Car Detailing Nightmares!

As it is Halloween it seems only right to do a detailing nightmares type of post. Now I will say that in the grand scheme of things these are all fixable issues (well scratches are, but costly to fix), but if I called this post “car washing bad habits” it might not have the same Halloween impact…on with the post…

1. Wearing Jewellery

In at one, it’s wearing jewellery. Now you don’t have to be adorned with gold and silver trinkets like an 80’s darts player to damage you cars paint work. A simple watch with a leather strap and metal buckle will leave a nice deep scratch if it catches the paint. I’ve seen a fair few cars with said scratches and they normally appear on the roof. Unless you’ve got a car such as a coupe, or your very tall, your arm will be out at a right angle to your body and moving in an arc while washing the roof. This leads to a good old scratch if you’re not careful. This kind of scratch can often be as a result of using hand car washes. While there are some excellent hand car wash services available many are run by people who, at large wash cars as quickly as possible. Nothing wrong with that if your not bothered about your cars overall paintwork, but if that where the case you would probably wouldn’t of read up to here..moving on..

2. Dropping The Wash Mitt / Sponge On The Floor

Many of us have heard the cringe worthy story of the neighbour’s kid washing a car with a bucket of stones or an old flannel covered in grit. Well while that might be the worst case scenario dropping your wash mitt or sponge on the floor can have a similar result. Just imagine sprinkling grit over a wet car then rubbing a pad against it, your paint will not thank you, oh no. I could also add a comment about sponges being a detailing no no, but a good clean and new sponge used with a decent car shampoo is better than not washing your car at all. However I’d advise you purchase a wash mitt as there only around 2 pounds more.

Using Washing Up Liquid

My final detailing bad habit or nightmare (I’ve started, so I’ll finish) is good old washing up liquid. I’m not sure why people ever started to use washing up liquids on there cars, perhaps it’s because washing up liquid works so well on dishes, but if that was true why not try using head and shoulders to wash the car or use car shampoo to clean the oven? No no, let’s use the proper cleaning agents for each job. Washing up liquid to be fair will wash the dirt of your car, it will even make it look shiny, unfortunately the abrasive salts will also strip of any protective wax and in time work its way through paints clear coat. Some people choose to use fairy liquid over other bespoke car products to strip of old wax and at the same time save money, I just can’t bring my self to clean a car with a bucket of fairy liquid. If you want to remove wax buy the right stuff for the job.

If you have been doing any of the above the good news is that it’s never to late to change. Purchasing a good wash mitt and a wash and wax shampoo will be a great start and your cars paint work will reward you with a better shine, and if you like the look of that why not read some of the wax reviews on here as well.

Any way I wish you all a Happy Halloween – From Car Detailing Junkies.

Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner Review

Update: Since writing this ninja shine have let me know that the very cherry wheel cleaner will work without agitation from a wash mitt or use of additional shampoo’s (in my defence there was no label :P ). I will leave this review up, but will be doing a much more thorough review soon, just using the wheel cleaner and clean water. Sorry for any confusion – The Power Recommends.

I received a sample of Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner a couple of weeks back from a friend over at Ninjashine and finally got round to trying it this weekend, apologies for the delay. On to the review….

First Impressions

As I reached inside the parcel containing both Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo and Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner I was really surprised at how vibrant both bottles were that I pulled out. However in comparison with the CitrusPearl Autowash Shampoo, the Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner is definitely a duller colour. Not a bad thing by any stretch though. I removed the lids and had a quick smell and the scent was more chemical than cherry although the cherry could be referring to the colour. I don’t like acid based wheel cleaning agents and Ninjashine assures me that this product is acid free. Although I’ve not experienced any bad effects from using an acid based cleaner, the thought of spraying acid onto my beloved alloys doesn’t seem right.

Onto cleaning the wheels

As it was a warm day, I cleaned the entire car first and sprayed the wheels over with water. I then took an old clean spray bottle (it had previously had demon shine in there, but I rinsed it several times to avoid contamination) and poured a small amount of the Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner into the bottle. Now I’m told that the mix should be around 10:1 which is great and means the product should last you a good few washes. Topping the bottle up with water turned the cherry like colour to a pale pinkish red, much more subtle that the neon pink CarPlan demon shine that I had kept in there previously. I took the Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner out to the car and liberally sprayed it over all four wheels, allowing it to rest for about 2 to 3 minutes. I then took a fresh bucket of water containing the citrus pearl shampoo and worked my way over each wheel using a Kent microfiber wash mitt. Now you can use wheel brushes and I’ve had good success with the Kent wheel brush, but as my alloy wheels are five spokes I can get good access to all by the back of the wheel. Some other car detailers will remove the whole alloy for cleaning which will certainly yield better results but I didn’t have time to do this today.

