This car detailing blog aims to generate a wealth of reviews and tips, to help enable everyone from the casual detailing enthusiast, right through to full blown, car detailing junkies!
Ok this isn’t so much a review but definitely car related
and something I recommend. Ken Block is a name quickly becoming a household
name and he is without a doubt someone who knows how to drive.
He’s had a mixed
level of success with WRC but his ability to impress in his Gymkhana series is
unrivalled. This is his 4th outing now in the Ford Fiesta (I preferred
the Subaru, but I’m Jap car bias). Enjoy.
I've been using the Kent Microfibre Noodle Wash Mitt for some time now and this is a product I find really hard to fault.
One of the first rules of car detailing is to stop using a traditional 50p sponge. Why, I hear you ask. Well a sponge is actually more coarse than you might think, rub one against your arm and you quickly feel it start to itch, now imagine if your arm was covered in dirt and dust (I hope it isn't ;-) ) and you can imagine how swirls and scratches can appear in your paint.
The Kent Microfibre Noodle Wash Mitt has microfibre noodles which make sure dirt is drawn up into the sponge and away from your paint. Coupled with the fact it's a mitt so it's comfortable to use and it also retains a good amount of suds meaning less trips back to the buckets.
The Kent Microfibre Noodle Wash Mitt can be bought for well under a fiver and is a great wash mitt. Also available in many colours, I seem to like the bright green ones!
Ok another CarPlan review, I know I’ve reviewed a lot of products by this brand, but I’m constantly impressed by there quality and price point that makes it hard for me to choose anything else at the moment.
On with the review...
The interior of my car was starting to look a little dull, my car coming up to 10 years old and keeping the interior plastic nice and clean is important. I purchased a can of CarPlan Dash Valet matt finish from ASDA that cost me around £2.00 which is ridiculously cheap for a product of this quality.
Importantly i choose matt as there are products available from companies, including CarPlan that leave the dash very shiny, this is a look some people want but I prefer a matt finish.
To use the product you just liberally spray it directly onto the plastics, I spray it on as if I’m spray painting the car if that makes sense? Then wipe it over with a dry microfiber cloth.
The interior plastic come up to a rich matt gloss and look in some ways better than new.
I'll try different products to compare, but I really can't fault CarPlan Dash Valet
I recently got back from a long trip abroad where I'd taken
my car and the inside was in need of a freshen up. I decided to clean all my
car's upholstery, and although it wasn't too bad I decided to purchase a can of
Interior Valet.
A quick look at the products in Halfords outlined that there
is a lot of choice. I decided to go for a can of CarPlan Interior Valet. I made
my decision based on three things. The first is that many products feature a
plastic bristled top for scrubbing the upholstery. However I don't like the
idea of scratching away at my seats with stiff plastic bristles and although
CarPlan Interior Valet can be bought with such a lid there is an option to get
a can without. Secondly the price was excellent, if I recall I paid around
£4.00, which compared to some other products is very good. My final reason was
that I trust CarPlan’s range and feel they are always good value.
A quick read of the instructions tells you to spray the foam
onto the seats leave for around a minute then wipe off with a clean damp cloth.
As well as cleaning it also adds a protective clear barrier to your seats that
will help them to repel grime and grease etc. I decided to use a damp Kent
microfiber cloth as I know they're great at picking up dust and don't mark or
scratch surfaces, they also don't get too sticky like some J-cloths which can
pull at the seat's fibres.
I sprayed the foam all over the seat and waited as
instructed. The CarPlan Interior Valet has a pleasant orangey citrus scent
which was a bonus. I wiped the foam off and it left my driver’s seat looking slightly
damp but very clean.
I moved onto the rest of the car and was really pleased with
the results. I would definitely try this product again and would recommend it
to anyone looking for a reasonably priced fabric and upholstery cleaner.
For ages now I’ve had my various waxes, microfibers and shampoos
taking up an increasingly large amount of shelf space and while this was ok I
found it annoying having to keep going into the house between washing stages. I
don’t like to leave products on the floor etc as they can come into contact
with grit and grime, in particular the cloths need to be kept off the floor at
all times.
So then it was on an evening much like this one that I set
about looking for a box or bag that I could keep all my car detailing products
in, but I also wanted a solution that would let me take them all outside and
off the floor.
