*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Whats a decent dash and interior cleaner/polisher?

My sister has managed to get fake tan all over the glove box and dash and its turned the dark grey plastic a much lighter colour. It goes away when i wipe with a damp cloth but then returns after the water has dried :mad:.
 
Magic eraser the whole dash, it will restore the matte look then just wipe it down with proper dash wipes. I use "BIG WIPES" from halfords, it has a neutral fragrance but best of all leaves very little residue after drying but as usual I wipe the area with an MF towel before the residue dries anyway just to work it into the dash.

Keeps it looks and feeling fresh like new.

Magic erasers are now sold in halfords too as well as supermarkets. Should be 99p per block which is bigger than a bar of soap.
 
Cool thanks, ill have a drive over to halfords tomorrow i think.

Its about time i cleaned the interior, Ive not touched it once since getting the car lol.
 
hey guys, here's a mini cleaning log for you:

the fun bus is back in business!

this was made for DW so... yea lots of words, sorry.





I've just got it back from the body shop, after having a lot of little bits and pieces fixed, and some damage repaired. I used to look after it, and keep it spotless until I had a run in with a low wooden post, then I started to neglect it... so back from the body shop and I'm happy as larry!

It came back with some of the usual things you would expect - areas of light overspray, dust and so on.

My plan was this:


1. power wash
2. 2BM wash with wash mit
3. rinse
4. clay
5. machine polish to remove swirls and some marring / holograms
6. wax
7. interior detail
8. wheel detail

products used were


Washing:
microfibre noodle mit, turtlewax shampoo (yea I know... I've got a lot to use up though!)

polishing:
clarke multi speed rotary polisher with screwfix extra soft pad. Menzerna 85RD

Wax:
Chemical guys XXX Hardcore

others:
Bilberry wheel cleaner, Poorboys Bold n Brite tyre + trim dressing, various megs products including quick detailer, speed detailer, clay bar, microfibre, trim *stuff* ( gold class new look trim type stuff, I dont like it at all :( )



The car is a Skoda Felicia fun pickup, pretty rare, and unfortunatly this one was not looked after by the single previous owner. I'm slowly fixing everything that he spoiled. He was a landscape gardener, so when I first got it it was covered in resin, thousands of chips (from being close to a strimmer?) and the interior was just disgusting!


This is how it started off, pretty clean from the body shop:

skud.jpg


The roof rack was past it's best really. I never use it and the paint was chipped, faded and looking a bit sorry for it's self.


I took all of the parts off and took them into my workshop for a respray.
I managed to get it all done in a day: 2k primer, basecoat, and 2k clear - ready to put back on the car the following day. I could not decide whether to paint them black or 'fun gelb' at first.

skud1.jpg


and on the car:
skud2.jpg


there was not much to see with regards to washing and claying, It was already pretty clean. so I moved onto the machining.

swirls were really bad. a few spots of RDS on the bonnet, but I'm replacing it with an airbrushed counterpart very soon so I'm not too worried about the RDS for now. It's also badly chipped too.
I'm polishing using Menzerna 85RD on a screwfix direct red foam 6" pad. I quite like these pads, I use them a lot for the final polish on my airbrushed / custom painted stuff, but I've never used them with menzerna - I'm very impressed with this stuff! (http://www.screwfix.com/prods/17460...ng/Buffing-Polishing-Sponge-Pad-150mm-M14-Red)
Before:
skud3.jpg


After:
skud4.jpg

The top edge had not been done yet - just where the sun is reflecting really.


Removing some of the tape:
skud5.jpg





next step was the chemical guys hard core xxx wax. these types of waxes are quite new to me, so I went for the cheapest wax with the best reviews.
I applied it by hand and buffed it with microfibre. A fairly painless process as it was quite easy to buff.

Check out the beadage - on my hand :)

skud6.jpg



So far:
skud8.jpg


skud16.jpg

skud19.jpg


I was very happy with the finish at this point.

I'm saving the rest of the interior for another day as I plan on restoring the leather, which is completely shot (being yellow :() I cleaned and hoovered it in the usual way, nothing much to see really as again - it was already fairly clean.

