Valeting / Detailing / two bucket wronguns

[agw9262]

We trade with our daughter (11 years) I.e. Contribute and you get rewarded but the feeling I get is that it's less common now

 

 

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[sierraman]

I used to enjoy polishing cars when I was about 17/18 though I think back and the time would have been much better spent swapping the tired clutch or putting some a actual rust free wings on rather than trying to get a gleaming finish on the 1990 Rover 214sli I had. These days I couldn't give a fuck about washing cars, I really ought to as my way of preserving the body tends to be paste the bottom of the car in Waxoyl. I think once I started they would come up well.

[vulgalour]

I do like to polish a turd now and then.  The Golf that I had briefly which had been languishing in a field for 3 years came up okay.

 

 

Stripey BX came up ludicrously well, it was so clean when I sadly had to scrap it that the scrapman couldn't believe I was... until he saw the galloping rot.

 

 

Both the Skattrd Maestro and Steve my old Ledbury came up a treat.  Steve was used to commute 60 miles to Sheffield and back every day and I kept him looking like a well buffed turd all the time.

 

 

When Chompy first got the Xantia it was, quite frankly, disgusting inside and out.  Both Chompy and I like a clean car and between our ownerships we got that thing sparkling.

 

 

 

 

I do like keeping my cars clean.  They get a clay once a year including the glass and the interior will generally get a single deep clean.  I tend not to use expensive products but am a big aficionado of Autoglym for their balance of price and efficacy and the bonus of the nice smell they have.  Keeping a car clean helps me keep on top of the car's general health and fix issues before they become serious problems.  At some point I'll do a proper Vulgalouring thread to take you through an entire car but the sort of stuff I start with usually takes a couple of weeks of spare time work to get properly cleaned, I seem to always take on disgusting cars.

[Lord Sterling]

There was a time when I could spend pretty much most of the day cleaning my car, in fact I've even posted up results here previously to do with the White G-reg 820e, Micra and I think the old E-reg Sterling. I used to wash, wax, T-cut, polish the car, polish the alloys/clean behind wheel trims/clean steel wheels and such forth. My cupboard is still full of car cleaning materials.

 

However these days I'm too lazy, poor and I just don't have the arsed anymore to clean my car. A £3 car wash in Birmingham is all my latest steeds get if I've got the money/arsed.

 

Today for example, the KV6 Sterling was looking a bit worse for wear, so as I have access at the yard to a hose/some rags and buckets, I decided to give the Sterling a scrub over. Sadly I only had an old kitchen sink sponge, some fairy liquid and some old rags. Even after spending a good half an hour cleaning it, it still had huge dirt streaks down the side which were bits I'd missed/not cleaned hard enough. So these days, a cheap car wash and a dusting of the mats is mostly what it'll get. Maybe in the summer my car cleaning mojo may come back.

 

TIP:

 

During a small time when I didn't have any tyre shine, to get my tyres looking clean and black again, I use boot polish and a polishing brush.

[LessThanEqual]

Wash mine once every week or two, using two buckets, followed by a wipe down with a drying towel, and finished with Sonax quick detailer. Looks great, beads like crazy. Shame my car has lacquer peel on the bonnet and touch up absolutely everywhere, if it didn't I'd buy a DA and remove all swirls. Right now it gets by with the odd hand polish when it's warm and I can be bothered.

[andrew e]

I love washing the car, polishing, waxing etc but not detailing. I'm English not American!

 

Always have washed, even though it knocks the shite out of me in the winter these days. One thing with a clean car is I found you didn't really get cut up or bashed in car parks. I appreciate the therapeutic angle, I find it as effective as a night in the pub. I won't get in a dirty taxi either

[PhilA]

Last time I washed the Renault, the paint on the bonnet came off.

 

Now I am left with gray primer and a few hazy patches of sun-bleached silver.

 

It looks better now so that'll do until about March.

 

Right now I'm mowing around it. Go figure.

