*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

[Crizzy]

Civic looks great, shame they didn't do the FN2 type R in that colour, looks really good.

 

[SPARC]

My EP3 is the same age and when I give it a good clean it just shows up all the stone chips in the front bumper

Ditto for my EP2

Your neighbours must think your a right mentalist rjkoneil. I grudge checking tyre pressures in weather like that never mind having my hands in water.

 

[AndrewNR]

My EP3 is the same age and when I give it a good clean it just shows up all the stone chips in the front bumper

Same here, pretty depressing to go through the process of cleaning it etc and then looking at a dartboard of a front bumper/bonnet.

 

[Blackhawk47]

Looking good rjkoneill...must have been freezing.

Guessing your driveway will be like sheet ice tomorrow morning though.

 

[rjk]

The neighbourhood thinks im mental. It needed doing tbh, been putting it off for far too long.
Trick is to use warm water in the buckets

Soon work up some body heat polishing and waxing.
I enjoyed the fresh air tbh, I only got asked "can you do mine when you're finished", 5 times today...
My standard reply is yes, for £60

 

[Clarkey]

Trick is to use warm water in the buckets

This is a trick? People use cold water to wash cars?

 

[celliott]

Didn't you have any problems with the wax at those temps? I always thought temperature needed to be at least 10c or so for it to cure properly.

Looks good though!

 

[G-MAN2004]

This is a trick? People use cold water to wash cars?

Erm, yes?

 

[Rexxar]

Some very very clean cars in here, 250 miles of gritted motorway and my freshly cleaned car is ... grey

 

[mrk]

After 2 months and 2 weeks~ my car is clean (on the outside), I am now sleeping better at night.

That being said, I was surprised at the lack of heavy dirt given the length of time that has passed, it was like a thin layer only and the half/half difference on one side of the bonnet wasn't blindingly obvious.

A fresh coat of 476s in the Spring is needed, the sheeting has gone a bit weaker.

 

[scaza]

Although I'm not brave enough to crack out the wax on my car, I have just watched my younger brother clean and polish the metal runners on his wooden sledge. Wirebrush, Scotchbrite, 1000 grade emery, AG SRP and left with AG HD wax on. Says he's going to put some AG clay lubricant on it tomorrow.

I'll need to stock up again in summer at this rate!

 

[Voxination]

As per the 50% off deal I posted, got a nice little package today...

Lone watsit managed to stay!

Now just for some better weather to give the car a proper going over

 

[PiKe]

Can anyone recommend a snowfoam that will get rid a lot of the road grime without touching the paint work? My car is currently black from road dirt/salt and I want to remove most of it before I use my wash mitt.

Edit: Can't find Actimousse anywhere?

 

[pinkaardvark]

New car, new wash regime req'd

Been an age since posting on here

Anyways, New car arrives in a week or so and i'm keen to improve my wash regime and also protect the paint from new as much as possible. I've until this point been an occasional washer with bucket and hose and chamois dry if I really can be bothered. That's not to say that I don't have a agarage full of unused autoglym products lol.

Car is a Galena Grey Pearl(mid grey) Citroen DS5 and ideally i'm looking for a paint protection system I can apply from day 1. I won't be paying for diamondbrite

Then I hope I can get some advice towards a maintenance regime.

i don't mind spending the £250 or so a diamondbrite application would cost from a dealer, so multiple buckets and a snow foam lance etc can be considered.

Any help would be greatly received as i'm at a loss on product selection and what is best/easiest.

Cheers

 

["andy"]

First of all id read some of the car washing guides on detailing world

The knowledge those guides give will help you far more than the products you buy

 

[Greboth]

I agree look over at detailingworld for product reviews and a lot of info. The best option from what you said though would be a sealant (instead of a wax) as they last a long time - I have seen some people on detailing world commenting on getting over 1 year between applications.

In terms of cost I have found that most money is spent on stuff for the big cleans - things like clay bars, Tar and Fall out removers etc as these are things that are done once or twice a year. Once wheels and body are protected just for a regular wash you really only need car shampoo, wash mit, wheel brush and 2 buckets.

As for product selection, what AutoGlym ones do you have? no point buying duplicate ones when the AG ones can be used.

 

[pepsilol]

My phiosophy nowadays is screw the wax and up the concentration on my actimousse for snow foam.

Foam on, blast off and the car comes out perfectly fine, spray some aquawax on the end it looks great for a touchless wash.

Infact, I've been doing this for pretty much 2 years now, I rarely get the buckets out as I CBA.

 

[p1RATE]

I can not believe anyone is thinking about washing their car when its this cold outside!! my car is in an absolute state because of it

 

[pepsilol]

See that's the advantage, you don't get cold or wet spraying some foam on your car and rinsing it off!

 

[pinkaardvark]

The car is brand new hence my wanting specific info on sealing etc. I do have stuff like super resin polish but I was looking at something to start with on brand new factory paint.