Clean Car - What To Use?

Keith W

Keith W

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Hi All,

Have just bought Mrs Keith a new car, a Ford C Max, we should take delivery of it on Tuesday.

My question to all the car enthusiasts out there is what products do you use, or recommend, for keeping the car clean?

I have seen a number of cars that look like they have just come out of the show room and I would like to keep our car just as clean

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Take care,

Keith
 
Nothing beats elbow grease!


But pride of ownership is a terrible thing! :p
 
I am a self employed mobile car valeter www.parkersvaletingservice.co.uk

Top tips for the exterior would be
1) ALWAYS rinse the loose grime from your car before even touching it with a sponge/washmitt, preferably use a traffic film remover
2) Don't' use a sponge, use a lambswool mit here. Any dirt or grit goes into the ply on a mit rather than sitting on the top swirling your paint like with a sponge. The mit also has a mess on the other side for flies.
3) Use the 2 bucket method, preferably with grit guards in. One bucket is plain water, the other has shampoo in. Each return to the buckets wipe the mit on the grit gard in the plain bucket then dip it into the shampoo bucket.
4) Always dry your car to prevent water marks, which are very hard to remove once dried on. I use a microfiber towel (prober car ones, not ones you use after a bath ;) )

If you take a look on my valets page it will give you an idea of the order of things. I spend around 4 to 5 hours doing a full valet on a standard sized car (anything upto a large estate).

I get all of my product from a specialist supplier. I don't use Autoglym myself but they are good products. Also check out these guys http://www.performancemotorcare.com/ I have got my towels from them.
 
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...erm? .... ?? ... keep it clean? ...you mean like, actually wash it ...? :confused:

Do people do that to cars??? Totally alien concept to me I'm afraid .... :thinking: :thinking: :exit:
 
Raptor Mike said:
And that is why you get lacquer peel on some cars ;)
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Actually that happened to me, after the snow melted off it the other year.
Not a total peel, but several small patches from the fibreglass / plastic rear fin. :(
 
Cobra said:
Actually that happened to me, after the snow melted off it the other year.
Not a total peel, but several small patches from the fibreglass / plastic rear fin. :(
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You put a rear fin on your reliant robin :P oh dear
 
Raptor Mike said:
I am a self employed mobile car valeter www.parkersvaletingservice.co.uk

Top tips for the exterior would be
1) ALWAYS rinse the loose grime from your car before even touching it with a sponge/washmitt, preferably use a traffic film remover
2) Don't' use a sponge, use a lambswool mit here. Any dirt or grit goes into the ply on a mit rather than sitting on the top swirling your paint like with a sponge. The mit also has a mess on the other side for flies.
3) Use the 2 bucket method, preferably with grit guards in. One bucket is plain water, the other has shampoo in. Each return to the buckets wipe the mit on the grit gard in the plain bucket then dip it into the shampoo bucket.
4) Always dry your car to prevent water marks, which are very hard to remove once dried on. I use a microfiber towel (prober car ones, not ones you use after a bath ;) )

If you take a look on my valets page it will give you an idea of the order of things. I spend around 4 to 5 hours doing a full valet on a standard sized car (anything upto a large estate).

I get all of my product from a specialist supplier. I don't use Autoglym myself but they are good products. Also check out these guys http://www.performancemotorcare.com/ I have got my towels from them.
Click to expand...


Many thanks Mike

Much appreciated :)
 
Yves Geza said:
Nothing beats elbow grease!


But pride of ownership is a terrible thing! :p
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Get very acquainted with mr elbow grease, detailing cars to concourse condition is not a half hour with a bucket and sponge job!

I don't go in for the full detail lark, I just stick to a good wash with a good shampoo (Meguiars Gold Class) followed by Prima Banana Gloss wax, occasionally with an Autoglym Super Resin polish step added in between. Keeps the car looking and feeling great.

If you really want to go at it then spend some time on something like cleanyourcar.co.uk and buff up on some of the bewildering array of products they sell!
 
