Cleaning My New Agyo?

[CurlyWurlyRach]

Hello, apologies if this is a really stupid question but i have just purchased my first car - an Agyo platinum and am totally overwhelmed by the amount of cleaning options available. Shampoo, wax, polish? Do i need all three? Best makes? What cloths do i use for what? Will i damage it if i over-wash?

I have had a look online but not being a car-person, if you know what i mean, i am still confused by some of the terminology and the like and would really appreciate some straightforward advice from knowledgeable people.

Really sorry of this is a stupid question but it is a genuine one!

[Jan&tone]

Firstly, welcome to TOC

Secondly, no your question is not stupid, some others we've seen on here somerimes beggar belief but, as you say, there are a myriad of ideas, methods and products, some are designed ro relieve you of pennies, some are not so mercenary, but all will have their merits.

Personally my sequence goes like this, using Auroglym products.

First a bucket of water gets chucked over the rood, this loosens all the dirt and is followed by a couple down the sides and on the bonnet and tailgate.

Then a quick sluice over with lots of Autoglym bubbles using a sponge, finishing with another, old, spomge under the wheel arches.

More buckets of cold water to rinse off the bubbles and then leather the remaining water off.

Before the winter, usually late October, this is followed by a coat of Autolym resin and this is repeated in late March, ie a polish and shine twice a year.

In between times however, tar marks or other extraneous matter that won't come off with washing geta a small amount of T-cut and immediately cover that area with the Autoglym stuff.

Both our beasties are washed every other week or more in my case as it's white, the Aygo lives outside and is more of a runabout so doesn't stay clean for long.

Oh yes, bird droppings, should be removed reasonably quickly, the soft paint the manufacturers now are forced to use by the EU and US green gauleiters suffers if you leave bird droppings on too long.

Others will tell you about stuff that takes all day to do, but the choice is yours, whether you spend 2 hours doing it or all morning or all day...

It's really up to you how you proceed.

[jjj_aygo]

Others will tell you about stuff that takes all day to do

I think that is my cue...

Hi and welcome to the club, congrats on getting an Aygo, you won't be disappointed!

I usually follow similar to Jan&Tone, regular washes with autoglym Bodywork shampoo HERE using a 'microfibre' cloth/sponge, then dry the car off with a real chamois leather. (Don't go for the synthetic kind, they just don't work). If you get a good chamois you should wet it in some warm water first then wring-out what you can. Then go ahead and use it to dry the clean bodywork, regularly wringing out any excess water.

Maybe 4 times a year from here I will use the Autoglym clay bar kit HERE. This removes surface contaminants that are effectively stuck to your paint, however I can't imagine you will need this as your car is new!

Then it is on to Autoglym High Definition cleanser HERE which is similar to clay but it removes any waxes residing on the paintwork.

Finally it comes to a few coats of wax. Many are good but the best one I have found is again from Autoglym HERE . This wax gives you the ultimate shine and paintwork protection, especially if you apply a few layers!

Now that I sound like an autoglym salesman, I'm going to leave it there! If you want to know how I do alloys then that story is for another day!!

[bitzer15]

Another vote for Autoglym here .I use the bodywork conditioner shampoo on a regular basis .I have recently started to use Autoglym aqua wax to polish the bodywork .So easy to use and applied while the car is wet and easily buffed up afterwards.My link"]My link

[Duce D]

Others will tell you about stuff that takes all day to do

I usually follow similar to Jan&Tone, regular washes with autoglym Bodywork shampoo

using a 'microfibre' cloth/sponge, then dry the car off with a real chamois leather. (Don't go for the synthetic kind, they just don't work). If you get a good chamois you should wet it in some warm water first then wring-out what you can. Then go ahead and use it to dry the clean bodywork, regularly wringing out any excess water.

In that link did you mean to post to an Jools Holland clip?

[jjj_aygo]

Others will tell you about stuff that takes all day to do

I usually follow similar to Jan&Tone, regular washes with autoglym Bodywork shampoo

using a 'microfibre' cloth/sponge, then dry the car off with a real chamois leather. (Don't go for the synthetic kind, they just don't work). If you get a good chamois you should wet it in some warm water first then wring-out what you can. Then go ahead and use it to dry the clean bodywork, regularly wringing out any excess water.

In that link did you mean to post to an Jools Holland clip?

Well of course I meant to do that....

