How do you care for your BMW??

[Locky12]

Hi everyone,

Recently bought a brand new 118D and had Paint protection (Gardx) thrown in with the deal.

My question is how do you care for your BMW? What products do you use??

I believe that BMW recommend their own products and can't be liable if other products are used and they cause imperfections.

Any recommendations/advice much appreciated.

[The GMan]

Erm...I use the friendly Romanian car wash next to my office once a week. Then I get a guy to come to my office and do an interior valet every 6 weeks.

So in answer to you question whatever those guys use.

The only time I've heard issue about not using BMW products was when it came to windscreen wash and some after market stuff clogging wiper jets. Have to admit I've never had that problem on any BMW I've owned.

[anonymous-user]

Yep, it's a fking BMW, not a Lambo or similar. It's just another blandmobile amongst the masses, and no-one gives a st. I have a 440i convertible, and no-one give a st about that either.

My locals are Albanian, for £12 (£15 with a tip), the car emerges showroom standard.

[bigdom]

Anything really from halfords et al, or as above if you don't want to get your hands dirty. The best advice I can give is don't let it get too dirty before you clean it, it's easier to keep it clean, than to bring it back. Alloys should be able to be keep clean with just soap and water, if your onto wheel cleaners, it's too dirty!

[crolandc]

Hi Locky, the best advice I can give is as a person like yourself who obviously wants to look after your paintwork is watch the detailers on You Tube, everything you want or need to know is there. Good luck mate.

Edited by crolandc on Friday 12th May 07:53

[Dannbodge]

I spend a lot of money on products from clean your car etc.
Only I wash my car and if it goes in for a service they get explicitly told not to wash it.

[rsbmw]

Mine gets cleaned at least annually when it's in for service, still drives OK so I assume it's in no way important.

[Monty Python]

Clean when necessary (water + shampoo + cloth, dry with chamois leather). Was when required (Simoniz colour restoring polish or Turtle Wax Extreme Nano-Tech).

[Ninja59]

Depends on time of year...

but a full detail (usually every 6 months)

Snow Foamed
Wheels Cleaned with Fallout remover, Tar Remover, arch and suspension cleaned with degreaser (wheels taken off sometimes to make this easier)
Snow Foam Rinsed off
Re Snowfoamed, details tended to with a detail brush (fuel filler, and other trim bits)
Rinsed
Re snowfoamed
2 Bucket Method with wash mitt
Rinsed
Open Hose Rinsed
Fallout remover
Rinse
Tar Remove
Rinse
Clayed
Dried
Polished or Glazed (skipped if not needed)
Waxed or Sealed (all areas) - Zymol Vintage currently for this time of year, Winter it might be Sonax NPT, Zymol Glasur, Gtechniq C2 Version 3, in the past I have used various coating products as well, but find them very sterile.
Glass cleaned and protected with sealant
Engine Cleaned and Dressed
Exhausts cleaned and protected
Interior - leather hoovered, cleaned with Dr Leather cleaner, protected with Dr Leather Dye Block. Mats and other areas wet vacced (and if wanted striped), pedals cleaned with APC, other interior bits tended, interior glass cleaned (including interior mirror and other mirrors),
All levels checked, tyre pressures checked (and with metal valves a little copper slip on the tyre thread to stop it being stuck), TPMS reset.

Weekly routine:
Wheels cleaned with shampoo and brushes (possibly jacked up to make arch cleaning easier)
Snow Foamed and detail brushes used for detail areas
Rinsed
Snow Foamed
2 Bucket Method
Rinsed
Open Hosed
Dried (pat dry method to minimise introduction of swirls)
Glass Cleaned
Exhausts Cleaned (and reprotected if necessary)
Panels wiped down with quick detailer (currently Meguiars Last Touch to avoid topping up protection which far too many do)
Interior and engine bay etc. tended to as necessary (leather clean etc. in between times)

• Note all final open hose rinsing is done with DI filtered water, if it is hot and the sun is on the car then I use the DI throughout the process to avoid water spotting due to the stupidly high ppm count around here, where polishing or water spot remover is the only solution is left for 20 mins in the sun*

Overall into my 11th year of detailing and yes my full size tub of Zymol Vintage was my decade treat to myself!

And this is nothing in comparison with the MX5's which is usually polishing of the underside....

Edited by Ninja59 on Friday 12th May 10:40

[Monty Python]

Some people clearly have too much spare time....

[p1stonhead]

It gets washed for free when it gets serviced

Ninja59 said:

Weekly routine:
Wheels cleaned with shampoo and brushes (possibly jacked up to make arch cleaning easier)
Snow Foamed and detail brushes used for detail areas
Rinsed
Snow Foamed
2 Bucket Method
Rinsed
Open Hosed
Dried (pat dry method to minimise introduction of swirls)
Glass Cleaned
Exhausts Cleaned (and reprotected if necessary)
Panels wiped down with quick detailer (currently Meguiars Last Touch to avoid topping up protection which far too many do)
Interior and engine bay etc. tended to as necessary (leather clean etc. in between times)
]

Weekly?! Bloody hell.

