The grumpy thread

[EyesWeldedShut]

I'm with @UltraWomble - I have some snowfoam type stuff and, frankly, it's shite. After faffing around getting the pressure washer setup and putting the stuff on I can see eff all difference. Bit of GoogleFoo and YouTubeMonkey - still 'meh'.
Emperor's new clothes or does it only 'work' on cars that you wash thrice weekly?

I usually just use TFR (currently G101 but usually a cheaper version) as I only wash the cars/van rarely (i.e. maybe once a month sometimes less) and then, on a dry day, I'll maybe even do some polish. Bini MOT on Friday so I'll bling that up internally and externally too - otherwise I'd rather change the engine oil than wash them  
 

[beko1987]

I love snowfoam and have always got on with it, but I use a foam cannon that fits on the pressure washer. Always been a bit dubious of these hand pump things that seems to be the current tend.

Nice thick foam from the lance, then go round with the brushes and do the trims and tightwork. A good rinse and 70% of the dirt should come right off

It works better if you clean the car every week/2 weeks. A foam and rinse on a well waxed car will be all you need

But that's alot of effort 😂

 

[24vdiamond]

31 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

I love snowfoam and have always got on with it, but I use a foam cannon that fits on the pressure washer. Always been a bit dubious of these hand pump things that seems to be the current tend.

Nice thick foam from the lance, then go round with the brushes and do the trims and tightwork. A good rinse and 70% of the dirt should come right off

It works better if you clean the car every week/2 weeks. A foam and rinse on a well waxed car will be all you need

But that's alot of effort 😂

 

Clean the car every 2 weeks !!!! 😁😁

[Jazoli]

46 minutes ago, 24vdiamond said:

Clean the car every 2 weeks !!!! 😁😁

That’s insane, it has to be done at least weekly.

[beko1987]

There's people who do it every couple of days out there 😬 Not been on the detailing world forums in years though! 

I just keep enough kit about nowadays to do a good decent wash and decontamination that doesn't take all day and inflicts the least amount of damage. Not bothered with waxes or finishes for a good while now, bar a quick go over if I've got time. 

Nowadays washing the car involves going to my mums and doing their car too. I do them 2 or 3 times a year. 

[maxxo]

I’m not going to say how I usually wash the xm

alright sometimes it’s a proper wash with the bucket karcher and polish etc

but usually I use waterless wash and wax and a micro fibre towel I’ve never cleaned to give it a quick freshen up

sometimes I use a petrol station jet wash

i know that’ll give people nightmares but that’s how I’ve always washed cars

[IronStar]

How common are contactless self-service car washes over there? They seem to be all the rage here for the past decade or so. Some of them have snow foam, some not, but they all do car shampoo, wax and demineralized water from pressure washer. They are mostly alright with quality of the shampoo and wax as well, some better or worse than others obviously. Slightly under a Euro coin usually gets you 90 seconds, you need 2-3 coins to reasonably wash a car if you’re not doing wax so fairly cheap as well.

[captain_70s]

I wash the cars quarterly. 😂

The issue with self service car washes is they're usually closed in winter when you most need to wash a car... Also needing coins or tokens to use them is a pain.

[Supernaut]

I just gave the E36 its first wash in a long time a few days ago. It was mostly so I could pressure wash the underside before topping up the lanolin I have on the sills / in the wheel arches...

While I had the pressure washer set up, the Megane got a quick blast but it basically looks the same (complete shit).

[barefoot]

I have washed all of my cars at least once, although I do mow my lawns at least daily and keep a diary to remind me which direction I did them last.

[reb]

When I was a delivery driver I'd wash my car at least weekly, in winter every two or three days. £3 in a jet wash and it'd look lovely. Usually filthy again by the time I got home though.

[beko1987]

Ive used the esso self serve jet wash before when the car turned green one winter 😂

I tend to do it really well once, then as I don't do that many miles it keeps fairly clean. What I want to do one day* is have the rear up on the ramps and jet wash underneath then sort any rust bits out. Giving the engine bay a good clean is handy too as you don't get filthy hands topping fluids off or doing simple little things! Again once done well once a quick blast over as you wash the rest of the car is all it needs. 

