*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

[V_R]

I’d get some Meguiars Ultimate Compound and their Ultimate Polish to get out any marks on the paint. If there is start with the Ultimate Polish first. This is called correcting the paint then you use wax to protect it.

Yeah, I intend to go down that route once I'm happy about doing it, want to makes sure I'm confident before I start attacking the paint. It's not too bad, a little bit swirly but the previous owner obviously took pretty good care of it. I intend to keep it that way.

DW05 gets 5% at CYC. DW10 gets 10% at clean & Shiny. There are a boatload of others so if you are buying from anywhere else.

No idea what gives with the email thing.

Cheers, I got the code via honey, which was nice, paid for next day delivery.

Me neither, I sent the admins a message, maybe it a Gmail thing? But that would seem a little OTT.

 

[nlel1975]

Yeah, I intend to go down that route once I'm happy about doing it, want to makes sure I'm confident before I start attacking the paint.

I’ve used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on my car and it didn’t make it worse, it made it better. The scrape I was trying to cover up has virtually disappeared and you can only feel it to the touch.

Meguiars Ultimate Compound didn’t make it rough to the touch, the original scrape caused that. The panel it’s on still looks nice and shiny and you would never know I’d used Ultimate Compound on it.

If you didn’t know where to look you’d never know where to feel and without shining a torch on it you just can’t see it and even if you do it’s still very minor.

That said I wouldn’t want to use it too often and I’d rather try Ultimate Polish first, but it’s not something to be scared of it’s only improved the situation not worsened it.

 

[V_R]

Gave the car its first clean in my hands today. Only had time for a foam and wash as she's got plans this afternoon.

Amazing what you notice when you're cleaning it!

So it needs a decontamination, can feel the roughness on the paint and there's a couple of tar spots on the lower half. There is also a very slight mark on the bonet, looks like it might have been a bird poop that's left its mark. It's also a bit swirly, not bad but it's noticeable

So with that, any recommendations for products to use?

I need to book a weekend so she knows not to plan anything!

 

[nlel1975]

So with that, any recommendations for products to use?

Meguiars Clay Starter Kit
Meguairs Ultimate Polish
Meguairs Ultimate Compound
Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Wax
Meguairs Applicator Pads
Kent Microfibre Buffing Towel
AutoGlym Intensive Tar Remover

 

[nlel1975]

Get your wallet out!

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Washed it yesterday. Just a quick shampoo wash and aqua wax with some rapid retailer to remove some marks. Looks as good as any other more extensive treatment I’ve done. That said, the paint is still pretty amazing since I last did a thorough paint clean in April.

 

[Kei]

Meguiars Clay Starter Kit
Meguairs Ultimate Polish
Meguairs Ultimate Compound
Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Wax
Meguairs Applicator Pads
Kent Microfibre Buffing Towel
AutoGlym Intensive Tar Remover

Whilst I like some meguiars products, they are ridiculously expensive for what you get.

Gave the car its first clean in my hands today. Only had time for a foam and wash as she's got plans this afternoon.

Amazing what you notice when you're cleaning it!

So it needs a decontamination, can feel the roughness on the paint and there's a couple of tar spots on the lower half. There is also a very slight mark on the bonet, looks like it might have been a bird poop that's left its mark. It's also a bit swirly, not bad but it's noticeable

So with that, any recommendations for products to use?

I need to book a weekend so she knows not to plan anything!

Bilt hamber auto clay and korrosol are excellent and good value. I've not tried korrosol myself as I have some autoglym magma already, which is very nice, as the smell is pleasant. I had carpro ironX before and the smell was horrific. One thing to factor in though, if you clay your car, expect marring in the paint that will need polishing to remove.

Anyway, I spent today testing out my new nano polisher (proxxon WP/A) on the tailgate of the old saab. This is the very swirly paint I started with. I'm doing it in sections to avoid overexerting my back.


I used some Rupes DA-coarse compound and the proxxon medium foam pads. Just one set was required and I didn't even need to use the finer polish to refine as there was no obvious sign of holograms or marring from the rotary.


I'm slowly working my way around this car, mainly as practise so I don't wreck the paint on the mini. Before anyone asks, yes, there are marks from where the old badges used to be. The adhesive must have affected the clearcoat. (Faint outlines of SAAB on the left and 900 SE on the right are visible) Probably due to them being on there for 15 years. It's almost 27 years old, so I can't expect perfection.

 

[nlel1975]

Whilst I like some meguiars products, they are ridiculously expensive for what you get.

No expense is spared on my car.

 

[Mekrel]

Looks like good results Kei.

I personally wouldn't touch Meguiar's clay, it's awful stuff that really falls apart quickly (used it on my previous car). Bilt Hamber auto clay on the other hand is a very robust product.