 

Phil

[warren t claim]

Fortunately I'm not a bufty...

 

I have a regular punter who works in the local Kurdistan Kar Kleen centre and we happily swap a five quid taxi ride for a tenner mini valet.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I hate washing and polishing, just don't have the patience. Its an infrequent trip to the Kosovan Kar Wash for me

[xtriple]

Not keen on dirty cars. I like to do it myself but lugging buckets around kills me so that, is infrequent! I am currently taking it to the Rumanian chaps a few miles away who do a good job for a tenner.

 

When I lived at home (wife etc) every time the Merc went out it got washed, polished, waxed and then hoovered before being put back in the garage with sheets, blankets and then a cover over it.

 

Me, OCD?

 

Possibly...

 

When I bought my Triumph speed triple brand new, I was determined to keep it brand new. I eventually got its cleaning routine down to 9 hours - this included taking the bodywork off and the exhaust to clean/polish it properly.

 

The poor old Bentley doesn't know what luxuries it's missing!

[pompei]

I can remember years ago polishing a black car and it was worse after I'd finished with horrible circular swirl marks. Wrong polish/cloths/technique?

[oldcars]

I like a clean car. Once a week two bucket wash for the 75, weather permitting. Once a year it gets a deep clean, normally April time. Wheels off, arches fully cleaned out from winter. Paint and glass will get clayed with Autosmart clay towel and a machine polish and then a wax. Wax normally topped up every few months.

The Reliant does not take much, normally goes about 4 weeks between washes. I need to clean the carpets in it this year. The Shuma needs some rot fixing and will be super clean come summer.

Don't spend much on stuff, using Autosmart stuff keeps costs down and buying in bulk means stuff like G101 and Duet will last at least a year.

[oldcars]

Wash mine once every week or two, using two buckets, followed by a wipe down with a drying towel, and finished with Sonax quick detailer. Looks great, beads like crazy. Shame my car has lacquer peel on the bonnet and touch up absolutely everywhere, if it didn't I'd buy a DA and remove all swirls. Right now it gets by with the odd hand polish when it's warm and I can be bothered.

I have a bottle of the Sonax stuff, bargain at ECP a few months back. Beading is mad, and it really does help keep the car cleaner i think.

[dugong]

I could get into the valeting lark but I'm crap. Enjoyed making the Piazza look slightly less awful but then ran out of wonder gunk.

[burraston2006]

Can't be arsed with the cleanest car on the street look. Did my usual monthly cleaning routine this morning: go to one of the local drive throughs, pay for a top wash, put the car through, inspect afterwards and then go back in to complain that the sills etc aren't clean and get the money back! Need to be careful hat you don't use the same one twice on the bounce in case they remember!

[dugong]

I tend to avoid car washes because of OMFGSCRAPITSWIRLMARKS. Then again, if you're in a hurry and the car's filthy, a car wash is better than nowt.

 

I got booted off a Facebook group for saying that to a 'detailer', once.

I can't stand Americanisms.

[oldcars]

Automatic car washes are like celery. Both are fecking awful.

[Lacquer Peel]

Miss_Peel works at a filling station and gets one free 'gold' car wash a month. CASHBACK.

 

I'm not really one for intense cleaning, I'm a messy man, but the rust appearing on my white van is getting me down a bit.

[Crusty Sills]

I do love a clean car but as with most life gets in the way. Usually the daily's go to the Albanians for a fiver, when I do actually give the cars a good wash I do tend to step back and think how good they look once done.

[Crusty Sills]

But I do always have a clean car for an MOT. 

After being underneath them when I was a trainee spanner twirler, having to work through mud and shit with dirty water dripping down your neck is not pleasant.

Think it also gives my heap half an impression its cared for!!!

[pompei]

Hey, Mattlikescars, what did you use to clean that Suzuki?  Looks ace now

[Tamworthbay]

Automatic car washes are like celery. Both are fecking awful.

Best with lots of salt?

