*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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DXP55 said:
Treated myself to another drying cloth - am impressed with it - can dry the car in one go without wringing it out. - They have gone up to £5.49 now though.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1214/6530450/12619358/413458776.jpg
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I got one of these recently too. Pretty impressed with it myself, does a great job.

Spikey said:
Getting a fiesta ST (year old) with the part leather recaro seats, what's best to clean the leather on these and the cloth for that matter? Also I used dragons breath on my alloys, I assume this won't cause any damage to new alloys as I want to try and keep on top of them this time around!
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Gliptone do some of the 'best' affordable leather cleaner/conditioners, though tbh leather shouldnt really ever need more than a feed once a year unless you're really tracking tonnes of dirt over it. Cloth, just grab an APC or dedicated interior cleaner (I have gotten great results out of Halfords own brand, surprisingly) and some MF clothes. Your assumption regarding dragons breath is correct, but you should look into sealing your wheels, then they shouldn't need more than soapy (not dish soap, obviously!) water to clean during maintenance washes. FK1000P is a good option for this, but there are also some pretty nifty spray sealants around, or you can ceramic coat them if you want the best and don't mind paying a premium.

MoRT489 said:
:eek:
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DA is for a paint correction, really. It takes 7 hours as you're doing multiple passes, cleans and actively removing damage from the car. With hand polishing, generally you're only looking to apply a glaze or polish to 'fill' the surface damage, so naturally takes far less time.
 
Cookeh said:
I got one of these recently too. Pretty impressed with it myself, does a great job.



Gliptone do some of the 'best' affordable leather cleaner/conditioners, though tbh leather shouldnt really ever need more than a feed once a year unless you're really tracking tonnes of dirt over it. Cloth, just grab an APC or dedicated interior cleaner (I have gotten great results out of Halfords own brand, surprisingly) and some MF clothes. Your assumption regarding dragons breath is correct, but you should look into sealing your wheels, then they shouldn't need more than soapy (not dish soap, obviously!) water to clean during maintenance washes. FK1000P is a good option for this, but there are also some pretty nifty spray sealants around, or you can ceramic coat them if you want the best and don't mind paying a premium.



DA is for a paint correction, really. It takes 7 hours as you're doing multiple passes, cleans and actively removing damage from the car. With hand polishing, generally you're only looking to apply a glaze or polish to 'fill' the surface damage, so naturally takes far less time.
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Thanks mate. Also thinking of getting this https://www.autobritedirect.co.uk/i...duty-foam-snow-foam-lance-magifoam-500ml.html to go with my C120 Nilfisk - is this a good choice? How long should I leave it on for and is it correct not to snow foam in the sun? I've read it can cause issues with paintwork?
 
Looks like a decent enough lance, and comes with snowfoam to get you started. Should do nicely.

I leave mine on for a few minutes. Enough to prep the buckets your going to use for the actual wash, and maybe a smoke (if your that way inclined), or a 5 minute rest or whatever, then rinse it off. I wouldn't worry about doing it in the sun. If the chemical your using will eat your paint because it's sunny, your using the wrong chemical. Besides, we don't exactly get proper sun here, not like they do on the continent and elsewhere, so you should be fine. Best not polishing and stuff in the bright sun though.

Be careful when it's too cold though. I've had snowfoam freeze on the car, and that's a nightmare to get off once it's frozen.
 
xs2man said:
Looks like a decent enough lance, and comes with snowfoam to get you started. Should do nicely.

I leave mine on for a few minutes. Enough to prep the buckets your going to use for the actual wash, and maybe a smoke (if your that way inclined), or a 5 minute rest or whatever, then rinse it off. I wouldn't worry about doing it in the sun. If the chemical your using will eat your paint because it's sunny, your using the wrong chemical. Besides, we don't exactly get proper sun here, not like they do on the continent and elsewhere, so you should be fine. Best not polishing and stuff in the bright sun though.

Be careful when it's too cold though. I've had snowfoam freeze on the car, and that's a nightmare to get off once it's frozen.
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Thanks for the advice mate. I generally use the two bucket method with Autoglym shampoo unless there is something that's much better?
 
Just now I'm using some Simoniz stuff as it was cheap in Costco (this stuff: http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/shampoo-polish-wax/simoniz-shampoo-and-carnauba-wax-5l I'm sure it aint that expensive in Costco though). Before that I was using Turtle Wax stuff (http://www.halfords.com/motoring/ca...wax-zipwax-super-concentrate-wash-wax-5-litre), again, because it was cheap in Costco. Neither of them are probably any good. But for just basic washes, the cars always came up looking good.

