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The Car cleaning section , Please join in

I’ve used meguiars for a long time now and have always been more than happy with the results.

Never been or used a car wash.

I don’t mind polishing the car but must admit I hate doing the motorhome:

Only thing that annoys me is when I’m out cleaning the car the dog walkers always say I’ll bring mine around later, you know who you are!
 
I had a nice clean car for 3 days , Then it rained , Went to work and back and now it's rotten again , DOH!
 
I broke out the machine polisher for the first time ever, really impressed with Sonax EX 04-06 as a single pass polish with reasonable correction, no dust and fabulous gloss. My technique improved as I got a feel for things, but the intention was not for perfection, but to bring a car with 145k on the clock back to it's former glory, pretty pleased with the results. Definitely worth the effort and now ready for summer.
I forgot to dress the tyres, but my excuse is I'd been at it 12 hours and was roasted :) Also the rims need a refurb...
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I managed to find enough dry time to get a coat of wax on my car last weekend.

The rain has been beading beautifully ever since.
 
...Otherwise it gets machine polished every couple of years and sealed with Collinite 476 wax.

I went back to 476 after the machine polish, I do like it's staying power it's normally my go to for winter rather than summer.

I topped up this weekend with some Turtle Wax Hybrid seal n shine, first time using it and I'm impressed so far. Dead easy to apply and great gloss. From what I've seen it's long lasting like Collinite.
 
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Just recently got a snow foam lance. My first attempt at getting it right was pretty shite! Any tips on ratios? I tried to follow the Bilt Hamber recs but I still got foam that didn't seem to stick long. Tried adjusting the nozzle for more/less water. I'm using an autobrite lance with a Nilfisk pressure washer.
 
Just gave my mini it’s yearly wash!
Finally got round to cleaning five years worth of tree sap off roof and bonnet, after trying some special tar/sap remover unsuccessfully, found microfibre cloth and wd40 worked best.
 
But your number plate's public every day - just as much chance of being cloned from driving it as posting a pic on here, surely??

Not as easy as some toerag putting my make and model in google and finding my picture with a visible plate.
 
Just recently got a snow foam lance. My first attempt at getting it right was pretty shite! Any tips on ratios? I tried to follow the Bilt Hamber recs but I still got foam that didn't seem to stick long. Tried adjusting the nozzle for more/less water. I'm using an autobrite lance with a Nilfisk pressure washer.

I'm using the same combo. For 4% PIR the BH calculation works fine but autofoam isn't supposed to cling in the same way some foams (autobrite being a good example) do, it's designed to move on the panel to aid it's cleaning effectiveness. It does have superb wetting abilities and whilst not visually impressive from a foam perspective, it's good for cleaning.

For my autobrite lance and Nilfisk I got 12L total for one full bottle on the foam Lance, with the lance set to its highest feed rate. That gives 0.48L of autofoam in the bottle, diluted with water, for a 4% PIR.
 
I'm using the same combo. For 4% PIR the BH calculation works fine but autofoam isn't supposed to cling in the same way some foams (autobrite being a good example) do, it's designed to move on the panel to aid it's cleaning effectiveness. It does have superb wetting abilities and whilst not visually impressive from a foam perspective, it's good for cleaning.

For my autobrite lance and Nilfisk I got 12L total for one full bottle on the foam Lance, with the lance set to its highest feed rate. That gives 0.48L of autofoam in the bottle, diluted with water, for a 4% PIR.

Thanks for this Andrew. So I was pretty close then. Guess since I'd never used one before I expected a big more 'cling' as I've seen in pictures around the net.
 
I'm using the same combo. For 4% PIR the BH calculation works fine but autofoam isn't supposed to cling in the same way some foams (autobrite being a good example) do, it's designed to move on the panel to aid it's cleaning effectiveness. It does have superb wetting abilities and whilst not visually impressive from a foam perspective, it's good for cleaning.

For my autobrite lance and Nilfisk I got 12L total for one full bottle on the foam Lance, with the lance set to its highest feed rate. That gives 0.48L of autofoam in the bottle, diluted with water, for a 4% PIR.

This

BH Autofoam sticks nowhere near as well as Autoglym Polar Blast as an example; but I've found its wetting abilities and cleaning abilities really good...

Nilfisk C120 and Autobrite lance here too; I've faffed with the nozzle a few times to get the spread right as well as the thickness of the foam; it makes more difference with the Polar Blast; the Autofoam is fairly runny no matter what setting TBH
 
Karcher here, snow lance worked ok but I wouldn’t say I got foam coverage as per videos so I didn’t let it ‘dwell’ much more than 5/6 minutes
 
But having signed-up for this: https://www.buglife.org.uk/get-involved/surveys/bugs-matter/ ..I await my splat-o-meter; a worthwhile opposite of 'detailing' ;)

Funny :D The front of my Ovlov looked like a battlefield of bug death (along with a month's worth of road grime) before I cleaned it yesterday. No shortage of things to splat up here!

Anyway, mission creep happened away from the original idea of just a quick wash and vacuum. Had a bottle of this sat on a shelf I hadn't got round to trying/applying:
51230972591_431c138ca2_c.jpg


Certainly pleased with the result - super smooth finish and the rain (bucketed it down last night) just ran off.
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Of course, I'll now have to get some on the MX-5. Now approaching 108k miles and proof that using a car lots and keeping it clean are not mutually exclusive.
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Not as easy as some toerag putting my make and model in google and finding my picture with a visible plate.

Surely if you want to clone a plate for, say, a silver Ford Focus, you drive round until you see a silver Focus of the right age and clone the plate? Car parks being a good hunting ground for example.
 


Every six months:

Foam, double wash, clay (whatevers cheapest), polish (Meguiars), alcohol rub down

Paint - Finish Kare Sealant (literally the best) -Lasts 6 months minimum, but I've seen a double coat last 12 months with it still beading!)
Wheels - Finish Kare Sealant
Glass - Autoglym Glass Polish, Meguiars Glass Sealant
Plastics - Meguiars Trim Protector
Tyres - Meguiars Tyre Gel
Interior - Poorboys Natural Look Dressing (after chemical free antibacterial wipe down)

Then weekly clean down with

TripleWax Waterless Wash
 
Surely if you want to clone a plate for, say, a silver Ford Focus, you drive round until you see a silver Focus of the right age and clone the plate? Car parks being a good hunting ground for example.

or sit your easy chair and look at Auto Trader..
 
Surely if you want to clone a plate for, say, a silver Ford Focus, you drive round until you see a silver Focus of the right age and clone the plate? Car parks being a good hunting ground for example.

We have this thing called the internet now :D
 


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