*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Has anyone tried one of these;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ALLOMN-Mul...S4PXBBF75K9&psc=1&refRID=X1M94MN5MS4PXBBF75K9

I doubt I'll own a pressure washer anytime soon, and the youtube videos look good.

Also apart from that, can anyone reccomend a good 'starter' kit. I've not washed a car since my 182. IIRC I used SRP, poorboys wax, some sort of IRONx(?). With foam pads to apply polish and wax.

I just want good results, with as less time as possible.
 
Begbie said:
Has anyone tried one of these;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ALLOMN-Mul...S4PXBBF75K9&psc=1&refRID=X1M94MN5MS4PXBBF75K9

I doubt I'll own a pressure washer anytime soon, and the youtube videos look good.

Also apart from that, can anyone reccomend a good 'starter' kit. I've not washed a car since my 182. IIRC I used SRP, poorboys wax, some sort of IRONx(?). With foam pads to apply polish and wax.

I just want good results, with as less time as possible.
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Depends how much time you want to spend doing it and what you want to spend. You can get a good pressure washer for £60 now. Even if I have lots of time I lean toward autoglym polar seal now over my hd wax - sure, the shine is probably about 80% of a wax, but polar seal takes seconds to apply, seals every single surface , and could probably be used in that lance that you are looking at. Polar wash is decent too.

IronX is good, but I’ll probably only do that every 6 months or so after washing, but before any final coating.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Depends how much time you want to spend doing it and what you want to spend. You can get a good pressure washer for £60 now. Even if I have lots of time I lean toward autoglym polar seal now over my hd wax - sure, the shine is probably about 80% of a wax, but polar seal takes seconds to apply, seals every single surface , and could probably be used in that lance that you are looking at. Polar wash is decent too.

IronX is good, but I’ll probably only do that every 6 months or so after washing, but before any final coating.
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I seen that above, it looks awesome!

What pressure washer would you rec at £60. I don't want to become obessed over keeping it clean. But I want to keep it protected as much as possible. So Polar Seal appeals a lot!
 
Begbie said:
I seen that above, it looks awesome!

What pressure washer would you rec at £60. I don't want to become obessed over keeping it clean. But I want to keep it protected as much as possible. So Polar Seal appeals a lot!
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Most here would recommend the Nilfisk C110. I bought it following one such recommendation and am still using it 5 years later. Sometimes on offer for close to £50.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Most here would recommend the Nilfisk C110. I bought it following one such recommendation and am still using it 5 years later. Sometimes on offer for close to £50.
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Awesome, £65 currently. I'll keep an eye out. Thanks!

Tempting, as I have a £80 voucher! But I'm so busy with work for the next month I may aswell wait for it drop!
 
leoncuprar said:
@CaptainRAVE do you have separate lances for the different AG products or do you just empty and wash out the bottle before moving onto the PolarWash / PolarSeal stages ?
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I have three lances (numbered, 1-3) all carried in a bucket. One for the snow foam, one for autoglym polar wash and one for polar seal. That said, you could just fill one with enough product, use, rinse and repeat.
 
leoncuprar said:
@CaptainRAVE do you have separate lances for the different AG products or do you just empty and wash out the bottle before moving onto the PolarWash / PolarSeal stages ?
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If it's any help, I use a single lance. I use it for snow foam (Bilt Hamber), then rinse it through with some fresh water after that before filling it with Polar Seal. After that stage I then fill the bottle with hot water and rinse it through again, to keep the filter clean, before putting it away. No problems so far.
 
Dis86 said:
Gents - empty coke bottles.
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This is true and works very well. Any empty bottle with the right diameter will typically also have the right thread pitch to work. I've used snowfoam bottles when they're running out to save me decanting them.
 
So for a decent (but not extreme) wash, what's recommended?

Got a K2 recently on a super good deal with all the kit. Got 2 buckets, leather chamois and all necessaries.

Got the £50 autoglym polish set so just looking for a snow foam recommendation

What's the best procedure?

Rinse, snow foam, hand wash then rinse off? Should there be an additional cleaning process?

Many thanks :-)
 
MrRockliffe said:
So for a decent (but not extreme) wash, what's recommended?

Got a K2 recently on a super good deal with all the kit. Got 2 buckets, leather chamois and all necessaries.

Got the £50 autoglym polish set so just looking for a snow foam recommendation

What's the best procedure?

