*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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So anyone got any tips / tricks for cleaning the wheels?

It seems I spend more time cleaning each wheel than the rest of the bodywork put together!

It seems that any sort of sealint afterwards is pointless as it gets stripped off next wash anyway and doesnt do a job good enough to allow for a sponge-clean even after a week.
 
oHUTCHYo said:
Going to remove the Scoobyclinic stickers etc. today, thankfully they are on the outside of the windows.

Any tips on how to get them off easily?
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For glass I have heard using a rasor blade works well though never had to do it. You will most probably some glue remover too go remove any remaining residue.

kindai said:
So anyone got any tips / tricks for cleaning the wheels?

It seems I spend more time cleaning each wheel than the rest of the bodywork put together!

It seems that any sort of sealint afterwards is pointless as it gets stripped off next wash anyway and doesnt do a job good enough to allow for a sponge-clean even after a week.
Click to expand...

I use poorboys wheel sealant and at worst get 3 months out of it. Some of the proper sealants like gtechniq are supposedly good for a year if not more. What sealant are you using? What are you washing them with to strip the sealants in one wash?

My process goes two or three times a year clean with Bilberry wheel cleaner, tardis and iron x then seal them. Then for the few months I spray the wheels with pre wash as I do the body of the car then pressure wash it off. Usually spotless by the point but if really filthy then clean it up with a few brushes. After between about 4-6 months sealant starts to fail then clean them with a weak bilberry mix (about 10:1). Once they get to this point though I will reapply the sealant when I can.
 
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Greboth said:
I use poorboys wheel sealant and at worst get 3 months out of it. Some of the proper sealants like gtechniq are supposedly good for a year if not more. What sealant are you using? What are you washing them with to strip the sealants in one wash?

My process goes two or three times a year clean with Bilberry wheel cleaner, tardis and iron x then seal them. Then for the few months I spray the wheels with pre wash as I do the body of the car then pressure wash it off. Usually spotless by the point but if really filthy then clean it up with a few brushes. After between about 4-6 months sealant starts to fail then clean them with a weak bilberry mix (about 10:1). Once they get to this point though I will reapply the sealant when I can.
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Using AG clean wheels + a brush, tried a couple of sealants, but yea, none of them seem to make the next wash "easier" as they claim.

Will be having all 4 wheels off in a few weeks time as im getting my discs / brakes replaced and having the calipers touched up, so at this time im willing to go a little crazy and go for whatever is going to make cleaning them easiest!
 
Hi all -

Thought I'd share the my first go with the DAS6pro and the hex logic / menz combo often talked about. I managed to remove all the swirls but some deeper scratches remain. I'll need something with more cut than the green pad & 203s for that but thought I'd leave that for another day and just try and enhance the current look.

Started off on a wet Saturday morning, not too much dirt since its last clean:

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Bit of beading left from revive:

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Started by attacking the wheels, they still had some C2V3 protection - pre pressure wash:

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After:

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Decided to go for Hot Wheels to get most of the grime off:

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Agitated:

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After:

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Finally went with Iron-X & Tar-X t remove the last stubborn bits:

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With the wheels done I gave the car a quick spray of RDS and rinse down to remove some of the surface dirt:

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Rinsed and followed by the obligatory shots of snowfoam (VP Advanced Neutral)

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Detailing brush on some of the harder to reach areas:

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This was followed by a rinse, clean with meguiars washmitt (top half of the car), blue noodle mitt for lower half and door shuts, then a yellow noodle mitt for sills etc.

After that the car was covered with Iron-x & Tar-x, pictures are pointless of this with a black car though...

Finally clayed with the soft bilt hamber clay and born to be mild shampoo & water as lube, nothing really picked up since its last clay:

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It was then rinsed and dried with a purple monster drying towel. After than, I started to assess the condition of the paint. Have to admit, I was particularly crap at taking pictures whilst trying to hold the light source, something to practise in the future... As a result I only have a couple of before shots, these were taken with some halogens and LED torch:

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After some passes:

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The sun made a very brief appearance on the roof, so took some images of half of it done showing a fair difference:

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Paint & alloys were then protected with C2V3, trims dressed with revive, tyres with satin & exhaust with autosol:

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And some various finished shots - still waiting for the sun to come back...

