Cleaning your TVR

[wanacoop]

Hi all,

I want to find out how you all go about cleaning your Tivs, I know now you are thinking, bucket, sponge, water..etc

But what order do you do things, how picky do you get? what type of sponge? what type of chamois? Do you use a jet washer? etc,etc..?

After my last wash and finding scratches i want to be veally careful.

Cheers!

[tamore]

5 quid. small army of poles.

[V8 GRF]

wanacoop said:

Hi all,

I want to find out how you all go about cleaning your Tivs, I know now you are thinking, bucket, sponge, water..etc

But what order do you do things, how picky do you get? what type of sponge? what type of chamois? Do you use a jet washer? etc,etc..?

After my last wash and finding scratches i want to be veally careful.

Cheers!

Depends how obsessive you want to be.....

Wash with real sponge or lambswool mitts, or foam wash to lift the dirt before rinsing, then Clay bar, three stage prep from someone like Mothers or Meguires and then multiple layers of wax

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php is hours of reading..

Have a look on the detailing forum here.

Plenty of sites but I buy most of my stuff from Mike at The Polishing Company

Check out Dodo Juice... excellent stuff

[Dave_M]

I would never use a sponge as they tend to trap grit.

I think a 'clean' and a 'dirty' bucket are useful too (if you use buckets of course).

Can't wait for a day when I'm not busy and can spend a bit of time cleaning.

[PDtvr]

I, too, chanced upon the Detailing World forum, initially considered it all to be a bit anal, but ended up following much of the advice proferred thereon. As already indicated above, it's as complicated as you wish to make it and I, for one, have more pressing matters to attend to in life than polishing my track-rod ends. However, among the more important gems I gleaned from it were to bin the sponge and chamois and replace with lambswool washmitt and microfibre drying cloth. I am now also a confirmed advocate of Zymol carnuba wax which, unlike many of the cheaper products, really does make a difference to the depth of shine and durability of the finish. I also use the two wash bucket method and wouldn't let a chamois wielding Kosovan, Pole or any other immigrant within 50ft of my Tuscan!

[V8 GRF]

Dave_M said:

I would never use a sponge as they tend to trap grit.

'Real' sponges ie something that lived on the bottom of the sea are excellent and are as good if not better than a lambswool mitt.
But don't put one of those synthetic yellow things anywhere near your P&J.

[Malx]

Luckily i tend to drive to my brothers house and drink all his tea while he works his magic. He's uses the clean and dirty bucket method with a huge array of tools.

Seems a bit crazy to spend all that time and money on product but i have to admit the car looks brand new after an hour.

Found one of his threads where he talks about stuff.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...

[Barreti]

What on earth is a '2 BM' ?
How does this 2 bucket method work then? I can't figure how 2 buckets are better than just changing the water regularly. I use 2 buckets of water to wash the car but somehow I guess thats not what is meant.

[Malx]

Not a clue, i'll ask him as it's got me guessing.
He uses one bucket of clean water and another bucket to rinse. Guess it just makes sure there is no grit on the cleaning mit thing.

[T40ORA]

One bucket of wash water, another with a stone guard in it to wash out the mitt after every 'application' on the car and before plunging it back into the wash bucket.

[Barreti]

Do you think '2 BM' is 2 Bucket Method ?
Whats a stone guard?

sorry for all the daft questions, but with the car up for a respray I want to be able to wash and polish it properly

[T40ORA]

Barreti said:

Do you think '2 BM' is 2 Bucket Method ?
Whats a stone guard?

sorry for all the daft questions, but with the car up for a respray I want to be able to wash and polish it properly

Yeah, two bucket.

Stone guard is like an upside down plastic collander in the bottom of the bucket so that the grit falls down through it and doesn't cling to the mitt.

Do have a look at the detailing world forum. I think that there is a 'proper' guide published on there. But it does depend how far you want to go; pre=wash foam, de-minarlised water....

[TVR_owner]

Sponges are cheap enough - through them away after every wash. Good hose off before and after soapy wash is essential. Don't use hot water when washing - warm only.

[mannkork]

Hi

the spring is coming after a long hard winter. Washed here today and put some caranuba wax and she looks like new.

Going out with here tonight and I will have some fun.

Cheers

Johannes

[Don1]

I tend to jet wash first, to get off the crap, then the 2 bucket method, microfibre dry.

If I'm waxing as well, then it's Megeuirs gold standard. I also dress the tres with Meg's hot tyres, and have a proper clean of the glass (normal window cleaner, with very fine wire wool - carefully!!!).

[wanacoop]

Holy poop! That is the kind of stuff i was after, but is does get a full-on! i will check out that web site, and take a look a getting a diff sponge and micro fibre drying thing!

Is a polish the same as a wax?? Or do you polish, then wax?

Many thanks..

p.s i used some Autoglym paint renovator to remove the light scratches and then polished after, it's worked well! the deeper scrathces are still there, but overall, it's worth using.

[robbri]

Some products i have used to great effect are megs scratch x for removing swirl marks but it does take a lot of elbow grease, if you want to remove swirl marks machine polishing is the best option get an experienced detailer to do this, i have found autogleam super resin polish helps to fill in any swirl marks you cant remove by hand after this i applied autogleam extra gloss protection which gives a brilliant shine and to top off i use collinte 915 it gives a superb deep gloss shine best on dark colours and is very durable.

Edited by robbri on Saturday 14th March 19:19

[LordGrover]

I did one of mine today: clicky.

[Nicholas Blair]

Don1 said:

I tend to jet wash first, to get off the crap, then the 2 bucket method, microfibre dry.

If I'm waxing as well, then it's Megeuirs gold standard. I also dress the tres with Meg's hot tyres, and have a proper clean of the glass (normal window cleaner, with very fine wire wool - carefully!!!).

Job done.

[Blown2CV]

I am by no means the most OCD but I suppose I do have a far amount of cleaning paraphenalia...

Meg Wash Mitt
Meg Gold Class Wax-safe shampoo
Meg Gold Class Wax
Meg hide cleaner/food
Meg water magnet drying towel
Meg glass cleaner
Meg metal polish
Sonus SFX-2 polish
Meg clay bar (not used yet)
Meg bug and tar remover
Meg MF polishing cloths
Meg wheel cleaner
Meg tyre dressing
millions of cheapo MF cloths
numerous applicator pads
griddle bucket (although only one as yet, but I can see the benefit in 2BM)
2-stage hood cleaner stuff... not renovo

Now that I write it down it makes me seem like a bit of a Meguiars nut, but I was prob just aiming for complimentary products... but I suppose the only ones that really touch each other are the polish and the wax and they are different makes!

Regular washing, occasional 3-stage with waxing to one, two or three coats depending on how much time I have spare, with liberal sprinklings of the other bits... the only one I have not used yet is the clay bar, because the paint was in very good nick when I got the car. Not sure why I bought the bar really. Will prob need it one day.