*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***
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Does this really help the snow foam act any better at all?
I usually tend to leave the foam 5-10 minutes, much longer and it seems to have run off the car completely, so it doesn't feel any more effective leaving it for longer. I might try this at the weekend though.
It's a typo, 5 minutes is perfectly adequate.
Just set your lance to a thicker setting if it doesnt stay on.
It's not a typo, I do leave it 25-30 mins. It simply comes down to what you want to achieve from the dwelling time.
Most people use snow foam as a way of removing the most prolific dirt prior to a wash. So yea they leave it a couple of minutes and wash it off, however this is why a lot of people say snow foams do nothing, as it takes time for the water and surfactants/detergents to work their way in. If you don't give it time to work, you may as well just do a pressure wash of the car instead.
I instead let it sit for a long time so it can work in and achieve the desired effect and then some, with a long dwell time it really allows for a nearly hands-free clean.
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That really isn't necessary. You can simply increase the concentration slightly for better cleaning. It really is not necessary to wait 25 minutes.
We will have to agree to disagree. Higher concentrations of cleaning agent will make a minimal difference on something that isn't receiving active agitation.
This isn't really that true with high quality snow foams. Snow foams which require 50% concentration I'd agree with. But with snow foams that are around 15% on typical concentration and alkaline based will see improvement on increasing the concentration if requiring more cleaning power.
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This was very satisfying to jet-wash.
Soldato
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You don't want it too thick, the principle is wetting the dirt, you need it runny enough to spread into the dirt for the cleaning to work whilst it dwell. Otherwise the same effect to penetrate will simply take even longer.
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Poor boys paste wax
nice never tried that may give it a look up when i next need a new wax
I know paying more than a few quid for a bucket is kinda bonkers, but I bought 2 grout mixing buckets today from Topps Tiles, about £11 for them but they are white and hold about 25 litres. Good quality. Maybe this is useful for people
Is that offer still available from Halfords do you know, as a Google search bring up a '404' page on their website?
In store its active. I was tempted to clear the shelf to be honest.
Go check your local
Righto guys!
So, today was mild and the car was disgraceful, utterly disgraceful. So thought to take some snaps while cleaning.
Anyway, this is my day to day method of cleaning now, it requires minimal time and effort, yet brings the car up to a very good level. I'm sure some will be horrified, others may think to try it. Over the years I've tried all the "popular" techniques and frankly, this is the one I have settled on.
Also discussed...
Does snow foam actually work?
Snow foam dwell time
Using fallout removers
Cloths vs sponges
Warning, very pic heavy
But as a before and after:
before:
after:
So, today was mild and the car was disgraceful, utterly disgraceful. So thought to take some snaps while cleaning.
Anyway, this is my day to day method of cleaning now, it requires minimal time and effort, yet brings the car up to a very good level. I'm sure some will be horrified, others may think to try it. Over the years I've tried all the "popular" techniques and frankly, this is the one I have settled on.
Also discussed...
Does snow foam actually work?
Snow foam dwell time
Using fallout removers
Cloths vs sponges
Warning, very pic heavy
Before pictures, disgraceful but its been too cold or too wet to have a proper clean in a while...
So first up, foaming the car.
I use Autobrites Magifoam and foam lance, and have a handy jug which results in 250ml (to the bottom of the label on the foam bottle which is then diluted with warm water.
Some people say I use too much but really, this amount equals about £1 a wash, so not going to lose sleep over it.
I then use the lance on the lowest setting (the setting on the lance relates to how much dilution is occurring, so lowest setting = thickest foam) which provides enough to foam the entire car and the wheel arches.
Dwell times for snow foams are a hot topic, some say 5 minutes, others 10. My logic is simple, as long as it is safe to do so, the longer the better as the longer you leave water and surfactants to penetrate into the dirt and get to work the better it will be.
As an example I have some bilt hamber auto foam, this has a very low recommended dwell time, and yes while it will remove the glossy traffic film you get, in terms of shifting dirt in quantity, it simply doesn't work.
Anyway to prove this, after 5 minutes of dwell on the front plate I gently washed off the foam and went to have a cuppa.
After 30 minutes returned to find the car looking like so:
So a hot question is do foams provide enough benefit to warrant the use and cost. I think these pictures sum up that if left to do the job, yes they do. While you can only just about make out the color difference in the pictures, in person its quite obvious the foam has pulled off a good chunk of the dirt off the car.
A power hose off leaves the car looking like so, which, is passable as an acceptably clean car, and if I do need to do a "top up" clean for whatever reason I would leave it at that.
How about the 5 vs 30 minute times on the foam? Well heres the plate, I think its pretty obvious the extra dwell time has had a positive effect:
Onto the wheels.
At this point the wheels have had the same treatment as the rest of the car, some snow foam and a power wash off. The reason for this is simple, if you use any color changing wheel cleaner you don't want to be putting it directly on dirty wheels. All reactive cleaners which turn to this dark red color use a chemical called thioglycolic acid, and it works by reacting with the iron to dissolve or shrink the particles stuck in your paint/alloys so they become lose enough to be removed. The dark red you see is the compound left called ferric thioglycolate which is the deep red you see.
