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The Car cleaning section , Please join in

I guess I am in the less washing camp but I do wash my cars once approx every 6 months (and with Halfords sheepskin as I find everything very abrasive to modern car paintwork?) and apply the Autoglym high definition wax. It's really good to keep dirt off - almost self-cleaning for some time.
Internal weekly or so cleaning is a good idea though!:)
 
no, not here anymore. car wash and a chat with the lads. do inside ourselves, except after a messy hols, valet job done by others

i have to clean/maintain the roof seals twice a year, iut for an eos, has only leaked when i first purchased it some 7/8 years ago
 
TheDecameron said:
Any recommendations for generic substitutes and domestic alternatives to top car branded cleaners?
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I have had good luck with Bilt-Hamber stuff. Not cheap as chips but not on par with Mags or AG. Their wash is amazing as you only need about 5ml of the stuff to do a medium sized car. The wonder balm wax is also really good. 3/4 times a year with that and the car stays looking really good.
 
I can understand not giving a f*ck about a clean car, but at this time of year if you drive every day then brushing up against a minging car with 6 months of road crap on it just wrecks your clothes. No excuse not to run it through an auto car wash every couple of weeks.
 
I use a purple cleaning product by Meguiars for the exterior. The wheels; wheel arches and visible suspension components are also cleaned thoroughly with that product.

This happens twice a month.

Once a month, the (cold) Engine Bay is soaked in Autoglym Machine Cleaner and hosed off. My car has a Diesel Engine BTW.

In any case, I'll drive to heat up and dry stuff out afterwards.

Yearly, the light grey cloth interior is deep cleaned with a Rug Doctor hired from a Hardware Shop.

I've been running my car for about eight years and nearly 120,000 miles... :)
 
Amusing thread with the expected replies, at one end a rite of passage to do f&*k all except growl at the car and expect it to clean itself and at the other several processes and products. FWIW I’m amongst the latter but you do get good and quick at things. Detailing is as much of a specialism as hifi or other topics and there’s prep, washing, polishing, waxing, claying, wheels and arches, lights and windows, interiors, never ending.

OP I would suggest watching some of the videos out there and maybe follow a YouTube channel for a while like forensic detailing channel. Then work out along the way how much you’re prepared to keep up through the year.

I’m another Bilt Hamber fan and I stick to this and Angelwax brands except for Autoglam fast glass and Done & Dusted detailing spray. This time of year I might snow foam if there’s a lot of winter crap stuck on. If not and for the rest of the year I’ll just hose rather than pressure wash off. I dilute the BH shampoo about 10:1 into the typical Screwfix garden pressure spray bottle (about £9 and I have several for different gardening jobs too) so whilst a product like BH in 5L bottle might be expensive when it’s diluted it’s still powerful and will last for years.

then single bucket method with long fibre mitt and grit guard, hose off then dry with decent specialised towel. Then detailing spray which really makes a difference to water run off and stuff not sticking.

my tips would be:
  • Don’t see cleaning as cosmetic always, you’re often just removing stuff so it doesn’t build up
  • Keep loads of microfibres around and drying towels, if something hits the floor don’t put it on the car again
  • Do wheels with cheap cleaner or bucket after you’ve finished car then use a decent product such as BH for the iron and tar deposits
  • Clay once a year or so, I didn’t get on with clay bar and changed to clay pad and optimum no rinse as lubricant, fantastic result
  • Wax maybe once per 6 months
  • Wash car maybe once per fortnight
  • Check oil, tyre pressures and screen wash every week
  • Keep wiper blades clean
  • Try Angelwax H2O or similar that make windscreen hydrophobic and see if you get on with it, I drove 100 miles in sh1tty weather and did not use the wipers once (tough test though so cleaned and reapplied after that)
  • I find I can stick to this, it’s like anything too little or too much and you won’t bother after a while
 
matt j said:
I can understand not giving a f*ck about a clean car, but at this time of year if you drive every day then brushing up against a minging car with 6 months of road crap on it just wrecks your clothes. No excuse not to run it through an auto car wash every couple of weeks.
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haha, quite right, some trips do require a good quick car rinse after
 
