Whenever I get a new car, I have these ideas that I will keep it sparklingly clean and tidy, bth inside and outside. Usually, this lasts about a month before turning into a bit of a mess. I've been taking my BMW to various drive through car washes lately, and whilst convenient, it does leave bits of muck and it can leave swirly patterns on the bodywork.

What do people do? Do it yourself on a sunday? Polish it every week? Use a buffing/polishing machine? What polish do you use?

(my new car will be candy white if that makes any difference to the suggestions)

Best laid plans and all that...eh!!!

First off, have a read through some of the guides here (Styling & Car Care section) - this will be a good starting point. You'll probably have some more questions once you've gone through that lot!

It's really upto you and what you prefer, and how much you want to spend ££££ and how long / often you want to do it. I can sometimes take hours to clean it and give it a full detail, other times just a wash.

It really depends on what level you want to maintain it.

Eitherway, the Candy White does look smart when fully clean.

Have you considered `Lifeshine` treatment? or dont you think its worth the money?

I had lifeshine and rate it but there are others who don't. Have a look at http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/ and a site called Detailing World for some tips on how to keep it looking like the day you bought it.

Heads up - you can also say bye bye to the content of your wallet too, quite easily....

Edited 6 June, 201214 yr by Paul007

I use diamond ICE i like it because its a clear liquid, and very easy to apply, no white marks or dust. Once applied a single pass with a dry cloth leaves a thick shine if you know what i mean, stuff stays on the car. If the car is clean i can do the whole thing in under 15 minutes, once a week and nothing can stick to it.

If it were mine I'd get it to a detailers and have Gtechniq C1 or even new Exo that seems to be getting very good reviews from detailers applied after a prep. A member on here, Baker21, has a good reputation.

Then either personally or by detailer I'd get Gtechniq G1 on windows and C5 on wheels. Not an advert for Gtechniq, it's just what I have experience of. Wolf products seem to also get very good reviews. also a good leather/cloth protector is good idea too.

The above has meant that it's been easier for me to keep car clean, so just about being lazy for me

Cheers

Steve

Edited 6 June, 201214 yr by stevehg

Another vote for detailing world - I thought i new a bit about keeping my car clean until i joined that site.

I went with autoglym super resin polish I then put Collinite 476 on top. Its just turned 8k miles today and its still beading nicely.

The best tyre dressing in my experience is Meguiars Endurance Gel.

Could always just keep it in the garage

Seriously though I have used Autoglym on mine since new, applied every 4-5 months and still looks like new- probably better shine than when it was delivered. Also started using sno-foam as prewash for this care and I feel it makes a big difference as dont have the problem of small scratches on bodywork when dirt is being removed during washins. Mean shampoo has a "clean"surface to work on and rmove grease etc.

However you do it, enjoy the car- and remember to allow plenty of time as it is a BBIIGGGG car

If you clean your car regurlarly, you don`t need any expensive stuff to keep it clean. I clean my car at least once a week and inside I mainly use those same cleners that I use at home. It costs about 3 euros per litre, and it`s mixed with water. Of course if your car is dirty and needs deeper cleaning, use something more expensive.

I never wax my car, I wash it with an ordinary car shampoo about once a week at summertime. At wintertime I use car-washing machines....

But when talking about ordinary color like candy white, I would protect it somehow.....

Who would have thought there would be so many products and stages in cleaning a damn car? There is quite a bit of reading here. I will see what I can learn...

Problem here in Oxford is that we have a hose pipe ban, so using some of that 'ultra foam' or whatever it is called on my jet wash lance is a no-no at the moment.

I use the ideal solution on my car, only costs £5 every couple of weeks - some nice East Europeans spend 30 mins cleaning the outside and door jambs/boot/tailgate, followed by hand drying and polishing paintwork, windows and wheels. an added bonus, every 5th wash is free, they even use Autoglym products (allegedly!).

Mine is Candy White and looks Superb when finished

I use the ideal solution on my car, only costs £5 every couple of weeks - some nice East Europeans spend 30 mins cleaning the outside and door jambs/boot/tailgate, followed by hand drying and polishing paintwork, windows and wheels. an added bonus, every 5th wash is free, they even use Autoglym products (allegedly!).

