First solo wash!

Detaling and car washing techniques

Re: First solo wash!

Postby Tonez » Fri May 06, 2011 10:20 pm

nice post Rome_STI.... let's hope you dont get all those cloths mixed up half way thru ur wash... i think i counted 6 different cloths....

This might be a bit overboard but are you planning on cleaning ur brakes as well? I found that brushes struggle to fit in between the enkei's and brembos, and any spray struggles to break down the brake dust, even after hitting em with a high pressure hose... i went to the extent of taking off each tyre (one at a time :angry2:) to properly clean my brakes... be warned tho... you'll end up giving ur springs and billies a good clean as well...

Dont forget to post up pics... ur still missing pics from ur intro thread... sharing is caring :lol:
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby teK-- » Fri May 06, 2011 10:41 pm

Wheels gotta come off to clean brakes properly. Once you do it though it is easy to keep clean by regular hosing off of brake dust. It's the 10s of 1000s of Kms worth all baked on which is hard to get off.

I used Mothers all wheel spray cleaner and found it was the best stuff to get brake dust off (see my build thread I got the calipers from charcoal black to sparkling silver). Best of all wheel cleaner is safe on the rubber brake boots etc (it has to be if you are able to use it around tyres).
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Kekotic » Fri May 06, 2011 10:47 pm

To clean brakes, use Dust pan brush and sugar soap in a warm bucket of water.

Image

It will get into every single crevice, and was part of the guide on the rexnet DIY brake caliper painting guide.
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Fri May 06, 2011 10:57 pm

Tonez wrote:nice post Rome_STI.... let's hope you dont get all those cloths mixed up half way thru ur wash... i think i counted 6 different cloths....

This might be a bit overboard but are you planning on cleaning ur brakes as well? I found that brushes struggle to fit in between the enkei's and brembos, and any spray struggles to break down the brake dust, even after hitting em with a high pressure hose... i went to the extent of taking off each tyre (one at a time :angry2:) to properly clean my brakes... be warned tho... you'll end up giving ur springs and billies a good clean as well...

Dont forget to post up pics... ur still missing pics from ur intro thread... sharing is caring :lol:


Haha FI cloths are colour coded so I should be right :lol:

And yes I am still missing pics from that thread so will post the photos from the weekend in both :D
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Fri May 06, 2011 10:59 pm

Oh and won't be doing the full detail this weekend, the rest of my order from FI hasn't arrived yet...I only have enough to do the normal exterior wash and clean out the interior.

But will still post pics up anyway and will get to do the full detail next weekend! Will have to pick a method to do the brakes now that you guys have mentioned it! :lol:
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Kekotic » Fri May 06, 2011 11:07 pm

You should do the inner wheel arches too while your at it. Comes up great.
Clearly the previous owner of my car had never even pointed a high pressure hose inside there.

Before
Image

After
Image


When I do it again, I'll use the dust pan brush for the springs and struts as they were a bitch to try and clean when I first did it in the pics above, so I didn't really bother with them too much and just gave it a quick once over.
Also I didn't wash the brakes or rotors in those pics, I'll be doing that tomorrow though for when I paint them...well not the rotors, but the hubs anyway.

Also I covered the brakes etc as I wasn't sure how the citrus degreaser would go on any of the brake components, so yeah check all of the pics here. viewtopic.php?f=57&t=9845&start=15#p139599
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Sun May 08, 2011 11:46 am

What's the best way to post pics in here?
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Kekotic » Sun May 08, 2011 12:57 pm

Rome_STI wrote:What's the best way to post pics in here?


go to http://www.imgur.com and then put the .jpg link (direct link) between the [ img] [/img] tags.

Above example
[ img]http://i.imgur.com/fvH8g.jpg[ /img]
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Sun May 08, 2011 8:03 pm

Image

This is the car post-wash and post buff with Gloss Boost. Wasn't able to use sealant on it or use degreaser as I hadn't received it yet.

Total time taken including preparation of buckets, pressure washer etc. was around 2 and a half hours. This included the interior without treating the leather.

I think my estimate of 3 hours was pretty good as some things took me longer cos I'm stil amateur haha. I'm thinking I'll get it ALL done next weekend in 3-4 hours if all goes well! It will need it too as I'm driving up to Hunter Valley to go to the Scone race days!

Will post new pics next weekend including interior etc.

Just a few points I noticed as I was washing:
- I need to get a proper filter for the pressure washer as I believe something small may have shot out onto my windscreen and has left a tiny chip (noticeable to me though). I am worried now that it has also damaged areas of the paint but I inspected it pretty closesly and the paint looks unaffacted.
- I noticed a few tiny blemishes from the previous owner that I didn't notice before, including on the wheels. None of it is noticeable unless you view the car under a microscope but it's still annoying to me.
- It was extremely difficult to wipe down the rear window and had to have a second go at it after going for a drive and noticing it was obvious the parts that had been wiped and hadn't been wiped.
- I need somewhere that has more shade as I was racing to make sure the side that had the sun hitting it wasn't drying too quickly. I'll need to investigate my options!
- My car may need a claybar as I tested it by rubbing my hand over the surface as suggested and could feel tiny bumps here and there but I'm not confident enough to do this so will hold off for now.

Overall I had fun and can't wait to do the whole process next weekend :D
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Tue May 24, 2011 12:17 am

OK so did my first full wash as per my original post, except didn't do the leather treatment.

All up it took me 2 and a half hours, which I was pretty happy with.

Will be doing a second layer of SEAL next weekend as I wanted to do two or three layers and my first layer was shit anyway (know how to do it properly now).

Mind you the garage was taken and couldn't get my car in before it rained but gotta say the SEAL did it's job and the rain didn't even do anything! Had it sparkling in the sun today when I got to work :D
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby hamish_023 » Tue May 24, 2011 12:39 am

Rome_STI wrote:OK so did my first full wash as per my original post, except didn't do the leather treatment.

All up it took me 2 and a half hours, which I was pretty happy with.

Will be doing a second layer of SEAL next weekend as I wanted to do two or three layers and my first layer was shit anyway (know how to do it properly now).

Mind you the garage was taken and couldn't get my car in before it rained but gotta say the SEAL did it's job and the rain didn't even do anything! Had it sparkling in the sun today when I got to work :D


What's the curing time for SEAL? I always try to get the coats on quicker rather then later between each coat to prevent contamination between layers
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Tue May 24, 2011 1:42 am

72 hours according to Damian from FI. Wouldn't really have time to do a wash to put another layer on before the weekend so I figured I'd do the second layer on Saturday :)
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby hamish_023 » Tue May 24, 2011 1:46 am

Also if you don't feel comfortable using a clay bar, buy a product called iron x, expensive but does absolute wonders!
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby Rome_BRZ » Tue May 24, 2011 1:50 am

I just googled it looks pretty sweet! But I've decided to bite the bullet and will give the car a claybar. Won't do it for another 6 months or so though as that's when the SEAL should last until :) Will also look at getting some of this Iron X stuff to use with the claybar thanks for the tip!
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Re: First solo wash!

Postby hamish_023 » Tue May 24, 2011 2:05 am

Not a problem could always get the ironx now and use it on your rims...
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