*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

[norm]

What I would say about the Farcela mitt is you need to keep it and the surface well lubed, otherwise it can leave rubbery residue behind.

And if it's the first time claying your car, a regular clay bar would probably be better as you can see the contaminants coming off the car and when they are gone.

 

[Blackhawk47]

Anyone here tried the Farcela Clay Mitt?
It seems like the worst of the winter weather is over now, so I was planning to give the car a good clean tomorrow if it's dry...wash, clay, polish and wax. Not a fan of claying as it takes so long, but I've heard nothing but good reports about this mitt, so I popped into Halfords and picked one up this morning, hoping to give it a try tomorrow.

I gather that it might not be quite as effective as real clay, but the few times I've done it on my car, there hasn't been much to come off the paint, so I'm hoping this mitt will do as a replacement.

Review on DW: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=330602

Yes...I must have been one of the first users of this clay mitt.

Get one...now. I did a review on it on youtube - but people don't seem to like it very much.

 

[DXP55]

Thoughts please.

Collected my car today, looks great but under the LED observation lights the scratches, especially on the bonnet look terrible, like someone has gone at it with a key frankly. Now they are not obvious under normal light but I need it fixed. I am not a detailing expert and to be fair the bodyshop said a proper detailer would remove them, I can't with scratch X for example, doesnt even touch them, but wondering how a proper detailer would go about such a thing. You can feel them as I say they look bloody awful under LED and just interested to understand the process of removing them. If I have to I will have to have the bonnet painted, which I would prefer not to do. I have the car looking great, but it's a swirl mark showroom right now and those need fixing as do the bigger marks on the bonnet.

My Focus came out of body shop after having a new front end and that was covered in swirls - nearly rejected it but it had been gone for so long I wanted it back - I couldn't shift swirls - Last year had it detailed and all swirls were gone - looks good.

I don't know what they put on paintwork but even now if I just wash it it looks like it did when I picked it up and the water still runs off - probably reason I don't wash it very often now as don't want to wash off the finish.

 

[paradigm]

I don't rate the clay mitt at all, you can't knead it, you can't turn it, you just use it to the point where you end up dragging contaminants around the bodywork.

 

[Housey]

My Focus came out of body shop after having a new front end and that was covered in swirls - nearly rejected it but it had been gone for so long I wanted it back - I couldn't shift swirls - Last year had it detailed and all swirls were gone - looks good.

I don't know what they put on paintwork but even now if I just wash it it looks like it did when I picked it up and the water still runs off - probably reason I don't wash it very often now as don't want to wash off the finish.

To be fair the swirls were nothing to do with the bodyshop, they were there when it went in. The only people who wash the car are me and Audi and Audi no longer wash it! The previous owner, I suspect, didn't do much washing themselves.

 

[Blackhawk47]

To be fair the swirls were nothing to do with the bodyshop, they were there when it went in. The only people who wash the car are me and Audi and Audi no longer wash it! The previous owner, I suspect, didn't do much washing themselves.

I believe the body shop call it 'blending'. I had a front wing replaced on my A1 when I crashed it.

Considering it was a brand new car and the black paint was truly swirl free when I got it. After the body shop replaced the wing, painted it and 'blended it in' with the rest of the paintwork, the new wing looked like it had a lot of swirls in it.

Also DXP55, if you only polished the bumper with something like Autoglym super resin polish - then thats not really a polish, it is more like a filler with a tiny bit of protection. Its not abrasive so will never actually remove swirls.

EDIT: This is what I mean basically:

 

[hux]

Weather was clear so finally gave the car a good going over with some duragloss 901, and 925 aquawax.
The spray on wax is very light, more of a shine only product which of course is it's indented use, I know it's a qd so i'll be trying it with the farlecia clay mitt, as the car has a fair bit of contamination on it.
Used iron out for for the first time, good stuff though my alloy is damaged from previous neglect so bit of an unfair test.

I think i'll grab me some blackfire wet diamond, always loved using that stuff on the scooby so easy to work with and get some collinite 915 for next winter or perhaps some dodo supernatural hmm..

 

[MoRT489]

I don't rate the clay mitt at all, you can't knead it, you can't turn it, you just use it to the point where you end up dragging contaminants around the bodywork.

Um, don't you clean the mitt as you go along?

 

[Phil W]

First time owning a black car and its frustrating

When I bought the car, the dealer had it detailed so it looked great. It had to go back for some work and before it was returned he must have had it cleaned. There are now holograms on the car and it does my head in. I've given it a coat of tripple today which is obviously a temporary cure. Shame as its a lovely colour when the sun hits it.

