Today I added new complexities...
Discussion
As regular readers may recall, to date my efforts to wash the Vanquish have been dogged greatly by watermarks and to a lesser extent swirlmarks. It's the hardest bloody car to wash I've ever had. Big area, complex shapes/details, dark colour, shows everything.
My cunning plan to avoid watermarks was to use condensate from my domestic aircon, and I'm pleased to say it worked. Almost no watermarks! My patent £15 Temu fake pressure washer sucked it out of an old lemonade bottle very well.
The slight downside was that it took over two litres to rinse off the shampoo, so I'll use up the condensate far faster than I can generate it.
The bit that didn't work so well was the stage two stages before that: Snowfoam. Tooled up with a pack of Autoglym Polar Blast https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079QNQL1R I filled the little bottle 1:5 dilution as it said stuck it on the end of the £15 Temu fake pressure washer:
With the mains hose connected to give a slight trickle it seemed to go on rather sparsely, far from the fleecy blanket you see in the adverts, and before I'd completed one side the bottle was empty. Anyway, I reloaded and emptied a second bottle before giving up. After a couple of minutes it was looking like drying so I rinsed it off with a hose and tap water. Whether it 'lifted any dirt' I have no idea.
By the time I'd done the pre-wash, the snowfoam, the first rinse, the shampoo, the condensate rinse and dried it off and dealt with the few slight smeared areas I was knackered and the car was starting to get dusty so the wheels will have to wait until tomorrow. I unfurled two new huge fleece blankets and laid them over the car before putting the cover on.
So in summary - aircon condensate works, you just need a lot of it. Second, I need a better way to apply snowfoam as obviously the Temu toy isn't good enough. I don't want to wrangle a full-sized pressure washer as the gap down the left side of the car is narrow -fighting my way down there with sprayer, hoses, mains leads etc all getting tangled up and bashing on the car is not an option.
So, I need a better way to spray snowfoam. Would this do the job? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SLV7RXM/ Not being a pro detailer I don't want to spend masses of money needlessly.
And to think some people do this agony for a living!
My cunning plan to avoid watermarks was to use condensate from my domestic aircon, and I'm pleased to say it worked. Almost no watermarks! My patent £15 Temu fake pressure washer sucked it out of an old lemonade bottle very well.
The slight downside was that it took over two litres to rinse off the shampoo, so I'll use up the condensate far faster than I can generate it.
The bit that didn't work so well was the stage two stages before that: Snowfoam. Tooled up with a pack of Autoglym Polar Blast https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079QNQL1R I filled the little bottle 1:5 dilution as it said stuck it on the end of the £15 Temu fake pressure washer:
With the mains hose connected to give a slight trickle it seemed to go on rather sparsely, far from the fleecy blanket you see in the adverts, and before I'd completed one side the bottle was empty. Anyway, I reloaded and emptied a second bottle before giving up. After a couple of minutes it was looking like drying so I rinsed it off with a hose and tap water. Whether it 'lifted any dirt' I have no idea.
By the time I'd done the pre-wash, the snowfoam, the first rinse, the shampoo, the condensate rinse and dried it off and dealt with the few slight smeared areas I was knackered and the car was starting to get dusty so the wheels will have to wait until tomorrow. I unfurled two new huge fleece blankets and laid them over the car before putting the cover on.
So in summary - aircon condensate works, you just need a lot of it. Second, I need a better way to apply snowfoam as obviously the Temu toy isn't good enough. I don't want to wrangle a full-sized pressure washer as the gap down the left side of the car is narrow -fighting my way down there with sprayer, hoses, mains leads etc all getting tangled up and bashing on the car is not an option.
So, I need a better way to spray snowfoam. Would this do the job? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SLV7RXM/ Not being a pro detailer I don't want to spend masses of money needlessly.
And to think some people do this agony for a living!
Have I missed the reason why you can't have a proper pressure washer?
Edit. I've seen. It's hard to understand. If there isn't enough room to walk down the side with a pressure washer then how are you even washing it? Most pressure washers come with a 10m hose so if you buy a stubby gun it's less bulky than your battery powered thing.
And it will work.
Edit. I've seen. It's hard to understand. If there isn't enough room to walk down the side with a pressure washer then how are you even washing it? Most pressure washers come with a 10m hose so if you buy a stubby gun it's less bulky than your battery powered thing.
And it will work.
Edited by _Rodders_ on Thursday 23 July 20:03
Edited by _Rodders_ on Thursday 23 July 20:03
Huzzah said:
Try Aqua Wax.
It's brilliant.
