Your cleaning routine

S

Ste

Senior member
 Costa Del Barrow-in-Furness
Thought it might be a bit of fun and also quite useful to post and share your cleaning routines. Can no doubt recommend a few things we can do differently or products to try.

Mine for my sterling grey roadster:

Rinse entire car with clean water.

Scrub and clean roof with autoglym cabrolet cleaning kit, including protective layer.

Shampoo and wash entire car with snow foam shampoo using wool mits and two bucket method with grit guards.

Pat towel dry with microfiber cloths. Rinse entire car with clean water.

Clay with meguiars quick clay kit. One panel at a time.

Apply autoglym deep shine polish to all layers quite a thick layer leaving a white haze across the whole car.

Wash and clean all windows inside and out with glass cleaner.

Spray autoglym wheel cleaner on all four rims and work in just using a cloth or rag.
Gel and clean tyres with meguiars tyre gel.

Go back to the bodywork and buff to a shine until all the autoglym deep shine is worked into the body work and none is left visible.

Wax bodywork one panel at a time with meguiars carnauba wax plus and a chammy. One final rinse of water to remove any dust or threads.

Go back to the wheels and scrub the rims clean with a wheel brush and cloths.

Vacuum interior and mats, gel dashes and treat the leather with autoglym leather care.

Go for a hoon and get it all dirty again.

:D

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2
 
Best done later in the day as you will see!

Drop the top and dust remove mats.
Dust the plastic an leather, Hoover the carpets and the mats.

Mr muscle glass cleaner the inside of the glass and replace mats. Spray everything aside from leather or plastic with Auto Glym odour eliminator (just in case) shut everything up.

Open Beer.

Clean the wheels with bucket, soft brush an sponge. Clean tail pipes and engine covers.

Rinse car with clean water, apply BMW (read Mini as its cheaper) good cleaner. Leave for 3 mins, agitate liquid into roof with a brush. Rinse until water runs clear.

Turtle wax wash and wax in a clean bucket with different sponges. Wash car starting highest point first and then rinse. Door shuts etc last.

Use Karcher Window Vac machine thing to suck off most of water from glass and bodywork.

Chamois remaining areas and blow water from areas it's likely to sit.

Open Beer

Use Turtle Wax silver colour coded polish. Buff on, buff off.

Autosol metal polish on the exhaust tips.

Auto glym rubber feed stuff on rubber seals.

Mr muscle glass cleaner on all exterior glass.

Open beer.

Job done!
 
When I wash:
Rinse with pressure washer at shallow angle.
Snow foam - megs hyper wash.
2 bucket with AG bodywork shampoo (love the smell)
Dry with large drying towel (microfiber)
On occasion AG quick detailer.
Dress tyres with Finisher Kare 350.

Detail
Would be as above but stop at drying
Decontamination with trix iron and tar remover.
Rinse
Dry
Clay megs with AG quick detailer
Machine polish (DA) normally menzerna final finish or megs depending on whats needed
Wax with collinite 476s
Dress tyres.
 
Move wipers up...

Rinse loose dirt off the bodywork
Spray wheel cleaner on (muc-off alloy wheel cleaner - cheap but effective)
Wait 5 mins
Clean wheels off
Wash bodywork with 2 buckets and a big fleecy mit, (muc-off again)
Dry with micro fibre cloth

Apply wheel care (no-brander, had it for years and it does what it says on the tin.
Wipe down sills, boot sill,
Glass cleaner for windows

Polish on- Autoglym high polish (got it this week and better than the muc-off as it hazes for longer) with another micro fibre cloth
Exhaust tips get a chrome clean
Lint roller the roof to get the cats hairs off (contemplate shooting cat)
Wipers back down

Polish off with yet other micro fibre cloth

Demon Shine spray on gloss shine to finish off with a final buffing

Stand back and enjoy being blinded.

Clean the inside if it needs it...


In fairness I don't really enjoy washing the car I'm not into this 'detailing thing' , it just looks nicer clean!

Wattsie
 
Vacuum hood
Rinse everything
Two buckets all over
MV2 number 1
(10 minute break)
MV2 number 2
(lunch)
MV2 number 3
(tea and biscuits)
MV2 number 4
(dinner)
MV2 number 4 (continued...)
(give up)
 
wattsie said:
Lint roller the roof to get the cats hairs off (contemplate shooting cat)
Click to expand...
:rofl:
So far my cat's only been skulking underneath the car - I'll have to watch out for the hairs on the roof (they get *everywhere* else!)

As for the rest of the posts in this thread - Blimey! you lot are serious about your washing and polishing now, aren't you? My cleaning routine for my previous car (Audi A3 1.8T) went like this:

Notice Service indicator is on

Book Service

Take car for Service and later on, collect car and pay for Service

Enjoy clean, shiny car.

However, I figure I will at least have to get my bucket/s and sponge out a bit more often with the Zed. And I must buy some of the stuff for the soft roof...
 
Mirrie said:
Blimey! you lot are serious about your washing and polishing now, aren't you?
Click to expand...

You have nooooooo idea :rofl:

Check out the Detailing & bodywork section of the forum. I used to pay the local hand car wash £5 a week to clean my cars before I got my Z. Thanks to this lot I now have serious OCD, further aggravated by having a colour that looks beautiful freshly cleaned, then dirty again after 10mins driving it :cry:
 
Wow ... you guys are serious.