[DVee8]

Both my lads got,stuck into the MGF i bought from Station last year.scrubbing,hovering even down to using a toothbrush on some of the tree sap spots on the roof.The oldest helped with the repair and repaint of the wing and door and then polished the car.

 

Now they want a tenner each to wash and hoover a car that i would have to re-wash

 

So as it had stopped raining this morning,out came the hosepipe then the jet wash,both cars watered down then snowfoam with the jetwash.hosed off again the washed with 2 buckets using Chemical guys extreme body wash and wax. Wheels cleaned with Gulf alloy wheel cleaner.Then dryed with 2 microfibre cloths.

Depending on the weather tomorrow they may get hoovered and polished.

[captain_70s]

The 1300 looks pretty alright after a good clean and some AutoGlym, Brooklands fades quite badly but a god polish brings it back for a month or two. I used to keep the 1850HL filthy because the mud covered up the rust...

[Parky]

I let my son and his friend wash my Mini about five years ago. They were about 8 and I sort of assumed they knew what they were doing.

 

Went to check after ten minutes. Car was filthy, they were drenched, and the hose was up the exhaust pipe. When I started it up, several litres of filthy black water shot out the back, took ages for it to clear. It steamed for miles!

 

Since then neither child will do it, even for cash.

[Matt]

Hey, Mattlikescars, what did you use to clean that Suzuki?  Looks ace now

 

I used a regular multi-mode hose attachment on the jet setting to remove the heaviest stuff, then a pressure washer for the heavier stuff. I did what you're not really meant to do though; get the gun right up close to the paint. After that I gave it a thick coat of CarPlan Snow Foam with the Karcher foam bottle, let that drip down, rinsed then a regular two bucket wash followed by a once over with a clay bar to remove any embedded grime. 

[Matt]

Gave my Freecycle Hoover cylinder machine a workout today. It's virtually all the interior needs other than some mudy stains removing from the drivers foot well. I'll still go back and give everything a wipe over anyway as I dislike the smell the car has. It actually looks like a normal car now!

 

 

The white stuff is from a pair of 'bag for life' bags that had started to diintigrate from sitting in the sun too long.

 

Little white specs have come down from the dealer sticker, not sure it's going to survive me cleaning the window. Canterbury Suzuki if you're curious. I'm in Scotland.

 

Emptied the rubbish and hoovered all the torn up paper and other detritus. Still need to give the surfaces a wipe down but they're all plastic so nice easy job for tomorrow.

 

Seats be gone!

 

Quick 50/50. Nothing particularly impressive.

[FakeConcern]

I can't wait until my children are big enough to wash the cars for me in exchange for their pocket money.

 

Until then its a bi-annual Kurdish Kar Wash (or supermarket jetwash) and a bi-annual hoovering.

 

Not normally at the same time mind.

Somehow or other, the kids went on to me cleaning their cars without passing them doing mine!

[agw9262]

Gave my Freecycle Hoover cylinder machine a workout today. It's virtually all the interior needs other than some mudy stains removing from the drivers foot well. I'll still go back and give everything a wipe over anyway as I dislike the smell the car has. It actually looks like a normal car now!

 

 

The white stuff is from a pair of 'bag for life' bags that had started to diintigrate from sitting in the sun too long.

 

Little white specs have come down from the dealer sticker, not sure it's going to survive me cleaning the window. Canterbury Suzuki if you're curious. I'm in Scotland.

 

Emptied the rubbish and hoovered all the torn up paper and other detritus. Still need to give the surfaces a wipe down but they're all plastic so nice easy job for tomorrow.

 

Seats be gone!

 

Quick 50/50. Nothing particularly impressive.

Very thorough, I like it - some might consider taking the seats out for a vac to be overkill but not me

 

 

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[vulgalour]

Sometimes it's vital, especially if the car has had a long time of neglect while also housing animals and/or children.  I wouldn't recommend seat out cleaning more than once a year though, it's a proper chore and every time you remove the seats you increase the likelihood of breaking something.