*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

[Simmy]

A weekend in Cornwall left me with this.





An hour or two later...







Today's heat got to me in the end, so I ended up rushing it.

Need to sort out a polish and wax combo whilst the paintwork is in half decent shape.

Applied a coat of poorboys wheel sealant to one of the alloys. Will see how well it has done during the next clean.

 

[dacads]

You had me thinking it was grey for a second..

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Washed mine and got carried away, decontamination stuff, then clay, SRP & collinite 476. Car is like glass. I’ll do tyres and trim tomorrow morning

 

[Parsley]

Didn't have time for the full clay bar, polish and wax that I usually do this time of year so I topped up the remaining pre winter collinite 476 with some Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer after a quick two bucket wash. I've done this a couple of times so far since the big pre winter prep clean and I really rate this stuff, it's either extending the life of the Collinite or it simply lasts quite a long time itself.



As an aside, any quick recommendations on a good value machine polisher and an actual polish so I polish the car properly when I get around to it? As much as I think Autoglym SRP with a layer of Collinite 476 over the top works, I'd like to do things properly rather than cover the swirls up.

 

[Cookeh]

Das6 Pro, really the only thing worth getting for less than £200. Can normally pick them up for sub-£100 on sale. Think I got mine for £95 with Megs 105/205 and 2x Lake County pads.

 

[dacads]

Sonax BSD definitely lasts a couple of months at least.

I've only managed to use half a bottle in nearly 2 years. Although I only wash occasionally so that's probably between 20-30 washes.

 

[Temujin]

Any recommendations on QD concentrate? Was looking at ONR and ECH2o but didn't come to any conclusions thus far

 

[Participant]

Gave the E-Class its first proper attention since new.









Like the looks in general, especially the interior, but its derriere is definitely its weakest part aesthetically.

AG polar blast snow foam
Meg's Gold Class shampoo
SRP
EGP
Meg's endurance tyre gel
AG wheel protection
Meg's glass cleaner

 

[Parsley]

Das6 Pro, really the only thing worth getting for less than £200. Can normally pick them up for sub-£100 on sale. Think I got mine for £95 with Megs 105/205 and 2x Lake County pads.

Thanks for the recommendation. The Das6 Pro is one of the ones I was looking at but more opinions are always good.

Sonax BSD definitely lasts a couple of months at least.

I've only managed to use half a bottle in nearly 2 years. Although I only wash occasionally so that's probably between 20-30 washes.

I think I'll keep using it, it's really quite effective.

 

[cu3ed]

Are machine polishers etc only for the use when removing swirls. Or can they be used to be a more effective way of putting on polish/ wax for general paintwork upkeep?. Also to save a lot of elbow grease.

 

[Cookeh]

Can be used to apply a wax, but kind of pointless. You dont gain anything, and waxing a car takes all of 15 mins max anyway. By the time you get an extension chord out, put the pad on, apply then spread the polish and work your way through the speeds to your working speed (not to mention packing away, or changing/cleaning pad when it clogs) it arguably takes as long anyway.. aaaaand you still have to buff the polish off.

 

[Dis86]

Anyone able to recommend a wheel sealant that works effectively?

 

[jpaul]

Can be used to apply a wax, but kind of pointless. .. aaaaand you still have to buff the polish off.

plus you would waste a lot of wax absorbed in the pad too.

(take care - regret the purchase of a porter cable dap which I used with meguiar m83 - ended up removing too much cleacoat - necessitating bonnet respray ,
should have stuck with auto glym srp)

 

[Tinders]

plus you would waste a lot of wax absorbed in the pad too.

(take care - regret the purchase of a porter cable dap which I used with meguiar m83 - ended up removing too much cleacoat - necessitating bonnet respray ,
should have stuck with auto glym srp)

Clear coat removal with PC? WTF were you doing with it those things barely correct paint let alone strip clear code!

 

[jpaul]

Clear coat removal with PC? WTF were you doing with it

I don't know what went wrong with the imported PC, I never saw someone using one, in the flesh, to make sure technique was good, utube's not ideal.
used meguiar m83, also 3m hand glaze and some SRP (not together) - need to dig it out again. ... don't know if compounds break down these are 6 years old now.

 

[dacads]

Anyone able to recommend a wheel sealant that works effectively?

I'm using gtechniq c5 only thing I'd do in future is remove the whole wheel and have more patience to clean and dry properly before applying the sealant.

 

[Lowe]

Been suffering with tar spots and general nasty crap on the lower half of the car, so gave it a good decontam followed by a good wash and a layer of quick detailer. Came up lovely.

 

[Cookeh]

Looks good (what colour is that paint, its a gorgeous colour!), but a perfect illustration of one of the biggest issues with black wheels... Even with freshly cleaned and dressed tires the wheels still make them look brown - a horrid look. Rays are still lovely though, regardless of colour. Louvres are different too, didnt know they existed on the Toybarus. Look a bit too 'wannabe mustang' imo, though.

 

[PiKe]

Anyone got any recommendations for an inexpensive snowfoam cleaner? Preferably something other than white as I have a white car and it would be tricky to see coverage.

 

[Armageus]

Anyone got any recommendations for an inexpensive snowfoam cleaner? Preferably something other than white as I have a white car and it would be tricky to see coverage.

I have a white car and no issues with white snowfoam.