[fergus]

S90 but not model-specific.
With altered workplace arrangements over 2020-2021 my annual mileage has plummeted from 40,000+ to about 4,000. Maybe not that. I can go for days (weeks) at a time without using the car. (Thanks to this forum I have addressed the issue of a declining battery charge leading to a lack of functionality e.g. Start/Stop, foot-operated boot opening: I bought a AWD charger.)
The car lives outside. Over the months the kind of damp gunky/ muddy/ mouldy dark accretions more usually associated with garden structures (sheds, furniture) have accumulated. Sites include
- bottom of rear screen
- boot lid gutters (accessible when lid raised)
- southmost point of bootlid gutters where contoured light protectors (rubber? plastic?) are sited (**)
- bottom of front screen esp gutters when bonnet raised
- w/s wiper pivots
- bonnet hinges (**)
I took a toothbrush to these the other day, providing great improvement. But the sites marked (**) are especially horrible and need extra work because the gunk extends beyond the reach of the toothbrush filaments.
As for the contoured light protectors usually out of sight behind the closed bootlid: I could almost lift these to access what is below them but am nervy of doing so. Will I crack / bend them beyond recovery; do they unpop / pop back?
As for the bonnet hinges and surrounds: these have been horrible on all S80s/ S60s as far back as I remember. They gather leaves, twigs and general detritus and stay wet and become mouldy. There seems to be an open channel that descends deep into the wings and yet has no obvious egress. (On S60s I have seen pooled dirty water sloshing around like a harbour quay.) Does anybody have a great method for cleaning / drying / maintaining these horrible vulnerable points of weather degradation?
Thank you!