Well for the exterior.

A gentle powerwash first to get rid of the mud/dirt.
Wash & Wax/Shampoo, including wheels.
Rinse with powerwash
Leather down.
Polish, including wheels. (Never use wheel cleaner)
Detail the black stuff.
Tyre shine the tyres.

Do all the above once a week except for the polishing which I do at least once a month.
I have a water blade but don't rate them as they still leave streaks of water on joints and I end up finishing off with the leather anyway.

A few times during the summer I'll use a Glass polish on the windows as well.

Results


Cheers
Lee



[Edited by logiclee - 6/2/2003 2:51:14 PM]

 

Turbo_Steve - sorry fella, but WRONG. Don't use Fairy Liquid *anywhere* on the car. Over time, it saps the oils from the lacquer on alloys, and makes them more susceptible to flaking.

The only time an acid wheel cleaner should ever be used, in my experience, is before you're willing to sit down and actually wax the wheels once they're dry. It sounds over-the-top, but once you've done this, your regular car wash will get them back to pristine condition no problem at all. As zoton has said above me, in fact!

[Edited by TelBoy - 6/3/2003 8:52:32 AM]

 

I have tried lots of different methods, I use a good quality car shampoo, rinse the car off first, then wash with a sponge and hot water, then rinse again, with a watering can, but somehow I still get dirty looking streakson the bodywork and glass when its dry. Car is DBM so they really show up,GRRRRR! Any tips?

 

I pay someone to do it.

 

Chammy the bugger off after you have rinsed it

 

Leather every time = No streaks

 

Drying it is the secret - I have a black sti and it shows up streaks badly. I hose it, aponge it, hose it again and use Hydrowax through the hose and polish it with a towel.

The missus got me the Hydrowax through QVC on Sky. It's not quite as good as a proper polish, but because you don't have dry the car first and just towel it off, it's much quicker. I find I polish the car everytime I wash it now because it's so easy.

 

Wash with Shampoo,
Hose down with clean water.
Re-hose the roof and chamois till dry,
repeat for all different car panels or until you can no longer be ar5ed.
Polish etc......

But then again I've only done once in 2 years, so what do I know

 

Get a good coat of wax on it, makes it easier to clean and easier to leather off (which is a must ). Polish again about once a month .

 

Water blade from various places, including wax wizard. Works a charm on DBM.

 

Rinse.
Wash using a good quality terry cloth , not a sponge.
Sponges trap grit and therefore put tiny scratches on the paintwork.
Cloth's can be washed after each use and therefore no grit gets trapped.
Dry with a blade then leather the remaining water.

 

I find chamois detiorate after a while, get a hydrablade and a big old fluffy bath towel, works much better, drying quicker and without streaks and can be wash afterwards.

the hydrablades are sold by most car cleaning companies autoglym , swissol ect ect, but it is exactly the same (hydraflexiblade TM), you should be able to pick them up easily now.

 

Cool, thanks for all that guys, I have been meaning to try one of those blade jobbies, will give it a go.

 

never do it when the sun's shining (which is rare)

wash the whole of the top of the car down to the waistline, rinse it, leather, then do the same for the front and back below the waistline - just to make sure that it doesn't get any streaky bits on it.

andy.

 

I just put mine through a £4.50 car wash, then got it home to finish off.

Hot soapy water, rinse, leather, hair-dryer, an exfoliater for that wrinkly skin on your hands, don't foget the muck under your nails, and then a quick massage and manicure from the other half.

Works a treat, and the car's not bad either...

 

Did somebody just mention the swear word - "carwash"..??

By the way, BE CAREFUL with the water blades. They CAN scratch your car, trust me, even though i'll admit i was being a bit slapdash, and fortunately it wasn't on the Scoob. But make sure you've rinsed off ALL the grit before you use one.

Which implies - do NOT throw the dregs at the bottom of the bucket over the roof/bonnet before rinsing off. Tel's Top Tip.