Jet washing the door shuts, water drain holes, water channels etc is quite critical though. If I do a car at the FoD I concentrate on that part more than the giving it a wash bit

[Metal Guru]

5 hours ago, Jazoli said:

No it doesn’t, it’s an old trope, fairy liquid is fine if you want to strip old wax and polish off, a proper car shampoo is better though.

from google, other search engines are available 

“Washing up liquid does contain a 'salt' but this is the active ingredient and should not be confused with road salt. There is nothing in a washing-up liquid that will exacerbate corrosion – there's no sodium chloride salt to worry about. The issue regarding corrosion is the 'chloride' bit of the salt.“

According to the Ecologist magazine it has Sodium Chloride as an ingredient. I think we all call that “salt”.

[Markeh]

What's car washing?

Nearly 3 years and over 33k later mines still only ever been washed at Nissan. Although we will have to clean the door to touch in a couple of scratches later this month 

[loserone]

1 minute ago, Markeh said:

Nearly 3 years and over 33k later mines still only ever been washed at Nissan

Bit of a bizarre brag, our Duster is two and a bit, 40k and 5 services in and hasn't been to a Dacia dealer since it only had 7 miles on the clock.

[captain_70s]

Welder wire feed motor has done a die.

Not like I need this car welded and out the garage by next Saturday, as my latest rusty shitheap is landing...

[Remspoor]

7 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I find fairy very effective 

[Markeh]

49 minutes ago, loserone said:

Bit of a bizarre brag, our Duster is two and a bit, 40k and 5 services in and hasn't been to a Dacia dealer since it only had 7 miles on the clock.

Oh believe me - it's not a brag - it's been a heap of shite. Perhaps if it behaved a bit more I'd consider washing it myself!

[Popsicle]

7 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

at about 2-3 washes per week for a wrong 'un like me.

'per week' must be a typo?

[High Jetter]

21 minutes ago, Popsicle said:

'per week' must be a typo?

I think he means that's how often it rains 😀

[loserone]

17 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I think he means that's how often it rains 😀

Got to wash it again if it rains 

[Split_Pin]

You might laugh but all my cars sell super-quick on here for a good reason 😉

[Rust Collector]

I wash my cars for the MOT and usually before a long journey. Washing a car properly takes ages and I don’t really have time to do it until it gets to the point that it must get done.

To be fair, even if I did have loads of spare time, I’d rather spend it indoors wanking or something rather than washing cars.

And to keep it on topic, both in terms of grumps and maintaining* peak exterior condition on our cars, today I ran over my A frame with spectacular results.

Luckily I had my rigger boots on, and a decent kick and a swear has made the bumper look as good as new*.

[Jazoli]

6 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

According to the Ecologist magazine it has Sodium Chloride as an ingredient. I think we all call that “salt”.

Sorry that’s bollocks.

[Jazoli]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

You might laugh but all my cars sell super-quick on here for a good reason 😉

Mine too

[DavieW]

It appears our neighbours have bought their son his first car. No real problem with that (our generation had to save and buy our own), however they only have a single car drive. Now they have 3 cars, they've taken to parking one of them outside a neighbour further down our already narrow cul-de-sac making it difficult for the woman across the road to reverse out of her drive. One of theirs already parks half over "our" bit of the road so they're slowly pissing off more people in the street. 

[Popsicle]

4 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I’d rather spend it indoors wanking or something rather than washing cars.

You could combine the two tasks for that 'snow foam shine'!

[somewhatfoolish]

That does sound like a pain in the bollocks, but she'd get on very much better if she reversed onto the drive and so would any pedestrians.

14 minutes ago, DavieW said:

It appears our neighbours have bought their son his first car. No real problem with that (our generation had to save and buy our own), however they only have a single car drive. Now they have 3 cars, they've taken to parking one of them outside a neighbour further down our already narrow cul-de-sac making it difficult for the woman across the road to reverse out of her drive. One of theirs already parks half over "our" bit of the road so they're slowly pissing off more people in the street. 

 

[DavieW]

1 minute ago, somewhatfoolish said:

That does sound like a pain in the bollocks, but she'd get on very much better if she reversed onto the drive and so would any pedestrians.

 

In practice but in reality because the road is so narrow she'd struggle when the front swung out when she reversed in. Unless she reversed down the whole road. 

[horriblemercedes]

I can only remember once in the last 10-15 years washing a car, and that was only because it was totally necessary and it was mostly my friend who did it (it was his car and I helped because I was waiting with him).

 

It's such an awful way to spend time. Life is simply too short and who cares if the outside is a bit dirty? Just don't touch it. The stuff you have to touch is inside. I mostly keep the interior clean.