[elisetype25]

There are 3 basic products you can use to clean your car:

Clean - such as Autoglym Bodywork Conditioner - to get the muck off;

Polish - AG Auto Resin Polish, Ultra Deep Shine and others - mildly abbrasive to remove light marks and scratches

Wax - AG HD Wax, Collonite 476 etc. - protective layer.

There are also sealants which can be used instead of wax, there apparently produce a better finish for silver and light coloured paintwork. (I've not used these)

You can use are a Tar Remover to dissolve tar, dead bugs and bird lime, please don't use T-cut (this actually removes paint and over time it will reduce the paint thickness, it may well do the job but there is no need to use such a potentially damaging product when there are better products deisgned for the job available).

Another excellent product (sorry another AG plug) is the Bumper Care. It's a green slime which is applied to grey plastics and rubber, it brings back the original colour rather than the 'back to black' products which a little more than shoe polish.

As mentioned above claying the car is also worthwhile, the results are amazing, you can feel the difference. It is important when using clay, tar removers and polishes to undertand you will be removing the protective layer from the paint and it will need replenishing by waxing.

I usually do a full wash, clay, polish and wax every 6 months, in between a simple wash will suffice. You will see when the job needs redoing as the water will not run off the bodywork as before.

A point of note is that the Aygo paintwork is quite soft, so I use Bilt Hamer Soft clay. It only requires water as a lubricant and not a specific detailing spray.

I have just been doing the family car (a large estate and it's probably taken about 8 hours over a couple of days, the Aygo would take about 3 hours especially from new).

Hope this helps.

Regards, Neil

[Unklian]

Just my 2p worth of suggestions.

If you're really bothered, I'd suggest a sheepskin or better still, synthetic wash mitt for washing.

These hold less grit than a sponge on the paint surface.

How I wash my Aygo.

ALWAYS start from the top.

The car is dirtiest near the bottom, you dont want to spread dirt upwards.

Roof, windows, top half of doors, front, back, sills.

I use

Meguiars Gold Class Car Shampoo and Conditioner.

Rinse off then ......

I used a leather for years, but they get brittle and leave little bits on the car if not looked after.

I now use a

Meguiar's Water Magnet Drying Towel.

It will dry a complete Aygo with only ONE wring out.

After washing, about once a month, I wax with

Harly Wax

It's as good as it says. Goes on like smearing melted butter on a loved one.

Then, about twice a year, I deep clean with

3M Imperial hand glaze.

This removes the wax without removing any paint.

Really easy to use, then back on with the wax.

I like my AYGO shiny.

If you're bothered about time / cost / hard work / wet, cracked hands but are bothered about resale value, do what my father-in-law does.

Never wash, wax , clean your Aygo & treat it as a mode of transport. Spend £50.00 on a full valet before you advertise the car.

This will save you HOURS of hard work.

Not what I do!

Your choice.

Ian.

[redsquare]

Hello and welcome to the club.

Using Autoglym is fine and it does a great job, but it's not the cheapest way to keep your car clean. I've found that most car shampoos available are just as good. Carplan, turtlewax or even supertmarket car shampoo will do a good job. Here's my way of cleaning mine...

1. Rinse the car off with a hose.

2. Get a bucket of warm water with car shampoo, a micro-fiber mitt and clean from the top down. leave the wheels till last.

3. Rinse with the hose again.

4. leather the car off.

5. Now it's time for the wax. I use Mer car polish twice a year and the rest of the time I use Demon Shine. Demon Shine is really easy to use, spray a little bit on and buff off with a micro-fibre cloth. It leaves you car looking really shiny but doesn't last that long, maybe 3 weeks at most. As I clean the car every few weeks, it works for me.

If I'm feeling really lazy, I pay a man at the local carwash £11 for a mini valet :D

[ihpj]

FWIW I think you are WAY over thinking this - especially for an Aygo-type car. However, you might find THIS link quote useful...

[WAYNEOLEEDS]

I agree with ihpj !!

I cant actually believe people go over the top with the products..

If its good enough for a lambo then its definitely ok for any aygo !

But then again .. would you ask about how to clean a house ?

[Jan&tone]

FWIW I think you are WAY over thinking this - especially for an Aygo-type car. However, you might find THIS link quote useful...

Oi, not so much of the "Aygo type car"

Even if itis "just an Aygo" it is still someone's pride and joy and if they want to lavish attention it then who are we to deny them that pleasure.

[WAYNEOLEEDS]

FWIW I think you are WAY over thinking this - especially for an Aygo-type car. However, you might find THIS link quote useful...