I just want to keep it nice and clean and not like a sh!t fest that some people let there cars get into
 
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Cobra said:
Doesn't everybody?
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Well yes, I understand there's a bylaw in the greater MK that mandates at least 3 inches of lowering and a wing that wouldn't look out of place on an A380
 
Keith W said:
Hi All,

Have just bought Mrs Keith a new car, a Ford C Max, we should take delivery of it on Tuesday.

My question to all the car enthusiasts out there is what products do you use, or recommend, for keeping the car clean?

I have seen a number of cars that look like they have just come out of the show room and I would like to keep our car just as clean

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Take care,

Keith
Click to expand...

Two bucket method.

Rinse car off with hose for at least 10 minutes to break down deposits and get them thoroughly saturated.

A separate bucket for wash and rinse. Each bucket with a grit guard at the bottom. Use a pure lambswool wash mit, and load up the mit with clean solution from the wash bucket, then wash in one direction only (no scrubbing in circles) and then rinse off the mit in the rinse bucket thoroughly. Load up again from wash etc. The grit guards keep the particulates trapped at the bottom of the bucket.

I uses Meguires Gold Class shampoo.

Dry the car with micro-fibre towels, by lightly wiping in one direction (no circular scrubbing). If you use micro-fibre towels, do not wash them with fabric conditioner or 2 in 1 detergents as it ruins them.


The trick is minimising damage. Washing badly is the cause of all paint defects, scratching and "swirling" in paintwork.

My Mustang is 8 year's old, and looks utterly identical to when it was new. I attribute this to careful washing technique.


Also... never actually let it get too dirty. The more crap on the car, the more likely washing it off will damage it.

Do not, ever, use automatic car washes with rotary brushes... you may as well just sandpaper the dirt off.
 
The local hand car wash, they do a fantastic job, including the interior :)
 
Pookeyhead said:
Two bucket method.


Dry the car with micro-fibre towels, by lightly wiping in one direction (no circular scrubbing). If you use micro-fibre towels, do not wash them with fabric conditioner or 2 in 1 detergents as it ruins them.


f.
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So does tumble drying. I found that out the hard way. Doggy towels ceased to soak up the water.
 
Gremlin said:
The local hand car wash, they do a fantastic job, including the interior :)
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:plusone:

Although I do the interior myself - I have fitted mats in all the wells to keep the worst of the crap out of the carpet and what little escapes gets sucked up by Henry. A quick wipe over with a leather conditioner deals with the upholstery and dash top and the wood gets a wipe over with a slightly damp cloth to remove fingerprints (same for the alloy bits of it.)
 
All good advice making me feel guilty
I don't clean mine as much as I should, on my days off I'm always out with the camera
 
Lots of Car washes around, simple, quick and cheap - drive through as and when needed

Then once a year the Meguires treatment - shampoo and rotary polish etc.,

It is only a (modern) car not like you have an older "classic" or similar
 
BillN_33 said:
Lots of Car washes around, simple, quick and cheap - drive through as and when needed
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If you read this as I did.... meaning "Automatic car wash with rotary brushes", then please...... do not heed this advice. The fact that Bill needs to correct his paint once a year is reason enough to NOT do this. Besides... in the wrong hands, a "rotary" polisher can cause all manner of problems. Also, you can only "correct" paint so many times before you are through the top coat, or worse. Any decent car detailer will analyse the thickness of your paint before correction and advise accordingly... not just dive in with a cheap Halfords rotary polisher and some T-Cut.

Wash it properly and you'll not need to fix anything.
 