I've also found Bilt Hamber cleanser fluid to be good at removing tar spots and other contamination, so a good money saver as it has dual purpose for preparing panels before applying the protection of your choice.

 

[V_R]

Thanks for the replies gents, I was looking at Kerosol and/or surfex HD. I'll have a read around.

I'd love to get a machine polisher and give the whole thing a good polish, but I'd be super nervous about doing it. Need something to practice on.

 

[Kei]

Looks like good results Kei.

I personally wouldn't touch Meguiar's clay, it's awful stuff that really falls apart quickly (used it on my previous car). Bilt Hamber auto clay on the other hand is a very robust product.

I've also found Bilt Hamber cleanser fluid to be good at removing tar spots and other contamination, so a good money saver as it has dual purpose for preparing panels before applying the protection of your choice.

Thanks. Agreed on the meguiars clay. Over £20 for just 80g is terrible value when you can have 200g of BH clay for just over £10. I use optimum no rinse (ONR) as my clay lube/QD as I use just 7ml in my 1L spray bottle. Not tried the cleanser fluid yet as I've still got my old bottle of AG tar/glue remover.

Thanks for the replies gents, I was looking at Kerosol and/or surfex HD. I'll have a read around.

I'd love to get a machine polisher and give the whole thing a good polish, but I'd be super nervous about doing it. Need something to practice on.

Surfex HD is a very, very good APC and is excellent value for money as you dilute it down significantly so it goes for miles. That's one of the big plus points to the bilt hamber product line. The biggest problem with this is needing separate spray bottles and measuring tools.

Machine polishing is one of those things that I was wary of for far too long. I spent over a decade doing it by hand. It's only after watching a lot of stuff on youtube about it that I finally caved and bought one. I now severely regret not doing it sooner. The biggest thing to be cautious of is making sure to keep the pads and the paint clean. Dirt in the pad will ruin all your hard work. Burning through the paint requires some significant effort and is an incredibly low risk. I will say that it is an insanely expensive process as, in most cases, the accessories cost more than the tools themselves. The foresnsic detailing channel is pretty good for learning the ropes, though beware the potential for severe damage to your wallet.

 

[V_R]

Yes I read good things about it.

To be fair I did restore the headlights on an old Vectra a couple of years ago, that was using a drill not a polisher, and they came up beautifully. So I have had some experience. Looks like I need to start reading up on that next.

Also, I want to clean the exhaust tips, they are filthy and don't look like they've ever been cleaned. Is autosol the way forward?

 

[nlel1975]

I gave the minor scrape on my car a second going over with Meguiars Ultimate Polish and then Ultimate Compound today and used a buffing cloth to buff it off afterwards, it looked slightly worse than it did before.

I thought I’d overcooked it, so then I used Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Liquid Wax and buffed that off and the scrape was back to how it was before I started and I was relieved.

I think the buffing cloth was dirty and that rubbed into the scrape and then the wax cleaned it

 

[dlockers]

Looks top, Kei. Nice car to work on as well (relatively low risk!).

I did a quick BH AutoFoam wash on the E43 and Ibiza today. E43 was treated to a towel dry but nothing more than that. I think I've got one more wash before the years out but we'll see how the weather goes. Fingers crossed Indian summer!

 

[V_R]

Out of interest what ratio do you guys use your BHAF at?

 

[V_R]

I gave the minor scrape on my car a second going over with Meguiars Ultimate Polish and then Ultimate Compound today and used a buffing cloth to buff it off afterwards, it looked slightly worse than it did before.

I thought I’d overcooked it, so then I used Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Liquid Wax and buffed that off and the scrape was back to how it was before I started and I was relieved.

I think the buffing cloth was dirty and that rubbed into the scrape and then the wax cleaned it

I'm beginning to wonder if you work for Meguiars!

 

[Muska]

Out of interest what ratio do you guys use your BHAF at?

you really need to calculate your own Panel Impact Ratio (PIR) based on what equipment you use and water pressure etc. a quick google should bring up a thread detailing how from Detailing World

 

[Kei]

Out of interest what ratio do you guys use your BHAF at?

As Muska says, it should be calculated. Fill your foam lance with water and simply shoot it into a bucket until the lance bottle empties. Measure the volume of water collected into the bucket then multiply by the percentage mix you want. Bilt hamber recommend 4% as a maximum, so 0.04 is your multiplication. In my case, I got ~12000ml in the bucket so 480ml of autofoam goes in the lance and top it up to full with water. If you want to save on concentrate, just do 2% which still seems to do the job well.

 

[V_R]

Yes, I did read that, just curious how closely people follow that rule.

 

[Muska]

I use 4% PIR for a heavy clean or 1% for a maintenance wash