58 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

I’ve driven mine for the first time in 5 weeks. I forgot just how bad the standard pedal response is, after removing my pedal box. Even in S mode there’s a noticeable delay. 

 

Still a lufly car though. I’m sure my exhaust is starting to get a bit more vocal too 🤔

That's because it's ANGRY you haven't driven it for 5 weeks. Cars have feelings and they know when they are about to be sold as well.

Given it a quick clean at work. It’s already too warm really.

Gave my land yacht a good going over, not a lot of milage of late but as it’s been so dry and windy was filthy with dust and pollen.

mate used his buffer to get couple of scratches out,wet sand and buffed out.

used dodo juice lime prime polish and black window wax.

On 09/04/2020 at 11:47, bigman1976 said:

Spent 2 days machine polishing my Sportline and then coated it with 2 coats of Gyeon Can Coat. Looks amazing but I am broken!

 

What machine polisher have you got and what products do you use for washing/waxing?  I've recently purchased a 2 year old Superb in Black Magic colour.  Doesn't have too much in the way of swirl/wash marks but I'd like to make sure that whenever I wash/wax it that I do it properly and try and give it a mirror finish wherever possible.

 

Just bought a karcher pressure washer and got some snow foam and snow foam lance on order along with some tyre goo etc so I'd love to know what products you (and other people) use.  I'm particularly keen to apply something to the tyre rubber after it's been washed and waxed etc to give them a lasting sheen if there is anything around.  T'internet is a mine field looking for this type of stuff and there are so many reviews, i'd rather get some views from people on here to be perfectly honest.

15 minutes ago, cronemeister said:

 

What machine polisher have you got and what products do you use for washing/waxing?  I've recently purchased a 2 year old Superb in Black Magic colour.  Doesn't have too much in the way of swirl/wash marks but I'd like to make sure that whenever I wash/wax it that I do it properly and try and give it a mirror finish wherever possible.

 

Just bought a karcher pressure washer and got some snow foam and snow foam lance on order along with some tyre goo etc so I'd love to know what products you (and other people) use.  I'm particularly keen to apply something to the tyre rubber after it's been washed and waxed etc to give them a lasting sheen if there is anything around.  T'internet is a mine field looking for this type of stuff and there are so many reviews, i'd rather get some views from people on here to be perfectly honest.

I use Car Plan Tyre Slik and it has won many awards in Auto Express magazine for it's price and longevity.

3 minutes ago, cronemeister said:

 

What machine polisher have you got and what products do you use for washing/waxing?  I've recently purchased a 2 year old Superb in Black Magic colour.  Doesn't have too much in the way of swirl/wash marks but I'd like to make sure that whenever I wash/wax it that I do it properly and try and give it a mirror finish wherever possible.

 

Just bought a karcher pressure washer and got some snow foam and snow foam lance on order along with some tyre goo etc so I'd love to know what products you (and other people) use.  I'm particularly keen to apply something to the tyre rubber after it's been washed and waxed etc to give them a lasting sheen if there is anything around.  T'internet is a mine field looking for this type of stuff and there are so many reviews, i'd rather get some views from people on here to be perfectly honest.

I use a DAS6 pro from Clean your Car with green Chemical Guys hexlogic pads and Sonax 06-04 polish (which is a single stage polish). I then coated it with Gyeon CanCoat, a ‘lite’ ceramic coating which should last 6 months or so. If you look after your car, once it’s polished, as long as you wash it carefully, it shouldn’t need polishing for a while. 
 

You’re right - getting detailing information is a nightmare as there are so many products and just as many opinions! I’ve tried all sorts of products in the past and have now got a few which I consider staples:

 

Shampoo: Bilt Hamber Auto wash

Snowfoam: Bilt Hamber Auto foam

Wax: Wowos Contact 121

Tyre coating: Carpro Perl (can be watered down and used on all trims so really versatile)

Dooka Lambswool washpad or Microfibre Madness Incredimitt
 

I used to have a black magic Octavia VRS and it’s an an amazing colour when freshly detailed. It doesn’t give any mercy if abused though. I used to use Poorboys Blackhole glaze to hide minor swirls, though that was before I got a DA. This was topped with a wax and looked great. 

