Best method of cleaning a really dirty car?

skibum

Almost embarrassed to say this, but I need advice on the best way to wash my car

I have never washed a car by hand in my life, always went to car washes etc, anyway I've had a white car for the last 18 months or so and it only has had one wash during that time, my dad picked up one of these today and while it removed a lot of the sh1te on my car it's still not clean. My usual parking spot is under a tree and it has left a lot of gunge / sap?? on the body.

Basically I'm looking for the best method of really cleaning the car while I have my hands on this hot water presure cleaner. What solution / brands are good?

I have attached two pictures of the gunge on the roof before I tried the hot water pressure cleaner :eek:
Thanks

listermint

If its in bad nick, i would say just head off, bring it to a valet and get it cleaned properly once. After that wash it regurlarly with your new gizmo and it will keep its lovely cleany cleanness

crosstownk

Get a professional to at least look at it - all that dripping tree sap may have done damage along with any bird droppings that may have been left lying on the paintwork. The paint could easily be pitted - it may need repainting in places.

There may be cleaning products that will get rid of most of it for you, but when using them, don't rub too hard at the start.

skibum

Forgot to say it's a '94 Golf Tdi that I got on adverts.ie last year for €600, (best €600 I've ever spent, stuck a tuning box bumping the bhp to 115 and bigger brakes, very happy with my adverts.ie banger ) has a fair few rust scabs that I'm going to tackle over the next few weeks.

Not looking for a show room finish, but just want to clean the old girl up a bit.

vectra

Give it a good scrub with JIF.. then a T-Cut and polish it off with some Polish for the local auto factors.
Seeing as it is that old and cheap then you will be happy with the results

crosstownk

'94 Golf - you should've said!!

Clean it up as best you can and drive on.......

skibum

crosstownk wrote: »

'94 Golf - you should've said!!

Clean it up as best you can and drive on.......

Orange69

Probably best to leave it as is.. some of that dirt might be load bearing at this stage!

daveharnett

I'd reccommend autoglym tar remover. It will take off baked in bird ****e and sap too. You'll find it in your local halfords or equivalent

skibum

Orange69 wrote: »

Probably best to leave it as is.. some of that dirt might be load bearing at this stage!

Thats what I was thinking before I put it in for the NCT, but it passed no problems, the rust is just cosmetic / scabs

skibum

daveharnett wrote: »

I'd reccommend autoglym tar remover. It will take off baked in bird ****e and sap too. You'll find it in your local halfords or equivalent

Thanks, I'll pop up to carrickmines tomorrow and give it a crack.

L-M

daveharnett wrote: »

I'd reccommend autoglym tar remover. It will take off baked in bird ****e and sap too. You'll find it in your local halfords or equivalent

That's what i was going to say. OUr valeter uses what he calls tar and glue remover. I don't know the actuall name for it, it comes in commercial tins. I'll ask him tomorrow. I don't know if the halfords stuff would be as good, but i could be wrong.

Nonoperational

A good wash with hot water and a sponge using a good shampoo. Then depending on the dirt you may need some tar remover or the like. May not though. Now get some clay. The Meguiars kit in halfords is great. Will take you ages but its good stuff. Polish the car then with something like t-cut or paint renovator from aytoglym to remove any reminants of crap and finally wax it with a good wax. Will cost you around 80quid and a full day but it'll be very good after.

Steve

When I looked at the first pic I thought it was of an elephants backside...:D

I think you might need a sandblaster to shift that.

/kidding

If there's actual rust then there's not much you can do on the cheap. T-cut followed by a few coats of hard wax might stop it getting worse though.

At €600, it doesn't owe you much

MarkR

Clean it twice using the two bucket method. Get a good carwash product, I use meguairs stuff in a purple bottle. Once that's done use a clay bar as said above. Take your time, will take a while. Once that's done depending on how it looks you may want to try either white t-cut or just carry on to waxing it.

vectra

All of these Clay Bars etc. is totally overkill on that car ( no offence meant )
but come on guys,
The OP spent €600 on buying the car.. If he had wanted something with a superior finish dont you think he would have bought something a little more expensive rather than going another €100 or so on cleaning goods to try to give him Show quality..??

I still say to choose an inconspicous area of the car.. wash it with jif.. light T-Cut.. and get some cheapo polish for €7.99 or so from the Auto Factors.. Give it a go.. you wont regret it .. The Jif and T-Cut may even remove more of those rust stains than you would imagine

Cmar-Ireland

I'd go at it with a petrol soaked rag and them a good wash with any car shampoo afterwards. Quick and cheap.

TomMc

vectra wrote: »

All of these Clay Bars etc. is totally overkill on that car ( no offence meant )
but come on guys,
The OP spent €600 on buying the car.. If he had wanted something with a superior finish dont you think he would have bought something a little more expensive rather than going another €100 or so on cleaning goods to try to give him Show quality..??

