideally like to spend some time on this, are there products to condition and prolong the life of the roof also?

Simple answer will be "Google it", but I know there are a few folks on here with softtops, anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Edit: Figured I'd gamble on the Autoglym Fabric hood maintenance kit, hopefully sorts the mess out!

 

[MORE SPEED]

For a first ever claying of a 7 year old car, would I be better off with the regular Bilt Hamber or soft/medium?

 

[Conscript]

Just gave the car a quick wash and have decided to bin my Meguiars wash mitt. Its looking so threadbare and just giving it a quick shake you can watch threads come out. Getting annoyed with it leaving wool all over the car :/

Think I'll buy a decent micro fibre mitt for next time.

 

[rexehuk]

Why is there a barnacle living on your car?

KILL IT WITH FIRE.