Sunday car wash

[woodbloke]

If you're going to wash the motor this weekend, there's some useful stuff to be found here - Rob

 

[Harbo]

Yes useful stuff there - I washed my car just before the ash cloud and it's now covered in a thin film. We often get dust from the Sahara but as the wind has been form the North - not this time?

I read many years ago not to use a bucket and sponge as it traps the grit and can scratch the paintwork. I generally use a power-washer with a rotating brush head, failing that a hose brush and a bucket. I always wet the car with the hose beforehand too.
I know the charity car washes are for a good cause but I avoid them like a plague - dirty water and dirty sponges!

My wife's Golf has a design fault with the washer/wipers - it wipes before the water is sprayed and any dust is scraped across the windscreen. This resulted in very fine scratches which were a hazard when driving towards low sunlight. Windscreen now replaced but the washer problem is still there!

I do not know if the design of car washers has improved but my wife's previous cars paintwork was damaged over the years by the flailing brushes and had to be professionally re-polished. I am now wary of using them too?

Rod

 

[SammyQ]

An' there wuz me thinkin' a Landy wuz 'ard.....real 'ard.....now, just a bit of dust and it's running for cover.....


Sam

 

[woodbloke]

An' there wuz me thinkin' a Landy wuz 'ard.....real 'ard.....now, just a bit of dust and it's running for cover.....


Sam

They might be hard in NI Sam, but mine's a bit more delicate :lol:...gona be Glimmed after it's wash -
Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

My wife's Golf has a design fault with the washer/wipers - it wipes before the water is sprayed and any dust is scraped across the windscreen.

Most seem to work like that - daft idea.......

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[matt]

I use Rainwash for my cars so absolutely no risk of scratching the paintwork. Highly recommended.

 

[Calpol]

Sponges are a very bad idea and should be avoided anyway, two mitts (Kent microfibre) for the top and bottom halves of the car are much better. The general idea is to use two buckets, one for soapy clean water and one just water for rinsing out the mitts. Also don't go with circular motions, always keep straight strokes so any scratches are only visible from certain angles.

Yes, I'm dull

 

[Digit]

Living in a wet area I'm with Matt!

Roy.

 

[Lons]

My pet subject. the wife says I've got a phobia (I have).

I refuse to park in a supermarket carpark unless in the farthest corner away from anyone else (funny how some p**** has always parked next to you when you come back even if all the other bays are empty). I won't park next to - 2 door cars / ones with child seats / old ones / bashed ones / obvious women drivers / vans - in fact won't park next to anybody.

I can't stand dirty cars - the kids have cottoned on. They come for the day and know damn well I'll be out washing the muck of their motors long before they leave.

I use the 2 bucket method with grit trap and I have a foam gun for my Karcher - I foam the car before washing it. Wax it every couple of months as well. How sad is that?

Result though is my car is spotless after 18 months and 10000 miles

Bob

 

[Jonzjob]

You lot want to think yer selves lucky! We get pollen at this time of the year and I'm talkin serious pollen! If you have a flyin banana then you are lucky. That's a bright yellow car, because if you haven't then you soon do have one! The worse is when we have just a tiny few spots of rain, because then all the pollen gets splashed into rings that look like nuffin you've ever seen!

I have washes my C4 3 times in the past couple of weeks and that has to be a record for me!

Sad init!

 

[ByronBlack]

I just take mine through an automated carwash a few times a year, to me a car is a tool and not piece of artwork, I just can't bring myself to slavishly wash and wax it each week like some of my neighbours. But, this weekend I have noticed the thin ash/film building up.

 

[Lons]

I just take mine through an automated carwash a few times a year, to me a car is a tool and not piece of artwork, I just can't bring myself to slavishly wash and wax it each week like some of my neighbours. But, this weekend I have noticed the thin ash/film building up.

Ah but my van is the tool - my car is a hobby and I look after it as well as I do my woodworking tools and machinery.

Come to think of it - the builders merchants recon my van is the cleanest builders van they've ever seen. (It's washed every week) :!:

maybe I need to see a sychiaterist type person? :-k

 

[wizer]

I used to wash my car. Then some muppet drove into the back of me and ripped all the back panels off. I replaced them with 2nd hand panels and since then I've lost interest in the way the car looks. It's now a glorified mini-van.

 

[woodbloke]

Wax it every couple of months as well. How sad is that?

Result though is my car is spotless after 18 months and 10000 miles

Bob

Not sad at all...I Glim mine every time it's washed ...takes a long time though to do a Defender - Rob

 

[matt]

:shock:

I understand the value in keeping a work vehicle clean but I cannot waste my life keeping a depreciating asset anything more than functional and legal.

Meanwhile, my neighbour was sweeping petals off his car before he got in it and drove away... :roll:

 

[big soft moose]

:shock:

I understand the value in keeping a work vehicle clean but I cannot waste my life keeping a depreciating asset anything more than functional and legal. :

yep i'm with you on that one - i've had my focus for about 10 months and ive had it valeted once (because swimbo nagged me into it before she used it to drive her parents somewhere), and not otherwise washed it at all

our work truck (D22 Navara) is 4 years old and has also been washed a grand total of once - the day before we took it in for a part ex evaulation. It goes off road every day and is going to get spattered with mud routinely so why bothher washing it ?

 

[Harbo]

Well the weekends rain got most of my dust off

When I bought my car last Autumn, it had some special "protector coating" applied and the rain seems to wash most of the crud off - I have only washed my car once so far.

Rod

 

[OPJ]

I've had my car for seven-years now and I think I've only cleaned it three-times - and that only accounts for the outside! Usually, the real mess is inside (sawdust, shavings and bits of bark)! Something possessed me last week and I spent a good hour cleaning out the inside of the car for perhaps on the second time - filled up half the capacity of my 25lt vacuum, too! :wink:

 

[Lons]

I've had my car for seven-years now and I think I've only cleaned it three-times - and that only accounts for the outside! Usually, the real mess is inside (sawdust, shavings and bits of bark)! Something possessed me last week and I spent a good hour cleaning out the inside of the car for perhaps on the second time - filled up half the capacity of my 25lt vacuum, too! :wink:

That's disgusting Olly :shock:

My neighbour was like that and eventually she found a family of mice living in the muck under her seats

Depends how you view the cleaning regime:

Iv'e got it off to a tee and because I keep it clean inside and out, it takes only 20 mins to do. I find it theraputic and certainly not a chore to keep my motor nice and shiny.

Mind - I don't mind cutting the grass either and I even diamondbrited the garden tractor thingy so maybe I need help :lol:

 

[Vormulac]

I love my car and would wash and polish it weekly if I had the time... which I don't. It tends to get a quick clean every few months if time permits, but after the 'orrible long winter and Icelandic volcano attack I took it into the multistorey at Uxbridge where they do a pretty good clean and valet. Now it is shiny again.