I still say to choose an inconspicous area of the car.. wash it with jif.. light T-Cut.. and get some cheapo polish for €7.99 or so from the Auto Factors.. Give it a go.. you wont regret it .. The Jif and T-Cut may even remove more of those rust stains than you would imagine

While a fallout wash is the best option, a clay bar will do far more for that cars paint than any normal wash and polish on its own. It is a relative waste of time polishing paint like that if it is not decontaminated or properly cleansed first. Waxing over it after a wash is also a pointless exercise. If I was going to tackle the rust spots, I'd use something like Jenolite or similar. Going at the paint with T-Cut is also not ideal, a chemical cleaner polish will mop up the oxidation much better and also be much gentler on whatever sound layers of paint lie underneath.

I agree you probably don't want to spend 10% of the cars value on cleaning products, but it would add several times that amount to the cars value, not to mention overall look. But then again may be you like the Rat Look / Street Sleeper!!!

vectra

TomMc wrote: »

But then again may be you like the Rat Look / Street Sleeper!!!

Who?
me or the OP ?

TomMc

Possibly both!!! - Even I think it can look good when cars get beyond the point of no return. The distressed look ..... very chic.

vectra

TomMc wrote: »

Possibly both!!! - Even I think it can look good when cars get beyond the point of no return. The distressed look ..... very chic.

No thank you.
if I had to fully clean my car and wax it on a daily basis to keep it mint then that is what i do.

Black Car & Harly wax..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..!! NICE :cool:

Johnny Storm

Margarine is great for getting off tree sap - believe it or not!

dizzydiesel

skibum wrote: »

Almost embarrassed to say this, but I need advice on the best way to wash my car

I have never washed a car by hand in my life, always went to car washes etc, anyway I've had a white car for the last 18 months or so and it only has had one wash during that time, my dad picked up one of these today and while it removed a lot of the sh1te on my car it's still not clean. My usual parking spot is under a tree and it has left a lot of gunge / sap?? on the body.

Basically I'm looking for the best method of really cleaning the car while I have my hands on this hot water presure cleaner. What solution / brands are good?

I have attached two pictures of the gunge on the roof before I tried the hot water pressure cleaner :eek:
Thanks

The guy at www.detailer.ie might be able to restore that paint.....but it's asking a lot.

vectra

dizzydiesel wrote: »

The guy at www.detailer.ie might be able to restore that paint.....but it's asking a lot.

It would be asking a lot.
More than half what he paid for the car

skibum

Thanks for all the replies / suggestions, going to try the two bucket option with a good shampoo and hot water first. The hot water pressure cleaner shifted most of the gunk, so I'll use that as well tomorrow.

If it was a newer car I would try the pricier suggestions, but I can't justify big money on the paint, just wanted to make it a bit more presentable. It has provided me with very cheap and reliable motoring for the last 18 months.

I have seen a car that was treated by www.detailer.ie and it looked better that a showroom model, no swirls, mirror like finish, fantastic job.

As for the rat look, I'm a big fan of that style (have a look at this one ), my car isn't that bad yet :P

JoeA3

skibum wrote: »

try the two bucket option with a good shampoo

Overkill surely?!
This "2 buckets method" is to help one avoid swirls on good paint, but its surely a case of bolting the door after the horse has galloped in this case.

skibum

JoeA3 wrote: »

Overkill surely?!
This "2 buckets method" is to help one avoid swirls on good paint, but its surely a case of bolting the door after the horse has galloped in this case.

I thought the 2 bucket method was so you remove the heavy debris / sh17e that would mark the paint with the first go (like a pre wash), and use the second bucket to complete the job? Like I said, I have never hand washed a car in my life
There is still a bit of gunge / tar / etc that I want to remove with out making it any worse :P, also good practice for the missus car (badly need the brownie points

I'm surprised how well it came up with just the hot pressure washer and shampoo, going to go the whole hog and see what I can do.

JoeA3

skibum wrote: »

I thought the 2 bucket method was so you remove the heavy debris / sh17e that would mark the paint with the first go (like a pre wash), and use the second bucket to complete the job? Like I said, I have never hand washed a car in my life

No, the idea with the 2 buckets is that you have one full of clear (no soap) water and the other with the soap. You dip your sponge/mit into the soapy bucket, wash a panel, and then rinse the mitt in the other bucket! Thereby not putting a mucky/gritted mitt into the first bucket.
I've never bothered myself, but I do usually do the wheels/sills with a separate bucket and mitt.

skibum

JoeA3 wrote: »

No, the idea with the 2 buckets is that you have one full of clear (no soap) water and the other with the soap. You dip your sponge/mit into the soapy bucket, wash a panel, and then rinse the mitt in the other bucket! Thereby not putting a mucky/gritted mitt into the first bucket.
I've never bothered myself, but I do usually do the wheels/sills with a separate bucket and mitt.

Fair enough, makes more sense now, thanks.