Whats your wash ritual?

[sarg]

Originally Posted by Palmer

Heard some good stuff about poorboys black hole. Gonna gets me some got a week off soon gonna have a massive detail on the car.

what shampoo do peeps use?

I mentioned Black Hole a while back

Originally Posted by sarg

Those swirls you mention, that's mostly the work of sponges and leathers. It will only cover over the problem, but Poorboys Blackhole is a good 'filler' for your colour, but taking it to a pro for a MOP is better.

But, I emphasise it is a filler only and will only cover over your swirls, not fix them.

PoorBoys do some decent shampoo too, I am currently using one of the Meguiars shampoos, cannot remember which, but I prefer the Poorboys one to be honest, seems to foam up and stick better

[Architex_mA8tey]

I really like Xymol shampoo

[ScottD3]

Due to lack of facilities at my house at the moment and not cleaned 8 yet, I assume my routine would be the same as the previous car.

1, Local Jet wash to my mates office building,
Short drive (Sub 1mile) to the underground car park.
2, Quick water wash to get off any thing picked up from the drive. That's just throwing clean water over the car from a watering can.
3, Clay.
4, More clean water.
5, Dry.
6, Coat of Autoglym polish.
7, Coat of Autoglym deep polish (I forgot the proper name but I think that's it)
8, Depending on time another coat and then the interior.

That's based on a A4, I doubt I'll have time to do two coats by hand on the 8.

Hopefully, when the house is sorted out and I got the bits sorted out, I'll be getting snow foam lance.

I've used Meguiars shampoo before.

[The_Laird]

I rarely use a shampoo as I snow foam mine. But if I do, it's this stuff:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Finish-Kar...item232eeba7dd

[Adrian E]

I've got a big bottle of this stuff:

http://www.i4detailing.co.uk/shop/br...d-shampoo.html

It works nicely to thicken up snow foam so I mainly bought it for that but also use it for hand washing. Always used Autoglym before this and I'm happy with both - the Britemax is probably slightly less aggressive if you've got layers of protection on the car already but seems to clean all the crud off just as well

[Dezzy]

As i'm using my 8 it's hard to keep clean to the standard some of you guys manage but when mine is due some lovin she gets:

1. Snowfoam (hose type spray)
2. Wash with what ever shampoo was on offer at the time.
3. Clay
4. SSR 2.5 polish (PB) with machine
5. Blackhole (PB)
6. EXP sealant (PB)
7. Purple Haze wax (Dodo Juice)
8. Wheel sealant (PB)

Twice a year and just washing between. I recently gave her a wash and it has been a while since the last time as i had a lot of green growing on the window rubber
My bonnet is shot top coat is peeling, either i burnt the paint with the machine or it's just been polished too thin trying to remove heavy scratching. Some may remember i had to replce my bonnet and the replacement looked as if it was washed with a brilo.

[Norretal]

Lots of useful tips on here, I'm certainly going to try snow foam for starters. I've always just started with a pressure wash, one bucket of hot water and shampoo all over the bodywork, same bucket to finish the wheels. Pressure wash the soap off then a chamois leather to finish if I have time.

I rarely polish the car and only recently discovered clay bars so it sounds like I've got a lot of work to do to get up to the standards of some of you guys!

[Architex_mA8tey]

Noooo chamois leathers Ron!
you need to change to clean microfibre cloths to dry off the car - chamois leathers can drag particles of dirt and grit across the surface and cause swirls!

[Adrian E]

I'd go easy with a clay bar on dolphin grey as well - if not done right you can end up with lots of added marks in the paint. If the paint condition is pretty decent and it doesn't need a machine polish I'd be tempted to let a pro loose on it for a day so you only have to maintain it going forward. If you do clay it yourself just make sure you're turning the clay regularly so any bits it's picking up don't get dragged across the lacquer and leave marks that make it look like it's been through a machine car wash lol

[Norretal]

Originally Posted by Architex_mA8tey

Noooo chamois leathers Ron!
you need to change to clean microfibre cloths to dry off the car - chamois leathers can drag particles of dirt and grit across the surface and cause swirls!

I knew you'd jump straight on that one.........

I'm picking up all the good tips Neil, I don't do too bad a job of keeping my cars clean but there's obviously always room for improvement