Autogeek.net

"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth) 12/29/2016 at 19:36 • Filed to: None

2

10

Been a busy day... side note, someone OCD as me about their second car should NOT buy a used car no matter how lightly used. These damn drive through car wash scratches will not come perfect again unless I paint the damn thing. Or I guess make sure the owner was as neurotic as me about hand wash only.

Bonus German content for your time.

Svend > theloudmouth 12/29/2016 at 20:02

0

Here’s (at the time) a seven year old BMW X3 had been driven through car washes all it’s life, eight hours later (four of them hand polishing) after a thorough deep clean. It wasn’t perfect. Thankfully Black Sapphire and Black Sapphire Metallic paint were quite soft then as opposed to other BMW of the time.

50/50 on front passenger wing.

It can be done, but easier to just look after the car properly in the first place. Lol.

Rico > theloudmouth 12/29/2016 at 20:18

1

I love autogeek and the car looks great. A little elbow grease with a DA and some pads will get out 99% of paint defects.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Svend 12/29/2016 at 20:41

0

What did you use on the black plastic? My Mini has some pretty nasty looking plastic.

Svend > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 12/29/2016 at 21:01

0

That would of been Gtechniq T1 (Tyres and Trim). It lasts about three months on average. There are trim restorers like Gtechniq C4 (Permanent Trim Restorer) which lasts about three to five years.

It’s about £20 for a 15ml and about £40 for 30ml. You don’t need much and 30ml will do a whole Mini easily. T1 is £13 for 250ml and will do six sets of tyres and a years worth of car trim.

C4

T1

random001 > theloudmouth 12/30/2016 at 06:48

1

What are you talking about?! Auto car wash scratches are the easy part...

theloudmouth > random001 01/02/2017 at 20:27

0

Maybe it needs to be clarified I am beyond anal and staring at the car from the worst possible angles under the brightest LED lights imaginable and getting the car perfect to that level basically requires a respray.

theloudmouth > Rico 01/02/2017 at 20:29

1

Thanks, I’ve got the elbow grease and a DA polisher. Wolfgang 3.0 swirl remover, poor boy polish, poor boy dark vehicle glaze, and Wolfgang 3.0 sealant. Oh believe me it is 99%, I just wish I could get it 100% like the GTI I have had since new but that’s never been through anything but a spray bay even though I daily the thing.... black cars are evil and I’m a glutton for punishment.

theloudmouth > Svend 01/02/2017 at 20:34

1

That X3 looks phenomenal. I should have clarified better in the post that I meant 100% and I was looking for every minor imperfection under the brightest LED lights imaginable at the worst angles. It is definitely amazing quality now and I keep it that way just frustrating as a comparison to my GTI daily ive had since new and never taken through a drive through car wash and shows none of the similar scratches. These scratches are the type you can’t even really get with a photo, but human eye from certain angles.... I’m an anal perfectionist. I did a Wolfgang minor abrasive compound, poor boy polish, poor boy glaze, and Wolfgang sealant all with a DA orbital polisher and lots of elbow grease. I wish I had more close ups from that day, but the car is definitely in VERY good shape.

Svend > theloudmouth 01/03/2017 at 02:02

1

Cars can be an arse to look after.

Even hard paints can get micromarred from washing. In fact many swirls are caused just in the cleaning process.

So I like to use minimal contact when washing the car.

1, hose off excess dirt,

2, spray lower valences, front end and up the rear of the car, let dwell,

3, pressure rinse off,

4, snow foam a good well, snow foam, let dwell,

5, go round with a brush and degreaser around windows and behind mirrors and door handles and licence plate wurrounds and grilles,

6, pressure wash off,

7, snow foam shampoo onto the car,

8, then two bucket wash the car, roof first, then windows all round, then above the bumper strip all round then below the bumper strip,

9, pressure rinse off,

10, open end hose sheet the water off.

The snow foam lance is worth it’s weight in gold with washing,

Two buckets each with a grit guard and micro fibre wash mitt,

Not forgetting the wheel cleaning kit.

oh and loads of these. Lol.

theloudmouth > Svend 01/03/2017 at 08:00

1

They certainly are....

I am extremely cautious while washing. I always wash outside direct sunlight with minimal contact and perfectly clean micro fiber cloths. I do need to purchase a no contact foam sprayer, however, as that would really assist my cleaning regimen even further. I know I’m doing a good job based on no further microscratches on the surface of my GTI at any point, but there’s no substitute for not creating any contact with the paint surface.