Mine is Candy White and looks Superb when finished

I think yours is the best suggestion so far! I had my 320 done this morning before it gets collected by the leasing company. It cost me £12 for a good wash (not polish) and a vacume and dust inside. Not too bad.Maybe I will just have a mnini-valet with them every couple of weeks!

Bilt-Hambers Surfex HD - great prewash, along with Carpro Iron-x. Also use Tar-x for tar spots. If you prewash your car thoroughly, it will be 90% clean before you even touch it with a wash mitt. Of course the mitt should be wool or micro fibre, a sponge will cause swirls like the ones you mention.

A good shampoo from Chemical Guys or Meguiars will work very well, make sure you dry it off with say a micro fibre towel.

I guarantee you'll be satisfied

I use the ideal solution on my car, only costs £5 every couple of weeks - some nice East Europeans spend 30 mins cleaning the outside and door jambs/boot/tailgate, followed by hand drying and polishing paintwork, windows and wheels. an added bonus, every 5th wash is free, they even use Autoglym products (allegedly!).

Mine is Candy White and looks Superb when finished

I'd check with them how strong degreaser they use. Chances are it's heavy on the paint sealer/wax, and so new dirt sticks really fast. Good business for them, not so gentle on your paint

Edited 8 June, 201214 yr by quiz

I have a candy white superb and have found the perfect products on cleanyourcar.co.uk. I use the car lack range of products. As with all German products they are damn good. Use some snow foam to start with, then some car-lack shampoo and then finish off with this daddy of a product

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/sealants/carlack-68-nano-systematic-care-various-sizes-/prod_356.html you don't need to use the latter every time... but by goodness it gives a nice finish! BTW this is not an advert... simply sharing what I have found. Enjoy your car! Remember...a quick wash can last several hours...at least for me as I am a bit of a perfectionist

Given that Oxford still has a hose pipe ban, and seeing as how everyone seems to recommend applying snow foam first to pull off most of the muck, I guess I could do this part of the job at my nearest car wash couldn't I? Some of these have jet washes that I presume have snow foam type stuff in them? I could then towel dry the car, drive it home and apply the polish (or whatever) on my drive.

Sound feasible?

(hopefully the hose pipe ban will be lifted soon given the amount of rain we've had over the last couple of weeks)

You can get hand held units (adapted from garden spray systems) that are available for cars now for the "snow foam".

I would not under any circumstance towel dry my car after a touch-free wash only. The process you describe with a foam gun is just meant to pull off dirt that has been dissolved by your degreaser, and doesn't really clean your car itself. Much more important to learn how to prewash with appropriate degreaser/tar-remover than to foam.

That being said, I own a foam cannon myself and love it, but as an exclusive method of cleaning it's pretty useless. A lot of washing procedures will clean your car, but the shine/wet look/depth in your paint will fade if you:

1. Don't prewash properly

2. Use a sponge (big no-no, use a wash mitt)

3. Towel dry without a mitt wash

4. Don't correct your paint with abrasive polish periodically

... hopefully the hose pipe ban will be lifted soon given the amount of rain we've had over the last couple of weeks

And as if by magic .....

Ray

2. Use a sponge (big no-no, use a wash mitt)

Damn. I´ve used a sponge for the last 30 years and now you`re telling me that I was wrong all the time !!

Damn. I´ve used a sponge for the last 30 years and now you`re telling me that I was wrong all the time !!

If the only purpose was to clean your car, you've been right all along. But like I said; if the condition of your car's paint matters to you (which I gathered was OP's concern), you should choose more gentle products

Edited 13 June, 201213 yr by quiz

But I think that also sponges are not all alike.....perhaps I`ll call Bob and ask him.....

True - there is something called Zymöl sponge that supposedly works a little like micro fibre. So I guess you're partly right.. again

Had my car cleaned and polished by a local eastern european hand wash people yesterday. They did a very good job. The paintwork is (was) so smooth. Not sure what they used...

Anyway, unfortunately, my driveway where I park the car at night as a couple of trees over it. This morning, I have noticed lots of specs of sap on one side of the car.

What would you suggest for getting rid of this? I don't really want to clean the entire car everytime this happens - just clean the affected areas every so often (when I remember/have time to do so).

In summer simply do not park under a tree if possible, otherwise lots of cleaning and polish is the only answer unless you put a cover over your car every time you park under a tree I'm afraid.