I finally sussed out how to clean the grey rubber surrounds though!
I used a brass wire brush to clean them. I know what you're thinking - but being hard rubber, it did not scratch, or receive damage from the brush. it just flexed and let me get at all the dirt that a normal plastic brush just would not touch.
50/50:
skud7.jpg




The wheels are almost beyond reasonable repair, I think they're due refurbishment but that's not on the cards at the moment so I just cleaned them as best as I could.

looks like a black wheel with yellow dirt doesn't it!
skud9.jpg


I'm using a strong mix of bilberry and various brushes

skud11.jpg


almost.... heavy pitting is the only thing letting them down.
skud13.jpg



The arches had a similar treatment:
skud10.jpg


skud12.jpg




all that was left was to dress the tyres as they're looking pretty grey here :(
I had nothing left to do it with as my brother had cleared out my supplies so I headed over to north east detailing for a look about... pics later though.
skud14.jpg



so far so good, but more to come. I'll get some better pictures later as these are just snap shots really. it's not picking up the two tone paint or anything :(
skud17.jpg

skud18.jpg





next major jobs on the list are:

1. leather restoration
2. lowering by 35-40mm
 

Can anyone tell me the AG stuff in use there? hard to read the labels!

I'm gonna get myself a rotary :D
 
mrk said:
Can anyone tell me the AG stuff in use there? hard to read the labels!

I'm gonna get myself a rotary :D
Click to expand...

the labels read:
bodyshop 03B
autoglym paint renovator
autoglym ultra deep shine
autoglym liquid hardwax

there are much better systems to use though...

Tinders said:
For a BMW I'd deffo get a rotary and a kit of Menz polishes, brilliant stuff on hard paint.
Click to expand...

like this.


just get the little 250ml bottles, they're about £6

I've been using farecla G3, G10, and mur for polishing clearcoats from wetsanding for years, but I'm convinced with this menzerna stuff now, it;s excelent!

if it's only fine swirls that are your prblem, start with the lowest cut polish, like 85RD final finish with a fine finishing pad on the rotary.that will either make enough of a difference that your happy with, if not go to the next grade down.

machining removes paint, so the trick is to only use what you need to and no more. so if it's the lightest of light swirls, you don't start with heavy compound, then medium then fine as that would remove soo much paint.

that autoglym paint restorer has a reasonably high cut, and is intended to rmeove oxidation and so on, not for removing swirl marks alone.
 
Hi all!

This thread inspired me to go down Wilco today to buy some autoglym Resin Polish!

Used my trusty ghetto Halfrauds car wash formula, then applied some of the AG Resin Polish, came out a lot better than the old polish my dad had.

I then got even more excited when I saw that halfrauds had some of that Zymol wax that the guy who started this thread recommended. I haven't tried it yet. Thats Sundays event!

My only problem with my car is the dam tar and incrusted mud at the base of the wheel arch, what product is best to remove them? is it a case of just more blood and sweat needed during the washing stage?
 
The main companies do bug and tar remover, dont know whos is best though.

Never seen Zymol wax in Halfords before, I thnik their Cleaner Wax is actually a polish isnt it?
 
A polish removes slight imperfections on the surface of the paint, and possibly will have fillers in to mask the marks it cant remove. You cant go wrong with Autoglym Super Resin Polish.

For your ST I would glaze with poorboys Black Hole, and then Nattys Blue wax over that top. Much more experience on here than I have though, there may be more suitable products out there
 
For tar removal get some Autogylm intensive tar remover. Use an old microfiber cloth as it wont do your good cloths any good. Squirt a load on the cloth and dab it all over the tar and then leave for a few mins. Then use a clean bit of cloth with more tar remover on and gently wipe over the area. It should come off pretty easy.

Super resin polish will actually remove it if it isn't too bad, but I'd prefer to get rid of it before the polishing stage.

As for wax I'd highly recommend some Collinite 476s wax. It costs about £15 for a tin but it'll last longer than your car. Really good stuff and you only need to apply it once or twice a year.
 
Defcon5 said:
For your ST I would glaze with poorboys Black Hole, and then Nattys Blue wax over that top. Much more experience on here than I have though, there may be more suitable products out there
Click to expand...

Bank holiday weekend I'm going to be using Poorboys BH, followed by layered Poorboys EX-P and CG XXX Hardcore Paste. That should keep Evil Edna looking shiney for a while.

I also expect my shoulders to fall off.
 
Thanks for your input guys! The trouble is I live in deep darkest Suffolk and we only recently got the motor car! Where can I buy these top notch wax on the internetz?
 
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