Foxtrot Oscar
26-07-2009, 11:30 AM
Hi all
I'm not sure what the dealership did in terms of applying products to my car before it arrived. I didn't go for the Autoglym treatment so I'm guessing they just washed and applied some sort of wax.
Yesterday I went out and spent £50 at Halfords on shampoo, wax, rain repellent, buckets, waffle weave and microfiber cloths, sheepskin mitt, glass cleaner, and a few other bits and pieces, to try and get the same visual effect that the Autoglym treatment gives. After all, surely it's basically just an expensive waxing?
I'll put some pics up later but it's worked out well. There's a wet look to the car and it looks very clean and shiny. Took absolutely ages though! It hasn't rained yet so I don't know if I'll get the same beading effect as given by the Autoglym. I've seen it on my parents-in-law's car and it looks great.
The main products I purchased were:
Shampoo: Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner. Car looks pretty good after giving it a wash only.
Wax: Turtlewax Platinum Series Precision Car Wax. Had some good reviews and there were so many to choose from so I just got it. Easy to buff to a wet look finish after only 20 minutes.
Rain repellent: Halfords Rain Repellent. Had to wait until next morning to be able to buff it to a finish, and even then it took significant elbow grease, but apparently it does an excellent job of beading water.
Mitt: Halfords sheepskin mitt. Cheaper and much softer than the Meguiar's equivalent. Seems fine.
Waffle weave drying cloth: Halfords own brand. Nice and big, soft, dries well.
The method I used is a fairly typical one.
I used a foam adaptor on my pressure washer, covered the car in foaming shampoo and left for 10 minutes for it to soak in. Then I rinsed the soap off with the normal pressure washer function (carefully, at a distance and an angle to the car).
I used two buckets, one with clean water in it and one with two caps of the Autoglym shampoo.
Starting at the top, I washed with the mitt front to back, occasionally cleaning the grit off in the bucket of clean water.
Then I cleaned and rinsed the alloys and dried the whole car.
After that I waxed the body panels and put rain repellent on the windows. Then I buffed the body panels and tried to buff the repellent from the windows. The latter I failed in as it hadn't dried / cured / gone off yet. First thing this morning and I tried again before the rain came. It still took some elbow grease but now the car is shiny and clean.
Now it just has to rain so I can see if it's had any effect.
What products are you using to protect the car's exterior and to try and get the water beading effect? What products are you applying to your interior to try and stop sticky spillages and vomit becoming an issue?
Pics:
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/3997/img5329e.jpg
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/6385/img5328n.jpg
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/9697/img5327x.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8983/img5326l.jpg
I'm not sure what the dealership did in terms of applying products to my car before it arrived. I didn't go for the Autoglym treatment so I'm guessing they just washed and applied some sort of wax.
Yesterday I went out and spent £50 at Halfords on shampoo, wax, rain repellent, buckets, waffle weave and microfiber cloths, sheepskin mitt, glass cleaner, and a few other bits and pieces, to try and get the same visual effect that the Autoglym treatment gives. After all, surely it's basically just an expensive waxing?
I'll put some pics up later but it's worked out well. There's a wet look to the car and it looks very clean and shiny. Took absolutely ages though! It hasn't rained yet so I don't know if I'll get the same beading effect as given by the Autoglym. I've seen it on my parents-in-law's car and it looks great.
The main products I purchased were:
Shampoo: Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner. Car looks pretty good after giving it a wash only.
Wax: Turtlewax Platinum Series Precision Car Wax. Had some good reviews and there were so many to choose from so I just got it. Easy to buff to a wet look finish after only 20 minutes.
Rain repellent: Halfords Rain Repellent. Had to wait until next morning to be able to buff it to a finish, and even then it took significant elbow grease, but apparently it does an excellent job of beading water.
Mitt: Halfords sheepskin mitt. Cheaper and much softer than the Meguiar's equivalent. Seems fine.
Waffle weave drying cloth: Halfords own brand. Nice and big, soft, dries well.
The method I used is a fairly typical one.
I used a foam adaptor on my pressure washer, covered the car in foaming shampoo and left for 10 minutes for it to soak in. Then I rinsed the soap off with the normal pressure washer function (carefully, at a distance and an angle to the car).
I used two buckets, one with clean water in it and one with two caps of the Autoglym shampoo.
Starting at the top, I washed with the mitt front to back, occasionally cleaning the grit off in the bucket of clean water.
Then I cleaned and rinsed the alloys and dried the whole car.
After that I waxed the body panels and put rain repellent on the windows. Then I buffed the body panels and tried to buff the repellent from the windows. The latter I failed in as it hadn't dried / cured / gone off yet. First thing this morning and I tried again before the rain came. It still took some elbow grease but now the car is shiny and clean.
Now it just has to rain so I can see if it's had any effect.
What products are you using to protect the car's exterior and to try and get the water beading effect? What products are you applying to your interior to try and stop sticky spillages and vomit becoming an issue?
Pics:
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/3997/img5329e.jpg
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/6385/img5328n.jpg
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/9697/img5327x.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8983/img5326l.jpg