Before that though, I was using Meguires Hyperwash as both snowfoam and car shampoo. It was excellent. A bit expensive, but very concentrated, so it did last a long time. May get another big bottle of it once I use all the stuff I have just now.

I'm currently using GYEON Q²M FOAM for snow foam: http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/gyeon-q2m-foam-cat2.html Again, pretty expensive stuff (for the 4L). But I have only used it once so far, and it foamed up great, and did a good job of removing contaminants. To early to go recommending it yet though after only one wash, considering it's a £49 bottle.
 
No worries. I wouldn't pay too much attention to what I say though. I go through phases. For example, I hadn't even polished my Golf since I bought it last year, until a couple days ago. But when I had my S4, I did it every time I drove it, almost. I've had that Gyeon stuff for about 6 months while waiting to get through my last snow foam, which is coming up for 7-8 years old now as I got a bulk buy of 20L, and have only used the Hyperwash for 4L in between. So it's not like I'm using these products all the time.
 
Spikey said:
Thanks mate. Also thinking of getting this https://www.autobritedirect.co.uk/i...duty-foam-snow-foam-lance-magifoam-500ml.html to go with my C120 Nilfisk - is this a good choice? How long should I leave it on for and is it correct not to snow foam in the sun? I've read it can cause issues with paintwork?
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Ideally you wouldn't wash the car in direct (hot) sunlight at all because anything can be "baked on" causing problems.

Generally speaking I snow foam the whole car, then about 1 minute later I pressure wash it off the wheels and then clean the wheels properly while the snow foam dwells. This normally means the snow foam sits on the car for about 30-40 minutes, which gives it plenty of time to soak and lift the grime. The purpose of snow foam is to keep moisture in contact with the car's paintwork for an extended period of time allowing it to soften and lift the dirt, so if you only leave it for a minute or two it's wasted.

A TFR (traffic film remover) by comparison is quite different. It's typically a cocktail of fairly aggressive chemicals that will do their work in about 2-5 minutes and you absolutely do NOT want to leave that on the car for very long.
 
Gave my dad's new car the full treatment yesterday. Wow, soft Honda paint is a treat to work on! It was very heavily swirled and marred with the odd fine scratch (apparently they polished it before he collected it.. I'm not sure they were talking about the same car ;) ), but the paint was largely free of any particularly severe damage (stone chips excepted). Unusually, the Meguiars 205 and white Hexlogic pads were more than sufficient to completely correct all of this and leave the paintwork looking stunning.

It's a very nice colour with a lovely deep shine, and a nice car overall!

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Need to do some stone chip repairs at some point

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Used some Wonderwheels stuff (changes colour) on the wheels - really good clean. Also tried their protector.. not so keen on as it easily leaves white streaks on black wheels.

Really need something to detox the paintwork before winter. Thinking of some CarPro Iron out. Expensive for a bottle but only needs it a couple of times a year.
 
So...my rear number plate is currently stuck on with double sided sticky pads, and its ever so slightly wonky and its bugging me!

Whats the best way to remove the left over sticky residue and bits of pads, im assuming just using a degreaser/itr should do the trick as well as a lot of elbow grease?
 
I think 3M make something specifically for this job. It can also be used to clean the sticky residue from where old wheel weights were placed.
 
I found I can get the worst of it off with a pressure washer, then anything that remains comes off easy with a few squirts of Tardis or whatever similar bug and tar remover you might have. Alternatively you could try a mild vinegar solution, but I haven't done this myself.
 
Bug and tar remover, or just acetone or vinegar. Done all the above, all work equally and the latter two are miles cheaper.
 
Going to clay my car again as the surface is feeling very rough.

Plan is to give it a quick wash tonight and then clay it, another wash tomorrow morning and polish/wax followed by some extra gloss protection once done.
 
I'd love to give mine a go over with a machine polisher, but being a older BMW I'd be expecting a clear coat with the consistency and strength of granite, as seemed common for that era!

Sure I've read of detaillers resorting to wool pads and heavy cutting compounds to make even the slightest change in swirls
 
mrkambo said:
So...my rear number plate is currently stuck on with double sided sticky pads, and its ever so slightly wonky and its bugging me!

Whats the best way to remove the left over sticky residue and bits of pads, im assuming just using a degreaser/itr should do the trick as well as a lot of elbow grease?
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Autosmart Tardis will leave it looking like toilet tissue.
 
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