Car cleaning and valeting discussion

[NeilS]

Thanks.

Found it hard work today. Missed a couple of tree sap spots on the bonnet and a bit of algae on the window rubbers. Noticed them after drying. Thought the polish would take out the sap but no such luck. They’ll have to wait til next time.

Gave me an excuse to try out the new pressure washer too! Upgraded from a Karcher K4 to a new K5. The K4 is years old and still running like the first day I bought it but wanted a back up just in case. I bet it lasts forever now I have a spare

[NeilS]

I did mine last Monday as I had a few days off, bought some autoglym polish and sealer, thought I’d try some magma, washed car and sprayed on and waited for it to turn red....it didn’t, instead it went white, panic moment as I thought i had damaged the paintwork , quick pressure wash off and all came good..phew, anyway, it looks nice now

As long as it’s not allowed to dry out, you can leave it to dwell and do it’s thing for a good few minutes. If it doesn’t turn red, it’s a good sign your paintwork doesn’t have any iron particles stuck to it. Did you spray your wheels? You’d have seen a reaction there definitely.

[alanp]

Yes I did the wheels but there wasn’t much red odd bits here and there but not a lot, I must keep my car ultra clean

[NeilS]

I only do it twice a year as part of my routine unless I’ve been parking near railway stations or doing loads of motorway driving etc, then I’ll do it on an “as needed” basis and with such little driving now, there’s little chance of picking up contaminates. A decent LSP also helps to prevent bonding.

My effort for today, other than the mats everything else was quite clean but I still did a thorough job just to be sure (and because my OCD wouldn’t let me do anything other)

Vacuumed, mats and trim cleaned and dressed, glass cleaned, leather cleaned and treated and finished with a spritz of something fresh.
The mats may look dirty, but it’s just the light reflecting off of the pattern

[Wdf76]

Nice to see you still have the protection film on the accelerator pedal. Mine came off yesterday after a year in place.....

What's your solution for the carpeted wheel arches. Try as I may I can't get them clean. Apc, citrus pre wash, long handled brush, power washer.... I give up.

[NeilS]

I was toying with taking it off but decided that if it wanted to come off, it would it on its own

Carpeted wheels arches......great as they don’t need to be dressed but are more difficult to clean.
My method is to pressure wash first to shift what I can, then a liberal coating of Surfex HD at 10:1 through a pump sprayer and left to dwell for a few minutes, then agitated with an EZ Detail Go brush. Pressure washed off again and then move onto the wheels.

As well as the above, I snow foam the wheels and arches when I apply it to the body work so they get an extra wash. If the arches still have signs of dirt, I may add some more Surfex HD before the snow foam to give it some added cleaning power. The snow foam on top adds longer dwell time and stops the Surfex from drying out.

Sounds a lot of work but it takes seconds to give it that extra spray.

[Wdf76]

Yeah, I see. I follow the cleaning part, I should've been more specific it's the dried in grass and vegetation that I struggle with, it all gets entangled in the fibre strands. Short of sitting there for hours with tweezers..... I'm at a loss. I wish they just stuck to plastic arches and maybe lined the inside for sound.

[paulcurtis]

I think I'll be doing mine this week. I use wax (Simoniz Original Carnauba Wax) rather than polish.

[NeilS]

Yeah, I see. I follow the cleaning part, I should've been more specific it's the dried in grass and vegetation that I struggle with, it all gets entangled in the fibre strands. Short of sitting there for hours with tweezers..... I'm at a loss. I wish they just stuck to plastic arches and maybe lined the inside for sound.

I see some cars with plastic at the front and carpeted at the rear. They must have thought it through, but I hope it didn’t come down to cost saving?

Forget to mention, re the dried in vegetation, it may be worth using your brush whilst it’s dry before pressure washing it.

[NeilS]

I think I'll be doing mine this week. I use wax (Simoniz Original Carnauba Wax) rather than polish.

I sure you know wax and polish are different products