 

yep drying and using leather is the best formula for sure as the leather will always leave metal and glass smear free.

but the secret ingredient is to hang around for 10 minutes after you think you've done a good job to wipe away those nasty after drips. it's a good idea to open and close the boot, doors and bonnet to get at the water excess water sitting in those impossible to get at places!

i too pay someone to clean and wax mine since they do a flipping good job but washing your own car allows you to know every inch of it for marks and scratches which isn't a bad thing

 

Hose car off, this gets rid of alot of dirt and grime, also soaks
the car making it easier to wash. Shampoo soak the front of the car to loosen those pesky fly guts, wash from the roof down, now finish the front of the car and the fly guts should just wash away.
Now rinse car, then do wheels and exhaust, rinse again. leather the car including inside the doors and boot.
Last of all polish the car and tart up the tyres and trim if you wish.

simb

 

Hose car off, this gets rid of alot of dirt and grime, also soaks
the car making it easier to wash. Shampoo soak the front of the car to loosen those pesky fly guts, wash from the roof down, now finish the front of the car and the fly guts should just wash away.
Now rinse car, then do wheels and exhaust, rinse again. leather the car including inside the doors and boot.
Last of all polish the car and tart up the tyres and trim if you wish.

simb

 

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!

A friend of mine was a car valeter at a Peugeot dealers. The dealers had an automatic car wash on site. I used to pick him up sometimes at the end of his day. His last Job every day was to rinse down the brushes and the auto carwash, he ended up with a pile of grit and dirt beneath each brush , also most UK car washes recycle the water.

So you put your car through, dirty water with industrial detergent is sprayed onto the car then big heavy brushes full of grit and dirt picked up from dirty cars rotate over your paint work.

The sales manager at the dealers would not let the garages cars be put through the auto car wash, he says when part exchanges come in you can spot a car wahed car a mile off with its dull and straight "Swirl" marked paint.

This car wash was cleaned out every day, some at petrol stations and such are only done weekly or monthly.

Lee

 

I read an article in a Porsche magazine about a guy who had been washing using Zymol. It seems that there is an art to getting it right and not just a case of wash, rinse and leather.

I'll try and fish the article out and scan it in then post, if I get chance

But you will be very surprised on the correct method to get the best finish

 

CRIKEY ! You wash a scoob down only to find it's an Alfa Romeo !!!

Amazing stuff !

 

Mr Sti-Frenchie,

My Scoob turned into the Alfa over a year ago. LOL

Lee

 

Firstly dont use a shampoo that contains built in wax agents.
Do the wheels first they take the most time so if you do them last your car is drying off and streaking.
Hose / rinse off after cleaning.
Wiper blade first
Shammy to finish
Do the windows last with window cleaner, even with the best shammy I find the windows still streak.
Oh and a tip roll the windows down then up and shammy after theres nothing more annoying than the misses putting the window down and when it goes up theres water all over it!!
It works look

 

Hose the whole car down first, to loosen all the crap.
Wash the roof, windscreen, bonnet, rearscreen, boot, hose down again.
Wash drivers side, hose down, passenger side, hose down, front, hose down, rear hose down.
Wheels with autoglym wheel cleaner, hose down.
Exhaust! hose down.
Dry with a blade, and the flufiest dish cloth I can find in the kitchen draw.
Wax if need be,
then do the interior.
I have just done it without a sponge, and used a small towel instead. It really did make a difference. Used about quarter of a bucket instead of 3/4, and was much easier to dry off afterwards. My sponge is now relegated to wheel cleaning duty.
chris.

 

Most important advice I can give you is to wash it regularly, if you wash weekly and wax every 4-6 weeks it will be so much easier for you.
This is my car after a wash and chamois the other day.
If you look closely you can see me taking the pic in the reflection

 

So how many of you use wheel cleaner?

Most alloy wheels are painted and laquered the same as the bodywork. Would you spray acid on your bodywork?

I was adviced by a specialist a few years ago to treat the paint on the wheels the same as the paint on the body, get them highly polished then just use a sponge and wash&wax to clean them. Keep the polish topped once a month.

The acid in wheel cleaners strip off any protection or polish on the wheels leaving brake dust and grime free to stick to the wheels. I find if the wheels are kept polished 90% of the brake dust will come off with the powerwash and the rest will come off with the sponge, no need for acid cleaners. Thats unless you fit DS3000 pads the the metalic content of the pads burns into the paint and you have to get the wheels refurbished, expensive mistake.


Cheers
Lee

 

Best thing for shifting brake dust & tar without hurting your wheels is Fairy Liquid.

 

Zymol shampoo. Not expensive and available at Halfords (on and off). It doesn't take off the wax from the previous waxing, very impressive and smells of bananas...which is nice.

Bin the wheel acid and if you really really have to water it down to 1:1.

Make it an all day job by waxing the insides of your alloys

 

Have a look at Scooby Snacks 23 This has got to win the clean black car award!!

Adam