what happened to using a bucket and a sponge?
Discussion
To anyone who thinks it's a waste of time: Next time you wash your car, do it with two buckets, and rinse/wipe the sponge/washmitt off in the 'dirty water' bucket after each panel. At the end of the wash, look at the contents of the bucket. Put your hand in and have a feel. Then come back and tell me you can't understand why people waste their time.
When you spend a lot of time and effort polishing and waxing/sealing your paintwork so that it looks good (we are car enthusiasts, after all?), you would want to spend a bit of extra effort on a safe washing and drying technique during each wash to ensure you don't have to repeat this correction process more often than necessary.
When you spend a lot of time and effort polishing and waxing/sealing your paintwork so that it looks good (we are car enthusiasts, after all?), you would want to spend a bit of extra effort on a safe washing and drying technique during each wash to ensure you don't have to repeat this correction process more often than necessary.
johnoz said:
Do we all have Paul Dalton to thank for all this! after all was he not the first £5000 car wash all those years ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/may/...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNAmZPgcBzU
Goes back to at least the 70s in the US.https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/may/...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNAmZPgcBzU
Howard- said:
To anyone who thinks it's a waste of time: Next time you wash your car, do it with two buckets, and rinse/wipe the sponge/washmitt off in the 'dirty water' bucket after each panel. At the end of the wash, look at the contents of the bucket. Put your hand in and have a feel. Then come back and tell me you can't understand why people waste their time.
When you spend a lot of time and effort polishing and waxing/sealing your paintwork so that it looks good (we are car enthusiasts, after all?), you would want to spend a bit of extra effort on a safe washing and drying technique during each wash to ensure you don't have to repeat this correction process more often than necessary.
Before you wash the sponge in the dirty bucket, it has already accumulated grit - in fact it accumulates grit from the very instant you start moving it over the surface. Just because you rinse some grit off occasionally doesn't mean that you're not continually washing the car with a grit-covered sponge.When you spend a lot of time and effort polishing and waxing/sealing your paintwork so that it looks good (we are car enthusiasts, after all?), you would want to spend a bit of extra effort on a safe washing and drying technique during each wash to ensure you don't have to repeat this correction process more often than necessary.
If people want to spend 5 hours polishing their car to near perfection then all the more fun for them. The only thing that annoys me about it is when people call EVERYTHING a "detail". I could understand when you could either wash your car, or take it to be "detailed" where they'd have the wheels off, clean the insides of the wheels, the arches, the gunk from around the badges, the door jambs, the crevices around lights, behind the reg plates and all that. That, to me, is a detailed cleaning. Fine. Now everything is a detail. Snow foam and sponge down? Detail. 3 days of cleaning, tar removal, buffing, ceramic coating with 109 chemicals? Detail. Visit a car wash? Automated detail. Raining outside? Natural detail.
I have a snow foam lance, but I don't go to the extremes of worrying about micro scratches or only using a lambs wool mitt from a Trojan sheep born on the third full moon etc.
Strangest comment I ever heard was from an avid detailing enthusiast on Facebook who recited with extreme prejudice that anyone who used a sponge or less than four buckets when washing their car, shouldn't call themselves a car enthusiast.
This was a sweeping comment from a twenty-something guy who had never topped up his own washer fluid, let along changed a spark plug, pollen filter or his engine oil.
But he could correctly polish the lid to the washer bottle and wipe the ignition leads in a certain direction.
Strangest comment I ever heard was from an avid detailing enthusiast on Facebook who recited with extreme prejudice that anyone who used a sponge or less than four buckets when washing their car, shouldn't call themselves a car enthusiast.
This was a sweeping comment from a twenty-something guy who had never topped up his own washer fluid, let along changed a spark plug, pollen filter or his engine oil.
But he could correctly polish the lid to the washer bottle and wipe the ignition leads in a certain direction.
Edited by Hol on Monday 29th March 10:16
Chubbyross said:
TopTrump said:
I thought precisely the same when washing the cars at the weekend.
It's the same as when you could just buy a pair of trainers and not shoes for jogging, shoes for tennis, shoes for walking, shoes for casual etc.
It's marketeers making you spend money on s
t that does the same thing.
Quite happy using a bucket and sponge. Detailing is a term that shouldn't even be used here- it is an Americanism.
Look at my beading...It's the same as when you could just buy a pair of trainers and not shoes for jogging, shoes for tennis, shoes for walking, shoes for casual etc.
