Winter Washing.. The Power Of Ten........

[CharlieFarlie]

Blue peter ?? Was that one of those old telly programmes ???

[silly sausage]

Tap is ordered . . . And I decided to go with one of these for a Container . . . Still need to know what detergent to use . . bio or non bio ? ? ?

Tony, are you washing the Rav or your underpants ?

[anchorman]

Charlie, tell Tony what soap to buy before he throws himself off the North Pier.

Gus, have you thought about sand blasting your motor? That way you might attract some birds to your garden.

[anchorman]

Hey that tub is a good'n. At least you can get your paw in to attach a tap.

[CharlieFarlie]

Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss is the shampoo I use... Very nice and leaves very little spots or streaks .. Not cheap but it's very very strong so just a wee bit does the job ...

[Hoovie]

Just got an image of Gus in a corner tearing up paper to relieve the boredom of this post....LOL.

Who me,never..........

I along with the silent majority on here who do not suffer from OCD and/or are time/fiscally challenged have just been cleaning my Rav.... There that has shocked you Kev :)

I used a bucket of hot water (cos my hands get cold) with some washing up liquid in and then picked up my sponge that had fallen on the floor in the garage in the last few weeks since I last used it, shook the sponge to get the leaves off it that had stuck to it and proceeded to wash the car, rinsed it using a watering can filled with rain water from the water butt and I then dried it with my grandaddys chamois.

Jobs a good un all done for a couple of weeks :)

I can vouch for the bucket being next to the RAV and some old geezer splashing water on it having driven past his place about 3:30 :)

If I saw the Washing up liquid I would have done a U Turn though and knocked that bucket over :D

[Paulus17]

After the wind n' rain last week our Rav was covered in what looked like fine sand,especially the back end and roof,looked like it had been off road.

So had to clean it yesterday so gave it a good soak with the hose first just using the soft spray,left it for a few minutes gave it another soft spray then hose off with a firmer spray,good things these multi function hose heads.

Then used warm water in a bucket to clean the rest making sure i used plenty of water as i went along and it came up ok i'm glad to say.

Got me thinking though when the car was in this state would i have used the foam wash on it or is that method more suited for cleanish cars??

[Big Kev]

Still got that wee £12.99 foamy woamy skoosher in superfluous stock, Paulus min, and naewhere tae send it......!

Works better than watter itself, ken.....?

[glorydad]

Hi all

Lost my foam/winter wash virginity today :)

Using Magifoam and cold water I foamed, waited 10 mins and rinsed with a Nilfisk 120 (my new toy) using cold mains water.

Result was very good with just a film of brake dust on the front alloys, otherwise all dirt removed.

Supaguard is carp, it's official. The car will need a proper winter wax job as the water was not beading.

Anyway a few piccies for evidence. Does the foaming look about right?

Smugly Yours

Andy

[Big Kev]

Wait for Charlie to reply, Andy, but foam looks a pubis on the thin side......did ye put in a blob of car shampoo?

May also want to set top control to almost minimum, and apply more slowly and allow thickness to build up a wee dod.

ONE BOTTLE is what I use on mine, so dinnae skimp, min.

[john21245]

Being keen to try this foam wash, I looked on the Autobrite website, but the manufacturers only promote it as a pre-wash treatment.

Is a hand wash required afterwards to cut through traffic film?

[CharlieFarlie]

Kev I think the foam looks spot on. !!!! Car looks Bonny too. ...

On the wheels try a spray with a non acidic wheel cleaner like verry Cherry which will eliminate the brake dust residue..

Give the car a wax with Colinite which had fantastic durability and is perfect for the winter month ..

[Big Kev]

Being keen to try this foam wash, I looked on the Autobrite website, but the manufacturers only promote it as a pre-wash treatment.

Is a hand wash required afterwards to cut through traffic film?

Under normal circumstances, yes........but depending on how well waxed your car is kept, the traffic grime can be mainly removed.

