*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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ShiWarrior said:
how NOT to wash a car



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You can tell he's a professional by the GoPro on his head ;)

I must admit I'm starting to go the other way with car cleaning now and trying to do less stages with less kit. To my untrained eye the cars look no different after a couple of days whether I've spent the whole day on it or 90 minutes.

I've got a load of odds and ends that I'll have to try and use up on my company car. I'm sure spray on wheel wax will be fine on the paint....
 
lordrobs said:
You can tell he's a professional by the GoPro on his head ;)

I must admit I'm starting to go the other way with car cleaning now and trying to do less stages with less kit. To my untrained eye the cars look no different after a couple of days whether I've spent the whole day on it or 90 minutes.

I've got a load of odds and ends that I'll have to try and use up on my company car. I'm sure spray on wheel wax will be fine on the paint....
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Agreed...

1. Snow foam
2. Rinse
3. Quick contact wash
4. Quick dry
5. 'Ceramic' spray

Possibly Ultra Deep Shine if it has been a while.
 
dLockers said:
Agreed...

1. Snow foam
2. Rinse
3. Quick contact wash
4. Quick dry
5. 'Ceramic' spray

Possibly Ultra Deep Shine if it has been a while.
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I don't even bother with the snow foam now, although I've never really got to grips with it as a product. If my car is absolutely caked in muck I may use it but it doesn't ever seem to do much more than if I just pressure washed the worst off with plain water.

I just hose off, wash with two buckets, rinse, connect my Vyair and rinse again then spray some wax / QD etc. on and wipe it down with a microfibre.

I try and keep the solid carnauba wax coating topped up on my wifes Polo and the paint is noticeably slicker when washing it than my AG EGP treated company car. My MX5 which gets Colour Magic topped off with a spray on Carnauba Wax is a close second to the Polo.

Once the EGP is used up I'll try an all-in-one polish and protect type product on the company car. I don't really know why I waste my time going round that with clay, SRP and EGP every 6 months.
 
Yeah I've personally given up on clay and SRP. UDS goes on easy enough but it's too hot to bother now anyway.
 
bullit in head said:
Do you really use 3l cannon of snow foam per wash,,,, I have a 1 litre one that lasts 2x 2 cars. (So 4 washes)...you must really like it thick..
And that's a 10:1 mix.


Bullit
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Sorry, gathering information.
I'll be buying a maralax axel foam spray, you can get it in either 2L or 3L form for about £2 difference.

200ml of product, 2.8L of water

1:15 as per instructions


If I can get away with 1 L total that be brilliant
 
I’m using the Bilt Hamber foam and I’ve got to say, it’s the biggest waste of money and gimmick going, I’m really disappointed with it. Not this brand, the snow foam in general. It doesn’t lift the dirt, yes it looks great when your car is covered in it but rinse it off and I can’t see any of the dirt has lifted with it. I get more dirt off using my Karcher before getting the two buckets out.
 
ristac said:
I’m using the Bilt Hamber foam and I’ve got to say, it’s the biggest waste of money and gimmick going, I’m really disappointed with it. Not this brand, the snow foam in general. It doesn’t lift the dirt, yes it looks great when your car is covered in it but rinse it off and I can’t see any of the dirt has lifted with it. I get more dirt off using my Karcher before getting the two buckets out.
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Are you sure you're using BH? The reason I ask is that it is one of the few snow foams that doesn't look great as it doesn't 'waste effort' on the foaming aesthetic :p
 
It’s also possible it’s too weak, it’ll still foam up but will not be effective. I saw the same when I first got it, I didn’t calculate the PIR %. I just stuck like 100ml in the bottle, it still foamed up but didn’t shift anything.

After I calculated the PIR to get 4% solution onto the car with my pressure washer I needed 450ml of snow foam, then topped up with 300ml water which gave the 4%, it works brilliantly now.

I think with the 450ml product in the Lance, I get half a dozen washes out of it, small car, just quickly spray down the car, so it works out economical per wash, as long as you don’t go overboard and use loads per wash.
 
bullit in head said:
Do you really use 3l cannon of snow foam per wash,,,, I have a 1 litre one that lasts 2x 2 cars. (So 4 washes)...you must really like it thick..
And that's a 10:1 mix.


Bullit
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i was going to ask about ratios on a pump foam sprayer
no idea how i would work out 4% PIR in one of these

is that 10:1 using BH by any chance ?
how many times do you have to re pump it doing 1 car ?

im looking at getting the IK Foam 2 (new version) which is slightly smaller and cheaper than the maralax Axel 2L

thanks
 
Pump sprayers are easy. Just multiply the capacity by the percent, e.g a 2500ml foam sprayer, multiply by 0.04 (4%) give you how much solution needed.

The PIR ration is only more complicated with snow foam lances as you’re outputting an unknown capacity of water + what’s in the bottle. Hence the need to measure the quantity of water output to add to the output from the bottle to then work out the %.

My pressure washer + the entire 750ml bottle equals 11250ml output. 4% of the 11250ml is 450ml snow foam. You then need to bring the bottle back up to the 750ml, so add 300ml water.
 
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