Rinse, snow foam, hand wash then rinse off? Should there be an additional cleaning process?

Many thanks :)
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Bin the leather chamois and pick up a micro fibre cloth - get a Kent microfibre cloth to be able to dry the whole car.

Snow foam. Leave 10-15 mins.
Rinse.
Cover in polar wash and hand wash with mitt occasionally rinsing mitt in bucket. No need for a second bucket. Or a standard car wash product and use two buckets.
Rinse.
Dry.
Polish. Super resin polish I assume?

Do you have any sealant? Polish doesn’t protect the paint.

You could Clay the car before polishing, depends on time/budget.
 
Do you have a snow foam lance? You will need one of them to go with the pressure washer if you want snow foam.

As for foam recommendations, I have used a few. My current foam of choice is GYEON Q²M FOAM. Not cheap, by any means, but it is excellent. I have previously used Meguires Hyperwash too, and it is also excellent. These snowfoams I generally buy in 4 - 5L bottles, stick on a pump action nozzle thing, and use 2-4 pumps per snow foam bottle. Gets a nice, thick foam.

As said above, that's a pretty good start on the procedure. But it really depends on how far you're willing to go, and how much time you can invest. Last time I did my car, it went something like this:

Rinse
Snowfoam (Gyeon Q2M Foam)
rinse
bucket wash (Gyeon Bathe)
rinse
Bug and tar remover (Autosmart Tardis)
rinse
fallout remover (iron out etc...)
rinse
claybar (I use Meguires bar, but have a G3 Clay Mitt too)
rinse
polish (Usualy AG SRP if I'm not too worried about finish, but last time I tried the GTechniq P1. Also have Mezerna cutting compounds if required, and finishing polishes / glazes. I do have a DA polisher though)
wax (Bilt Hamber Double Speed Wax)
sealant (Mezerna PowerLock)
glass treatment (this has it's own procedure, so wash, dry, glass cleaner, polish, IPA, Gtechniq G1/G2).
Wheels (Again, depends on how far you want to take this, fallout remover, claybar, polish, wax / sealant).

Took me about 2 days to get all that done, but I take regular breaks / have other stuff to do / usually only working in evenings.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Bin the leather chamois and pick up a micro fibre cloth - get a Kent microfibre cloth to be able to dry the whole car.

Snow foam. Leave 10-15 mins.
Rinse.
Cover in polar wash and hand wash with mitt occasionally rinsing mitt in bucket. No need for a second bucket. Or a standard car wash product and use two buckets.
Rinse.
Dry.
Polish. Super resin polish I assume?

Do you have any sealant? Polish doesn’t protect the paint.

You could Clay the car before polishing, depends on time/budget.
Click to expand...

I've got a super resin, high gloss protect (I think it's called), liquid crystal and looking at polar seal.

Haven't yet got a foam lance, but have one in my basket on Amazon

Any particular reason to ditch the chamois? I find it excellent. Mitt better than sponge?
 
MrRockliffe said:
I've got a super resin, high gloss protect (I think it's called), liquid crystal and looking at polar seal.

Haven't yet got a foam lance, but have one in my basket on Amazon

Any particular reason to ditch the chamois? I find it excellent. Mitt better than sponge?
Click to expand...

Kent Car Care Microfibre Wash Pad Colours May Vary https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002PX07LM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JzbDDbPYT1YB5 - sponge will drag grit across the paint and scratch it.

Kent Car Care Microfibre Drying Towel Extra Large 5 Sq Ft https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0030B9U6Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qAbDDbNRKNDR0 - this will dry the car in one go, same concept as not using a sponge, won’t drag any remaining contaminants across the paint. You won’t look back.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Kent Car Care Microfibre Wash Pad Colours May Vary https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002PX07LM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JzbDDbPYT1YB5 - sponge will drag grit across the paint and scratch it.

Kent Car Care Microfibre Drying Towel Extra Large 5 Sq Ft https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0030B9U6Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qAbDDbNRKNDR0 - this will dry the car in one go, same concept as not using a sponge, won’t drag any remaining contaminants across the paint. You won’t look back.
Click to expand...

Will give those a go :-) Not overly fussed about the paintwork on the car at the moment as it's got a number of scratches on it already, and has been keyed/trolleyed a couple of times :mad:
 
I've made a video of my usual maintenance wash a few months ago, if anyone is interested.

Tried to cover most of it as a few of my mates asked me about it!

 
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