Vancouver Autopians help please..

[NGB34747]

I stoped by Ed's linens today and asked the sales lady if they had any Fieldcrest Charisma towels. To my supprize, they had discontinued carrying that towel, which means that all their leftover stock has been moved into the "mix and match" section. To further supprize me, this entire section is now receiving 50% off.





To make the story short, the bath sized Fieldcrest Charisma are now $10.50 each including tax.





oh yeah... the store on north road does not have any white bath sized left, and I cleaned out the one in Robson street.

 

[iceman]

I am here now. Just got back from dinner.



Weaver, welcome and congrats on your M3! Did you get the SMG? I was considering the M3 but just couldn't justify the price at this time and got the 350Z instead. Waiting for the 997 in few years as I hear they will be going back to aggressive fender flares and bug-eye style headlights a la 993. Nevertheless, I refused to let crap touch my car and researched for the best stuff.



I ordered my Zaino from Michael Adam at Crown Auto Emporium in Guelph. The website is www.car-fanatic.com or www.zaino.ca. He is the official Zaino distributor in Canada according to Sal Zaino. Be sure to order enough Z6. I wish there was a way to get Clearkote Quickshine up here easily as I wanna try that!



You should definitely consider buying some MF from the US. I bought one Meg's Ultimate Wipe from Canadian Tire to try it out and it was good but the nap was kinda thin and the 11.99 price just stratospherically outta whack!!! The Simoniz ones seem to be suede type and not terry type of MF and still cost 6.99 each. So after consultation with 2wheelsx2, who has JT International MF towels, I also ordered some. Even with the exchange and shipping, definitely worthwhile as better quality and cheaper (in a monetary way). Much plusher nap than Meg towels and worked out to only about 4 bucks CAN a towel. I also got the large 24x46 waffleweave to dry and can dry the whole car without wringing!



About 100% cotton towels, Sal Zaino recommends the good large size bath towels by Fieldcrest from better department stores or dedicated linen stores. He says that seconds or manufacturing irregulars (including Fieldcrest ones) sold by discount chains even such as Walmart are NOT 100% cotton despite the label. They may have 100% cotton loops but the backing may contain polyester which may scratch if pressed hard. I believe there was a recent thread about this. You can do a search for the thread with subject title "100% cotton to dry?" Be sure to wash the cotton towels several times first as they lint a lot.

 

[tiffin72]

wow, just came back from dinner and all these replys!!

I bought two meguair's MF but I think I'll return one of them since I found the 3 pack wal-mart ones. I've tried the CD test mentioned on some of the threads (I knew those AOL cds were good for something) and wal-mart ones do scratch little bit. I'll try washing them and see if that makes any difference. If it does still scratch, I'll just use them for other stuff. Maybe to clean the interior trim?



Iceman, thanks.. and no, I didn't get the SMG 'cause I love my clutch too much. After 10 min of driving, I missed the clutch on my first M3 test drive. So far, the car has been amazing.



I guess I will venture out and find some towels tomorrow.



Anyone else tried the wal-mart MFs?? any thoughts on them?

 

[tiffin72]

Hi Weaver. :wavey



I didn't say anything sooner, 'cause I'm in Quebec, not Vancouver.

Hi Taxlady!!

nice shine on your volvo! I hope I can get some nice shine on my car this weekend..

 

[Nagchampa]

Anyone else tried the wal-mart MFs?? any thoughts on them?

I have tried them. I have actually tried two types of walmart MFs. The smaller Autoshine towels are really thin, but they are "grabby" great for dusting and removing wax.



The second brand I have seen are labelled Gillette. These towels are larger than the previously mentioned MF's but have a very short tight nap. I really like these for windows. While I wouldn't call them rough, they are not the softest towels you can get. i found these in a clearance bin 2 pack for $5. I saw the same package yesterday for $10.



You are better off buying your MFs from one of the sources mentioned in this thread. Perhaps there will be a BC group buy?

 

[Shineman]

I didn't see this posted, but ups started delivering to Canada regular Ups ground. Hope this helps.

 

[tiffin72]

I didn't see this posted, but ups started delivering to Canada regular Ups ground. Hope this helps.

Sorry.. but hasn't UPS always have business in Canada?

UPS charges too much for their brokerage fees

 

[imported_Tony]

Mr Weaver here are a few tips.



Wash your wheels first so that water is not drying on the paint surface while you do that task.



Sheet the water off of the paint surface after washing for a final rinse. This helps to remove beads that soak up your towels.



If you have an electric leaf blower hit the spots that are hard to wipe with your towel and do a once over the surface with the blower. This saves towels as well as reduces rubing on the paint surfaces.



