*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***
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thing is, youre going to have to do this to head lining, and all the side fabric near the door pillars etc..
you'd never wet vac it all.
Hey guys
complete newbie when it comes to cleaning cars, wondering if you can help me out!
I've been going through the thread and the snow foam looks quite interesting I want to get hold of that, but I also need to know if anyone could tell me what the best shampoo etc is. Also what I need to use to actually clean the car apart from a Sponge.
Almost like Car Cleaning 101 for me lol, but if you guys could let me know the stuff I need that would be awesome. I don't mind spending a bit of money either, but nothing like Spie's polish
.
Thanks guys
complete newbie when it comes to cleaning cars, wondering if you can help me out!
I've been going through the thread and the snow foam looks quite interesting I want to get hold of that, but I also need to know if anyone could tell me what the best shampoo etc is. Also what I need to use to actually clean the car apart from a Sponge.
Almost like Car Cleaning 101 for me lol, but if you guys could let me know the stuff I need that would be awesome. I don't mind spending a bit of money either, but nothing like Spie's polish
.Thanks guys
Soldato
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Hey guys
complete newbie when it comes to cleaning cars, wondering if you can help me out!
I've been going through the thread and the snow foam looks quite interesting I want to get hold of that, but I also need to know if anyone could tell me what the best shampoo etc is. Also what I need to use to actually clean the car apart from a Sponge.
Almost like Car Cleaning 101 for me lol, but if you guys could let me know the stuff I need that would be awesome. I don't mind spending a bit of money either, but nothing like Spie's polish
Thanks guys
To start with you need:
- 2 buckets - use one to hold shampoo/water, the other to rinse in. This prevents you from putting dirty water back on your car
- A wash mitt - a lambswool mitt will do the job, it will trap the surface dirt within the fibres instead of keeping them on the surface as a sponge will
- Shampoo - there are lots out there. The main difference i've found is the different finish it leaves on the surface after cleaning. I quite like the chemical guys extreme body wash & wax which leaves a nice smooth finish, but I don't think you can go too wrong really, and I wouldn't spend a fortune.
- Drying towel(s) - you'll want one straight after you've washed otherwise you'll end up with water marks/soap marks. It should be a microfibre job with a large surface area
- Wax/Sealant - On a regular clean/detail this will go on after your shampoo & dry, although if you are adding a polishing stage you'll need to clay/polish before wax & seal. There are tons of options out there, the general consensus is wax for dark colours and sealant for lighter, although I'm quite happy to use sealant on mine. The basic difference is that sealant is synthetic and wax is natural. A good sealant to start with would be the carlack sealant kit which includes a long-term product designed to protect the paintwork for sometime. On the other hand, if you're going down the wax route the collonite products are popular.
- microfibre cloths/pads - For applying wax/sealant
You will also want to think about polishing if you're paint work is not in good shape. For that you will want to add:
- Detailing Clay - This is used after the shampoo/dry. It's to remove any surface contaminants from the car like tar to get the paintwork 100% clean.
- Polish - Polish is for correcting paintwork defects, most commonly "paint swirls" where you can see swirl marks in the paint from where someone hasn't been cleaning their car properly! It can do wonders to poor looking paintwork and really bring out the shine in a car. There are lots of different polishing products out there and i'm not going to go into them because i'm not an expert, but basically some are more abrasive than others, some you can apply by hand but for best results you'll need an electric polisher.
You did mention snow foam - you can get a foam lance to attach to a pressure washer to use as an initial wash along with some snow foam to remove surface dirt pre-wash. Personally, having owned one I wouldn't put it at the top of the priority list - it can be useful but it's a lot of money for something you probably won't use that often.
There are a lot of other products out there as well but that should give you a starting point...
So I was a little fed up of doing everybody else’s cars except mine. I hardly take any pictures of work I have carried out, but been as mine deserved a clean, it was only right.
Had the car over a month now and had yet to give it a good old clean and polish.
Anyway, I was greeted with a fairly dirty car but the alloys were not too bad.
The car was firstly washed using my new pressure washer Karcher 6060 and snow foam
great fun, then APC 10:1 all the wheel arches, this was left to dwell a few minutes before a 2BW was done using a wash mitt and megs gold class and the wheels treated with bilberry 10:1, the car was then clayed (sonus fine) and the process repeated.
This left me with a fairly clean car, but some of the swirls and scratches where shocking.
Once I was totally happy the car was clean, it was masked up all the scratches where worked on, it took around 5hrs to machine the whole car.
Once complete CG all in one was used, and left for about 10 minutes before buff, this was followed by Chemical Guys Wet Mirror Finish.
Finally Megs liquid wax was applied by hand, left for 20 minutes. While this was left I used wire wool and autosol on the exhaust, and treated the front grill using CG new look trim (yes I know I missed loads but it was buffed off and looked great, no picture I am afraid)
The engine bay had a quick once over with APC and carburettor cleaner, while the glass had AG fast glassed and wiped with a microfiber.
So anyway, here are the finished pictures……
Had the car over a month now and had yet to give it a good old clean and polish.
Anyway, I was greeted with a fairly dirty car but the alloys were not too bad.
The car was firstly washed using my new pressure washer Karcher 6060 and snow foam
great fun, then APC 10:1 all the wheel arches, this was left to dwell a few minutes before a 2BW was done using a wash mitt and megs gold class and the wheels treated with bilberry 10:1, the car was then clayed (sonus fine) and the process repeated.
This left me with a fairly clean car, but some of the swirls and scratches where shocking.
Once I was totally happy the car was clean, it was masked up all the scratches where worked on, it took around 5hrs to machine the whole car.
Once complete CG all in one was used, and left for about 10 minutes before buff, this was followed by Chemical Guys Wet Mirror Finish.
Finally Megs liquid wax was applied by hand, left for 20 minutes. While this was left I used wire wool and autosol on the exhaust, and treated the front grill using CG new look trim (yes I know I missed loads but it was buffed off and looked great, no picture I am afraid)
The engine bay had a quick once over with APC and carburettor cleaner, while the glass had AG fast glassed and wiped with a microfiber.
So anyway, here are the finished pictures……
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Did say. treated the front grill using CG new look trim (yes I know I missed loads but it was buffed off and looked great, no picture I am afraid)
Yeah either really i apply it with the applicator you can buy for it. Will last years and can go on interior and exterior trim amazing stuff.
Not really if you want shaving foam like consistency, the Autobrite is the best out on the market and is £45.00.
Use a different cloth for each.
I had a go with some Simoniz "Max" Wax at the weekend on the Mondeo.
I had it as part of a Simoniz 'pack' similar to the AG one thats available, but £10 cheaper for the pack. I'd go with the AG every time, but considering it was a gift i thought i'd give it a go!
Claimed to be slightly abrasive to cut into swirls etc. Certainly left a nice shine, didn't seem to bead up water as much as other wax's that i've used, but for cheap and cheerful it worked reasonably well.
I had it as part of a Simoniz 'pack' similar to the AG one thats available, but £10 cheaper for the pack. I'd go with the AG every time, but considering it was a gift i thought i'd give it a go!
Claimed to be slightly abrasive to cut into swirls etc. Certainly left a nice shine, didn't seem to bead up water as much as other wax's that i've used, but for cheap and cheerful it worked reasonably well.
1: foam
2: rinse (after 5-10mins)
3: foam and wash with wash mit
4: rinse and dry
5: polish
6: wax
and yes, wax always last.
You might want to add hand wash between foam and rinse
Wax would go on last, as it's the layer of protection once you've cleaned and polished the car.
Although you can have a combination on sealant and wax on there.
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