It's marketeers making you spend money on s
t that does the same thing.Quite happy using a bucket and sponge. Detailing is a term that shouldn't even be used here- it is an Americanism.
I had my new car paint corrected and ceramic coated, I couldn't believe how fantastic it looked without a single teeny tiny scratch on the paint.
I've since found that no matter how careful I am at home with 2 buckets, pre washing, proper kit etc it is not possible to avoid putting teeny tiny microscratches into the surface when I wash it, and that now makes me unhappy so I was probably better off never knowing any better.
My other car is black and looks like it's been washed with a brillo pad though, so I'll probably get it corrected then just accept it getting swirlier and swirlier with time.
I've since found that no matter how careful I am at home with 2 buckets, pre washing, proper kit etc it is not possible to avoid putting teeny tiny microscratches into the surface when I wash it, and that now makes me unhappy so I was probably better off never knowing any better.
My other car is black and looks like it's been washed with a brillo pad though, so I'll probably get it corrected then just accept it getting swirlier and swirlier with time.
Hol said:
I have a snow foam lance, but I don't go to the extremes of worrying about micro scratches or only using a lambs wool mitt from a Trojan sheep born on the third full moon etc.
Strangest comment I ever heard was from an avid detailing enthusiast on Facebook who recited with extreme prejudice that anyone who used a sponge or less than four buckets when washing their car, shouldn't call themselves a car enthusiast.
This was a sweeping comment from a twenty-something guy who had never topped up his own washer fluid, let along changed a spark plug, pollen filter or his engine oil.
But he could correctly polish the lid to the washer bottle and wipe the ignition leads in a certain direction.
Did the car enthusiast also make his warmed over shopping hatchback slower and more unpleasant to drive by loading it with a mega BOOM entertainment system, and maybe doing stupid things to the exhaust system, wheels, tyres, and suspension? Hey, all hobbies are fun!Strangest comment I ever heard was from an avid detailing enthusiast on Facebook who recited with extreme prejudice that anyone who used a sponge or less than four buckets when washing their car, shouldn't call themselves a car enthusiast.
This was a sweeping comment from a twenty-something guy who had never topped up his own washer fluid, let along changed a spark plug, pollen filter or his engine oil.
But he could correctly polish the lid to the washer bottle and wipe the ignition leads in a certain direction.
Breadvan72 said:
Is there anyone here who, like me, sometimes really enjoys an utterly filthy .... car. You know: when it's the dead of winter and the car is mega grimy. Someone will wet a finger and daub "I wish my wife was this dirty" on the back. Someone else will daub "she is".
Don't get me wrong, I like shineeeeeeey cars, although I have never made much effort myself to get cars shiny (I sometimes get a bloke I know who owns a car storage place to give a car a good seeing to, and this even extends to prising the squished Maltesers out of the carpets if I am feeling flush).
Other small chocolate based confectionery items are available....Don't get me wrong, I like shineeeeeeey cars, although I have never made much effort myself to get cars shiny (I sometimes get a bloke I know who owns a car storage place to give a car a good seeing to, and this even extends to prising the squished Maltesers out of the carpets if I am feeling flush).
Incidentally NASA shouldn’t have bothered developing that foam stuff they used to coat the Space Shuttles wings....a 3 week old Refresher on car carpet never comes off....!!
M12MTR said:
Bin the chamois leather and use microfiber cloths to dry.
For the first time ever yesterday I used a microfiber cloth to dry my(new to me) car. I'd used a chamois for over 40 years before that(I always used to wash my dad's cars when I was little). I couldn't believe how much quicker and easier it was with the microfiber cloth. stickleback123 said:
I had my new car paint corrected and ceramic coated, I couldn't believe how fantastic it looked without a single teeny tiny scratch on the paint.
I've since found that no matter how careful I am at home with 2 buckets, pre washing, proper kit etc it is not possible to avoid putting teeny tiny microscratches into the surface when I wash it, and that now makes me unhappy so I was probably better off never knowing any better.
My other car is black and looks like it's been washed with a brillo pad though, so I'll probably get it corrected then just accept it getting swirlier and swirlier with time.
You've basically described what happens when you hit peak detailing. Perfection is never possible and tidy up corrections become part of your cleaning regime albeit it not every time or even every month. I've since found that no matter how careful I am at home with 2 buckets, pre washing, proper kit etc it is not possible to avoid putting teeny tiny microscratches into the surface when I wash it, and that now makes me unhappy so I was probably better off never knowing any better.
My other car is black and looks like it's been washed with a brillo pad though, so I'll probably get it corrected then just accept it getting swirlier and swirlier with time.
I actually watch a detailer on YouTube called car cleaning guru, mainly as they are ok to watch and also it's amazing to see someone talk an entire paragraph on one breath of air lol.
He often mentions it's impossible to not do some form of mild swirling every wash, ultimately the trick is to minimise it as much as possible. I'm a recovering detailing geek been clean so to speak for a couple of years however I can already feel myself falling into relapse as I've refound my orbital polisher.....
ClaphamBoxS said:
Other small chocolate based confectionery items are available....
Incidentally NASA shouldn’t have bothered developing that foam stuff they used to coat the Space Shuttles wings....a 3 week old Refresher on car carpet never comes off....!!
The only really important question is whether you pick the fluff off the unwrapped Werther's Original that you find under the seat before you nom it. If you pick the fluff off first, you're a detailer. Incidentally NASA shouldn’t have bothered developing that foam stuff they used to coat the Space Shuttles wings....a 3 week old Refresher on car carpet never comes off....!!
RazerSauber said:
If people want to spend 5 hours polishing their car to near perfection then all the more fun for them. The only thing that annoys me about it is when people call EVERYTHING a "detail". I could understand when you could either wash your car, or take it to be "detailed" where they'd have the wheels off, clean the insides of the wheels, the arches, the gunk from around the badges, the door jambs, the crevices around lights, behind the reg plates and all that. That, to me, is a detailed cleaning. Fine. Now everything is a detail. Snow foam and sponge down? Detail. 3 days of cleaning, tar removal, buffing, ceramic coating with 109 chemicals? Detail. Visit a car wash? Automated detail. Raining outside? Natural detail.
"Detailing" is a wash/clay/polish/wax/sealant and then go over all the little bits that you described - crevices/jambs/arches/tyres/wheels/interior etc etc. Usually done once a year.An in-between wash is just a wash. I've heard this called a "maintenance wash" but never a detail.
cerb4.5lee said:
M12MTR said:
Bin the chamois leather and use microfiber cloths to dry.
For the first time ever yesterday I used a microfiber cloth to dry my(new to me) car. I'd used a chamois for over 40 years before that(I always used to wash my dad's cars when I was little). I couldn't believe how much quicker and easier it was with the microfiber cloth. I clean cars properly maybe two or three times in my ownership. If secondhand, when I first acquire it, it gets a pretty good clean as it's a good chance to spot things missed during the purchase process. Depending on that first wash, and how much I value the car, it might get a proper going over in the following month. It'll also get the full treatment prior to sale. I'll spend much more time keeping the interior clean. Wheels get refurbed when I get new tyres. The only exception to this is the occasional blitz of a car for a family member. I spent all day on my mum's car last week. It was flat white with a texture like sandpaper and I don't think it had been waxed in the ten years she has had it since new. After claying, cutting and waxing it I must admit it looked like new. So I get the satisfaction when it's done but there's always something preferable to washing, let alone detailing a car for me. It's a nice hobby for some and the results can be amazing. I have a white GR Yaris on order - I think that will look good dirty.
Breadvan72 said:
Hol said:
I have a snow foam lance, but I don't go to the extremes of worrying about micro scratches or only using a lambs wool mitt from a Trojan sheep born on the third full moon etc.
Strangest comment I ever heard was from an avid detailing enthusiast on Facebook who recited with extreme prejudice that anyone who used a sponge or less than four buckets when washing their car, shouldn't call themselves a car enthusiast.
This was a sweeping comment from a twenty-something guy who had never topped up his own washer fluid, let along changed a spark plug, pollen filter or his engine oil.
But he could correctly polish the lid to the washer bottle and wipe the ignition leads in a certain direction.
Did the car enthusiast also make his warmed over shopping hatchback slower and more unpleasant to drive by loading it with a mega BOOM entertainment system, and maybe doing stupid things to the exhaust system, wheels, tyres, and suspension? Hey, all hobbies are fun!Strangest comment I ever heard was from an avid detailing enthusiast on Facebook who recited with extreme prejudice that anyone who used a sponge or less than four buckets when washing their car, shouldn't call themselves a car enthusiast.
This was a sweeping comment from a twenty-something guy who had never topped up his own washer fluid, let along changed a spark plug, pollen filter or his engine oil.
But he could correctly polish the lid to the washer bottle and wipe the ignition leads in a certain direction.
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