(that's a reflection between the sun spots BTW!)

 

[Blackhawk47]

Um, don't you clean the mitt as you go along?

Yes of course. It is different to a clay bar.

Some people just can't get there head around it...

First time owning a black car and its frustrating

When I bought the car, the dealer had it detailed so it looked great. It had to go back for some work and before it was returned he must have had it cleaned. There are now holograms on the car and it does my head in. I've given it a coat of tripple today which is obviously a temporary cure. Shame as its a lovely colour when the sun hits it.



(that's a reflection between the sun spots BTW!)

It would have always been like that since the dealer 'detailed'. Probably a rush job and over heated the pads or something. That is the kind of thing which causes buffer trails and holograms.

 

[kindai]

Ah yes, black cars.... great for all of 5 minutes after being cleaned

 

[Blackhawk47]

Had a play around wth the karcher foam cannon today and did three cars using the karcher wash + wax which came free. I was expecting it to be crap but actually it's rather good. It even lays a thin layer of wax over the car and makes it a joy to clean with a mitt. I then did a touchless wash on my sisters + dad's cars and they turned out pretty decent.

Really recommend giving the karcher wash and wax detergent a go.

Next thing for me to get is a proper snow foam lance + snow foam.

Before:


After rinsing the foam off (touch less):

 

[DXP55]

I believe the body shop call it 'blending'. I had a front wing replaced on my A1 when I crashed it.

Considering it was a brand new car and the black paint was truly swirl free when I got it. After the body shop replaced the wing, painted it and 'blended it in' with the rest of the paintwork, the new wing looked like it had a lot of swirls in it.

Also DXP55, if you only polished the bumper with something like Autoglym super resin polish - then thats not really a polish, it is more like a filler with a tiny bit of protection. Its not abrasive so will never actually remove swirls.

EDIT: This is what I mean basically:

It wasn't bumper but whole front - bonnet - wings -bumper - it came back to me covered in swirls - seems after the major repairs they gave it to young lad to wash and he used the communal scrubber

 

[Conscript]

Used the clay mitt today. Washed as usual, rinsed, then made up another bucket of shampoo and basically washed again using the mitt. Much quicker and easier than traditional clay...perhaps not quite as effective, but my paintwork doesn't seem to suffer from too much contamination anyway.

Only gripe is that it's not as easy to gauge how effective it is compared to clay, which you can easily see.

 

[acemastr]

Washed, waxed and vacuumed.

Lusso wax FYI, nightmare in the sun

 

[Phil W]

It would have always been like that since the dealer 'detailed'. Probably a rush job and over heated the pads or something. That is the kind of thing which causes buffer trails and holograms.

No, it was literally immaculate. Not a swirl, hologram or any marring to be seen. It went to him after a 'safe' wash by me and he must have taken it to a handwash for a quick spruce up. Its not horrific but I wish I asked them to return it to me dirty.

 

[Skillmister]

I take her on far too many unsurfaced roads...



Ordered a clay mitt. Need to give it a proper going over some time soon

 

[Hyburnate]

So after several months of not giving my car much love. The winter is now moving further away and the car cleaning can continue.

What's the rave products? After about 5 months of not having a proper clean my car was truly shocking and the wheels are full of tar - A deep clean will be in order shortly which will likely consist of Tardis, Iron Out and Clay.

Anyone here using AutoPerfekt? I used their PureCote which seems to be awesome, just used it in a snowfoam lance and sprayed it over and instant protection, will probably polish and lay down a few layers of CSP Wax next wash.

Could use a new shampoo, snow foam and wheel cleaner. Not sure what's about really...

 

[Jaridan]

I've had Collinite 476s wax recommended to me, so i'm gonna give that a go once the weather stabilizes a bit. Over the winter ive just used the karcher foam lance and meguiars quick detailer for ease of application...it beads pretty well too.

 

[Housey]

I believe the body shop call it 'blending'. I had a front wing replaced on my A1 when I crashed it.

Considering it was a brand new car and the black paint was truly swirl free when I got it. After the body shop replaced the wing, painted it and 'blended it in' with the rest of the paintwork, the new wing looked like it had a lot of swirls in it.

Also DXP55, if you only polished the bumper with something like Autoglym super resin polish - then thats not really a polish, it is more like a filler with a tiny bit of protection. Its not abrasive so will never actually remove swirls.

EDIT: This is what I mean basically:

As I said the swirls were there before the bodyshop worked on it and they are most prominent in places they never went near, being bonnet and roof. The new paintwork is faultless.