Oi, not so much of the "Aygo type car"

Even if itis "just an Aygo" it is still someone's pride and joy and if they want to lavish attention it then who are we to deny them that pleasure.

Im speaking generally .. i have an aygo !

But im not ocd with it

[AYGOgummy]

I'll add my opinions too. There is so much more to car care than just "giving it a quick wash".

Some people are fine with chamois leathers, but microfibre drying towels are far better and tend to last longer. They're also less likely to scratch your paint if used correctly - pat the car dry rather than drag the towel around.

My usual routine is this:

Snowfoam the car (this can loosen dirt even before the washing stage - the foam pulls surface dirt off).

Rinse the car.

Wash the car with TWO BUCKETS - NOT JUST ONE. Using just one bucket will mean you keep dunking the mucky sponge into mucky water, therefore dragging muck back onto the car. Use TWO - one for the shampoo, one for rinsing.

DON'T use a conventional sponge. It's flat surfaced, so any grit/muck gets dragged around, scratching your car and causing swirl marks. Use a microfibre sponge or mitt, or lambswool mitt. Even ASDA sell cheap 'noodle mitts' for about £2.00. These are far safer to use on bodywork than sponges.

After that, dry it with a drying towel. Pat rather than drag.

After that, depends on what you want to do - protect, perhaps? In terms of polishing, you'll usually get better results with a machine polisher. But for protecting, you could either use a sealant or a wax. Both are good and will give good protection, as well as a nice gloss to the paintwork. I tend to find DODO Juice products are absolutely brilliant.

Here's a tip - check out the detailing World Forum - just google it because no doubt they'll delete my post if I put a link in to another forum. Tons of tips on there on good car care. You can even dress your tyres if you like, add a protectant to the glass etc etc. Meguiars, AG and Dodo Juice all do excellent products, as do Chemical Guys (the latter two are only available online). Don't just pick anything you see up off the shelf in Halfords - most of the stuff available there doesn't represent good value.

And to anyone who says "it's not worth doing the routine on an Aygo", well a car that's been well cared for vs a car that hasn't will be more appealing to whoever it gets sold on to - and therefore will fetch more money. It's always worth taking good care of a car, no matter what that car may be. Some may call you mad, but at the end of the day, a car that's clean is better than a car that's not.

[AYGOgummy]

I agree with ihpj !!

I cant actually believe people go over the top with the products..

If its good enough for a lambo then its definitely ok for any aygo !

But then again .. would you ask about how to clean a house ?

It's worth noting that the thread mentioned in ihpj's post is a prank. People aren't going "over the top" - they're using proper, professional products. If you want to wash your car like the example in the Lambo thread, then expect your paintwork to last for a significantly shorter period of time, and for your car to look less impressive.

Those of us who spend time and effort detailing the car get plenty of comments because people often notice you've gone the extra mile. Even helps when coming to sell the car. We ended up getting £300 over the 'book price' on one of our cars after I'd detailed it. Previously, when I didn't "detail" the cars, we would never have got the best price. So it does help. Then again, it's up to you. If you're not bothered about keeping your car ship shape, then don't take the time to clean it properly. If you are, then do it properly :)

[AYGOgummy]

There are 3 basic products you can use to clean your car:

Clean - such as Autoglym Bodywork Conditioner - to get the muck off;

Polish - AG Auto Resin Polish, Ultra Deep Shine and others - mildly abbrasive to remove light marks and scratches

Wax - AG HD Wax, Collonite 476 etc. - protective layer.

There are also sealants which can be used instead of wax, there apparently produce a better finish for silver and light coloured paintwork. (I've not used these)

You can use are a Tar Remover to dissolve tar, dead bugs and bird lime, please don't use T-cut (this actually removes paint and over time it will reduce the paint thickness, it may well do the job but there is no need to use such a potentially damaging product when there are better products deisgned for the job available).

Another excellent product (sorry another AG plug) is the Bumper Care. It's a green slime which is applied to grey plastics and rubber, it brings back the original colour rather than the 'back to black' products which a little more than shoe polish.

As mentioned above claying the car is also worthwhile, the results are amazing, you can feel the difference. It is important when using clay, tar removers and polishes to undertand you will be removing the protective layer from the paint and it will need replenishing by waxing.

I usually do a full wash, clay, polish and wax every 6 months, in between a simple wash will suffice. You will see when the job needs redoing as the water will not run off the bodywork as before.