Wipe your windows first with the less plush side of the mf and then dry the paint surface with the plush side of the mf.



good luck

 

[tiffin72]

Mr Weaver here are a few tips.



Wash your wheels first so that water is not drying on the paint surface while you do that task.



Sheet the water off of the paint surface after washing for a final rinse. This helps to remove beads that soak up your towels.



If you have an electric leaf blower hit the spots that are hard to wipe with your towel and do a once over the surface with the blower. This saves towels as well as reduces rubing on the paint surfaces.



Wipe your windows first with the less plush side of the mf and then dry the paint surface with the plush side of the mf.



good luck

Thanks for the great tip..

I always wash my wheels first even before coming to this forum. It just makes more sense to me..

 

[Nagchampa]

Sorry.. but hasn't UPS always have business in Canada?

UPS charges too much for their brokerage fees

I heard that! You should have items shipped USPS to avoid paying broker fees. You can also save duty costs if someone was to send the package as a "gift".

 

[tiffin72]

I heard that! You should have items shipped USPS to avoid paying broker fees. You can also save duty costs if someone was to send the package as a "gift".

Yes but only if the value of the "gift" is less than certain value.. I don't remember how much the limit was.

 

[2wheelsx2]

Tom Gong at JT International shipped them to me as a gift. He declared no value. All it cost me was the shipping charge of $11 US. USPS. That was for 25 cloths. No duty or any other taxes paid.

 

[shaf]

Yes but only if the value of the "gift" is less than certain value.. I don't remember how much the limit was.

I'm fairly sure the limit was a value of $60 Canadian. Any additional amount over that is taxed. USPS is definitely the way to go. In other interesting news I beleive it was 2hotford that found out CMA actually ships stuff here via USPS, which is very indeed.



UPS brokerage fees are bloody murder, and you still have to pay duty on top of that...

 

[tiffin72]

One more question... where do you guys get the quality wax foam applicators?

 

[2wheelsx2]

I use a combination of foam and terry apps. I use the EO Express It apps for the large panels, and then I use the cheaper terry apps from CT (Sundance?) for the small areas. I have not found any other good foam apps locally. Anyone else?

 

[shaf]

I got my Meguiar's yellow foam apps from a marine/hardware store in Steveston. I think it worked out to $1.50 or so per app. The foam cells are much finer and more consistent than the blue 1/2 terry 1/2 foam Sundance ones at Canadian Tire. Wash them out well and they seem quite durable too.



I'm pretty sure Lordco can order them in too but can't recall for how much.



I also have the EO Xpress-it, and I find I don't use them too much because they're not the best for dipping into a jar of paste wax (awkward/big), and the horrible screeeeeching you get from polishing with foam causes me to usually end up polishing with terry covered foam apps.

 

[Taxlady]

I get mine at CT. I'm pretty sure the brand was Sundance. Both terry and foam. I haven't tried any other types of foam apps, so I can't compare, but they seem fine. I also bought, at CT, some ~4 inch foam apps with felt on one side. I think they are for some cheap buffing machine. They are more rigid than the Sundance ones and about an inch thick. These are nice to hold on to. My hubby, with the big hands, much prefers these.

 

[tiffin72]

Thank you all.. you guys are awesome!!!

any computer related problems, please direct them to me (I am qualified to help in that thanks to great Canadian university system) and I will try to return the favour..



I have half dozen of blue sundance ones. i guess I will just use them for this time..

 

[Nagchampa]

I also bought, at CT, some ~4 inch foam apps with felt on one side. I think they are for some cheap buffing machine. They are more rigid than the Sundance ones and about an inch thick. These are nice to hold on to. My hubby, with the big hands, much prefers these.

hehe! The ones with the hook and loop backing? I just looked at those same pads yesterday and thought to myself "self, you just discovered something new! Machine pads for hand use!" oh well, I can't be the first to discover everything. (anything in my case)

 

[shaf]

hehe! The ones with the hook and loop backing? I just looked at those same pads yesterday and thought to myself "self, you just discovered something new! Machine pads for hand use!" oh well, I can't be the first to discover everything. (anything in my case)

Darn it! I just tried searching for this, but couldn't find it to prove anything!



Months ago I saw the large 6" Simoniz "buffing" pads CT sells for the Simoniz cordless buffer and realized they might make good PC finishing pads instead of the comparatively expensive Meguiar's PC pads. The downside to them is that the loop "felt" goes all the way to the edge so you have to be careful.



Also, I bought one of those beige 5" round hand sanding disc holders (body repair section), stuck a self-adhesive hook & loop disc to it, and made a very large and chunky hand app that way. It's good for glazing and liquid waxing, but is too tall to try polishing with. Some bodyshop stores also sell a purpose-made H&L hand adapter for sanding (almost exactly like the one Griots sells) too.