Dirty Superb Car Thread.....

[Dogluvr]

They all get dirty this time of the year but if you value your paint do not use those hand wash guys.

Why is that? I thought they would be better than the automatic car washes...?

[penguin17]

Why is that? I thought they would be better than the automatic car washes...?

Your car is getting washed in the traffic film/salt/mud/crud from every other persons car.  A few years ago when I was parked in Tesco at lunchtime, I seen my very first Jag XF in the flesh (they'd just been released), it was getting washed.  The guy cleaning car was using a chomois or similar to get the water off the car.  He dropped it on the floor and instead of binning the cloth and getting a fresh one,  he just picked it up and carried on.  Oooooft scratchy scratchy. 

 

 

You should ideally wash your car with the 2BM (two bucket method), one for clean water/shampoo and one for rinsing your mitt/sponge.  At this time of year you will probs need to change the rinse bucket at least once.  Grit guards are also a good idea. 

 

My usual process for a quick wash is: 

 

Clean wheels

Snow Foam

Rinse

Wash (2BM)

Rinse 

Dry (pat not rub) and use a quick detailer to reduce water spotting

Finish of with quick detailer all over body work

Clean windows/mirrors

Dry wheels

Dress tyres

[BennyS3]

Your car is getting washed in the traffic film/salt/mud/crud from every other persons car. A few years ago when I was parked in Tesco at lunchtime, I seen my very first Jag XF in the flesh (they'd just been released), it was getting washed. The guy cleaning car was using a chomois or similar to get the water off the car. He dropped it on the floor and instead of binning the cloth and getting a fresh one, he just picked it up and carried on. Oooooft scratchy scratchy.

You should ideally wash your car with the 2BM (two bucket method), one for clean water/shampoo and one for rinsing your mitt/sponge. At this time of year you will probs need to change the rinse bucket at least once. Grit guards are also a good idea.

My usual process for a quick wash is:

Clean wheels

Snow Foam

Rinse

Wash (2BM)

Rinse

Dry (pat not rub) and use a quick detailer to reduce water spotting

Finish of with quick detailer all over body work

Clean windows/mirrors

Dry wheels

Dress tyres

A man I know has brought his Audi Q3 (registered July 2016) back to the audi dealer with rust on the wheel arches on both sides. The dealership blamed the salt on the roads and asked him how often he washed the car. He told them every fortnight. They said that was the primary cause of it, as the chemicals used by the car wash was corrosive on the paint and to not go back to that car wash. Unbeknownst to the dealership, it was their own car wash that they were talking about. They have a separate business attached to their dealership that valets cars. It does all of the cars in the dealership too... They're fixing it anyhow as it's under warranty.

So...... penguine17 and anyone else,

What is a good detergent to use on the superb?

You mention a shampoo, which one?

What is a good wax/polish?

Will using a power washer at home from a distance damage it?

And what is a grit guard?

I went into a motor factors today and they recommended the product in the attached photo.

[Sagalout]

Have a look over here where all the O.C.D. mob ( I mean careful owners really :angel: ) discuss such things. Wealth of info, what to use and how to get the best results

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/8-styling-and-car-care/

 

hth

[penguin17]

A man I know has brought his Audi Q3 (registered July 2016) back to the audi dealer with rust on the wheel arches on both sides. The dealership blamed the salt on the roads and asked him how often he washed the car. He told them every fortnight. They said that was the primary cause of it, as the chemicals used by the car wash was corrosive on the paint and to not go back to that car wash. Unbeknownst to the dealership, it was their own car wash that they were talking about. They have a separate business attached to their dealership that valets cars. It does all of the cars in the dealership too... They're fixing it anyhow as it's under warranty.

So...... penguine17 and anyone else,

What is a good detergent to use on the superb?

You mention a shampoo, which one?

What is a good wax/polish?

Will using a power washer at home from a distance damage it?

And what is a grit guard?

I went into a motor factors today and they recommended the product in the attached photo.

A grit guard is a plastic grid that sits at the bottom of the buckets you use to wash your car.  Dirt and debris, from when you place your mitt into the water, will sink to the bottom of the bucket and fall through the guard.  The dirt is then trapped there so you won't pick it up again and rub it against your paint. Take a look in the 'Safe Washing and Drying' section in the Polishedbliss link I've posted below. 

 

There's literally hundreds of products to chose from within each sub-category of car cleaning products.  

 

As a very general rule look for pH neutral products which are designed to work in harmony with your cars paint/top coat and also other products that you apply within your cleaning regime.  Some products of course are required to be that little bit nastier and more aggressive (fallout removers etc) but you'll only use them infrequently, e.g; initial detail or annual/full detail. So as long as you stick to the manufacturers guidance then you should be safe.  

 

To play it safe products from the same manufacturer may be a good place to start.  They will tend to have been developed to work together as it's highly unlikely that a manufacturer will have one product undoing the good work another product is doing, e.g a sealant stripping away a polish.   I'm not saying that it's a hard and fast rule, more a general piece of guidance.

 

Take a look at this guide:

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/car-care-advice.html

 

When I first started detailing my own cars I found it invaluable.  IMO the most important stage is the preparation; the more dirt you can remove off your car before you even touch it then the less chance you have of damaging the topcoat with scratches and swirls.  Dirt and friction are the devils work.  

