Hi everyone.
I gave our new Mazda 5 a clean yesterday, but as it's only a month old and has only 800 miles on the clock you might as well go to your Mazda showroom to look at one!
Anyhow, I turned my attention to my TT today. It's not long passed it's 2nd birthday and has around 20k on the clock. It's my daily driver and is kept outside 24/7. However, it wasn't all that dirty, although it hasn't been cleaned for nearly a month due to holidays and the bloody weather here in the UK - it's been raining for nearly the whole summer
Here's a few befores to give you an idea:
Not dreadfully dirty as I mentioned, but the alloys are in their customary dirty state and the exhaust needs a bit of TLC.
So I started the washing process.
Firstly I tackled the alloys, trying out Carlack wheel cleaner for the first time. I was a little underwhelmed TBH; it works reasonably well I guess, but I feel that virosol [a citrus based degreaser here] works better and costs considerably less.
Next up I pressure washed the bodywork to remove any loose debris and used my Superspray filled with Zymöl auto wash and left it to soak whilst I filled my wash bucket with the same.
I then carried out a two bucket wash with a lambswool mitt, a final rinse with filtered water from my Aquagleam filter then dried with a Sonus Der Wunder drying towel with a few spritz's of Last Touch.
This was followed up by some Sonus green clay using Last Touch as a lubricant.
The polishing stage was by PC using Sonus 4" and 6" white pads with Menzerna PO85RD polish. There are some swirls present [this paint is bloody hard!] but I didn't have time for defect removal today.
The wheels were sealed with some Chemical Guys Wheel Guard whilst my LSP today was Collinite 476S [looking for a little extra durability - the Victoria Concours I'd previously applied was no longer beading at all]. This was removed with my new Monster Fluffy microfibre towels - what a great towel, soft and very effective at removing product.
Finally the exhaust was cleaned with Autosol polish using a Meg's terry towel.
Phew, I'm knackered. 6-7 hours of work later, here are the results:
I hope you approve! I love that last shot personally.
Cheers :bigups
I gave our new Mazda 5 a clean yesterday, but as it's only a month old and has only 800 miles on the clock you might as well go to your Mazda showroom to look at one!
Anyhow, I turned my attention to my TT today. It's not long passed it's 2nd birthday and has around 20k on the clock. It's my daily driver and is kept outside 24/7. However, it wasn't all that dirty, although it hasn't been cleaned for nearly a month due to holidays and the bloody weather here in the UK - it's been raining for nearly the whole summer
Here's a few befores to give you an idea:
Not dreadfully dirty as I mentioned, but the alloys are in their customary dirty state and the exhaust needs a bit of TLC.
So I started the washing process.
Firstly I tackled the alloys, trying out Carlack wheel cleaner for the first time. I was a little underwhelmed TBH; it works reasonably well I guess, but I feel that virosol [a citrus based degreaser here] works better and costs considerably less.
Next up I pressure washed the bodywork to remove any loose debris and used my Superspray filled with Zymöl auto wash and left it to soak whilst I filled my wash bucket with the same.
I then carried out a two bucket wash with a lambswool mitt, a final rinse with filtered water from my Aquagleam filter then dried with a Sonus Der Wunder drying towel with a few spritz's of Last Touch.
This was followed up by some Sonus green clay using Last Touch as a lubricant.
The polishing stage was by PC using Sonus 4" and 6" white pads with Menzerna PO85RD polish. There are some swirls present [this paint is bloody hard!] but I didn't have time for defect removal today.
The wheels were sealed with some Chemical Guys Wheel Guard whilst my LSP today was Collinite 476S [looking for a little extra durability - the Victoria Concours I'd previously applied was no longer beading at all]. This was removed with my new Monster Fluffy microfibre towels - what a great towel, soft and very effective at removing product.
Finally the exhaust was cleaned with Autosol polish using a Meg's terry towel.
Phew, I'm knackered. 6-7 hours of work later, here are the results:
I hope you approve! I love that last shot personally.
Cheers :bigups