 

I’ve recently started to use spray-on, wash-off products like Turtle Wax Dry and Shine which adds a layer of protection on top of your wax and takes minutes to do. They’ve also just released a couple of products which are specifically for black cars 

 

https://www.turtlewax.com/en-gb/our-products/hybrid-solutions/turtle-wax-hybrid-solutions-ceramic-acrylic-black-polish/

 

I have no experience of this myself but the Hybrid Ceramic ranges get very good reviews online. 

There is a really good section for car care advice on here with plenty of useful thoughts. 

41 minutes ago, bigman1976 said:

green Chemical Guys hexlogic pads and Sonax 06-04 polish

Great combo.  Just bought myself a new bottle of the 06-04 and some fresh green pads for my next detailing session.  I also got myself a 3" backing plate for the DAS6 so I can use 4" HL pads on the bumpers and more fiddly bits. 

 

Also a good shout on the Bilt Hamber products.  I've pretty much settled on Bilt Hamber for all my pre-wash, decon and wash products now.  So easy to use, safe on any part of the car and good value too.  Little things like their Auto clay working only with water (though I do add a little QD spray too) makes a difference when you do a big car and don't need to buy 1-2 bottles of dedicated clay luber.

 

If you haven't tried it already... the BH Cleanser Polish works very well with a DAS6 and white HL pad.  I tried some on our brilliant silver Fabia and the paint was very slick and clean afterwards.  Topped it off with some Double Speed Wax and it's been the best combo I've found for that paint.  Lots of shine and flake pop.  Much better than the Carlack and Finishkare combo I tried previously.   

 

 

Edited 28 April, 20206 yr by penguin17

16 minutes ago, bigman1976 said:

I use a DAS6 pro from Clean your Car with green Chemical Guys hexlogic pads and Sonax 06-04 polish (which is a single stage polish). I then coated it with Gyeon CanCoat, a ‘lite’ ceramic coating which should last 6 months or so. If you look after your car, once it’s polished, as long as you wash it carefully, it shouldn’t need polishing for a while. 
 

You’re right - getting detailing information is a nightmare as there are so many products and just as many opinions! I’ve tried all sorts of products in the past and have now got a few which I consider staples:

 

Shampoo: Bilt Hamber Auto wash

Snowfoam: Bilt Hamber Auto foam

Wax: Wowos Contact 121

Tyre coating: Carpro Perl (can be watered down and used on all trims so really versatile)

Dooka Lambswool washpad or Microfibre Madness Incredimitt
 

I used to have a black magic Octavia VRS and it’s an an amazing colour when freshly detailed. It doesn’t give any mercy if abused though. I used to use Poorboys Blackhole glaze to hide minor swirls, though that was before I got a DA. This was topped with a wax and looked great. 

 

I’ve recently started to use spray-on, wash-off products like Turtle Wax Dry and Shine which adds a layer of protection on top of your wax and takes minutes to do. They’ve also just released a couple of products which are specifically for black cars 

 

https://www.turtlewax.com/en-gb/our-products/hybrid-solutions/turtle-wax-hybrid-solutions-ceramic-acrylic-black-polish/

 

I have no experience of this myself but the Hybrid Ceramic ranges get very good reviews online. 

There is a really good section for car care advice on here with plenty of useful thoughts. 

Cheers for all the tips.  Crikey things have moved on a bit from washing ya motor with a bucket and sponge and rubbing a tub of turtle wax into the thing......then spending the next 6 months trying to remove all traces of the dried on wax from all the crevices you never even thought existed 😄

 

I'm a tad confused now I have to admit...you've named some shampoo, snowfoam wax as well as the Sonax 06-04 polish so what's the deal here?  Do you use all of these for different purposes/conditions or use some for inbetween washes/waxes or do you use all of these every time you wash/detail the car and if so how often do you tend to do this?