After washing round all four wheels, I took a hose and washed off any remaining solution. The wheels certainly came up very well and shone like new. Now at this point I will say that the AEZ Raver wheels I currently have on the car feature a Nano Tech coating and they are themselves very new. I will be trying this product again on a friend’s VW Passat as the alloys are both spokey and without added nano protection (or at least I believe they don’t have nano protection).

Even so, looking at the pictures you can tell just how well the Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner cleans and I will most certainly be using the product again next time I wash my car.

Car Detailing Junkies recommend Very Cherry Acid Free Wheel Cleaner.

Achilles ATR Sport Video

Now my Japanese isn't great so I have no idea whether or not this particular track driver likes the Achilles ATR Sport tyres or not. However as I’ve said before I’m enjoying them for lively road driving and if he can hang his car round a corner with them as he shows they still look good to me. I will however apologise for the music!

Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo Review

I mentioned a post or so back that the chaps over at Ninja Shine had kindly sent me over a couple of products to try out, one of which being the widely respected Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo. Last Saturday the weather looked decent enough to give it a whirl and a friend’s car was in need of an intermediate clean.

First Impressions
Now when I reached inside the parcel and pulled out the bottles of shampoo and wheel cleaner I was instantly surprised at just how much the bottle of Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo seemed to glow in the light. It’s a really vibrant orange (not yellow as my phone camera shows) and in certain lighting it does have a sort of pinkish purple pearlessence, hence the pearl reference in the title perhaps. I was also informed that it could be concentrated to 400-1 which is incredible and a promising testament to its quality. Now I understand you can apply this via a pressure wash bottle adapter or hand wash and as I’m still undecided how I feel about pressure washers, went with a hand wash. This also made sense as the previous shampoos I’ve reviewed were also hand wash tested. I will also say that of all the shampoos I’ve tried such as the Turtle Wax Zip Wax, Carplan triple wax and Astonish car care crystal clear wash and wax, this carries the largest price tag and also doesn’t claim to wax as it washes, a pointer to this being a true detailing product designed to be part of a complete wash, complemented with true waxes or polishes after.

Onto the test
Firstly I took a clean bucket (always swill your bucket out with clean water first to make sure no grit or grime is left in from a previous wash) and poured a healthy amount of the Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo into the bucket, I used more than perhaps needed but was keen to really let it go to work. It pours out quite thickly, again reassuring you that it is a quality shampoo. I added warm water to the shampoo and the bucket was soon full of large bubbles and suds, which look very promising.

The shampoo also smelled orangey which is much nicer than the smell of a strong chemicals or detergent. I then filled another bucket up with clean water as part of the two bucket technique (that I’m always banging on about!). Going out to the car I topped the bucket up with some more water from a hose, further adding to the amount of bubbles, then thoroughly rinsed off the car. Now my friend’s car had been recently waxed so I knew that the majority of dirt was dust, meaning that a shampoo and additional quick detailer would be sufficient this afternoon. After rinsing the car, I grabbed a Kent Microfibre noodle wash mitt and set about liberally applying the Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo all over the car, starting with the roof. The amount of suds that hung to the car really impressed me and it soon became apparent that it was much better than the budget end options out there. I worked around the car, finally finishing at the wheels, they were plastic hub caps as opposed to alloys (further review to come on this), but the shampoo didn’t seem to struggle taking off the layer of brake dust that had built up. Even after I had finished washing the car, many of the suds could still be seen clinging to the paint work, in a white like foam.

I took the hose then blasted off the remaining shampoo, then stood back from the car. The Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo really gave the paint a bright glassy look, albeit there was still some wax on there. A close up image of the beading really shows how glassy the car looks.

I am truly impressed with this shampoo, and it has showed many shortcomings, that I previously hadn’t noticed with other shampoo and wax combos. I thoroughly recommend the Citrus Pearl Autowash Shampoo.