Picked up my Swissol kit yesterday, so fingers crossed for a good weekend

Darren

Originally posted by LesPaul in this post

Car cleaning, my weekend escape from the mad house .

Have order a Swissol teflon wax starter kit and will report on the results soon . The wheels on the vRS are a bit of a pig to clean, I use a halford's brush to reach to the back of the wheel and a Autoglym wheel brush and cloth for the front of the wheels :( oh well looks good afterwards .

Darren

Be carefull with the Autoglym wheel brush I found that its a bit harsh and does scratch alloys at least it did on my Octavia SLX alloys, I never use it on the RS I use a much softer brush.

Ah yes, the alloys... what a nightmare to clean if you haven't got a brush (like me). Will be next on the list to buy, along with the Extra Gloss and the Fast Glass stuff... Anyone know if AutoGlym issues shares?

Q.

A mostly dry day on Sunday so the Swissol got used between WSBK races and now you need sunglasses to look at the black beast No going back to Autoglym for me now

Darren.

Here's threadstarter reporting that the muck is still on... Looks great, with heavy rains having washed away the excess dirt over the weekend, with just the sporty mud stripes remaining, but can't keep on forever.

With Nick/Matt/John's common-sense directions in hand, I already stumble at no.1! At home, can't park anywhere near a hose, and those self-service cleaning stations only have these power wash torture tools these days. Then I have to go out and buy all that stuff: a non-synthetic sponge, a chamois thingy, shampoo, wax, the whole hog.

All I have is a few old t-shirts for use as cotton cloth. Oh, and a lack of time and spirit to get on with it

What's the opposite of car tart? Car bum?

Mattijis , I would have thought that with a new car you would be keen to keep it clean , at least for the first few months anyway:D

Perhaps you should do as we do and clean your new car on a Sunday ! ( it seems to be the day ) , but as the meet is on this Sunday I shall have to do mine on Saturday this week

Indeed, I always seem to clean it before I go for a drive...A measure of how good a drive is?

Par example (large sorry tis late) This item was fairly clean (powerwash+halfords cheap and cheerful acid) before a scouting last month in Wales for a meet http://www.briskoda.net/members/colind/DSCF1149.JPG

Now why do we do this or is just me?

As I sit I know I powerwashed the car before going round wales in a virtual monsoon...there must be a cure for it...

ps, the gravel surface...it was fun, but it's not part of any official routes so breath easy.

Mattijs

I seem to recall that washing cars (and hanging washing out) was banned on Sundays in Germany (ie West and West Berlin). Does the same apply in Holland?

I think (and Mattijs can correct me if I'm wrong as I haven't lived there the past 5 years), that washing your car on the street is banned full stop. These measures were all introduced to save the environment from harmfull soap residues flowing back into the ground-water... The only place you're allowed to wash your car is at designated washing streets where they have a special filtering system underneath the building.

Q.

Must have missed that, but will readily believe you!

Mind you, seems more like something what the Germans would introduce.

I was planning to go to such a washing area anyway, as I live on a through road and don't have any room in front of the house. (And no hose attachment at the front.)

What a thoughtful race the Dutch are , filtering car wash water from the drains , eh? Christ up here , morons still chuck old oil down the drains!

Or chuck cars down the road if they cba to pay for it to be removed... The really annoying thing is that it first has to be considered a dangerous obstacle before the council removes it... at which point the local youths have already celebrated the 5th of November on it :(

It should be free to scrap a vehicle, that way people will make the effort to drop it off at the scrapyard (and we have a few more episodes of Scrapheap Challenge )

Someone who I know that dabbles in cars just drop off scrappers outside scrapyard gates when they're shut. Having to pay to scrap also encourages people to dump their vehicles in hedges,etc - having taken care to remove all vehicle ID of course

Scrapheap Challenge rocks! Always love that program, especially the comments that bloke that did Kriton in Red Dwarf comes out with. That program is how a group of us built a pram for a local pram race last year - bits of steel & bicycle, and a welder - luvverly jubberly. Wish I had some pics of the result

After accumulating 5 weeks of mud and dust, finally washed it!

Those 20-spoke alloys look great, but cleaning them...

And I'm even considering 24-spoke OZ Superturismos!

My car polished with Swissol

Darren

That's a lovely bit of Photoshop, erm, polishing craftsmanship there, Darren...

Darren

Nice pic , it could almost be out of the brochure! So is it really Swissol or is it a photoshop?

Darren...please tell us which Swissol kit or prudcts your using??most excellent finish!

That looks definately more shiny than the Autoglym stuff I put on mine... Wanna swap?

Q.

I brought the Swissol Shield Wax Kit from Scoobyworld, there only down the road from me. Have got some more pic's which I'm going to send to Manny . I'm really impressed with the Swissol wax IMHO much better than AutoGlym which I have used for years, polished the wifes 1996 Golf with it on Monday and it has come up like new, even SWMBO was impressed :eek: .

Darren

PS only reduced the size of the picture with Photoshop honest

I'm with Darren on this, as many of you know. The Swissol stuff is the canines dangly bits IMHO. I always used to use Autoglym, but for me there is no going back, I love this stuff!

Blimey, a thread I haven't contributed to...

The best way I've found to keep a car looking clean and shiny is:

1. Buy it in a metallic silver finish.

2. Throw a damp rag at it every couple of months.

Works for me!

Rob.

Slightly less cost effective method - when it gets dirty trade it in for a nice new one !

Another method that works really well:

1/2 bottle of Fairy per bucket of water.

Wash the whole car, starting with wheels and bumpers

Rinse thoroughly

Allow to drip dry to avoid smears

Get a big tub of turtle wax, apply

Rub off with a towel

Sorted!

Failing that, get someone else to do it( ) or just lob it through a car wash.

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

1/2 bottle of Fairy per bucket of water.

I thought that was the last thing you were supposed to put on

a car's bodywork! That is, you're not supposed to put it on,

rather than you're supposed to put it on after everything else...

The car shampoo I use works out cheaper than Fairy Liquid

anyway...

Rob.