 

Don't wanna be one of those people who is out there every sunday washing the car, obviously weather and time of year will dictate when this has to be done more than usual, winter for example.  I would have thought by giving it a good once over in the next month or so, i may not need to wash it again for a good few weeks as the stuff above should provide a good deal of protection.  Seems like its a bit of a dark art all of this now but I don't really wanna pay £100+ a pop just to take it somewhere and get someone else to do it when I can do just as good a job myself every now and then.

 

I've read a number of articles saying don't rinse the car before applying snow foam and then other articles say the opposite.  Everybody has their own preference of course and it will largely depend on the products you use as well.  Do you just apply the snowfoam mentioned above (to a dry car). leave for x mins then powerwash off and then go to town with your DAS6 and the Sonax?

 

@cronemeister this is one of the better detailing guides I've seen online.  Nice concise info/steps/stages and some solid product recommendations: 

https://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/12873-becs-guide-to-detailing/

 

The number one piece of advice I would offer you regardless of doing a smaller 'maintenance' wash or a full multi-hour detail is; before you go near the car with a wash mitt or similar, you need to remove as much surface dirt and decontamination as possible, with as little friction as you can.  No matter how good/careful you are, you will always introduce some level of micro damage to the paint but the more you can minimise that damage the better your results will be and the easier it is to achieve a nice finish. 

 

HTH

 

P.S I always snow foam a 'dry car' and it's always the first stage of cleaning the body work for me.  Any other decontamination/washing is done after the snow foam because of the reason I gave above 😀

19 minutes ago, cronemeister said:

Cheers for all the tips.  Crikey things have moved on a bit from washing ya motor with a bucket and sponge and rubbing a tub of turtle wax into the thing......then spending the next 6 months trying to remove all traces of the dried on wax from all the crevices you never even thought existed 😄

 

I'm a tad confused now I have to admit...you've named some shampoo, snowfoam wax as well as the Sonax 06-04 polish so what's the deal here?  Do you use all of these for different purposes/conditions or use some for inbetween washes/waxes or do you use all of these every time you wash/detail the car and if so how often do you tend to do this?

 

Don't wanna be one of those people who is out there every sunday washing the car, obviously weather and time of year will dictate when this has to be done more than usual, winter for example.  I would have thought by giving it a good once over in the next month or so, i may not need to wash it again for a good few weeks as the stuff above should provide a good deal of protection.  Seems like its a bit of a dark art all of this now but I don't really wanna pay £100+ a pop just to take it somewhere and get someone else to do it when I can do just as good a job myself every now and then.

 

I've read a number of articles saying don't rinse the car before applying snow foam and then other articles say the opposite.  Everybody has their own preference of course and it will largely depend on the products you use as well.  Do you just apply the snowfoam mentioned above (to a dry car). leave for x mins then powerwash off and then go to town with your DAS6 and the Sonax?

 

I totally get what you mean about not wanting to spend every weekend washing your car: I have a 2 year old so am not allowed to!

 

The way I see it is that I spend some time preparing the paintwork really well (washing, decontaminating then polishing) and laying down some protection (e.g. wax). Then, when I next wash it,I top-up the protection with a quick detailer or the Turtle Wax wash and shine. That way, you are constantly keeping the elements away from the paintwork meaning less need to polish again. 
 

I spent a day and a half machine polishing the car but won’t do it again for a year at least, if not 18 months and only then if it needs it. Good washing processes will maintain the quality of your paint in between. With my last car, a race blue Octavia VRS, I machine polished it when I first got it and didn’t need to repolish it in the three years I had it.

