what happened to using a bucket and a sponge?

[Wills2]

I like a bit of home detailing/washing and find it therapeutic every now and then once every 6 months to a year.

Jet wash
Snow foam
Bilberry for the wheels
2 buckets with grit guards
Lambs wool mitt
A decent car wash solution (megs/Valet pro etc..)
Clay bar (if needed)
ironX (if needed)
Polish with DA (if needed) I like using a Menzerna finishing polish and a yellow pad to remove light swirling.
Dried with Megs waffle weave towels (many of them)
Glass polish inside and out (PITA that bit)
Some decent protection like Swissvax concours to finish and some wheel sealant.

Car looks great afterwards and I've enjoyed it.

[320d is all you need]

ro250 said:

shtu said:

Tony427 said:

Twice a year I put some ceramic coat in the water as well.

I'm intrigued, that sounds like my kind of effort level. What could a punter like me get hold of?

Slightly unusual reference to ceramic there. You don't add a ceramic coating to the water or do it a couple of times a year. Ceramic coatings are a semi-permanent coating applied after full paintwork correction and decontamination.

Edited by ro250 on Tuesday 6th April 22:30

I suspect he means one of the newer hydro-coatings which are si02 infused spray on / rinse off coatings.

[ro250]

320d is all you need said:

ro250 said:

shtu said:

Tony427 said:

Twice a year I put some ceramic coat in the water as well.

I'm intrigued, that sounds like my kind of effort level. What could a punter like me get hold of?

Slightly unusual reference to ceramic there. You don't add a ceramic coating to the water or do it a couple of times a year. Ceramic coatings are a semi-permanent coating applied after full paintwork correction and decontamination.

Edited by ro250 on Tuesday 6th April 22:30

I suspect he means one of the newer hydro-coatings which are si02 infused spray on / rinse off coatings.

Yep, me too. It's just odd (and misleading) to call them ceramic coatings, especially from someone in the trade.

[InitialDave]

If you want to try one you can buy in Halfords/ECP, both the Meguiar's and Turtle Wax trigger spray ones are very good

[Tony427]

ro250 said:

shtu said:

Tony427 said:

Twice a year I put some ceramic coat in the water as well.

I'm intrigued, that sounds like my kind of effort level. What could a punter like me get hold of?

Slightly unusual reference to ceramic there. You don't add a ceramic coating to the water or do it a couple of times a year. Ceramic coatings are a semi-permanent coating applied after full paintwork correction and decontamination.

Edited by ro250 on Tuesday 6th April 22:30

We have been selling Mafralux Foam into the forecourt market for the last 8 years or so which uses Polarite to put a hydrophobic coating on a car. Its the most expensive chemical we sell by far. It's the same stuff Ma Fra ( Italian Company) sell in concentrated form called "Forever Young" as a Ceramic Coating just like other ceramic coatings that need special application methods.

However once I saw the concentrate bottle with the warning "Risk of Death" on it I thought that its definitely not for the UK market.

Another of our suppliers sell a ceramic coating that once applied has to be rested for 24 hours, so a customer's car would just sit there for 24 hours waiting for the ceramic coating to harden.

We actually don't sell retail products as the UK car care market is so overcrowded with products but its available albeit in a silicone base, the car wash version does not have silicone in it, as " Ma Fra Polish Express" and should be available via our continental cousins on ebay or amazon. Use very sparingly. We tend to dose Mafralux Foam in car washes at a max of 10ml per wash ( 5ml is ideal) as if you use any more it will just be wasted.

Almost every supplier into the automatic car wash/ jet wash chemical market has a final wax/ rinse product with nano technology ie ceramic in it. Its a great profit earner because the cars do look fantastic after a wash and polish with this type of product and so people are happy to pay a premium. We also have car wash chemicals with a mix of Polarite and Carnauba wax which offer a cheaper alternative which is almost as good but which is aimed at the jet wash marketplace principally to aid spot free drying.

Edited by Tony427 on Tuesday 6th April 23:57

[pointer7]

I shudder at the thought of using a sponge on my Volvo with its soft as chocolate paint and being dark grey, swirl marks and scratches galore!

My Usual Method:

Soft lambswool mitt
Microfibre drying towel
Meguiars products for everything
Wash from top down first, squeegee windows dry, then wash and dry a panel at a time followed by wheels last.

I always find that drying the car using the least amount of pressure always works on a dark car to avoid the swirls etc. just gently dragging or patting the towel on the car... and of course not in direct sunlight!

Very therapeutic for some people too

[noopets]

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

[TurboHatchback]

noopets said:

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

Get a wet sponge or cloth, plop it on top and leave. Come back in 10 minutes and just wipe it off.