Edited by p1stonhead on Friday 12th May 11:44

[Ninja59]

p1stonhead said:

Weekly?! Bloody hell.

Edited by p1stonhead on Friday 12th May 11:44

Yes weekly with experience you can nail this (excluding other bits) in about 2 hours on a smaller car add about 30 mins for a larger vehicle.

[Ninja59]

Alex88 said:

Great if you can be bothered.

What I mentioned will achieve 90% of this for a fraction of the cost and time.

But hey, if you like doing it then who am I to say otherwise.

If you can be bothered? Why would you bother continually doing it every 3 months? I only do a full one every 6 months (and choose a wax that will last well and as per below the polishing stage is usually once a year).

I spend once a year spend once a year polishing in Summer with the BMW enhancing it removing day to day marks, come Winter I just strip and either wax or seal it. Equally experience has shown a number of ways that even claying done well with a light clay need not inflict numerous marks (even being careful more aggressive clay will inflict defects).

Either way do not let me tell you that the SRP and EGP is bad combination pushed by AG as the fillers off SRP will be damaged by a sealant like EGP (and equally reduce it's durability). Even detailing101 tells you that in a majority very few all in one products or glazes sit well under a sealant (there are a few exceptions that rely on polymer technology to fill imperfections but there are very few).

Finally in regards to costs, my choice, I do not drink or smoke, I enjoy and love cars and would prefer to spend my money looking after my pride and joys with a collection amassed over a decade, than getting pi**ed on the town.

[Toltec]

Main things I do are clean off bird poo asap and keep the brake dust build up on the wheels under control, I'll rinse it off if used on gritted or muddy roads. It will get a decent wash a few times a year, it can end up covered in dust etc. within a few days even if just sat on the drive so washing it to make it look nice on a regular basis is pretty pointless.

[bodhi]

I'm another that just takes it to the local Albanians, once every 3 months if it's lucky..Always comes out looking perfect.


I'd much rather spend my spare time with the OH or on the golf course than washing a car tbh.

[Challo]

Ninja59 said:

p1stonhead said:

Weekly?! Bloody hell.

Edited by p1stonhead on Friday 12th May 11:44

Yes weekly with experience you can nail this (excluding other bits) in about 2 hours on a smaller car add about 30 mins for a larger vehicle.

2hrs per week? Thats mental. Way too much time on your hands

[Ninja59]

Alex88 said:

Good for you then.

In regards to product choice, how do you know what works and what doesn't? Have you performed your own scientific tests? Or just read stuff on the internet? (detailingworld)

I've used the dreaded AG products many times and my paint hasn't fallen off yet.

Edited by Alex88 on Friday 12th May 14:59

Where did I mention about paint falling off? I mentioned reduced durability, and the fact of the matter having tried using various AIO/glazes under sealants which simply does not work (hence if you want to use sealants with a glaze you need a polymer glaze (not scientific, but ultimately persuasive) and have used SRP and EGP and EGP alone the durability was different.....

I have not been a member of retailingworld for 4 years.

But you carry on having just neatly disregarded the point of 3 months v 6 months....

Edited by Ninja59 on Friday 12th May 16:06

[Ninja59]

Challo said:

2hrs per week? Thats mental. Way too much time on your hands

Or I do it when the OH is not quite awake on a Saturday up around 8 get cracking! Done by 10:30 (including packing away)

[g3org3y]

Back when I used to be keen, I'd use Meguiar's.

Combination of:

1) Gold Class shampoo (applied with wash mitt and dried with drying cloth (rather than chamois))
2) Stage 1 paint cleaner (applied with foam applicator, buffed with microfibre cloth)
3) Stage 2 deep crystal polish (applied with foam applicator, buffed with microfibre cloth)
4) Gold class wax (applied with foam applicator, buffed with microfibre cloth)

Occasionally used the 'Quik Clay' as well when needed

Got pretty good results imo. Nice depth of shine/reflection.








I've also used the AG combo mentioned earlier in the thread of SRP followed by EGP. It seemed to work quite well but felt application/buffing was a ball ache.

[bmwmike]

Depends on the colour to some extent.

My carbon black f10 shows the dirt and swirls unless very careful. I wash it every 3 weeks or so but remove bird mess asap with a baby wipe. I've had it 2 years and swirls are minimal so I must be doing something right.

Give it a good soak with a hose to loosen worst bits.

Wash with a good quality mitt and keep rinsing the mitt off periodically in clean water to remove dirt etc.