*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Crappy phone shot, only had Autoglym HD wax or banana armour wax knocking around so went with the Autogylm.

3wYpj4X.jpg


(foam, wash, clay mitt, wash, wax, pretty easy going on a new car :))
 
I'm thinking of getting the car professionally valeted and detailed and then keeping on top of this via various methods mentioned in this thread?

Is that sound or a daft plan?
 
Ricochet J said:
I'm thinking of getting the car professionally valeted and detailed and then keeping on top of this via various methods mentioned in this thread?

Is that sound or a daft plan?
Click to expand...

Good plan but a really good detailer tends to be quite expensive. Depending on what the car needs doing. Paint correction etc
 
chroniclard said:
Good plan but a really good detailer tends to be quite expensive. Depending on what the car needs doing. Paint correction etc
Click to expand...

It's just a Megane Coupe :p

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what I want. I want the car to look great, but at the same time it's no Lamborghini Huracan and probably doesn't justify the level of detail I want.

I don't want to spend £1000 on detailing the car when it's worth £5000 on the used market, for what is an average car.
 
Hi guys, I'm an absolute noob to car cleaning/detailing... Any tips for what products I should use / what order to clean effectively? E.g. Which car wash, wax, polish etc

I have a '13 plate Astra in titanium grey if it matters.

I've seen tons of brands here mentioned. Autoglym, Meguair's, Collinite, Gtechniq...

I want to get the Windows sorted too, Gtechniq G1 / Autoglym fast glass?
 
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Ricochet J said:
It's just a Megane Coupe :p

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what I want. I want the car to look great, but at the same time it's no Lamborghini Huracan and probably doesn't justify the level of detail I want.

I don't want to spend £1000 on detailing the car when it's worth £5000 on the used market, for what is an average car.
Click to expand...

Any detailers local to you? Won't be anywhere near a grand, most pros have a varying price list depending on what you require.
 
Ricochet J said:
It's just a Megane Coupe :p

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what I want. I want the car to look great, but at the same time it's no Lamborghini Huracan and probably doesn't justify the level of detail I want.

I don't want to spend £1000 on detailing the car when it's worth £5000 on the used market, for what is an average car.
Click to expand...

Yeah well not that expensive. :) Meant more like a couple of hundred for a decent detail, bit more if any paint correction is required.
 
Think I'm leaning towards bilt hamber due to it being 1l

Also I've come across dragon's breath and gtechniq w6 has anyone used these? Definitely no shortage of options!
 
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dacads said:
Think I'm leaning towards bilt hamber due to it being 1l

Also I've come across dragon's breath and gtechniq w6 has anyone used these? Definitely no shortage of options!
Click to expand...

Sonax Xtreme Wheel Cleaner is decent as was said above, but I have switched to BH because you're right - it's practically the same but twice as much product for the money. All the BH stuff is good, same with Sonax really but the extra product for the price swings it for me. Plus BH is a proper British lab-based industry so it's always nice to support "local" businesses.

My wife and kids bought me some extra bits for Father's Day to go with my K2 pressure washer, foam lance and other 'bits and pieces' (read: I need an outhouse to store everything).



Winning. :)

ETA: Does anyone else find that BSD is excellent at attracting dust? The beading is insane, but I always find the whole car gets dusty and full of pollen way faster than with C2v3, for example. Even the wheels get covered in a dark layer of brake dust. Granted it 'floats' rather than bonding to the paint, same as the dust on the paintwork, but it looks awful. Just C2v3 doesn't seem to attract it so fast, and can go a week or two before it looks anything like BSD after just a day or so. I'm in a very urban area with a lot of trees, so that won't help. But am I alone in seeing this? I have a few litres of BSD but I can't bring myself to use it again in anticipation of a really dusty car. :/ I considered a hybrid wax like BH DSW or FK1000p but they're even worse for attracting dust apparently. So it looks like I'm stuck with C2v3 unless someone has any bright ideas?
 
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Thanks it's what I'll probably go with then.

I've noticed dust as well but maybe that's because I was just paying more attention? Wiped off with a MF cloth anyway.
 
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Has anyone had much experience with ScratchX? Picked up a couple of scratches in the top coat on my new car from my watch when opening a door (No longer wearing the watch). I tried polishing out but the only machine I had is a cheap 12v one that doesn't have the power to actually cut. I used some Gtechniq P1 which is quite agressive and the it has certainly made it less visible but its there. I can't decide between just going full out and buying a DA with pads etc or trying a product like ScratchX. The DA would at least let me do the whole car but then again I don't want to go too OTT.

Car is less than 3 weeks old so want to keep it perfect for as long as possible.
 
So I spent some time yesterday giving all my windows a good clean and applying RainX.

Just as it did last time, it works perfectly on the side and rear window, all the water just slides off. All it's done to the windscreen is stop the wipers from working.
 
Antony101 said:
So I spent some time yesterday giving all my windows a good clean and applying RainX.

Just as it did last time, it works perfectly on the side and rear window, all the water just slides off. All it's done to the windscreen is stop the wipers from working.
Click to expand...

Never really been a fan of RainX myself. Used it a couple times, and all I got was streaky glass. So binned the rest of the bottle.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So since buying my Alhambra in October, I don't think I have barely touched it. The occasional snow foam, and the occasional trip to the Polish car wash. It's basically the work-horse, so not really bothered with it.