[ro250]

TurboHatchback said:

noopets said:

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

Get a wet sponge or cloth, plop it on top and leave. Come back in 10 minutes and just wipe it off.

Agreed! I normally use kitchen roll soaked in water. Just be patient as time is your friend.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

What happened to using a bucket and sponge? answer - a better method came along. Using a wool style mitt and two buckets is a superior method. Its hardly less effort and anyone who has tried it can see why its better - the second bucket gets filthy whilst the soapy bucket remains nearly clean. The concept of grit rubbing on the paint and leaving marks is pretty easy to understand.

[Prohibiting]

noopets said:

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

A mild APC (all purpose cleaner) sprayed on and left to dwell for a couple of mins then wiped off with a cloth.

Bilt Hamber Surfex HD diluted at a safe 5% works well and won’t strip any wax off (if you wax or apply other protectant products etc).

[swisstoni]

Prohibiting said:

noopets said:

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

A mild APC (all purpose cleaner) sprayed on and left to dwell for a couple of mins then wiped off with a cloth.

Bilt Hamber Surfex HD diluted at a safe 5% works well and won’t strip any wax off (if you wax or apply other protectant products etc).

I soak a microfibre in water and leave it over the poop for 10 mins or whatever. Poop should be softened enough to wipe right off with the microfibre.

[JmatthewB]

noopets said:

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

As others have said, try and soften it with a soaked cloth and try to 'lift' it off and not wipe.

I'm grateful I don't work in Fleetwood any more. This was a daily thing:

[Prohibiting]

swisstoni said:

Prohibiting said:

noopets said:

Whilst we’re on the subject, what’s the quickest and easiest way to remove bird st without having to get the pressure washer out? It’s getting to that time of the year where it’s a daily occurance!

A mild APC (all purpose cleaner) sprayed on and left to dwell for a couple of mins then wiped off with a cloth.

Bilt Hamber Surfex HD diluted at a safe 5% works well and won’t strip any wax off (if you wax or apply other protectant products etc).

I soak a microfibre in water and leave it over the poop for 10 mins or whatever. Poop should be softened enough to wipe right off with the microfibre.

That also works but we’re all about doing things in the most efficient way, plus if you have a few bird poop spots like the above image then a spritz of APC on each one will be more effective and quicker

[NGRhodes]

Is there any evidence that using 2 or more buckets is superior ?

[JmatthewB]

NGRhodes said:

Is there any evidence that using 2 or more buckets is superior ?

The evidence would be your suds bucket is still clear and your rinse bucket is dirty and has grit/dirt contaminants in it.

[NGRhodes]

JmatthewB said:

NGRhodes said:

Is there any evidence that using 2 or more buckets is superior ?

The evidence would be your suds bucket is still clear and your rinse bucket is dirty and has grit/dirt contaminants in it.

How is that any better than having grit/dirt contaminants in a single bucket, what difference does that make to my car ?

[InitialDave]

NGRhodes said:

How is that any better than having grit/dirt contaminants in a single bucket, what difference does that make to my car ?

Because you're not moving it back onto the car and rubbing it around.

Fresh sudsy water loaded up on the sponge/mitt, onto the car to clean it, any dirt picked up rinsed off in the rinsing bucket, clean sponge back into the fresh bucket.

If your next question is why the sponge/mitt doesn't pick up the dirt in the rinsing bucket, that's partly where the grit guard helps, by separating off the bottom of the bucket so it's less likely to get swirled up, and also technique - you rinse off and then squeeze out above the bucket, so anything that is still on the surface is flushed out.

You can achieve pretty much the same thing using a hose to rinse the sponge/mitt between loading it up with fresh water, too.

[NGRhodes]

InitialDave said:

NGRhodes said:

How is that any better than having grit/dirt contaminants in a single bucket, what difference does that make to my car ?

Because you're not moving it back onto the car and rubbing it around.

Fresh sudsy water loaded up on the sponge/mitt, onto the car to clean it, any dirt picked up rinsed off in the rinsing bucket, clean sponge back into the fresh bucket.

If your next question is why the sponge/mitt doesn't pick up the dirt in the rinsing bucket, that's partly where the grit guard helps, by separating off the bottom of the bucket so it's less likely to get swirled up, and also technique - you rinse off and then squeeze out above the bucket, so anything that is still on the surface is flushed out.

You can achieve pretty much the same thing using a hose to rinse the sponge/mitt between loading it up with fresh water, too.

Why would I be moving it back onto the car by using one bucket ?

[otolith]

You don't understand why it's better to use a clean cloth to clean something than it is to use a dirty one?