docjan_uk

I said id find an old article I had somewhere to do with cleaning tips, so here it is, April 1999 BMW car, the independent BMW magazine.

How clean is your Valet?
Martin Searle is BMW (GB)'s car cleaning guru based at its Berkshire head quarters in charge of valeting its press and customer service cars......blah blah blah blah it goes on like this for a while
First, a few ground rules. Don't be tempted by mechanical car washes, the grit picked up in the revolving brushes will leave thousands of tiny scratches all over you paintwork. Do not wash or polish on a hot day, or in direct sunlight as silicons in cleaning products will eat into the paintwork.
Before starting, remove watches, rings and any other jewellery that might come into contact with the bodywork, and find some gloves to protect your hands.
Now you can start, so get down on your hands and knees and inspect those alloys. Nothing looks worse than a filthy set of wheels, and conversely, nothing looks quite so good as a spanking clean set of rims. First of all, clean off any excess muck from under the wheel arches, prefferably with a pressure washer. This prevents any mud falling onto your soon to be clean wheels. Martin uses a very weak acid solution for cleaning painted rims, but it is not suitable for polished rims. Only use this method if you feel confident handling acid, if not, use an alloy wheel cleaner and the effect will be just as good, but involves a little bit more elbow grease! Mix one part hydrochloric acid with 15 parts water and spray the solution onto the wheels, then attact them with a stiff bristled wheel cleaning brush. Rinse off the acid as soon as possible. Once you have done them, roll the car forward half a turn of the wheels, so the top of the rim is now at the bottom, and start the process again. This is the only way to get all of the wheel clean.
Now im not going to teach my grandmother to suck eggs here, but Martin did have a few tips on cleaning the body work. Use a pressure washer, or a hose to wash off the worst of the grime, and then sponge the car down using hot water and a good quiality car shampoo. If you are using a pressure washer, it should not be hotter than 70 degrees C or the paint will peel.(Im sure you know what that is in farrenheit,cos I dont ) Dont use detergents such as wahing up liquid as these contains salt that will at best leave a milky residue on the car, and at worst, attack the paint. Wash small sections using a circular motion and rinse the sponge often, so any grit picked up doesn't scratch the rest of the car.
Now your pride and joy is clean, it needs to be dried. A good tip here is to move the car after washing, which helps excess water to drain off and also allows any water trapped in the alloys to drain away. Martin finds that a synthetic chamoise is best for leathering off, as it picks up more water than a traditional chamoise and tends to last longer. While you are leathering, open the windows to let water out of the rubbers. Next, dry the "shuts".
first do the fuel filler cap, and then the doors and boot lid (edit-sills, all the unseen metal and paintwork basically), opening and closing the doors a few times will help to get any excess water from drain holes and door handles. Leave the doors open after doing the shuts to let the last of the water out. Now clean your chamois to remove any grit or grease it may have picked up. Last to be dried are the door mirrors. These are terrible water traps, and blowing behind the glass will help disperse some of the water. Use some absorbent paper such as kitchen roll to pick up any moisture left behind.
Clean the windows with a proprietary class cleaner, ones containing silicon give the best finish. It is now time to get your elbow grease out and get on with some serious polishing.
The good news is that Martin says too much polishing can be a bad thing, as eventually the paint gets worn away. Three or four times a year is sufficient, once in the Autumn to protect against the ravages of winter, and then again in the spring and summer. Use a good quality polish, but its worth experimenting to see which wax leaves behind the least amount of chalky residue once it has been rubbed off. Apply in a circular motion with a slightly damp, mutton cloth, and put the polish onto the cloth, not directly onto the paintwork, if left too long on hot paint, the wax will eat into it. Take the wax off with an auto polishing cloth, available from accesory shops - dont use mutton cloth as it will drop bits all over the car. Use a large piece of cloth, making sure it completely covers the palm of your hand and turn it regularly so any polish picked up on the cloth doesnt go back onto freshly sparkling paint.
Lastly, onto the finishing touches. While you have the polishing cloth out, do your alloy wheels as well, if you give them a thorough coating of polish, they will be much easier to clean next time round. Also, apply long life rubber dressing to the tire sidewalls with a soft brush for that showroom finish.
Cleaning completed, stand back and admire your handiwork. How long did it take you? If you want Martin's job, it should have taken 1 hr 45 minutes. Oh did I forget to mention that he has to clean the interior as well.

* Although most of us dont have access to a cleaning bay, good results can be had at home.
* Dry shuts and leave doors open while you dry the rest of the car to let any trapped water drain away.
* Windows get very dirty inside, so clean off the layers of traffic film brought in by the ventilation system.
* Pressure washers are very effective at removing layers of dirt, but if you use one, make sure that the water is not so hot that it damages the paintwork.
* While cleaning alloy rims can be a time consuming business, stick with it and the results can be startling. Remember to wear gloves though.
* Apply long life rubber dressing with a soft bristled brush, wipe any excess from the wheel to prevent the silicon in it from attacking the rim.


Well, there it is, evidently I had a lot of free time. sigh... of course, its can be adapted and modified here and there to suit ones own personal methods etc... and then theres how commited you are..lol, personally, I forget to take off my watch and cant be arsed to remove it later , little things like that... sometimes it helps to get some one to do those little things after youre whacked out spending 2 hours cleaning it.
easy to forget, anyway, hope you find something usefull in there if you wernt bored out of your skulls reading it.
doc

Ralphie

Thanks dude. That was nice of you.

formerly dennisA4

One, he states that you should use a strong hose or pressure washer to blast away loose dirt and grime. This made me cringe! It's one of the worst things you could do. The force of the water will force the dirt particles into the paint, especially on soft german paint.
Second, he uses the words "polish" and "wax" in the same sentence. They are two totally different things. Polishes shine, waxes protect. They each do a little of the other, but there is a difference.
Thanks for digging that up, though. Very helpful.

trailtroll

Thanks for your time and effort, docjan_uk!

phred

We're not talking about sandblasting paint off a sundeck. Dirt on a car just lies on the surface, is easily removed with water, gentle soap and gentle pressure.

And why bother mixing up acid and water to clean wheels when you can buy products like P21S, Sonax, zymol, etc.? They know better than we do.

motorwaffen

cool...thanks!

phred

carcareonline.com still the gold standard