Car cleaning mistakes

[vikingaero]

I bought a secondhand alloy for my Dads Honda Jazz on eBay for a bargain price of £25 with minimal damage to replace a porous alloy.

The wheel was obviously caked in dirt and brake dust so I set about cleaning it with:
Fallout remover - turning the wheel a nice red colour
Tar remover - removing blobs of tar
Wonder Wheels - on the whole wheel (not my preferred choice, but I got 5 litres free and free/older stuff gets used on other peoples cars)

The Wonder Wheels didn't work as well as I had hoped. In fact it was bloody crap on the barrel.

Yesterday I was tidying up the garage and realised that I was in fact spraying Demon Tyre Shine on the wheel (I'd decanted some Wonder Wheels into an old Demon Tyre Shine bottle and the marker pen had worn off and was using the wrong stuff!)

Anyone else done something similar?

[somouk]

I tried taking tar off with a disinfectant designed for the plastic grass where the dog had a wee. Similar to you, forgot i had used the chemical proof bottle to mix it in and use it. Was only when the nice aroma hit that I realised it definitely wasn't tar and glue removed.

[Podie]

Wonder Wheels is horrible stuff - much better (and kinder) products available now.

[interstellar]

When I was a kid I used to wash my dads white Celica GT4 for several years.

To get the flies of the front I always used jif and a fly scourer pad.

Got the flies off every time and the lacquer too!!!

Couldn’t see it being white but I shiver to think of doing that now on my M5.

[SteBrown91]

interstellar said:

When I was a kid I used to wash my dads white Celica GT4 for several years.

To get the flies of the front I always used jif and a fly scourer pad.

Got the flies off every time and the lacquer too!!!

Couldn’t see it being white but I shiver to think of doing that now on my M5.

A 90s flat coloured car probably won't have laquer so its fine

[interstellar]

Good point, you could see the difference but with todays paint it would be a different story for sure!!

[Sheepshanks]

vikingaero said:

(I'd decanted some Wonder Wheels into an old Demon Tyre Shine bottle and the marker pen had worn off and was using the wrong stuff!)

No wonder you got confused! That's the wrong way around for the story isn't it?

[remedy]

I was about 12 or 13 and my Dad who was a Highways Inspector brought home a V6 Frontera as his company Escort was in for a service.
I was besotted. The only Vauxhall I ever liked (aside from my sister's Manta but that was Opel), and it had a huge engine. So I offered to wash it.
But, I left the sunroof open and threw a bucket of water over the roof

[Steviesam]

I washed the 2020 Range Rover Sport SVR with diesel.

Some clown had filled the washing/shampoo bottle on the power washer with diesel by mistake.

I can confirm that while quite smelly, it brought every single piece of dirst off the car amazingly well.

Paint was Ok afterwards too. Didnt bother polishing it.

[Smint]

interstellar said:

When I was a kid I used to wash my dads white Celica GT4 for several years.

To get the flies of the front I always used jif and a fly scourer pad.

Got the flies off every time and the lacquer too!!!

Couldn’t see it being white but I shiver to think of doing that now on my M5.

Haven't seen the stuff for years but my mate often regaled the strange antics of his lady neighbour, one of her quirks was washing her white car with Vim (scouring powder), a true fashion starter, the paint finish was matt long before it became cool.

My cleaning mistake was using the company truckwashing bay to wash my red Volvo 245, after a good dosing in TFR that too turned matt, took me hours of T cutting and waxing to get the shine back.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I used to clean cars for a living.

My mate & I had adjacent bays and we used to race to see who could get it done fastest & back to the main depot.

In his haste to beat me old matey reversed out of the bay with tyres squealing and masses of blue smoke. Problem: he'd forgotten to shut both rear doors of the Mercedes, which he neatly ripped right off (but not before they'd folded back & smashed the front doors).

I honestly thought I'd broken some ribs I was laughing so much.

Same geezer raced me around the showroom. It had a nice shiny floor so you could get magic tyre squeals. He misjudged it & went through a showroom window. I'd never heard a bang like it!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I wasn't without blame.

In those days the new cars came covered in a wax. We used to get it off with a pressure jet with a combo of hot water & diesel.

The trick was to do a burn out off the pad to rid the tyres of diesel. In my exuberance in a 260z I floored it and did a huge spin across the main road next to the depot. By some miracle I missed the traffic & the car parked itself neatly between two parked cars with the tyres just kissing the kerb.

I got a huge round of applause from passers by who thought I'd done it on purpose

[Geffg]

remedy said:

I was about 12 or 13 and my Dad who was a Highways Inspector brought home a V6 Frontera as his company Escort was in for a service.
I was besotted. The only Vauxhall I ever liked (aside from my sister's Manta but that was Opel), and it had a huge engine. So I offered to wash it.
But, I left the sunroof open and threw a bucket of water over the roof

Reminded me of when I’d cleaned my car on a nice sunny morning and had the sliding sunroof and windows open. Left them open when I’d finished and was inside the house when a bit later on it started raining. Then stormy and torrential rain. I remember sitting there watching tv thinking how heavy the rain is then something twigged and jumped up to find the inside of the absolutely drenched. Seats and carpets squelching.

[vikingaero]

Sheepshanks said:

vikingaero said:

(I'd decanted some Wonder Wheels into an old Demon Tyre Shine bottle and the marker pen had worn off and was using the wrong stuff!)

No wonder you got confused! That's the wrong way around for the story isn't it?

Two bottles of Demon Tyre Shine, one with Demon Tyre Shine in, one with Wonder Wheels decanted into it. Both look the same!

Demon Tyre Shine looks OK when applied onto tyres, but is pants as any dew, rain washes it away instantly.

[steveo3002]

had some engine lacquer stored in a sprite bottle , was all hot n thirsty that day and took a drink from it lol

[roscopervis]

Podie said:

Wonder Wheels is horrible stuff - much better (and kinder) products available now.

Sometimes, there is nothing more effective or appropriate than a wheel acid, on wheels. This is despite the more modern products available.

[Chubbyross]

Not necessarily a mistake but I remember the first time I machine polished a car with single-stage paint. I nearly had a trouser accident when seeing paint on the polishing pad. I really thought I’d gone through the clear coat on my first pass.

[rev-erend]

I wiped off some tar on the paint work with panel wipe. Unfortunately it was acetone and took off the paint down to the undercover. Luckily it was only a small area.

[Milkyway]

Taking my Mk1 Mondeo, complete with boot spoiler through the local car wash... spoiler survived, but it was a tense few minutes.
I have always preferred a hand wash...using my old wash mitt.

[anonymous-user]

A neighbour had a nice black jag, obviously parked in the wrong place and it got covered in a light colour paint spots.

I see him cleaning the car and getting rid of the paint spots with a green scouring pad from the kitchen, there were scratched areas all over the bonnet, roof and boot lid.

He did make a right old mess of it.