Today I added new complexities...
Discussion
As regular readers may recall, to date my efforts to wash the Vanquish have been dogged greatly by watermarks and to a lesser extent swirlmarks. It's the hardest bloody car to wash I've ever had. Big area, complex shapes/details, dark colour, shows everything.
My cunning plan to avoid watermarks was to use condensate from my domestic aircon, and I'm pleased to say it worked. Almost no watermarks! My patent £15 Temu fake pressure washer sucked it out of an old lemonade bottle very well.
The slight downside was that it took over two litres to rinse off the shampoo, so I'll use up the condensate far faster than I can generate it.
The bit that didn't work so well was the stage two stages before that: Snowfoam. Tooled up with a pack of Autoglym Polar Blast https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079QNQL1R I filled the little bottle 1:5 dilution as it said stuck it on the end of the £15 Temu fake pressure washer:
With the mains hose connected to give a slight trickle it seemed to go on rather sparsely, far from the fleecy blanket you see in the adverts, and before I'd completed one side the bottle was empty. Anyway, I reloaded and emptied a second bottle before giving up. After a couple of minutes it was looking like drying so I rinsed it off with a hose and tap water. Whether it 'lifted any dirt' I have no idea.
By the time I'd done the pre-wash, the snowfoam, the first rinse, the shampoo, the condensate rinse and dried it off and dealt with the few slight smeared areas I was knackered and the car was starting to get dusty so the wheels will have to wait until tomorrow. I unfurled two new huge fleece blankets and laid them over the car before putting the cover on.
So in summary - aircon condensate works, you just need a lot of it. Second, I need a better way to apply snowfoam as obviously the Temu toy isn't good enough. I don't want to wrangle a full-sized pressure washer as the gap down the left side of the car is narrow -fighting my way down there with sprayer, hoses, mains leads etc all getting tangled up and bashing on the car is not an option.
So, I need a better way to spray snowfoam. Would this do the job? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SLV7RXM/ Not being a pro detailer I don't want to spend masses of money needlessly.
And to think some people do this agony for a living!
My cunning plan to avoid watermarks was to use condensate from my domestic aircon, and I'm pleased to say it worked. Almost no watermarks! My patent £15 Temu fake pressure washer sucked it out of an old lemonade bottle very well.
The slight downside was that it took over two litres to rinse off the shampoo, so I'll use up the condensate far faster than I can generate it.
The bit that didn't work so well was the stage two stages before that: Snowfoam. Tooled up with a pack of Autoglym Polar Blast https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079QNQL1R I filled the little bottle 1:5 dilution as it said stuck it on the end of the £15 Temu fake pressure washer:
With the mains hose connected to give a slight trickle it seemed to go on rather sparsely, far from the fleecy blanket you see in the adverts, and before I'd completed one side the bottle was empty. Anyway, I reloaded and emptied a second bottle before giving up. After a couple of minutes it was looking like drying so I rinsed it off with a hose and tap water. Whether it 'lifted any dirt' I have no idea.
By the time I'd done the pre-wash, the snowfoam, the first rinse, the shampoo, the condensate rinse and dried it off and dealt with the few slight smeared areas I was knackered and the car was starting to get dusty so the wheels will have to wait until tomorrow. I unfurled two new huge fleece blankets and laid them over the car before putting the cover on.
So in summary - aircon condensate works, you just need a lot of it. Second, I need a better way to apply snowfoam as obviously the Temu toy isn't good enough. I don't want to wrangle a full-sized pressure washer as the gap down the left side of the car is narrow -fighting my way down there with sprayer, hoses, mains leads etc all getting tangled up and bashing on the car is not an option.
So, I need a better way to spray snowfoam. Would this do the job? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SLV7RXM/ Not being a pro detailer I don't want to spend masses of money needlessly.
And to think some people do this agony for a living!
Have I missed the reason why you can't have a proper pressure washer?
Edit. I've seen. It's hard to understand. If there isn't enough room to walk down the side with a pressure washer then how are you even washing it? Most pressure washers come with a 10m hose so if you buy a stubby gun it's less bulky than your battery powered thing.
And it will work.
Edit. I've seen. It's hard to understand. If there isn't enough room to walk down the side with a pressure washer then how are you even washing it? Most pressure washers come with a 10m hose so if you buy a stubby gun it's less bulky than your battery powered thing.
And it will work.
Edited by _Rodders_ on Thursday 23 July 20:03
Edited by _Rodders_ on Thursday 23 July 20:03
Huzzah said:
Try Aqua Wax.
It's brilliant.
After rinsing off the shampoo? To date I've avoided polishes because the car was ceramic coated last year. However maybe I should assume it's worn off and just use a 'normal' product. One that doesn't mind a bit of water would be great - it's amazing how many joins the car has that leak water for ages after drying!It's brilliant.
lufbramatt said:
Marolex pump sprayers work very well for snow foam and feel like they will last forever
Thanks, I'll take a look later. I have 2.4 litres of snowfoam to use up!Simpo Two said:
Huzzah said:
Try Aqua Wax.
It's brilliant.
After rinsing off the shampoo? To date I've avoided polishes because the car was ceramic coated last year. However maybe I should assume it's worn off and just use a 'normal' product. One that doesn't mind a bit of water would be great - it's amazing how many joins the car has that leak water for ages after drying!It's brilliant.
lufbramatt said:
Marolex pump sprayers work very well for snow foam and feel like they will last forever
Thanks, I'll take a look later. I have 2.4 litres of snowfoam to use up!Huzzah said:
Aqua Wax isn't a polish. Shampoo, rinse and apply wet.
OK, thanks. This one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-Rapid-Aqua-Wax-C...Worth a try!
NB Last time to save the towels getting wet too quickly I brushed the worst of the water off with my hands; that worked well, but still left about 20% so that seems perfect for Aqua Wax.
Belle427 said:
Get yourself a cordless garden leaf blower, does wonders for blowing the worst of the water off and out of the crevices too.
I would probably take a punt on one of the smaller gun type versions on Amazon.
Thanks; would it work better than this gadget I already have? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorcycle-Portable-Blowe...I would probably take a punt on one of the smaller gun type versions on Amazon.
I've ordered some Aquawax so we'll see if that does drying and polishing in one go.
Is Aston Martin lacquer particularly soft? It seems to scratch just by looking at it.
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