However, last trip offshore one of my colleagues is a semi-professional detailer. So I was speaking to him about all sorts of stuff. And he persuaded me to try a sealant for longer lasting protection. So when I came home, it proceeded to rain for a week or so non-stop (sorry guys). Anyway, I decided to order some sealant regardless, and went for some MENZERNA POWER LOCK ULTIMATE PROTECTION.

So, with that in hand, there was no point in just snow-foaming the motor and applying that. So I gave it more of a deep clean.

1. Pre-hose down without chemical, just pressure.
2. Snow-Foam
3. 2 Bucket Method wash with some Turtle Wax car shampoo stuff I have lying around.
3. Autosmart Tardis
4. Pressure Wash
5. Clay Bar
7. Menzerna PF 2500 using Meguire G220 v2 DA. Not quite sure what pad it is, it's black is all I can tell, lol. In all fairness, I bought it a few years ago, bought some pads, and polish, and used it once. Then it sat in it's box in the garage since. Well, apart from once when I was polishing headlights. Lazy bugger.

So, that's where I got to currently. Unfortunately with a wife and kids I don't really get left alone much to just get on with stuff like this. So it's been an hour here, and an hour there. Over the last 2-3 days. Just to get to this point.

Hopefully manage to finish the polishing tonight. And if I'm really lucky, I'll maybe get the sealant on too. With a plan to stick a final layer of wax on in the morning, and treat the windows to some Gtechniq G1 ClearVision Smart Glass I have lying around.

Also, the wheels are back from the powdercoaters, so have some poorboys wheel sealant for them to be applied tomorrow too before they go on the car.

All this work for a daily use people carrier. I must be mad. Especially when the 5 series is sitting there unloved.
 
Antony101 said:
So I spent some time yesterday giving all my windows a good clean and applying RainX.

Just as it did last time, it works perfectly on the side and rear window, all the water just slides off. All it's done to the windscreen is stop the wipers from working.
Click to expand...

I had good results the first time I used Rain X but having topped up since it's not as effective. Most recently in fine rain it just causes a fine mist to sit on the glass, and putting the wipers on causes them to judder over the glass.

I noticed in super bright conditions like direct sunlight with slight dew on the windscreen it practically turns opaque because of the RainX coating.
 
norm said:
I had good results the first time I used Rain X but having topped up since it's not as effective. Most recently in fine rain it just causes a fine mist to sit on the glass, and putting the wipers on causes them to judder over the glass.

I noticed in super bright conditions like direct sunlight with slight dew on the windscreen it practically turns opaque because of the RainX coating.
Click to expand...

I think I'll keep using it on everything but the windscreen until it runs out. It's definitely helping with the water spots you get on your mirrors making them a nightmare to see out of.
 
Can any of you lovely people spec me up some cleaning gear, at the minute all im rocking is some cheap shampoo, alloy cleaner, upholster cleaner, back to black wheel spray and some big sponges. All was half price at £2.50 in tesco but now I've got a car i care about I want her to be cared for properly.

So I need everything and have no idea what everything is haha. Much appreciated guys.
 
BSD applied on 10th JUNE, has been raining pretty much everyday, driven for around 200 miles since the wash

beading -;



for QD I'm quite happy!
 
xs2man said:
So since buying my Alhambra in October, I don't think I have barely touched it. The occasional snow foam, and the occasional trip to the Polish car wash. It's basically the work-horse, so not really bothered with it.

However, last trip offshore one of my colleagues is a semi-professional detailer. So I was speaking to him about all sorts of stuff. And he persuaded me to try a sealant for longer lasting protection. So when I came home, it proceeded to rain for a week or so non-stop (sorry guys). Anyway, I decided to order some sealant regardless, and went for some MENZERNA POWER LOCK ULTIMATE PROTECTION.

So, with that in hand, there was no point in just snow-foaming the motor and applying that. So I gave it more of a deep clean.

1. Pre-hose down without chemical, just pressure.
2. Snow-Foam
3. 2 Bucket Method wash with some Turtle Wax car shampoo stuff I have lying around.
3. Autosmart Tardis
4. Pressure Wash
5. Clay Bar
7. Menzerna PF 2500 using Meguire G220 v2 DA. Not quite sure what pad it is, it's black is all I can tell, lol. In all fairness, I bought it a few years ago, bought some pads, and polish, and used it once. Then it sat in it's box in the garage since. Well, apart from once when I was polishing headlights. Lazy bugger.

So, that's where I got to currently. Unfortunately with a wife and kids I don't really get left alone much to just get on with stuff like this. So it's been an hour here, and an hour there. Over the last 2-3 days. Just to get to this point.

Hopefully manage to finish the polishing tonight. And if I'm really lucky, I'll maybe get the sealant on too. With a plan to stick a final layer of wax on in the morning, and treat the windows to some Gtechniq G1 ClearVision Smart Glass I have lying around.

Also, the wheels are back from the powdercoaters, so have some poorboys wheel sealant for them to be applied tomorrow too before they go on the car.

All this work for a daily use people carrier. I must be mad. Especially when the 5 series is sitting there unloved.
Click to expand...

So, finally got round to finishing (the exterior at least). So finished off with the PF2500, then a layer of the powerlock.

Then hit the glass with Autoglym Fast Glass, then some Gtechniq G4 Glass Polish, before finishing with the G1 ClearVision on all glass.

Still have to seal the wheels, but I have stuff to do today, so hopefully I'll have time to do that when I get back, and finally get the motor off the steelies it currently sits on.

I will get some pics when it's out and about today, but the light looks poor outside just just now, and I'll only have my phone with me. But otherwise a car cleaning post without pics is useless.
 
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