Sorry misled you - not the proper rotary polisher the one that Meguires sell - it does not "correct" the paintwork and I never said I needed to "correct" the paintwork - another case of a "misquote" by Pookeyhead ......... when did I say I needed to fix anything

If you are going to "criticise" an earlier post please get your facts correct

Pookeyhead said:
If you read this as I did.... meaning "Automatic car wash with rotary brushes", then please...... do not heed this advice. The fact that Bill needs to correct his paint once a year is reason enough to NOT do this. Besides... in the wrong hands, a "rotary" polisher can cause all manner of problems. Also, you can only "correct" paint so many times before you are through the top coat, or worse. Any decent car detailer will analyse the thickness of your paint before correction and advise accordingly... not just dive in with a cheap Halfords rotary polisher and some T-Cut.

Wash it properly and you'll not need to fix anything.
Click to expand...
 
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It all depends on how obsessive you are regarding these things...I generally just give our cars once a month good wash...One is Silver so that is easy...The other is Lapis blue and I thought it required more work but is fine..

Snowfoam soak first
Followed by a rinse
Followed by a two bucket shampoo wash
Another rinse and a dry...

If there is anything particularly dirty I've driven through I'll wash it sooner...

But hey some I know are a bit crazy about these things....One is even considering getting an second car as a runabout to protect his Golf R....Madness if you ask me, but hey we all have our mad things...
 
Pookeyhead said:
If you read this as I did.... meaning "Automatic car wash with rotary brushes", then please...... do not heed this advice. The fact that Bill needs to correct his paint once a year is reason enough to NOT do this. Besides... in the wrong hands, a "rotary" polisher can cause all manner of problems. Also, you can only "correct" paint so many times before you are through the top coat, or worse. Any decent car detailer will analyse the thickness of your paint before correction and advise accordingly... not just dive in with a cheap Halfords rotary polisher and some T-Cut.

Wash it properly and you'll not need to fix anything.
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:agree:
Automatic Car washes are a big no no as are the rotary polishers, bloody aweful things. Any kind of nylon type based brush on your car is not a good idea. As stated you need decent material to make contact on your paint. Chamois, quality microfiber or lambs wool etc. The end!!!!
 
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@BillN_33

If it doesn't need correcting... why do you need a rotary polisher?


dejongj said:
It all depends on how obsessive you are regarding these things...I generally just give our cars once a month good wash...One is Silver so that is easy...The other is Lapis blue and I thought it required more work but is fine..

Snowfoam soak first
Followed by a rinse
Followed by a two bucket shampoo wash
Another rinse and a dry...
Click to expand...

This^....

It doesn't really take much longer than "normal" washing, and you don't even need the snow foam really... just careful washing, with a mind to what actually damages paint... which is moving particulates against the paintwork with inappropriate tools.

Careful washing technique saves time and money, and you'll get more for the car when you sell it to trade up.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
@BillN_33

If it doesn't need correcting... why do you need a rotary polisher?
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because it is very effective way to polish and wax a car ....... and quicker than by hand ......... if you do it properly, (even with a HD Bosch rotary polisher), you will not harm the paintwork ..... if you use the Meguires kit it is almost impossible to damage the paintwork on a modern car.

I have had "classic" cars and bikes all my life and still have a 911, a couple of MGs and a VW Beetle KG cap ..... plus have had lots of modern new vehicles and still run three ........ I have been obsessional about cleaning cars of all ages but modern cars are built to use and if you use them they get dirty ..... if you spend hours cleaning and detailing them it makes little different versus the modern automatic and semi automatic car wash treatment plus a personal, clean, wash, polish and WAX ..... once a year ...... I use the 2 bucket method, the specialise mit and Meguires products.
The auto car was does create "swirls" but modern paintwork is not like the older stuff, it is far tougher and some recommend that there is not need even to polish it.

From an effective use of time it is far better to use a good semi auto wash regularly and once a year, before the winter a good detailing and wax, than to spend four hours every other Sunday being obsessive about your paintwork.
Modern cars get used far more than years ago, roads are far more crowed and other motorists do not take care and no matter how careful you are you will pick up small scratches and dints just from parking.
Modern cars are an essential "tool" of life, they are fast depreciating assets and pandering over the paintwork will yield little extra value when and if you sell the vehicle

I said modern cars, before you mis-quote me again
 
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I only use a polish mop for cutting/correction. I only put wax on by hand. My luxury wax option is a high canubra wax that is a paste wax rather than a liquid (comes in a tin rather than a bottle).