 

My maintenance wash process is like this (assuming it doesn’t need more wax):

 

1) Lay down a layer of snow foam and leave for 10 minutes or so (less time if sunny and hot)

2) Whilst snow foam is dwelling, clean the wheels 

3) Rinse snow foam

4) Wash

5) Rinse

6) Either apply TW wash and shine then dry or dry and apply quick detailer. 
7) Dress tyres

8 stand back and admire your work

 

As you say, get it right at first and you should be able to go a few weeks without washing. 

Well, since we’re on the topic... I cleaned mine as well.

To start with, it wasn’t THAT dirty, but I couldn’t wait to try the newest overhyped product, Optimum No Rinse. It came in the mail a few days ago, and yesterday seemed like a good time to use it.

in short, it is kind of amazing. I was very hesitant to believe the hype around it, but it works great in anything that isn’t super dirty. (I haven’t had the chance yet to clean a really dirty car with it, will update if it works as good once I do.)

The basic principle is that you buy a concentrate, instead of a finished product. About 20-25£ for a bottle of about 1,3 liters. With a solution of 1 in about 250, this should last me quite some time.

The process of cleaning your car is childishly simple: Premix ONR in a bucket at the required dilution, then wash the car with either a sponge or a wash mitten. Do one panel at a time, don’t rinse but dry immediately after with one or two micro-fiber towels. That’s all there is to it. No streaks, no drying spots, I am frankly astonished at how good the car looks with minimum effort. All in all, our Superb took me about 30-40 minutes total (full exterior clean, including rims and tyre sealant application), our Scala about 20-30 minutes for the same level of cleaning.

On a dirtier car, I would definitely snow foam first, it just wasn’t required this time, I wanted to let ONR do as much of the work as possible.

It really, really needs a polish, though. Not that the swirls or scratches are that abundant, but after two years of daily use, it deserves a pampering.

Edited 28 April, 20206 yr by kriva

42 minutes ago, kriva said:

Well, since we’re on the topic... I cleaned mine as well.

To start with, it wasn’t THAT dirty, but I couldn’t wait to try the newest overhyped product, Optimum No Rinse. It came in the mail a few days ago, and yesterday seemed like a good time to use it.

in short, it is kind of amazing. I was very hesitant to believe the hype around it, but it works great in anything that isn’t super dirty. (I haven’t had the chance yet to clean a really dirty car with it, will update if it works as good once I do.)

The basic principle is that you buy a concentrate, instead of a finished product. About 20-25£ for a bottle of about 1,3 liters. With a solution of 1 in about 250, this should last me quite some time.

The process of cleaning your car is childishly simple: Premix ONR in a bucket at the required dilution, then wash the car with either a sponge or a wash mitten. Do one panel at a time, don’t rinse but dry immediately after with one or two micro-fiber towels. That’s all there is to it. No streaks, no drying spots, I am frankly astonished at how good the car looks with minimum effort. All in all, our Superb took me about 30-40 minutes total (full exterior clean, including rims and tyre sealant application), our Scala about 20-30 minutes for the same level of cleaning.

On a dirtier car, I would definitely snow foam first, it just wasn’t required this time, I wanted to let ONR do as much of the work as possible.

It really, really needs a polish, though. Not that the swirls or scratches are that abundant, but after two years of daily use, it deserves a pampering.

That is a lovely colour. I’ve not tried ONR before. Sounds intriguing. 

Spent my hour of exercise on Monday washing and polishing the big red bus. Spent my hour of exercise yesterday giving it a beautiful BH DSW shine. Passed it on my way home from my hour of exercise this morning and took a photo. Nice beading. Also, I started it after four weeks of sitting idle. Fired right up first crank on a 42-month-old battery.

 

 

54 minutes ago, freelunch said:

Spent my hour of exercise on Monday washing and polishing the big red bus. Spent my hour of exercise yesterday giving it a beautiful BH DSW shine. Passed it on my way home from my hour of exercise this morning and took a photo. Nice beading. Also, I started it after four weeks of sitting idle. Fired right up first crank on a 42-month-old battery.