A point of note is that the Aygo paintwork is quite soft, so I use Bilt Hamer Soft Clay. It only requires water as a lubricant and not a specific detailing spray.

I have just been doing the family car (a large estate and it's probably taken about 8 hours over a couple of days, the Aygo would take about 3 hours especially from new).

Hope this helps.

Regards, Neil

And I agree with this guy ^^ good routine there. You don't need to "go mad" every wash. I like to do a "full detail" every once in a while, but a simply wash/protect is all that's required regularly. A polish is good when you notice any oxidation or swirl marks. But not all the time, because polishing removes layers of paint. So only do it when necessary. :)

Here's a link I found on Dodo Juice's Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150235253816960&set=a.363473056959.166944.31287786959&type=1&theater - maybe it'll give you an idea of the right and wrong way of doing things.

[ihpj]

Buy a pressure washer; buy pressure washer shampoo and some squirt on wax (Demon Shine) and away you go.

All this fuss for an Aygo is OTT IMHO - enjoy the car for what it is: cheap personal city transport that you can have fun with :)

Modern paint jobs are pretty hardy these days and by the time you come to sell it on (year 6?) the paint will still look as clean and tidy as it does today - and you will have saved £££ over that time because whether you wash it by hand using the two bucket method and use expensive consumeables, the car will be worth just as much as the next one, which is unlikely to have been so lavishly treated ;)

[AYGOgummy]

Buy a pressure washer; buy pressure washer shampoo and some squirt on wax (Demon Shine) and away you go.

All this fuss for an Aygo is OTT IMHO - enjoy the car for what it is: cheap personal city transport that you can have fun with :)

Modern paint jobs are pretty hardy these days and by the time you come to sell it on (year 6?) the paint will still look as clean and tidy as it does today - and you will have saved £££ over that time because whether you wash it by hand using the two bucket method and use expensive consumeables, the car will be worth just as much as the next one, which is unlikely to have been so lavishly treated ;)

They may be hardy, but there are plenty of people who've never even heard of a microfibre wash mitt, or the two bucket method - their paint will NOT look the same as it did when it left the factory. Fact is, not knowing how to wash a car properly WILL result in surface scratches. Black, for example, will almost certainly end up looking grey if it isn't cared for properly. Red fades if it isn't treated properly. You may find it OTT - but that's your opinion and you've got your own way of cleaning a car. They may be cheap city transport but at the end of the day, I'd rather be having fun driving round in a clean car that looks the business. We all have different ways of caring for our car - this is mine. The end.

[ihpj]

We all have different ways of caring for our car - this is mine. The end.

My comments, like the post I referred to, were tongue-in-cheek that appears to have been lost. However, kindly don't tell me when a conversation is over - this is a forum and we can all contribute. Perhaps you should return to wash/polish/dry/wax (and repeat) your car or something.

[Jan&tone]

Children children.... It's all relative!

If you have a salary of 100k and spent 9k on a car who cares.... You may have wanted one of them for years and, yes, you will look after it like a baby!

Each to his own I say, if you want to lavish time and money on a car like some do then it's their choice and not for anyone else to say no....

Live and let live.

[ihpj]

...if you want to lavish time and money on a car like some do then it's their choice and not for anyone else to say no...

Amen! I quite agree, I was simply being tongue-in-cheek :)

[AYGOgummy]

We all have different ways of caring for our car - this is mine. The end.

My comments, like the post I referred to, were tongue-in-cheek that appears to have been lost. However, kindly don't tell me when a conversation is over - this is a forum and we can all contribute. Perhaps you should return to wash/polish/dry/wax (and repeat) your car or something.

I refrained from saying this first time around - but please don't tell me to "enjoy the car for what it is" then - you make me sound as if I'm wasting my time! The "the end" bit was also tongue-in-cheek, by the way.

[AYGOgummy]

Children children.... It's all relative!

If you have a salary of 100k and spent 9k on a car who cares.... You may have wanted one of them for years and, yes, you will look after it like a baby!

Each to his own I say, if you want to lavish time and money on a car like some do then it's their choice and not for anyone else to say no....

Live and let live.

Precisely :)

[paulys aygo]

autoglym for the win :) i got a toyota platinum today spent the whole day cleaning! dont ever get a vauxhall!

I do like mer polish nut usually stick with autoglym its the best and i polish about once a month and wash about once a week :)

Paul

[dervdave]

Not brilliant but certainly just the job for anyone who just wants a clean shiney car with the minimum of effort and faf on.

Rinse the thick muck off first and you`ll be ok :)