US 'Detailing' vs UK 'washing the car'

[slowhand99]

What wheel cleaners are you using ? The ford body shop guy said use a ph neutral cleaner as it would not affect the paint on them. My car shines apart from the wheels :(

AutoGlym 'Custom Wheel Cleaner' is neutral I believe (not 'Clean Wheels', which is hydrochloric acid as many wheel cleaners are). They also do a spray to finish off with.

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[Lone Survivor]

Don't know about the rest of you, but I had a couple of bad stains (probs salt from sitting at docks) on the plastic sills. Got some Gtechniq C4 and gave them a coat, came up super

I'll do the front splitter and rear valance tomorrow, if it ever stops raining!!

Need to clean them and de-grease them, then coat and light buff, expensive stuff but hopefully worth it.

 

[Hammer Time]

AutoGlym 'Custom Wheel Cleaner' is neutral I believe (not 'Clean Wheels', which is hydrochloric acid as many wheel cleaners are). They also do a spray to finish off with.

That won the auto trader test many thanks

 

[goldengooner]

AutoGlym 'Custom Wheel Cleaner' is neutral I believe (not 'Clean Wheels', which is hydrochloric acid as many wheel cleaners are). They also do a spray to finish off with.

Yes it is, even gets Chrome looking the business

 

[Monty]

Back to the Aqua Gleam topic (water filter for washing the car).

After initial great results, now finding worse than tap water. Dirty great spots all over car - had to do it again and towel down. Still not sure if its the filter or the shampoo, but convinced myself I kept getting a stagnant water smell.

Didn't wash in the sun (like in the photo) by the way.

All those unheeded warnings about black showing up everything are coming home to roost!

 

[Kristian87]

Back to the Aqua Gleam topic (water filter for washing the car).

After initial great results, now finding worse than tap water. Dirty great spots all over car - had to do it again and towel down. Still not sure if its the filter or the shampoo, but convinced myself I kept getting a stagnant water smell.

Didn't wash in the sun (like in the photo) by the way.

All those unheeded warnings about black showing up everything are coming home to roost!

Yikes! I had something similar to that on the paintwork after i had dried it all, the spots where water just "escapes" after a few hours.

Windows was the worst for me though - terrible after a good scrub with glass cleaner. The water spots just didnt seem to budge :(

 

[bennno]

I wash my black wheels with fairy liquid works well, silicon blade works better than chamois, used Autoglym super resin to polish the bodywork and then a coat of bilt hamber double speed wax [good price from Amazon, recommended by auto express]. since I put the wax on it 3 weeks back the water just beads off and its been possible to almost hose it clean.

 

[Jimboy2]

Just remember fairy liquid strips any protection from your wheels. Any wax or anything like that will be removed.

 

[Kristian87]

good shout on the silicone blade [MENTION=21430]Ben[/MENTION]no I think that will work wonders for me - last few times I tried to dry the whole car with a towel, there's a lot of relatively flat surfaces on these things which holds a lot of water!

True on the fairly liquid as well - worst thing for any painted/protected surfaces.

Is it bad I'm super excited to wash the car at the weekend?! Might be the first time doing so in decent weather

 

[Manders Mustang]

good shout on the silicone blade [MENTION=21430]Ben[/MENTION]no I think that will work wonders for me - last few times I tried to dry the whole car with a towel, there's a lot of relatively flat surfaces on these things which holds a lot of water!

True on the fairly liquid as well - worst thing for any painted/protected surfaces.

Is it bad I'm super excited to wash the car at the weekend?! Might be the first time doing so in decent weather

Clean car for the meet! i've got the missus cleaning with me on Saturday lol!

 

[bennno]

not convinced wheels have any wax on them

Does shift break dust and less acidic than wonderwheels etc

 

[Big_G]

good shout on the silicone blade [MENTION=21430]Ben[/MENTION]no I think that will work wonders for me - last few times I tried to dry the whole car with a towel, there's a lot of relatively flat surfaces on these things which holds a lot of water!

True on the fairly liquid as well - worst thing for any painted/protected surfaces.

Is it bad I'm super excited to wash the car at the weekend?! Might be the first time doing so in decent weather

Don't use a silicone blade, it'll scratch the car. Invest in a couple of large microfibre towels, lift your bonnet and boot before drying so the majority of the water runs off. Use one towel to take up the excess & the other to dry it off completely. Helps if you have a hydrophobic layer on the car so most of the water will run off anyway.

 

[Heretian]

Stay away from silicone blades unless you guarantee they and the paintwork are spotless. Any bits of grit will cause major scratching as it gets dragged across your paintwork. I tend got just go for fluffy waffle weave microfibres for drying. Takes all of 5 mins to do. For gaps I have been known to use a leaf blower too. £40 from b&q. Just make sure it's clean and start it off the ground and clear if got a few seconds before pointing it at paintwork.

 

[Jimboy2]

Or take it the round the block to shake all the water out of the gaps

 

[Enoch]

Stay away from silicone blades unless you guarantee they and the paintwork are spotless. Any bits of grit will cause major scratching as it gets dragged across your paintwork. I tend got just go for fluffy waffle weave microfibres for drying. Takes all of 5 mins to do. For gaps I have been known to use a leaf blower too. £40 from b&q. Just make sure it's clean and start it off the ground and clear if got a few seconds before pointing it at paintwork.

I use the fluffy towels, and an old fashioned 1950's mangle to wring it out

Works like a charm

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