 

 

Tidy, looks nice in red especially with the glass roof.  My eyes however are somewhat drawn to the chrome badge on your bonnet tho m8, you need to swap that out for a black one 😝

1 hour ago, cronemeister said:

Tidy, looks nice in red especially with the glass roof.  My eyes however are somewhat drawn to the chrome badge on your bonnet tho m8, you need to swap that out for a black one 😝

 

I haven't worked out how to get a hair dryer out to my car to do the debadging, yet. 👍

Both cars detailed over the last few days, such handsome cars in the sunlight.

Fortnight wash. Used a new snow foam attachment. Was def. less 'dusty' after first rinse. Lots of pollen and bits of the Sahara.

I had the opportunity to go for a 30km drive this morning. I really enjoyed the smoothness of my L&K with its DCC. It's still like a 'flying carpet'. 

Much more comfortable than the chair I'm stuck to for home office...🙄

😁

Edited 4 May, 20206 yr by Bap33

On 03/05/2020 at 20:21, Chazzy said:

Fortnight wash. Used a new snow foam attachment. Was def. less 'dusty' after first rinse. Lots of pollen and bits of the Sahara.

Great colour, but a pig to keep clean, mine seems to show all the dirt 😞 I must be doing something wrong 

Well the dreaded happened, cars stood for a couple of weeks maybe a quick run to shops and Dr ,tried to start and turned but battery died.

Knocked up my ever friendly car nut neighbour for a jump start, nope wouldn’t budge, so got out the charger and tried than for 40 mins, nope.

Ended up removing battery into kitchen and charging 3 hrs before bed and 2 hrs in morning, refitted battery and started no probs but 6 faults and pinging alarms around , put into drive moved few metres forwards and back all sorted except still shows acc unavailable.

The joy lol , stay safe all 😜👍🏻

Booked a service and first MOT .

 

Got an email a couple of days ago saying my local dealer would be open for servicing from next week. Booked this morning for a variable service next Wednesday (it's literally thousands of miles early due to lockdown, but I like to have new oil each year), together with DSG service (4k miles early but within warranty period so anything they find is Skoda's problem, not mine) plus MOT.

 

The dealer has full social distancing measures in place, set drop-off time, no horrible free coffee or hanging around while they do the work - looks like they are making a decent fist of it. I hope the experience on the day is better than last year but so far I'm pleased with them. 

 

I think you know I will have a full write-up on how it turns out...

@Weebawbag My battery also run empty because I forgot to unplug my dash cam. Actually camera should turn off automatically if battery voltage drops below preset value but as it turns out, it won't (have to investigate it somehow). Bought a battery charger and completely removed battery to charge it inside because I didn't have ~30-40 meter long power extension cable. After I refitted battery I had about 6 fault on screen. But after driving a little bit, turning off engine and started again they were gone, including ACC one. Guess it takes some tome to to let electricity through all the sensors, or something.

Drove the car twice since and happy to report everything’s back up and running and battery’s full of life 😜👍🏻

20 hours ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Booked a service and first MOT .

 

Got an email a couple of days ago saying my local dealer would be open for servicing from next week. Booked this morning for a variable service next Wednesday (it's literally thousands of miles early due to lockdown, but I like to have new oil each year), together with DSG service (4k miles early but within warranty period so anything they find is Skoda's problem, not mine) plus MOT.

 

The dealer has full social distancing measures in place, set drop-off time, no horrible free coffee or hanging around while they do the work - looks like they are making a decent fist of it. I hope the experience on the day is better than last year but so far I'm pleased with them. 

 

I think you know I will have a full write-up on how it turns out...

Is that with Heritage, Jeff? 

Edited 6 May, 20206 yr by penguin17

28 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Is that with Heritage, Jeff? 

It is - Feeder Road Bristol is my local. They seemed to have decent availability too. I called the local dealer and they put me through to what seemed to be a central booking office. So worth checking if you have one of their dealers local to you and need something doing.