How do you clean your vehicles?

[Itchy]

I just posted elsewhere about joining a Facebook group by accident, I figure I should explain myself.

A few months back, I watched a video on YouTube where someone thoroughly cleaned a 200,000 mile car.
They did a bang up job of it, inside and out and I quite enjoyed the before and after results shown.
I watched a few more videos and ended up finding out that this anal level of cleaning cars was known as detailing.

There's quite a difference between washing your car with a bucket and sponge, the valet place outside the supermarket, and detailers.

These are the guys who have a special hoover attachment to clean the air vents, or clean inside the fuel filler cap cover, or have paint depth gauges to tell them how many microns of paint they've got to play with.

I was looking for videos on Facebook and ended up accidentally hitting the join request button. You needed to answer a question to join so I quit the app and thought no more about it.
Until my "request" was accepted and my feed was filled with dirty and shiny cars and heaps of advice and info.

I have to admit, I got hooked.

So here I am, weeks later having received a shed load of car cleaning goodies for my birthday. And I bought a few things myself as well, so now my cleaning stuff has expanded to include...

Wheel Cleaner
Fallout Remover
Snowfoam
Dodo Juice Car Shampoo
Dual Action Polisher
Scratch and Swirl Removing compound
Detailed Online Clay Bars and Clay Lube
Fusso Soft 99 sealant
A whole host of new brushes and microfibres and the like.

I may have gone a bit overboard with this, especially for one car and one bike which I haven't exactly always kept sparklingly clean.

But now I've gotten into it, it'll be interesting to see the results.

Also, I've now sold our old car and taken ownership of my Dad's Astra.
When you look closely you can see swirls and scratches all over the paintwork, no doubt a result of an elderly man washing it with a brush and possibly Fairy liquid!
I'm going to treat it as a project. To try and remove the scratches and restore the paintwork, to bring up the interior by removing the stains and tobacco, to make it a car that my Dad would have been proud of, and one that I'll be proud of to remember Dad.

But anyway, enough of me prattling on.

Is anyone else obsessed when it comes to cleaning their own vehicles?
Or do you sling it through a car wash once a year?

[duke63]

Spudda and Blade to the OCD phone.

I do like to keep my bike and car as clean and shiny as possible but i do have my limits. They are both ultimately tools for either having fun in or travelling to work/holiday whatever and they will get dirty, get marked and chipped. They are not concourse vehicles.

If i ever get to the point of measuring piant depths, then i guess the whole point of my life has become pointless.

BTW the best glass cleaner and rain repellent is made by Angelwax - H2Go.

https://angelwax.co.uk/product/h2go-the ... repellent/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I do wonder how well it would work on a helmet visor.

[Cav]

I clean my car rarely but usually I go to town on it with compounds, polishes, waxes, sealants and the like.

My approach is:
Soak
Foam
Pressure Wash
Shampoo + Sponge
Rinse
Compound + Buff
Polish + Buff
Wax + Buff
Black Plastics
Tyre Shine

If I'm being lazy I just do the first 2 stages + quick detailer spray

[Kwacky]

Just because you've hit 40 it doesn't mean you have to give up on masturbation as a hobby.

[duke63]

Its a different type of masturbation i suspect.

[Itchy]

That's more of a vocation for me!

Tyre Shine

Oh yeah, I got some of that too!

[C00kiemonster]

I don't care about any of my cars apart from the Jag, which i give a couple of thorough details a year and wash well every few times i use it. I've spent a few years building up my car cleaning cupboard and it's taken a few years to learn what does what and what i think is useful time spent.

If your going to take care with your car and invest time in lots of processes to do so, it's important to get a few basics right. Each process can take a while too.

I use these guys: https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I've got my favourite product for each process but thats just me and i dont have a list (but can have a look if your interested).

When you clean the car its the care in the early processes not to get dirt on the paintwork and wash the dirt off without touching the car, otherwise most of the rest of the processes are a waste of time as the closer you look at a car the more you end up doing .

