(in a 'detailing' project stylee) :grin:
Let me start by saying this thread is not a dig at those who dedicate many hours and a great deal of money detailing their cars and keeping them looking the way they want them to look, I have great respect for those guys…..but that’s just not me!
If you continue to read this thread after that caveat, please do so in the manor in which it was written, with tongue firmly in cheek. :grin:
Today I washed my car!
It’s not been washed since I bought it in December and it wasn’t clean then so god knows how long it’s actually been since it last saw some soapy water!
The back is dirty….
The side was dirty….
Even the front was dirty!
So I decided, since the clocks changed today and it’s officially spring I would treat it to the full Monty….. the local Morrison’s jet wash!
First off the really stubborn dirt on the wheels was attacked with…
which was applied (with a lance) to wheels and tyres to remove brake dust….or so it said next to the button.
Next I liberally applied some shampoo (again, with the lance) all over the vehicle!
(why is it called SHAMpoo anyway? It’s nothing like REALpoo?)
I followed this with the ‘Foam Brush’
The instructions said it was to remove HEAVY dirt but I had no way of weighing it so I assumed it to all be of the same density and brushed the whole car…..twice!
(I did consider a micro-fiber blue brick thing at this stage but I don’t have a clue what one is so just stuck to the brush!)
Next we have the ‘rinse’
This is a critical stage of the washing process as it removes ‘all chemicals from the top of vehicle’…apparently!
This is best done in straight lines rather than a circular motion to prevent swirl patterns in the paint finish, straight lines are harder to spot than swirls! (I read that somewhere) and apart from that, with a circular pattern you are more likely to lift the paint/rust from around the wheel arches and straight lines you can just miss those bits out!
And to think, for years I thought I was just spraying clean water at a soapy car!
Anyway the car is now clean and wet.
I even remembered to get the mirrors wet.
The Penultimate process is the wax
….sorry ‘Gloss wax’ according to the machine (is there any other sort?...oh can I have some of that dull wax please…)
This is to be applied to the whole vehicle to ‘aid the final rinse’….what?
….feck that, I’ve paid good money for it I’m not about to rise it off again straight away. If it’s only getting done once or twice a year I want as much wax as I can get!!
So I stick with the wax and keep going round the car over and over again until I’m completely satisfied with the depth of wax and shine on the now perfect paint work…..or 1min 23sec when the timer runs out.
The final process ‘spot free finish’
apparently washes off all the wax you just spent nearly a minuet and a half applying and works especially well with the ‘power dry’ which this machine doesn’t have… so it’s just as well my £3.00 ran out before I got to this stage.
This whole process took me 7 ½ minuets but the longest part is still to be done, the careful drying off of every panel with a micro-fibre towel…. or, as I did, drive really fast in the sunshine for 20mins, I kept the cleaning theme going throughout this process buy showing a boy racer in a Saxo vts a clean pair of heels though.
So the finished result.
The front is now clean
The side is now clean
The back is now clean.
Even the exclusive Puma brown wheel arch trim is now clean…ish.
And for the detail junkies out there…
The wheels are clean
The puma badge is clean
The indicator is clean
The washer jet is clean
And so, as the sun sets on a hard and productive afternoons work and I head off to the pub in my gleaming, shinny car I have to ask myself,
Did I find he experience therapeutic? Well, no.
Did I find myself in a trance like hypnotic state concentrating on the tiniest detail of the bodywork…no
Am I pleased with the results….yes, my car is clean, it’s not immaculate or detailed in the way that many people on here like theirs, but this ones mine and it’s cleaned as much as I want it to be.
I actually quite like having it clean (not the cleaning process)
I might even do it again some day….maybe not this year…..maybe not this car, but someday!
…..and now I’m going to fill it with petrol and check the oil LOL :grin: :grin: :grin:
Let me start by saying this thread is not a dig at those who dedicate many hours and a great deal of money detailing their cars and keeping them looking the way they want them to look, I have great respect for those guys…..but that’s just not me!
If you continue to read this thread after that caveat, please do so in the manor in which it was written, with tongue firmly in cheek. :grin:
Today I washed my car!
It’s not been washed since I bought it in December and it wasn’t clean then so god knows how long it’s actually been since it last saw some soapy water!
The back is dirty….
The side was dirty….
Even the front was dirty!
So I decided, since the clocks changed today and it’s officially spring I would treat it to the full Monty….. the local Morrison’s jet wash!
First off the really stubborn dirt on the wheels was attacked with…
which was applied (with a lance) to wheels and tyres to remove brake dust….or so it said next to the button.
Next I liberally applied some shampoo (again, with the lance) all over the vehicle!
(why is it called SHAMpoo anyway? It’s nothing like REALpoo?)
I followed this with the ‘Foam Brush’
The instructions said it was to remove HEAVY dirt but I had no way of weighing it so I assumed it to all be of the same density and brushed the whole car…..twice!
(I did consider a micro-fiber blue brick thing at this stage but I don’t have a clue what one is so just stuck to the brush!)
Next we have the ‘rinse’
This is a critical stage of the washing process as it removes ‘all chemicals from the top of vehicle’…apparently!
This is best done in straight lines rather than a circular motion to prevent swirl patterns in the paint finish, straight lines are harder to spot than swirls! (I read that somewhere) and apart from that, with a circular pattern you are more likely to lift the paint/rust from around the wheel arches and straight lines you can just miss those bits out!
And to think, for years I thought I was just spraying clean water at a soapy car!
Anyway the car is now clean and wet.
I even remembered to get the mirrors wet.
The Penultimate process is the wax
….sorry ‘Gloss wax’ according to the machine (is there any other sort?...oh can I have some of that dull wax please…)
This is to be applied to the whole vehicle to ‘aid the final rinse’….what?
….feck that, I’ve paid good money for it I’m not about to rise it off again straight away. If it’s only getting done once or twice a year I want as much wax as I can get!!
So I stick with the wax and keep going round the car over and over again until I’m completely satisfied with the depth of wax and shine on the now perfect paint work…..or 1min 23sec when the timer runs out.
The final process ‘spot free finish’
apparently washes off all the wax you just spent nearly a minuet and a half applying and works especially well with the ‘power dry’ which this machine doesn’t have… so it’s just as well my £3.00 ran out before I got to this stage.
This whole process took me 7 ½ minuets but the longest part is still to be done, the careful drying off of every panel with a micro-fibre towel…. or, as I did, drive really fast in the sunshine for 20mins, I kept the cleaning theme going throughout this process buy showing a boy racer in a Saxo vts a clean pair of heels though.
So the finished result.
The front is now clean
The side is now clean
The back is now clean.
Even the exclusive Puma brown wheel arch trim is now clean…ish.
And for the detail junkies out there…
The wheels are clean
The puma badge is clean
The indicator is clean
The washer jet is clean
And so, as the sun sets on a hard and productive afternoons work and I head off to the pub in my gleaming, shinny car I have to ask myself,
Did I find he experience therapeutic? Well, no.
Did I find myself in a trance like hypnotic state concentrating on the tiniest detail of the bodywork…no
Am I pleased with the results….yes, my car is clean, it’s not immaculate or detailed in the way that many people on here like theirs, but this ones mine and it’s cleaned as much as I want it to be.
I actually quite like having it clean (not the cleaning process)
I might even do it again some day….maybe not this year…..maybe not this car, but someday!
…..and now I’m going to fill it with petrol and check the oil LOL :grin: :grin: :grin:
