what happened to using a bucket and a sponge?
Discussion
Vickers_VC10 said:
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 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.....
I've decided to just put up with it and maybe every 12-18 months take it back to the detailer and let them sort it out and re-coat it or whatever it is they do. It does look amazing when it's done.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.....
I'm pretty sure the CarPro C.Quartz Finest Reserve ceramic coating isn't all it's made out to be either, I've never had a car get water spotting like this does and it seems to provide zero protection of any sort against anything. It doesn't even bead for that long if you don't use the "Reload" spray on it every 3-6 months, so I think that spray is doing all the beading work.
I'm not one for marketing and I think the Uber expensive stuff is gimmicky I'm also not convinced ceramic coatings are that good however the G tec ceramic coating I used on my old abarth wheels was amazing. Lasted forever and the wheel Woolies( stupid name, high cost but best car cleaning thing I've ever bought) made the wheels look new with almost no effort.
Wheel Woolies are microfibre brushes that have no sharp end like most and are almost indestructible. Worth the investment.
Wheel Woolies are microfibre brushes that have no sharp end like most and are almost indestructible. Worth the investment.
The VXR thread has the characteristics of being a spoof, but apparently isn't one, although its author does appear to have a sense of the eccentricity of his hobby. Any hobby is great*, so long as you can laugh at your own obsessions.
* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
Bucket sponge and wash leather is fine for the everyday driver, but not for the `nice' car.
I really don't need scratches, swirl marks, and water stains on the `nice ' car.
Having seen a new Bentley being washed in a car wash, where one of the operatives dropped his sponge on the floor, and then just picked it up and carried on using it , without at least giving it a rinse, I wont being going near any car washes any time soon either.
I really don't need scratches, swirl marks, and water stains on the `nice ' car.
Having seen a new Bentley being washed in a car wash, where one of the operatives dropped his sponge on the floor, and then just picked it up and carried on using it , without at least giving it a rinse, I wont being going near any car washes any time soon either.
There's a house near to us which has a couple of old Vauxhall sheds parked up. Whenever I'm out walking the dog I think to myself these would make for a very satisfying make-over session.
They're there in 2009, manky in 2016 and challenging in 2021.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.0108979,-0.23654...
They're there in 2009, manky in 2016 and challenging in 2021.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.0108979,-0.23654...
Breadvan72 said:
The VXR thread has the characteristics of being a spoof, but apparently isn't one, although its author does appear to have a sense of the eccentricity of his hobby. Any hobby is great*, so long as you can laugh at your own obsessions.
* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
I think that detailing bloke may have won the Lottery and then died not long ago.* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
I'm not even kidding
Breadvan72 said:
The VXR thread has the characteristics of being a spoof, but apparently isn't one, although its author does appear to have a sense of the eccentricity of his hobby. Any hobby is great*, so long as you can laugh at your own obsessions.
* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
You will be reading Swallows and Amazon’s next.....* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
I guess it’s a bit like why do people buy £5000 watches when a 30quid Casio also tells the time. Or wear designer labels when Tesco sell clothes that also cover your naughty bits. Or perhaps as a better analogy, using conditioner on washed clothes when they are actually clean after being just washed.
Some people like to try to prevent the damage that car washing puts into clear coat reducing the clarity and changing the colour of their paint. I have a very swirled up, leggy Freelander which was like it when I bought it which I am itching to correct. I see cars on the road that when the sun hits them are just a mass of swirls and wish I could be let at them for a day. That type of transformation is very satisfying and it isn’t that difficult to change washing practice to keep it close to that level.
The missus SLC came from the stealer with the usual mop marks and holograms and was corrected as soon as it warmed up enough outside. Each year it gets a light ceramic machine polish and is looked after by careful washing and protection each time. As its protection repels water, not much dirt sticks to it, it is mainly just light traffic film. The bird poo just comes off when dampened and hit with a pressure washer leaving no sign it was ever there without even touching it. So it really reduces the effort needed in washing as well as reducing damage.
It shows. When it is serviced, it comes back with both the front wings covered in swirls off the mechanic’s clothes and you can really see the clarity and colour difference. Importantly, it is mostly in the protection ( I have to chase the odd scratch a bit harder) not the paint so I shouldn’t be seeing primer any time soon. From one year to the next (it is currently due the annual decon and light machine polish) looking at it today in the sunlight, there are about 7 light straight scratches in the paint from washing and no swirls - in a year. I don’t use products with fillers, that is the real clearcoat condition.
It lives outside right by the sea under a tree getting sap and bird doo frequently which seems to be 50% superglue and 50% toxic waste when I try to remove it from the less protected Freelander. So to me it is worth the hour a week to prewash and use some decent products to clean and finally protect it her SLC.
A couple of my neighbours sometimes stop for a chat while I am washing it, and 2 of them have now acquired a bigger stash of machines and products than I have after seeing what is possible and how little time it actually takes to maintain a decent baseline. For example, the Porsche up the road that I always thought was black is now an amazing, gleaming dark pearlescent purple after the guy spent a bit of time with his new machine polisher on it.
I correct my kids cars once a year using the same processes and when I get them back, it is obvious that their maintenance wash processes are very different to mine with the level of damage in the surface. So that to me is proof that how you wash your car really does make a difference.
I would love to do this for a living, but more at the obsessive White Details level than the mobile valeter, but it seems that you have to do that for a number of years first to be able to get to Jim’s level of service.
TLDR, to me it is worth it, satisfying and not very time consuming, like putting conditioner in your washing machine.
Some people like to try to prevent the damage that car washing puts into clear coat reducing the clarity and changing the colour of their paint. I have a very swirled up, leggy Freelander which was like it when I bought it which I am itching to correct. I see cars on the road that when the sun hits them are just a mass of swirls and wish I could be let at them for a day. That type of transformation is very satisfying and it isn’t that difficult to change washing practice to keep it close to that level.
The missus SLC came from the stealer with the usual mop marks and holograms and was corrected as soon as it warmed up enough outside. Each year it gets a light ceramic machine polish and is looked after by careful washing and protection each time. As its protection repels water, not much dirt sticks to it, it is mainly just light traffic film. The bird poo just comes off when dampened and hit with a pressure washer leaving no sign it was ever there without even touching it. So it really reduces the effort needed in washing as well as reducing damage.
It shows. When it is serviced, it comes back with both the front wings covered in swirls off the mechanic’s clothes and you can really see the clarity and colour difference. Importantly, it is mostly in the protection ( I have to chase the odd scratch a bit harder) not the paint so I shouldn’t be seeing primer any time soon. From one year to the next (it is currently due the annual decon and light machine polish) looking at it today in the sunlight, there are about 7 light straight scratches in the paint from washing and no swirls - in a year. I don’t use products with fillers, that is the real clearcoat condition.
It lives outside right by the sea under a tree getting sap and bird doo frequently which seems to be 50% superglue and 50% toxic waste when I try to remove it from the less protected Freelander. So to me it is worth the hour a week to prewash and use some decent products to clean and finally protect it her SLC.
A couple of my neighbours sometimes stop for a chat while I am washing it, and 2 of them have now acquired a bigger stash of machines and products than I have after seeing what is possible and how little time it actually takes to maintain a decent baseline. For example, the Porsche up the road that I always thought was black is now an amazing, gleaming dark pearlescent purple after the guy spent a bit of time with his new machine polisher on it.
I correct my kids cars once a year using the same processes and when I get them back, it is obvious that their maintenance wash processes are very different to mine with the level of damage in the surface. So that to me is proof that how you wash your car really does make a difference.
I would love to do this for a living, but more at the obsessive White Details level than the mobile valeter, but it seems that you have to do that for a number of years first to be able to get to Jim’s level of service.
TLDR, to me it is worth it, satisfying and not very time consuming, like putting conditioner in your washing machine.
ClaphamBoxS said:
Breadvan72 said:
The VXR thread has the characteristics of being a spoof, but apparently isn't one, although its author does appear to have a sense of the eccentricity of his hobby. Any hobby is great*, so long as you can laugh at your own obsessions.
* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
You will be reading Swallows and Amazon’s next.....* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
ClaphamBoxS said:
ClaphamBoxS said:
Breadvan72 said:
The VXR thread has the characteristics of being a spoof, but apparently isn't one, although its author does appear to have a sense of the eccentricity of his hobby. Any hobby is great*, so long as you can laugh at your own obsessions.
* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
You will be reading Swallows and Amazon’s next.....* OK, maybe not being a serial killer or doing folk dancing, but pretty much everything else. SADDO confession: I had a brief spell a few years ago of doing Seven Years War (1756-1763) wargaming with 15 mm armies. Yes, I know. Mitigation: I got someone else to paint them. Damn, those Prussian line infantry regiments march fast. Next up: looking at adverts for 1950s wooden boats. Oh FFS.
When ive owned met black cars, ive done the two bucket method and all associated paraphernalia,
now the household fleet is older cars, mini, van pug107, ive tended not to bother,
in the winter i take them to the jet wash, and in the summer i do them myself
usually pour a bit of shampoo on , then hose it car brush, then the suds have gone and i use a drying towel,
thats about the only thing i do do,
they are a good idea them
now the household fleet is older cars, mini, van pug107, ive tended not to bother,
in the winter i take them to the jet wash, and in the summer i do them myself
usually pour a bit of shampoo on , then hose it car brush, then the suds have gone and i use a drying towel,
thats about the only thing i do do,
they are a good idea them
Bucket, sponge and some washing up liquid did the job back in the 80s and now and again a once over with some Autoglym Super resin polish. I'm convinced the old less environmentally friendly paint was a lot harder and a lot less susceptible to swirl marks etc.
New car paint seems to mark if a leaf falls on it!!!
New car paint seems to mark if a leaf falls on it!!!
Nothing like spending the best part of a day cleaning and polishing your pride and joy only to remember that you forgot something in the supermarket. The very supermarket that requires driving down a 4 km long unpaved lane that turns to some sort of mush when it rains. Obviously it always rains after spending a day cleaning your car. Obviously the 6 car garage is so packed to the rafters with random s
t that my wife refuses to throw away (including an old communist tractor with a single figure value)
I gave up detailing and trying to keep my cars shiny many years ago. They get a biannual clean and protect with fusso and the occasional tickle with a pressure washer now.
This was 6 hours wasted in October....
t that my wife refuses to throw away (including an old communist tractor with a single figure value)I gave up detailing and trying to keep my cars shiny many years ago. They get a biannual clean and protect with fusso and the occasional tickle with a pressure washer now.
This was 6 hours wasted in October....
Cleaning a car is a pain in the arse.
If you could buy a magical product for a tenner that would keep your car clean and shiny forever with one application, would you take it?
Or would you keep washing it by hand every couple of weeks because it's your 'hobby?'
It's like saying cleaning the toilet is a hobby. It isn't, it's just a pain in the arse procedure you have to go through when your toilet begins to get grubby, that makes it clean and sparkling again.
If you could buy a magical product for a tenner that would keep your car clean and shiny forever with one application, would you take it?
Or would you keep washing it by hand every couple of weeks because it's your 'hobby?'
It's like saying cleaning the toilet is a hobby. It isn't, it's just a pain in the arse procedure you have to go through when your toilet begins to get grubby, that makes it clean and sparkling again.
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