I am now hooked on Autoglym Super Resin Polish followed by Extra Gloss Protection. Bee-yootiful.

Here's the routine (exterior only)

1. Pressure washer with wide spread to wash off the loose dust and crud.
2. Wash with BMW car shampoo (because I happen to have some). Don't bother with two buckets though, because a) the car should be relatively grit free because of step 1, above, and b) any grit that does end up on the sponge ought sink to the bottom of the bucket. I know that makes me evil in the eyes of some, but it works for me.
3. Rinse thoroughly with pressure washer.
4. Dry car with thick, absorbent microfiber towels.

*** Coffee break while waiting for the car to dry thoroughly.

5. Apply Super Resin Polish as per the instructions.

*** Brief break to pick nose and let the SRP dry.

6. Buff off SRP, and admire nice finish that the SRP alone produces.
7. Apply EGP as per the instructions.

*** Coffee break no. 2, because the EGP has to cure for an hour. This allows plenty of time to pick nose again as well.

8. Buff off EGP and walk around car going "ooh ... shiny" a couple of times.

If I'm not totally knackered by then I might do the wheels as well using BMW wheel cleaner (because I happen to have some), but I usually end up doing the wheels and interior on a separate day. Frequently the day after I do the exterior.

But this type of thorough once-over only happens every few months. In between I just wash the car down with the hose and microfiber towels, and maybe apply a bit of Autoglym Aqua Wax.

Edit: And looking back up at this post, I realize that I'm just as sick as the rest of you.
 
I don't have enough space to write all my stuff down... :rofl: :headbang:



One thing I will say, and I notice it quite a bit is... there is no point drying the car before going over it with clay!

you want the paint to be as wet as possible.... so not point drying it, just to wet with lube again!!!

:wink: :wink: :wink:

wash, rinse, clay.

:thumbsup:
 
I notice some people clean wheels last. I always do them first with separate water and separate wash mitt. No right or wrong I guess, just personal preference.

I also Autosol the exhaust tailpipes each time as well.

The thing I dislike most about washing is the drying. I rinse it with filtered water to reduce water spot risk but I wish there was a quick and effective way of contactless drying.
 
Drive up to a hand car washing place.

Hand over some money

Stand about

Drive off

:tumbleweed:

Edit*
(Now waiting for the "you're band for an offensive post email!)
 
DrNick said:
Drive up to a hand car washing place.

Hand over some money

Stand about

Drive off

:tumbleweed:

Edit*
(Now waiting for the "you're band for an offensive post email!)
Click to expand...

:lol: :thumbsup:

I did this when I first got my Z. I'd still do it if it wasn't for the fresh scratches that always appeared afterwards. On my other cars I'd bring home, rinse off any bits still wet or they'd missed, then polish. Seemed efficient to me :D

OG - wheels & arches (and underneath the front, rear and side skirts) first :thumbsup:

...followed by a coffee / fag break
...rinse, wash, dry car
...coffee / fag break
...dry wheels & tyres, remove and clean exhaust tips, apply tyre dressing

Admire, drive, get dirty again :headbang:
 
From the sound of this, you're all a DIRTY BUNCH OF F.... ERS coz none of you clean the inside (except Ste) :poke:
 
Last weeks cleaning Routine (Every 3-6 Months) Approx 8 hours.

1. Rinse car down removing grit etc (Car never is v.dirty)

2. 2 Bucket method using turtle wax shampoo (Now changed shampoo)

3. Iron X all the car including the alloys (Amazing stuff highly recommended)

4. Wash the wheels using soft cleaning cloth and normal car shampoo as I don't let them get dirty.
Back of the wheels (CSL) cleaned with EZ wheel detailing brush through spokes.

5. Autoglym intense tar remover on all visible tar.

6. Clay the car using meguiars smooth service kit. Moved to a 3M Clay 38070 as not happy with the meguiars results. 3m clay excellent with a little extra "bite" and took much less time.

7. Washed the car again. Dried using large micro-fibre drying towel.

8. Car paint already in excellent condition (no scratches) So went straight to Blue 3M pad with 3M Ultrafina SE polish using a Rotary to remove swirl marks.

9. Waxed the car using Collinte 476.

10. Clean all glass using Glass cleaner and newspaper to avoid streaks.

11. Tyre black using meguiars tyre gel

12. Polished exhaust tips using WD40 ( need to try a metal polish)

13. Remove polish from door, boot, bonnet shuts using meguiars quick detailer.

Probably steps I've missed in my OCD clean :P Car is now Gleaming , paint feels like glass 8)
 
Jembo said:
From the sound of this, you're all a DIRTY BUNCH OF F.... ERS coz none of you clean the inside (except Ste) :poke:
Click to expand...

That's because it takes another 90mins or more when I could be driving it... And with the roof down as much as it has been it gets dirty fast too. Every third wash Jem :thumbsup:
 
it's all about the beading.... :oops: :oops:

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
Jembo said:
From the sound of this, you're all a DIRTY BUNCH OF F.... ERS coz none of you clean the inside (except Ste) :poke:
Click to expand...
I just can't maintain the concentration required to do both the exterior and interior in one day. The whole car is a two-day job (well ... one and a half).

OK ... maybe I spend too much time time oohi-ng and ah-ing at my loverly shine after I've finished the exterior. :P
 
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