So why don't you want to spray it onto the dirty wheels? Well the thioglycolic acid is only in the cleaner in limited quantities, so if you spray it directly onto dirty wheel it will react with all the iron in the easy to remove dirt, simply wasting it. So you want to get the majority of that easy to remove dirt out the way first, a simple power wash or snow foam will do the job.
Once you have the worst of it off, spray it on liberally. I use a paint sprayer as it lets me get in easily.
After spraying that on, I go make my bucket up.
Use simple autoglym shampoo and conditioner. Fill half a bucket with microfibres and then add the shampoo and warm water.
Come back and pressure wash the wheels off. Nice and clean!
So at this point, people ask "don't you use a sponge?" well no. I have found this method to be much kinder of the paint and doesn't require constant 2 bucket dipping and generally quicker. Simply grab a microfibre fold it in half, wash a panel, flip it over, wash another panel and discard.
Eventually you'll have a clean car and a tub of dirty cloths to wash!
The advantages being you can clean under the sills, and do the wheels as you'll chuck them in the washing machine and they'll be completely clean and safe to use again.
At this point, the car was given a power wash off and the result being nice and clean:
Due to all the time snapping photos it was starting to get cold, so go for a quick drive to clean off the oxidation off the brake disks. Check out the steam pouring out!
At this point it was too dark to carry on with the dressings and finishings, but they can wait until tomorrow. Likewise it was so cold at this point condensation was forming on the car faster than I could wipe it off, so called it a day.
On a normal day this would take me ~45 minutes. With 30 minutes of that having a cuppa. So exactly what I like, quick, easy and with good results
So first up, foaming the car.
I use Autobrites Magifoam and foam lance, and have a handy jug which results in 250ml (to the bottom of the label on the foam bottle which is then diluted with warm water.
Some people say I use too much but really, this amount equals about £1 a wash, so not going to lose sleep over it.
I then use the lance on the lowest setting (the setting on the lance relates to how much dilution is occurring, so lowest setting = thickest foam) which provides enough to foam the entire car and the wheel arches.
Dwell times for snow foams are a hot topic, some say 5 minutes, others 10. My logic is simple, as long as it is safe to do so, the longer the better as the longer you leave water and surfactants to penetrate into the dirt and get to work the better it will be.
As an example I have some bilt hamber auto foam, this has a very low recommended dwell time, and yes while it will remove the glossy traffic film you get, in terms of shifting dirt in quantity, it simply doesn't work.
Anyway to prove this, after 5 minutes of dwell on the front plate I gently washed off the foam and went to have a cuppa.
After 30 minutes returned to find the car looking like so:
So a hot question is do foams provide enough benefit to warrant the use and cost. I think these pictures sum up that if left to do the job, yes they do. While you can only just about make out the color difference in the pictures, in person its quite obvious the foam has pulled off a good chunk of the dirt off the car.
A power hose off leaves the car looking like so, which, is passable as an acceptably clean car, and if I do need to do a "top up" clean for whatever reason I would leave it at that.
How about the 5 vs 30 minute times on the foam? Well heres the plate, I think its pretty obvious the extra dwell time has had a positive effect:
Onto the wheels.
At this point the wheels have had the same treatment as the rest of the car, some snow foam and a power wash off. The reason for this is simple, if you use any color changing wheel cleaner you don't want to be putting it directly on dirty wheels. All reactive cleaners which turn to this dark red color use a chemical called thioglycolic acid, and it works by reacting with the iron to dissolve or shrink the particles stuck in your paint/alloys so they become lose enough to be removed. The dark red you see is the compound left called ferric thioglycolate which is the deep red you see.
So why don't you want to spray it onto the dirty wheels? Well the thioglycolic acid is only in the cleaner in limited quantities, so if you spray it directly onto dirty wheel it will react with all the iron in the easy to remove dirt, simply wasting it. So you want to get the majority of that easy to remove dirt out the way first, a simple power wash or snow foam will do the job.
Once you have the worst of it off, spray it on liberally. I use a paint sprayer as it lets me get in easily.
After spraying that on, I go make my bucket up.
Use simple autoglym shampoo and conditioner. Fill half a bucket with microfibres and then add the shampoo and warm water.
Come back and pressure wash the wheels off. Nice and clean!
So at this point, people ask "don't you use a sponge?" well no. I have found this method to be much kinder of the paint and doesn't require constant 2 bucket dipping and generally quicker. Simply grab a microfibre fold it in half, wash a panel, flip it over, wash another panel and discard.
Eventually you'll have a clean car and a tub of dirty cloths to wash!
The advantages being you can clean under the sills, and do the wheels as you'll chuck them in the washing machine and they'll be completely clean and safe to use again.
At this point, the car was given a power wash off and the result being nice and clean:
Due to all the time snapping photos it was starting to get cold, so go for a quick drive to clean off the oxidation off the brake disks. Check out the steam pouring out!
At this point it was too dark to carry on with the dressings and finishings, but they can wait until tomorrow. Likewise it was so cold at this point condensation was forming on the car faster than I could wipe it off, so called it a day.
On a normal day this would take me ~45 minutes. With 30 minutes of that having a cuppa. So exactly what I like, quick, easy and with good results
But as a before and after:
before:
after:
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