Two buckets of water - one for dirty water, one for clean / shampoo etc. Also dont use a sponge under any circumstance. A good washmitt is what you need then wash it in the nice bucket, wash the car then rince in the dirty bucket then repeat.

However before that, use the snowfoam - a decent lance will help you apply. This gets rid of a lot of the dirt.

Everyone finds their own way of doing this, however my rough order of things (i don't use all these steps, it's worst case scenario with all of them. I only do most of this once a year in full and use parts during the year):

Snowfoam - in lance
Degrease - Orange based foam cleaner in lance
Clean - Washmitt and Shampoo
Dry - dab dry dont rub. Big car drying towel.
Tape exposed edges of plastic, rubber and ppf
Clay with detailer spray - i use a clay infused cloth.
Wash away clay (washmitt etc) and dry - i use softened water - no minerals or marks then.
Problem areas - Super Resin Polish with DA polisher - select pad carefully
Any swirls on the paintwork (need good lighting) - Blue pad with SSR 2.5 compound.
Clean Paint for waxing - White pad with Poorboys Purple passion
Grey pad with Ultimate Glaze (paintwork sealant before wax)
Wax - Fusso 99 - Brilliant wax - not found better yet. Different versions depending on colour of car. I put it on by hand with the applicator - be very sparing and do a panel at a time then wipe.
Leave wax to dry then wipe with cloths.

Plenty of forums that only concentrate on detailing who know far more than i do but this works for me.

Key thing is to start with just the washing and get happy with that. Then after a while i'd learn how to clay the car and add that to the mix, then when that all works for you experiment with the DA. If you have an older car to experiment on first i'd do that. Key thing is if you don't do the early processes before using the DA you wont get as much benefit out of it.

[kiwikrasher]

I’ve been pretty slack in the last few years. Not quite D6 slack but definitely a bit lazy.

My 4WD is white and when people start writing words on it I know I’ve pushed it a bit far. If I’ve been in the mud off-road in it I always give it a rinse but a proper wash? Probably every 6 months at best. It’s a tool and other than mechanically, I don’t really care about it.

The bikes get limited use. Most rides I’ll wipe the bugs and dust off, but because the conditions here aren’t like what you guys have to deal with the Ducati has only had couple of full washes and the GB hasn’t needed one yet. Once again I keep them mechanically sound and sorted.

[D6]

I use rain

[C00kiemonster]

I use rain

We've seen the pictures

[Cav]

I thought it was a barn find when I scrolled through the photos... is that not the case?!

[kiwikrasher]

I thought it was a barn find when I scrolled through the photos... is that not the case?!

Nah he works for the R&D division of triumph and is the test case for component failures due to lack of maintenance, servicing or even mechanical sympathy

[Cav]

I'm going to assume this is the case... and not neglect

[kiwikrasher]

I'm going to assume this is the case... and not neglect

[C00kiemonster]

I'm going to assume this is the case... and not neglect

D6 is well known for his neglect i'll have you know..

[Itchy]

I had 10 minutes spare...

[Itchy]

Think I'll tackle this next...

[kiwikrasher]

What did you do? Drive through a bog???

I could drive my car on the road for it’s whole life here in Australia and it’s never get like that. Off-road maybe

[Itchy]

Honestly I don't know.

I expect my Dad never cleaned in there, although my Zafira did 81,000 miles and didn't look like that and I never cleaned the engine bay either.

Maybe it's susceptible to getting mucky.

Either way, it's a good excuse to get the detailing brushes out!

[Kwacky]

What did you do? Drive through a bog???

I could drive my car on the road for it’s whole life here in Australia and it’s never get like that. Off-road maybe

We get a lot of rain here. So you get dirty water flicked up from your car and other vehicles. Once teh roads are wet or damp the traffic creates a thin mist a few feet over the tarmac.

It's a big issue with the bikes. You get dirt and road salt in places you really shouldn't.

Riding in winter is a real pain because your visor gets dirty very very quickly.