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Hope you all like the photos - cheers
 
Tauren said:
that would be excellent, before i order anything! :D cheers!
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Tried it all out today. The pump I bought was a Kingfisher "5L Pump Action Pressure Sprayer - use with water, fertilizer or pesticides" and we filled it half with Auto Finesse Citrus Power, and the rest with water. The bleed valve on the pump threw a bit of a wobly at the beginning, but after re fitting the washer inside of it all was good.

The combo was rather awesome, the sprayer has a 45 degree kink in the very end by the (adjustable) nozzle so you can easily get in to wheel arches, and with it full up very few pumps are required to get the pressure you need. For the money you really can't complain, it will never beat anything by the likes of Marolex, but its 1/5 of the price and good enough for occasional use.

The Citrus Power was amazing as expected. Diluted 1:1 it shifted the majority of a weeks worth of road grime with just a jet wash off, and took out some more stubborn mold after agitation with a brush.

Now I need to resist buying the same combo for myself...
 
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Quick job for a friend of mine, he bought it about 8 months ago - and has been having it washed at a £5 hand wash every week ... it looked a total state already!

Annoyingly I totally forgot to take any before pictures, but basically it had swirl marks all over it already. Gave it a usual wash and clay before ending up lightly running over the whole thing with a DA. It was pretty light swirling so managed to get it out with only 1-2 passes of a finishing compound (Sonax, err whatever was to hand!) and light cutting pad (Chemical guys hex white). Then wax (collinite 476) and QD (Megs ultimate finish) :)

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Unfortunately he lives somewhere he absolutely can't wash his own car so really need to find a decent local place for him to get it washed!
 
Greboth said:
For glass I have heard using a rasor blade works well though never had to do it. You will most probably some glue remover too go remove any remaining residue.



I use poorboys wheel sealant and at worst get 3 months out of it. Some of the proper sealants like gtechniq are supposedly good for a year if not more. What sealant are you using? What are you washing them with to strip the sealants in one wash?

My process goes two or three times a year clean with Bilberry wheel cleaner, tardis and iron x then seal them. Then for the few months I spray the wheels with pre wash as I do the body of the car then pressure wash it off. Usually spotless by the point but if really filthy then clean it up with a few brushes. After between about 4-6 months sealant starts to fail then clean them with a weak bilberry mix (about 10:1). Once they get to this point though I will reapply the sealant when I can.
Click to expand...

So after much googling, when the wheels are off im going to be getting some opti-coat 2.0. Seems like its the best stuff, will last forever and will allow use of "harsh" cleaners aswell without stripping the stuff off.
 
Rather than start my own thread I'll ask here first..

Can someone recommend a leather treatment for black E46 seats? I've got the usual wear on the drivers side and would like to get them back to looking new.
 
RedTen said:
Rather than start my own thread I'll ask here first..

Can someone recommend a leather treatment for black E46 seats? I've got the usual wear on the drivers side and would like to get them back to looking new.
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As Atari says the scuffmaster kit is pretty good. I've used it to cover the wear on the drivers seat bolster and it's done an OK job for the little effort I put in, now summer is here it will be done properly, but can still recommend it.
 
That's an incredible before and after shot... the cream seats on mine are horribly dirty so I think I'll get a hold of the scuffmaster kit too. The back seats almost haven't been sat in and they have such a wonderful clean look to them.

edit: It's the opposite seat that's why it's so different. :p
 
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Oh good god, I just noticed that too, how I missed that is beyond me. :p

Here's another one from the testimonials thread at E36Coupe :)

 
The only thing that concerns me with the scuffmaster is the various colours and matching.

Edit - Read further and saw this "BMW blacks, we send out the darkest, you can alter with the toners in the 65ml kit." Should be fine then.
 
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lol when I saw the first pics I was like "wow.... it even coloured in the M power fabric.... AMAZING!!!" :p

second set is awesome though!!!!
 
Autosol on a microfibre cloth (Don't use wire wool on the trim as it'll leave small scratches), alternatively the Meguiars metal polish gets good reviews too and is slightly less messy as it's a paste not a liquid.

Both should be available from Halfords if you need it sharpish :)
 
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