Going back to the original post, as long as you keep the car clean, dry it properly and wax it once to twice a year (depending on wax) you'll be fine. I have customers that wash their own cars but get me in to give it a good valet once or twice a year. I also have customers that just have a mini exterior every 2 weeks and each time I wash them they come up really clean.

It all depends how much time and money yu want to use and how dirty your car gets.

But whatever you do DON'T USE WASHING-UP LIQUID ;)
 
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Some modern cars have very soft paint. Don't take my word for it.. go ask a detailing professional.

BillN_33 said:
The auto car was does create "swirls" but modern paintwork is not like the older stuff, it is far tougher and some recommend that there is not need even to polish it.
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Why recommend a system that damages the paint then?


BillN_33 said:
Modern cars are an essential "tool" of life, they are a fast depreciating assets and pandering over the paintwork will yield little extra value when and if you sell the vehicle

I said modern cars, before you mis-quote me again
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You could say the same about cameras, but I bet most in here clean them, care for them, would worry if they scratched them. They''ll be many in here who would rather degrade the quality of their images with a filter than risk a small imperfection on their "glass" etc.... would send them away and pay a fortune for a "sensor clean".. all the usual madness. Cameras are just tools.. like a hammer or a chisel... use them properly and they'll become used.

Just because you don't care much about your vehicles, doesn't mean everyone is the same. The OP clearly wants to keep the car nice, or he'd have not created the thread... he'd have just washed it however he saw fit, so I think it's reasonable to give him advice that will help him keep it nice, and running it through automatic car washes is not great advice in such a thread.
 
Raptor Mike said:
I only use a polish mop for cutting/correction. I only put wax on by hand. My luxury wax option is a high canubra wax that is a paste wax rather than a liquid (comes in a tin rather than a bottle).
Click to expand...


This...

There is no advantage or reason in using a rotary polisher to just apply wax. None... except for laziness perhaps.
 
Some people use their bare hands to apply the "high" value wax ........ but we are not talking about "normal" people here

polishing any surface creates "damage" - by the very nature of the task

anyway I am not arguing about cleaning cars as it seems to be a very personal subject close to the hearts of some readers
 
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Pookeyhead said:
Some modern cars have very soft paint. Don't take my word for it.. go ask a detailing professional.



Just because you don't care much about your vehicles, doesn't mean everyone is the same. The OP clearly wants to keep the car nice, or he'd have not created the thread... he'd have just washed it however he saw fit, so I think it's reasonable to give him advice that will help him keep it nice, and running it through automatic car washes is not great advice in such a thread.
Click to expand...

there you go again yet another wrong statement - my car(s) are of vital importance to me as I travel about 25,000 + per year, mostly in Europe - we live in the country and it is essential that we have at least two vehicles - in fact we have two in France and two in the UK....... so I do care deeply about my vehicles

What are you on which is causing you to make such assumptions
 
When you use a polish mop machine you have to be sooo careful. You have to mask any unpainted plastic because if the mop touches them it can stain. You also have to reduce the speed and use a soft head for painted plastic eg bumpers. You also need to be careful because some wings are plastic, which means you can burn through paint really easily. Not only that it can make a right mess (i always rewash the car after paint correction). My wax says apply buy hand using a damp appilcator. Also you don't need to load the paint with wax, just a thin layer to cover it otherwise you are just creating work removing it all again. The damp applicator reduces this.

I will say whichever way you do it and whatever wax you use is better than nothing at all. But leave correction to us professionals ;)
 
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For a quick spruce up, wash and apply Greased Lightning Showroom Shine it gives a lovely finish but doesn't last as long as a proper polishing. I've been told that Collinite wax is a good long lasting polish.
 
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