Best thing is the timing of a foam wash only.......great thing in winter to have a contactless regime, as it stops you turning yer car into a giant etch a sketch with the crud that is stuck to it.

[glorydad]

That was half a bottle with 2" of fluid, no car shampoo and about 3/4 of a turn from min. I'll try the building up technique next time plus a full bottle. Still a pleasing result though and can only get better as I become more practised. I used a waffle microfibre drying towel, this dried the whole car without squeezing out. In all it took about 2 hours but this will be quicker when I am used to the technique and not faffing around with new kit.

Andy

[glorydad]

Thanks for your inputs Kev and Charlie. :). :)

[CharlieFarlie]

I never dry a car with a towel after a spray wash..

[glorydad]

Oops!

[Big Kev]

LCE Andra........Learning Curve Error.........been there.......where a caur has only been foam washed, any remaining grime particle dods can easily scratch the top coat by drying. Good idea in general on the waffley towel though........Charlie put me on to them yonks ago, and I thought he was nuts........very clever the way they mop up watter.

[CharlieFarlie]

That was half a bottle with 2" of fluid, no car shampoo and about 3/4 of a turn from min. I'll try the building up technique next time plus a full bottle. Still a pleasing result though and can only get better as I become more practised. I used a waffle microfibre drying towel, this dried the whole car without squeezing out. In all it took about 2 hours but this will be quicker when I am used to the technique and not faffing around with new kit.

Andy

Andy.. That dilution rate is to strong.. Take your lance bottle and add the two inches of product (in your case magifoam) and the add a touch of shampoo then fill the bottle to the top. Half filling will mean a strong mix equal to putting four inches of product into the bottle..

When you say "waffle" which type exactly ? Some of the older type waffle towels are blooming awful !

A recommendation. see link.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321236944951?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The above is a very high quality very very soft microfiber towel which does not fall into the waffle category.

It is very important to use the correct and best towels on your car because Japanese paint is ultra soft so using anything that will or can marr the paint is a complete no no....

[Big Kev]

Methinks he MADE UP a full bottle, Charlie, but only USED half of it.......?

I have diluted a full five litres into a 25 litre tapped dispenser (so 4 to 1 ratio of watter to foam) which I dispense as needed into two foam lance bottles with a wee squirt of shampoo prior to filling. Purely coincidentally, that almost equates exactly to 2" of foam in a lance bottle!

This gives a much thicker blanket than Andy photos, but I use the whole bottle and keep layering slowly........ends up aboot 20mm blanket which works great. My foam stuff may be a lot weaker than dearer stuff you recommend, so Dave m selling me a few capfuls of his for £40.00 to try.........what a nice man.....!

Stopped adding Meguiars shampoo.......too bloody dear, and foam in street had neighbours arriving with sledges and skis fgs......!

[firemac]

"Stopped adding Meguiars shampoo.......too !Removed! dear, and foam in street had neighbours arriving with sledges and skis fgs......!"

You're missing a trick there, Kev. You should scoop all that excess up, decant it into old lemonade bottles and sell it as "high quality car shampoo". The average punter wouldn't know the difference and would love all that lovely foam. It would pay for your deliveries from Davem. :laughing:

[CharlieFarlie]

Coorrrr I use less than half the bottle ! Is it because the wee boy comes out in you and you just like spraying the foam ? Kids up our street when I lived up the road used to run up "Can we have a go Charlie"

[glorydad]

Thanks Guys, I only used half a bottle to 2". :( and then did not use all of it! The waffle towels are the Autobrite big ones.

Summing up then;

I need to mix 2" of Magistuff into one full bottle and spray liberally and layer up until the car has at least as much foam on it as in my pictures. Don't skimp on the foaming. Then wait 10 min and rinse off and don't dry it. Presume I can use any remaining solution next wash.

Have I got it right?

Andy

[Big Kev]

.........but remember a wee skwirty of yer car wash shampoo Andy.........gives it what ah've got........a thicker body.......

[glorydad]

And me o Big Yin. Yes I forgot about that.