Quote:
Originally Posted by Kev0607
Thanks Petey, I'll try Ebay etc. Mine are 17mm, so smaller than yours. They look awesome though... I think the black would go well with my alloys.
In other news, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I've started washing my own car. There's no beating around the bush, I've took it to "hand" car washes for a long time, but I'm sick of them missing parts that should be cleaned and they stand out like a sore thumb when the rest of the car is clean. Another thing I noticed was whilst another car was being washed, the guy doing it cleaned the wheels and then he used the same sponge to clean the body...  Safe to say, I didn't stay in the queue...  I don't normally go there anyway. I've never used one of those auto brush washes that are in some petrol stations... the ones you drive the car into and big brushes go over the roof and down the sides. I heard they can ruin a car, but surprisingly, the one near me is always busy! |
Oh Kev..... rookie error taking it to the local sratch and wash. They use strong chemicals, shammies and as you witnessed, the same sponge/cloth on wheels and bodywork. But not everyone takes care of their car like we do.
Those automatic car washes aren't great either. As "soft" as they say their brushes etc. are, you have to keep in mind that they're spinning round at a really fast rate. That is going to leave marks on paint work without a doubt. The rule of thumb for proper car cleaning is to get as much dirt etc. off the car before you touch it with a wash mitt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kev0607
I haven't got the products you've got, but I have some basics. Here's my procedure;
-Spray the body and wheels with elbow grease (says it can be used on vehicles and it does a good job of removing dirt/grime). Let that settle in for a couple of minutes.
-Clean the wheels with a wheel brush I got from Halfords. Rinse off wheels.
-Rinse car with my Karcher power washer. Its only a small one, its a patio cleaner (Cold water only, its not a pressure washer). I have a pressure washer that can heat the water itself by heating element, but its a big awkward thing to move around.
-Starting at the roof, wash with a sponge and soapy warm water and work my way around the car. The sponge is used on the body only. Discard that dirty water and renew with fresh.
-Rinse car off again
-Spray some more elbow grease on, let it settle in
-Clean wheels again with the wheel brush. Rinse off
-Go around the car again with the clean water/sponge/suds
-Rinse off
-Add some tyre shine
Safe to say it comes out sparkling clean, but I have nothing to dry it. I assume drying helps? I didn't get any water marks surprisingly after that last wash. Its still clean now and that was last weekend. Normally its filthy in a week from dust in the air that seems to cover it.
I know you do a far more superior wash than that, but is there anything that I'm doing wrong? I don't want to be damaging the paint either! I know it may seem like its just washing a car, how hard can it be kind of thing. All the same, I know there's a method to it that clearly the "hand" car washes don't do, hence why they "wash" (and scratch) so many cars per day.
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Personally I would ditch the Elbow Grease and get a Citrus degreaser and a pump sprayer. CarPro do a decent degreaser and you can get a 2 litre pump sprayer for dirt cheap.
Wheels first is good. They're the dirtiest part of the car usually, so should be done first.
Ditch the sponge and get a microfibre wash mitt. Readily available from Temu, AliExpress, Amazon and e-bay. Sponges tend to trap any dirt particles you may not remove with the pre-wash on the surface of them. You're then dragging the sponge across the paintwork inflicting swirls and scratches. A M.F. wash mitt will trap any dirt particles within the fibres.
I think washing everything twice is overkill buddy. If you got a decent citrus degreaser it would take most of the dirt off, especially if you rinse it with something that has a bit of pressure. Even one of those garden hose guns would do. The ones where you can change the setting to jet/full/centre etc.
I would highly recommend a snow foam setup, but if you can't be bothered with that, that's understandable. There are pump sprayers that act as snow foamers, might be worth looking into one of those.
A drying towel is a good buy as well. Again a microfibre one. This will help stop any water marks that might appear.
The only thing you seem to be missing is an LSP (Last Stage Protection). Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer is decent and then you have waxes etc. I can definitely recommend the Soft99 range of waxes.
Happy to give you some links to some products if you want?
But yeah, stay clear of the scratch and washes, I've seen so many horror stories of the damage they've inflicted on cars due to their strong chemicals and god awful cleaning techniques.