After rinsing off the shampoo? To date I've avoided polishes because the car was ceramic coated last year. However maybe I should assume it's worn off and just use a 'normal' product. One that doesn't mind a bit of water would be great - it's amazing how many joins the car has that leak water for ages after drying!It's brilliant.
lufbramatt said:
Marolex pump sprayers work very well for snow foam and feel like they will last forever
Thanks, I'll take a look later. I have 2.4 litres of snowfoam to use up!Simpo Two said:
Huzzah said:
Try Aqua Wax.
It's brilliant.
After rinsing off the shampoo? To date I've avoided polishes because the car was ceramic coated last year. However maybe I should assume it's worn off and just use a 'normal' product. One that doesn't mind a bit of water would be great - it's amazing how many joins the car has that leak water for ages after drying!It's brilliant.
lufbramatt said:
Marolex pump sprayers work very well for snow foam and feel like they will last forever
Thanks, I'll take a look later. I have 2.4 litres of snowfoam to use up!Huzzah said:
Aqua Wax isn't a polish. Shampoo, rinse and apply wet.
OK, thanks. This one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-Rapid-Aqua-Wax-C...Worth a try!
NB Last time to save the towels getting wet too quickly I brushed the worst of the water off with my hands; that worked well, but still left about 20% so that seems perfect for Aqua Wax.
Belle427 said:
Get yourself a cordless garden leaf blower, does wonders for blowing the worst of the water off and out of the crevices too.
I would probably take a punt on one of the smaller gun type versions on Amazon.
Thanks; would it work better than this gadget I already have? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorcycle-Portable-Blowe...I would probably take a punt on one of the smaller gun type versions on Amazon.
I've ordered some Aquawax so we'll see if that does drying and polishing in one go.
Is Aston Martin lacquer particularly soft? It seems to scratch just by looking at it.
More like the turbo fan blowers, cant answer the lacquer one sorry.
Similar to this but cant really recommend.
https://www.temu.com/ul/kuiper/un2.html?_p_rfs=1&a...
Similar to this but cant really recommend.
https://www.temu.com/ul/kuiper/un2.html?_p_rfs=1&a...
Thanks; love the way they quote 'revs per HOUR' so they get a really impressive figure 
My car got well rained on at a show today and drying off rainwater (soft) was an absolute joy compared to hard tap water.
I have some Aquawax to try next time, which claims to combine drying and polishing, and if that doesn't work I may have to invest in one of those deionising jobbies.
ETA someone said Aquawax isn't a polish. Maybe a wax and a polish are different things. To me they both equal 'shiny'...
My car got well rained on at a show today and drying off rainwater (soft) was an absolute joy compared to hard tap water.
I have some Aquawax to try next time, which claims to combine drying and polishing, and if that doesn't work I may have to invest in one of those deionising jobbies.
ETA someone said Aquawax isn't a polish. Maybe a wax and a polish are different things. To me they both equal 'shiny'...
Is aqua wax just a wax that you apply wet? Other than the sealant aspect (which might not be needed?) what is it doing to stop water marks that drying with a blower and towel wouldn’t achieve? Reading the blurb about it, you’d still need to do that process anyway. This seems more like a product for getting sealant onto the paint without having to dry it first but from your post Simpo, I didn’t think that was your problem.
I am a bit cynical about all this stuff I must admit. I’ve wrestled with water marks for years and tried a few miracle products that I’m sure can work very well in some areas but do nothing here. Not washing in sunlight and drying the car properly really seems to be the only thing that works for me short of having a proper filtered water system.
I am a bit cynical about all this stuff I must admit. I’ve wrestled with water marks for years and tried a few miracle products that I’m sure can work very well in some areas but do nothing here. Not washing in sunlight and drying the car properly really seems to be the only thing that works for me short of having a proper filtered water system.
I'd hoped that the Aquawax would ameliorate the watermarks by mixing them into the waxing process. Haven't tried it yet.
Does the car need wax? Well frankly I don't know; the ceramic coat was applied in May last year (previous owner) so maybe it's worn off by now. No idea!
In fact ceramic coat has proved to be as much of a nuisance as a benefit, and was one reason why I didn't get PPF fitted - as they said they can't put it on ceramic coat so it would have to be machine polished off first... didn't fancy that on my beautiful new shiny car, and then there's the cost of getting an expert to do it, and how would he know when he'd got rid of it anyway?!
Does the car need wax? Well frankly I don't know; the ceramic coat was applied in May last year (previous owner) so maybe it's worn off by now. No idea!
In fact ceramic coat has proved to be as much of a nuisance as a benefit, and was one reason why I didn't get PPF fitted - as they said they can't put it on ceramic coat so it would have to be machine polished off first... didn't fancy that on my beautiful new shiny car, and then there's the cost of getting an expert to do it, and how would he know when he'd got rid of it anyway?!
Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 29th July 09:20
Simpo Two said:
I'd hoped that the Aquawax would ameliorate the watermarks by mixing them into the waxing process. Haven't tried it yet.
Does the car need wax? Well frankly I don't know; the ceramic coat was applied in May last year (previous owner) so maybe it's worn off by now. No idea!
In fact ceramic coat has proved to be as much of a nuisance as a benefit, and was one reason why I didn't get PPF fitted - as they said they can't put it on ceramic coat so it would have to be machine polished off first... didn't fancy that on my beautiful new shiny car, and then there's the cost of getting an expert to do it, and how would he know when he'd got rid of it anyway?!
Will be interesting to see how you get on. Does the car need wax? Well frankly I don't know; the ceramic coat was applied in May last year (previous owner) so maybe it's worn off by now. No idea!
In fact ceramic coat has proved to be as much of a nuisance as a benefit, and was one reason why I didn't get PPF fitted - as they said they can't put it on ceramic coat so it would have to be machine polished off first... didn't fancy that on my beautiful new shiny car, and then there's the cost of getting an expert to do it, and how would he know when he'd got rid of it anyway?!
Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 29th July 09:20
Regarding the ceramic coat, does water still bead on it? If so, it's alive and well. But if not, I would still think a proper dry applied wax (definitely doesn't need to be ceramic) would be a better approach. I have tried a couple of these wet waxes before and they certainly do something but have nothing like the durability of applying a wax in the traditional manner. I guess simply because more of the product is just being washed away.
Gad-Westy said:
Is aqua wax just a wax that you apply wet? Other than the sealant aspect (which might not be needed?) what is it doing to stop water marks that drying with a blower and towel wouldn t achieve? Reading the blurb about it, you d still need to do that process anyway. This seems more like a product for getting sealant onto the paint without having to dry it first but from your post Simpo, I didn t think that was your problem.
I am a bit cynical about all this stuff I must admit. I ve wrestled with water marks for years and tried a few miracle products that I m sure can work very well in some areas but do nothing here. Not washing in sunlight and drying the car properly really seems to be the only thing that works for me short of having a proper filtered water system.
I was sceptical too, hard water area so always struggled with water marks. But find drying easier with aqua wax, it leaves a waxy finish but doesn't last like a proper wax or ceramic coating. I wash cars every couple of months or so dependant on mood and weather.I am a bit cynical about all this stuff I must admit. I ve wrestled with water marks for years and tried a few miracle products that I m sure can work very well in some areas but do nothing here. Not washing in sunlight and drying the car properly really seems to be the only thing that works for me short of having a proper filtered water system.
My routine
Rinse with power washer (on a low setting) or hose, apply autoglym shampoo with sprayer, bucket and wash mitt to clean, rinse suds off with hose/pressure washer, then while wet a couple of squirts of aqua wax sparingly onto a panel, wipe with drying cloth, move onto next panel. Sometimes I wet a panel again if it's drying before I get to it.
Windows and wheels are done separately
I'm not too anal, the above takes about an hour, wax finish lasts between washes (just)
Drying is quicker and easier so makes it a win win as far as I'm concerned.
Edited by Huzzah on Wednesday 29th July 14:50
Gad-Westy said:
Regarding the ceramic coat, does water still bead on it? If so, it's alive and well. But if not, I would still think a proper dry applied wax (definitely doesn't need to be ceramic) would be a better approach. I have tried a couple of these wet waxes before and they certainly do something but have nothing like the durability of applying a wax in the traditional manner. I guess simply because more of the product is just being washed away.
It not only beads, it forms great big lakes! It holds so much water I now brush the worst of it off with my hand otherwise the towel gets soaked.But watermarks need re-damping and wiping to remove and I think that's one reason it now has swirlmarks. A layer of wax on top can't do any harm I think.
The car will probably end up as a mix of ceramic coating, wax and quick detailer in various strata!
Why not get a water filter like one of these for the rinse stage (obviously if youre in one of the few parts of the country where hosepipes are still allowed):
https://raceglaze.co.uk/shop/race-glaze-car-care-e...
You can also get shampoo (eg Carpro Descale) that removes water-marks and is safe for ceramic coat.
I recall a top-end detailer bloke showing me how to spritz the car with quick detailer when still wet... this stopped watermarking and provided a slicker surface for towel drying, less likely to mar the finish. You could, for example, use Carpro Ech2O.
https://raceglaze.co.uk/shop/race-glaze-car-care-e...
You can also get shampoo (eg Carpro Descale) that removes water-marks and is safe for ceramic coat.
I recall a top-end detailer bloke showing me how to spritz the car with quick detailer when still wet... this stopped watermarking and provided a slicker surface for towel drying, less likely to mar the finish. You could, for example, use Carpro Ech2O.
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