What car cleaning kit

[Joe5y]

Afternoon all,

I have just bought a car that has been extremely well looked after and I am keen to continue the upkeep.

I've always enjoyed cleaning my cars but never had a good cleaning kit so am looking for recommendations.

Car is a 911 C2S with metallic black paint so want to limit swirl marks as much as possible so advice is also very welcome.

Do I want a hose attachment to make a lot of soppy suds?

[tejr]

Imo, without going too OTT and products that are relatively easily available -

I just hose it down using a hozelock attachment that lets you change the spray pattern - no pressure washing for me.

-Whatever shampoo is flavour of the month (Megs Gold class seems decent)
-Claybar (pretty much any)
-Meguirs deep paint cleaner - This stuff is really really good for spot cleaning of bug tar, sticker residue and bird dropping tarnishing.
-50cal filler glaze - Easy to use, fills swirls with good longevity and a really really nice finish on darker paint.
-Autoglym UHD wax - Again, easy to use and not much effort to buff off. I've used other waxes and they always leave a horrible residue unless you change microfibres for every panel (holograming?)

I did recently buy a DAS6PRO and have gotten really good results. Again, didn't go too OTT -

-Chemical Guys - white (light cut) pad
-Chemical guys Hex orange (heavy cut) pad
-Meguirs 105 (heavy cut)
-Meguirs 205 (light cut)

Using different combinations of the above allow you to get a really good finish very quickly and remove swirls effectively on all but the toughest of paints imo. The TVR is pretty hard to get swirls out of even with the heaviest combo, and the Honda is very easy to get a completely swirl free finish using the lightest pad/polish combo.

I prefer 'easy' to use products even if it means sacrificing the ultimate finish. Imo, the car is going to get used, and therefore will get dirty pretty quick. So I'd rather often and easy, and long winded and infrequent (and a filthy car in between).

Edited by tejr on Thursday 11th June 13:37

Edited by tejr on Thursday 11th June 13:40

[Pupbelly]

EZ car care do some fantastic stuff. Great results and sensible prices too. They also do kits of various products to ease the costs. https://www.ezcarcare.co.uk/

[Belle427]

To be honest you won't go far wrong buying everything from bilt hamber, most of their products are very hard to beat and Inexpensive.
I've been converted to them lately.

[caley64]

Get a decent wash mitt and use the 2 bucket method and/or a grit guard. Decent drying towel and try to ''pat'' the car dry as opposed to dragging the towel across it.
Most swirls are inflicted in the washing and drying process, so it's the care taken there that will pay dividends.

[Downward]

Bilt Hamber. They do kits with everything.
Snow foam
shampoo
clay
alloy wheel cleaner
decontamination
Wax
Mitt

Just need a decent drying cloth.

[Belle427]

Downward said:

Bilt Hamber. They do kits with everything.
Snow foam
shampoo
clay
alloy wheel cleaner
decontamination
Wax
Mitt

Just need a decent drying cloth.

I’d agree, I don’t do foam but have the following and they are all very good.

Auto wash
Cleanser polish
Double speed wax
Surfex hd
Auto wheel
Korrosol
Clay bar

[sociopath]

Snow foam is great.

I'm not convinced it does anything for my car at all, but it looks good and smells nice

[gweaver]

sociopath said:

I'm not convinced it does anything for my car at all, but it looks good and smells nice

I'd agree, though I haven't tried Auto-Foam.

I +1 all of the Bilt Hamber recommendations, especially Auto-Wash.

Noodle wash mitts (even some of the cheap ones) are reckoned to be relatively safe compared to many of the "scene" wash mitts. Also get some decent korean microfibres and a drying towel from the likes of in2detailing or CarPro.

If you're in a hurry, Turtle Wax Hyprophobic Sealant Wax is cheap, effective and quick to apply. There's a black version too.

[Chubbyross]

Belle427 said:

Downward said:

Bilt Hamber. They do kits with everything.
Snow foam
shampoo
clay
alloy wheel cleaner
decontamination
Wax
Mitt

Just need a decent drying cloth.

I’d agree, I don’t do foam but have the following and they are all very good.

Auto wash
Cleanser polish
Double speed wax
Surfex hd
Auto wheel
Korrosol
Clay bar

I agree with this completely. The other brand I rate as highly is Koch Chemie, especially their range of compounds and polishes. Their FSE spray is fantastic for getting rid of dreaded water spots.

If you start going down the machine polishing rabbit hole (I plunged down there a few years ago and I’m still falling!) I recommend pretty much anything by Flex - polishers and pads. I recently invested in their new range of cordless polishers and they’re fantastic bits of kit. Those combined with Koch Chemie compounds and polishes are pretty much all you would ever need.