*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Old £40 Karcher Pressure Washer died on me....so I splashed out on a new unit and some other kit.

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Nilfisk 150.2-10 'X-Tra' Pressure
And goodies from Autobrite - Snow Foamer in particular.....always wanted a play with one of them :D

The Nilfisk is basically the top end domestic unit from them which is just below professional and classed as 'semi-pro'. ~2000PSI pressure and is an absolutely fantastic unit. I did a mountain of reading, reviews both consumer and review sites and eventually settled on this unit.

Came with power adjustable standard 'fan' pattern nozzle and an orbital cleaning nozzle. On-board detergent tank (Dial on front adjusts detergent inclusion from none to max). Reel based armoured hose (10 metres) which is so useful and gives lovely reach. On my old karcher the comparatively tiny 2 metres hose meant you ad to drag the unit around with you.

All the kit can be housed/latched into the unit itself which weighs a TONNE! :D

Not the cheapest, ran me £245 Ex-Vat but after using cheap units before it's a total step-up in power and features.

The snow foamer works as advertised and does a much better job and getting crap off the car than I would have expected. All in all a little pricey all in but some proper kit to play with :D
 
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Cant save the guy above but if anyone wants to buy these large volume "detailing" buckets dont buy them from detailing companies, the markup is insane.

Wickes do a 30L plasterers bucket which is ideal for a grit guard for only £5.49 and you can get a grit guard (Scratchshield) off ebay for £5 delivered.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/103976

Another option is http://www.ampulla.co.uk who do a 20.5L bucket with lid for around £4 + delivery and a 25L bucket for around £6 + delivery. Delivery works out to £2 a bucket if you buy three (Wash/Rinse/Wheels).

20.5L
http://www.ampulla.co.uk/Plastic-Bu...c-Bucket-with-Metal-Handle-and-Lid/p-113-439/
25L
http://www.ampulla.co.uk/Plastic-Bu...-with-Metal-Handle-and-Lid---White/p-113-436/

And if you really want the fancy stickers, you can get a set of three on ebay for about £4!

Full set of 3 buckets with grit guards seems to run £60 plus delivery at this detailing companies...
 
Hi all,

I am looking for help with some rather resilient bug splats.

On return from a large weekend away in the car I noticed some bug splats on the front of my car.

I have no access to a hose, so I use a good quality waterless car wash (eco something) to clean the car. They didn't come off in that, so I bought some Autoglym Active Insect Remover.

Unfortunately they didn't (completely) come off with 2 applications of that either. :(

There are very small now, and only visible to the naked eye from within a foot with the car perfectly clean....but I really want to keep the paint in good condition, and it is bothering me!!!

Any tips? Would a clay bar be effective?

I am wondering if they are even bug splats or something else (tar?).
 
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Definitely one of these the EP801, check it out on DW forums. Spot on for the money...

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/cleanyoucar-ep801-compact-rotary-polisher/ep801-compact-rotary-polisher/prod_854.html


Gambisk said:
Hello, I've started to get into cleaning my car properly this past year, I wouldn't call it detailing just yet but its getting there. Anyway I think I'm getting to the point where a good machine polisher would be very helpful. Last week I washed the car with 2BM, Clayed it, treated it to some poorboys black hole by hand, then 2 coats of nattys red by hand, then a quick clean of the wheels and tyres. This took the best part of 3 hours and at the end my arms and shoulders where aching.

So what is a good machine polisher to get? Ideally I need a machine, pads and could do with some good polish both a high and low grit as some numpty has left some nice marks on my rear wheel arch in car park and I'd like to try and polish them out as best I can instead of calling the mobile paint shop out.

My budget is about £100 for the machine at the moment and can hopefully pick up some more pads down the line, obviously if I can get a cheaper machine and more accessories then that would be great.
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Sonea Fifer said:
If this is the case then perhaps some Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover would do the trick?
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Had another look last night and on second thoughts I dont think it is tar. (Sorry for the red herring :p ).

After doing some youtube research last night, saw a few methods which I'll try at the weekend since the weather looks good:

- WD40
- Dryer towels (this is an interesting one, anyone else tried it?)
- Ive got a Kent "bug sponge" with cloth gauze on it. I'll try loosening the bugs with the Autoglym stuff then give this a go.

Hopefully one of those 3 will work.
 
Did my first car clean! I lived in a flat for years, with no easy way to clean the car, so I used a trusted "hand wash" service now and then.
Now I moved into a house with my own drive etc, so I bought car cleaning stuff before I finished unpacking all the boxes :-)

Anyway, I first pressure washed the dirt off, used some foamy shampoo (karcher shampoo small container + halford shampoo solution), then two-bucketed it, rinced it, dried it, and turtle-waxed it.
Exhausted now. Next car I buy will be SMALL :-)

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Full thread coming soon but I'm just going to leave these here for now :)

This was my 2014 V8S F-Type, paint was in awful condition from the dealer.

Before
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After paint correction
t0sd.jpg

rciu.jpg
 
Nice finish. More pics needed :D

Looks like the dealers/supply chain have used an old sponge to clean it on its travels.
 
-Mike- said:
Guys :

After some suggestions of what I can use to make my nice faded grey trim black again?

Thank you
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Auto Finesse Revive if you don't mind doing it every few months, Gtechniq C4 if you want it to last a year +. Gtechniq is quite expensive though for the amount you get.
 
Could someone please recommend a product for cleaning the inside of a windscreen please?

I stupidly used one of those de-mister pads and now I have smear marks all over :(
 
sigma said:
Could someone please recommend a product for cleaning the inside of a windscreen please?

I stupidly used one of those de-mister pads and now I have smear marks all over :(
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I was looking for this thread to say the exact same thing!
 
After trying many glass cleaners and polishes, I've actually settled on Armorall Glass Wipes. Easy to use and leave no residue or streaks and I can keep the tube in the boot with no fuss.
 
One of the Amazon reviews says "Absolute waste of money, left glass all streaked and worse than when I started, would not purchase again, just no good" :-s

The most annoying thing is that I've managed to resist using a pad up until now but I thought there was some fluff stuck to the window and that it had be blown out of the heater vents but after de-misting it was still there and it was actually on the outside (obviously had used windscreen wipers on the go as well) so not only did I smear the **** out of the window but I failed to remove the fluff! Fail.
 
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