The product I came across was the Dodo Juice Tooled Up
Detailing Bag. It was at a very competitive price of £20.00 on Amazon and I’ve
been impressed with Dodo Juice before so I went ahead and bought it.
2 days later it's at my door and my first impressions are
fantastic. It came well wrapped in a plastic bag and packed flat. The bag is
made from a very tough material and has an incredibly sturdy metal handle which
sports a foam grip. The bag folds open and a stiff base velcros into place
making it very solid feeling. On the under side of the Dodo Juice Tooled Up
Detailing Bag are several rubber feet which is a nice touch. All around the
sides inside and out are material pouches ideal for holding clay bars and
microfibre towels.
The bag comfortably holds all my various car detailing products
and I wouldn't hesitate to buy the Dodo Juice Tooled Up Detailing Bag again.
I recently decided to try the Meguiar's Quik Clay Starter
Kit. I haven’t ever used car clay before and was always slightly reserved in
trying it out. After watching several very helpful Meguiar's YouTube "how
to" guides though I was ready to take the plunge.
I purchased the Meguiar's Quik Clay Starter Kit from Amazon
at a very reasonable £10.00 and it was delivered a day later. I waited for the weekend
and then finally had the opportunity to try it out.
Now I carefully read the instructions first and went through
the following steps.
Step 1: Washed the car fully using Turtle Wax Zip wax and a
Kent Microfibre noodle mit wash mit, I also used the two bucket technique which
was outlined in an earlier video post on my car detailing blog.
Step 2: Rinse the car off with clean water.
Step 3: I then used a Kent Flexi Blade to take off the
majority of the water but the paint still wasn't bone dry.
Step 4: I then used the Meguiar's Quik Clay Starter Kit.
Taking the clay out of its wrapping it feels like a piece of hard-ish putty. I
then sprayed the provided Quick Detailer over a section of my bonnet and
directly onto the clay bar its self. In side to side motions I rubbed the clay
over the quick detailer lubricant and could feel it getting smoother until I was
satisfied the area was clean. I repeated this process over the whole car and
took around an hour.
Step 5: I used a Kent microfibre towel to buff off all the
excess Meguiar's Quick Detailer and dried the paintwork to a dullish shine.
Step 6: I then used CarPlan Triplewax to bring the car up to
a protective shine.
Step 7: As a final touch I gave the paint work a quick going
over with Carplan Demon Shine.
Now I have to say that the Meguiar's Quik Clay Starter Kit
was fantastic and never before have I seen my car look so clean and the paint
work so deep. I think the next time I do it I will try a different wax product,
perhaps one from the DoDo Juice range to compare.
Well if you’ve read my car detailing Blog before you’ll see that I’ve
already reviewed a wax, CarPlans Triple Wax to be precise. However as I’m recommending
products it’s only fair that I add different products that essentially cover
the same needs.
On with the review….. I came across Turtle Wax Ice around a
year and a half ago. I was looking for a wax that was easy to apply, could be
used on all areas of my car (including plastics) and that wasn’t white and
chalky. It’s easy to see why I selected Turtle Wax Ice Liquid Wax then as it
says it’s safe and doesn’t mark or leave white marks. My choice was further
impacted by 2 rather good American type adverts / demonstration videos I found
on YouTube (please see below). I bought the product in Halfords and it came
complete with an applicator sponge pad and microfibre cloth, all costing around
£12.00 which seemed good value.
I washed the car as normal, dried it off with a chamois and
then squirted about a thimble full of the wax onto the blue pad. The process of
applying the wax was very easy and once I’d rubbed the pad over the whole car I
folded up the provided microfibre and polished the whole car up to a very good
shine. Now the main difference I found using this over other waxes was its
ability to darken black plastic back to a new like shine. Even on a friend’s
car which has solid black bumpers it brought them up to a new looking standard,
something other waxes have failed to do in the past and in fact most waxes say
avoid plastics at all cost.
My car is silver and it’s relatively easy to miss streaks,
my friends black car however took more buffing and polishing than I’ve found
with traditional white paste waxes however, albeit in the end it did come up to
a brilliant shine.
I still use this wax in conjunction with CarPlan Triple Wax
as I now use it for the black plastics only, simply because I still prefer the
traditional white paste style. If you’re new to waxing a car though I would recommend
starting with the Turtle Wax Ice Liquid Wax as it’s a brilliant introduction as
to just how good your car will look if you’ve not waxed it before and if you're to believe the video professionals are standing by it as well.