 

I also find the Clean Your Car forum very helpful and Clean Your Car is also one of the best places to buy products from (forum link is on main website):

 

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

 

When starting out looking for products that suit the level of time you have to use them and your particular car it can seem expensive but if you look on forums there's often people selling items they've used once or twice and decided they don't like them.  You can also buy tester sizes from eBay sellers too.  

 

Amazon and eBay are also great for sourcing buckets, grit guards, good quality microfibre cloths etc.  So shop around.  For example a ' 25L professional details bucket' may cost you £25 but if you look on Amazon a '25L plasterers bucket' would be around £6.

 

I personally find Chemical Guys and Bilt Hamber products great and pretty good value too as they either don't require a lot of product or are sold in large volume.   They seem to work well on VAG paint and are very easy to apply.  Though for my Sportline I'm going to try Carlack's Acrylic kit as that apparently will look amazing on business grey metallic. Though don't overlook some of the products you can get from high street stores such as Halfords.  I've had great results from Armorall which are an absolute bargain from here: 

 

https://www.nielsencdg.co.uk/acatalog/Car-Care-Valeting.html

 

The Armorall shield polish and wax is the easiest thing you can apply and buff but looks really good and lasts well too.  Easily the best £:convenience product I've used.   

 

I'm not a professional detailer by any means I just enjoy cleaning my car (sad I know) but feel free to message me if you want any specific help and advice and I'll do my best to help.  

Edited 13 January, 2017 by penguin17

[BennyS3]

Thank you very much Sagalout and Penguin17. That is exactly what I'm looking for. That's a very long and detailed post penguin17 and thanks for taking the time to do it. I've never been good at keeping cars clean but now that I have this one, my first new one, I'll have to start.

[Bugginbob]

I live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farms so my car looks like this within a day of driving in the winter so it doesn't get much tlc at this time of year.

[Sagalout]

Perraps youm get 'er done dreckly bud  :D

 

Mine looks much the same; sticky stuff this West Country mud eh?

[Bugginbob]

Perraps youm get 'er done dreckly bud  :D

 

Mine looks much the same; sticky stuff this West Country mud eh?

Indeed. Although there's a fair amount of dairy farm "dirt" all over mine as well

[Gizmo]

This is about as dirty as I am prepared to post a photo of it.....

 

(wearing it’s new winter wheels & tyres.)

[MCG1975]

So last Friday my car went in for a service and was fully cleaned, came back nice and shiny.  1 week and about 700 miles later...

 

 

And I cleaned the headlights before I set out! 

[Scherpa]

White color was a bad decision  

[Core2Duo]

1 hour ago, Scherpa said:

White color was a bad decision  

But white is a really good colour when it's clean! 

[MCG1975]

26 minutes ago, Core2Duo said:

But white is a really good colour when it's clean! 

 

...which in this weather is until you start driving it!  I chose Red as it doesn't generally show up 'usual' dirt too badly, but the salt and mud is too much...

[100andthirty]

Less than 300 miles and already filthy. The photo flatters!

[Bud]

The bonnet looks clean with all the dirt looking like spray from the wheels.  How bad is the back?

 

Wonder how much difference mud flap would make?

 

Just seen the white one above, a lot of base drag!

Edited 28 January, 2017 by Bud
Reviewed

[100andthirty]

Bud.  You're  right....bonnet clean but headlights grille and bumper very dirty. The back is horrible...grateful for powered tailgate. I have mudflaps but haven't  had a moment to fit them.

[jstallan]

Has anyone got mudflaps fitted ? Just interested to see what the car looks like with them on. My previous car was a Nissan Qashqai and I fitted mudflaps to that - it really kept the sides on the car clean and it looked pretty good as well.

 

So, any pictures out there of owners cars with mudflaps fitted ?

[Khalfani]

21 minutes ago, jstallan said:

Has anyone got mudflaps fitted ? Just interested to see what the car looks like with them on. My previous car was a Nissan Qashqai and I fitted mudflaps to that - it really kept the sides on the car clean and it looked pretty good as well.

 

So, any pictures out there of owners cars with mudflaps fitted ?

 

Mine have it: 

 

[Prykey]

I have mudflaps and they do make a difference!

[Gizmo]

2 hours ago, jstallan said:

So, any pictures out there of owners cars with mudflaps fitted ?

 

Not my car (yes I have disowned it when it's this dirty .... just 400 miles since its last wash)

 

dirty enough ugh for the virtual pedal to stop working!

[superbdreams]

I only had to physically wash my car twice last year, as in touching it.

I jet wash well first and then use blit hamber snow foam followed by a jet wash and in summer a final jet wash with filtered water.

No need to dry or rub anything and a time saver.

 

[Bud]

So the value of mud flaps is? 

[Gizmo]

21 minutes ago, superbdreams said:

I only had to physically wash my car twice last year, as in touching it.

I jet wash well first and then use blit hamber snow foam followed by a jet wash and in summer a final jet wash with filtered water.

No need to dry or rub anything and a time saver.

 

 

Interestingly enough that is what I am trying at the moment, it doesn’t dwell for very long (less than 5 mins before it all but on the floor) despite using around ⅓ ltr in my snow foam bottle (twice what I normally use... but the car was VERY dirty) BUT I agree I could easily have walked away from the car after just rinsing the snowfoam off, it was not spotless but pretty close!

[superbdreams]

@BUD mudflaps have been covered so many times here.

overall they are worth having but don't expect too much.

 

@gizmo68

I don't use anything like that amount of snow foam. I suspect that you have not calibrated your snow foam lance with your jet washer.

only 5% of snow foam against water is needed to touch the car.