Ok. As some of you clearly know what you are doing? Any suggestions for removing pine wax drips from trees? Thanks
 
Paul L said:
Amusing thread with the expected replies, at one end a rite of passage to do f&*k all except growl at the car and expect it to clean itself and at the other several processes and products. FWIW I’m amongst the latter but you do get good and quick at things. Detailing is as much of a specialism as hifi or other topics and there’s prep, washing, polishing, waxing, claying, wheels and arches, lights and windows, interiors, never ending.

OP I would suggest watching some of the videos out there and maybe follow a YouTube channel for a while like forensic detailing channel. Then work out along the way how much you’re prepared to keep up through the year.

I’m another Bilt Hamber fan and I stick to this and Angelwax brands except for Autoglam fast glass and Done & Dusted detailing spray. This time of year I might snow foam if there’s a lot of winter crap stuck on. If not and for the rest of the year I’ll just hose rather than pressure wash off. I dilute the BH shampoo about 10:1 into the typical Screwfix garden pressure spray bottle (about £9 and I have several for different gardening jobs too) so whilst a product like BH in 5L bottle might be expensive when it’s diluted it’s still powerful and will last for years.

then single bucket method with long fibre mitt and grit guard, hose off then dry with decent specialised towel. Then detailing spray which really makes a difference to water run off and stuff not sticking.

my tips would be:
  • Don’t see cleaning as cosmetic always, you’re often just removing stuff so it doesn’t build up
  • Keep loads of microfibres around and drying towels, if something hits the floor don’t put it on the car again
  • Do wheels with cheap cleaner or bucket after you’ve finished car then use a decent product such as BH for the iron and tar deposits
  • Clay once a year or so, I didn’t get on with clay bar and changed to clay pad and optimum no rinse as lubricant, fantastic result
  • Wax maybe once per 6 months
  • Wash car maybe once per fortnight
  • Check oil, tyre pressures and screen wash every week
  • Keep wiper blades clean
  • Try Angelwax H2O or similar that make windscreen hydrophobic and see if you get on with it, I drove 100 miles in sh1tty weather and did not use the wipers once (tough test though so cleaned and reapplied after that)
  • I find I can stick to this, it’s like anything too little or too much and you won’t bother after a while
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Is your house this clean?
 
TheDecameron said:
Any successful tips for inside of windows? I find it challenging to get it film-free, particularly the windscreen. It’s the one thing that drives me nuts about hire cars- they never clean the inside of the glass to the extent you cannot see out of the windscreen in direct sunlight.
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Any window cleaning fluid - try the 99p store, once applied use crumpled up newspaper to wipe off, keep rotating and wrapping in another clean sheet until window is sparkly clean.
 
lutyens10 said:
Ok. As some of you clearly know what you are doing? Any suggestions for removing pine wax drips from trees? Thanks
Click to expand...

If it doesn’t come off with other softer alternatives, then a clay bar. They are just the thing for what are generally called bonded contaminants.

Claying a car seems really weird to people who aren’t familiar with it. But amongst detailers etc it’s very standard stuff. Plenty of YouTube vids and so on to show how to go about it (most important is lubrication).
 
happychappy said:
Any window cleaning fluid - try the 99p store, once applied use crumpled up newspaper to wipe off, keep rotating and wrapping in another clean sheet until window is sparkly clean.
Click to expand...

2nd-ed.

Best combination for film covered glass ever. I even showed this to a car salesman friend, he was amazed.

I used to be very fussy about my cars until the family came along. Then it was interior every week, exterior when it shouted at me. Company car was in and out weekly.

Here I only have a bicycle and scooter and rent a car on the odd occasion I require one.
As someone said before,insidescreen always manky.
 
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