Paynee

Hi all, just recently got my new car, An electric orange Focus ST-3 and wondering what cleaning products you are using and can recommend.
Namely im after:

Snow foam - Heard a lot of good things about this and was going to give it a try wheres the best / cheapest place to get a lance and the snowfoam

Polish - Again best stuff to use to suit the colour of my car, always just used autoglym Super res but some of the pics i see of your cars you seem to get much better results (maybe its just my skills )

Wheel products - Im going to give some bilberry wheel cleaner a try once iv used my current wheel cleaner up (may be a while as i think i have around 50 ltrs of concentrate!) but what do you use to seal the wheels, is this purely to make them easier to remove brake dust when cleaning or does it add to the finish of the wheels also.

thats all i am after for now as i have hundreds of ltrs of other stuff, wash & wax, TFR, Rubber dressing, plastic dressing, fabric cleaner etc.

dont want to be spending a fortune on products as the car is just my daily and will probably go a month at a time without being cleaned while im offshore and its left with my GF but i am going to make the effort to keep on top of it as much as possible (well i say that now lets see when the honeymoon period of having a new car wears off!!)

Cheers
Dave

jock05

The cheapest place I've seen for a lance: http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washin.../prod_371.html

Loads of polishes to choose from but Poorboys Professional Polish is good.

Bilberry is a brilliant wheel cleaner - effective is breaking down dirt and safe. I recommend using it with a foaming sprayer.
RimWax is a good wheel sealant.

Paynee

cheers for that, anyone else??

bassboy

Have a look here https://passionford.com/forum/concou...i-thought.html

st170dan

*for snow foam i use the autobrite direct mix that came with my lance
*polishes is difficult to say, its more about personal preference, type of paint, correction required
*for my wheels i use the i4detailing own brand stuff. its non acidic and safe and represents great value for money
*i use poorboys wheel sealant. it does give a bit of a shine to the wheels and does make cleaning easier.
*tyre shine i use megs endurance, namely because its available at halfords and i dont need to buy it in bulk. i use it sparingly and get a nice clean black look from the tyre. you can get the wet look if you pile it on, but i prefer not to.

you havent mentioned a wax though to seal and protect your hard work. i use autobrite black magic, Ł25 a pot but easily worth it - 2 thin coats gives months of protection. i had easily 4 months protection before i got bored and detailed my car again!! the dodo juice waxes come highly recomended and having an orange car you could prob benifit from a colour charged wax.

Paynee

thanks for the replies guys, dan what do you mean by a colour charged wax?

Also what do you use to apply polish / waxes, i previously used http://www.trafalgardirect.co.uk/prods/28.html any good?

st170dan

dodo juice do a range of waxes that are geared towards certain colours. to be honest im not sure whats in them or how they are different but might be worth a look at atleast. for example, they do a wax called purple haze which is geared towards darker cars and metallics. when my current wax is empty im gona try that one next (although that will be in a while because the wax lasts a long time)

i just use soft foam pads for applying wax and dressings, similar to the one in your link.
http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/meguia...cf6f4341f6199a.
you can get a 2 pack of megs pads in halfords or you can get slightly cheaper ones online from detailing shops.

symo

hi mate try looking at i4detailing.co.uk good products and pretty cheap too

st170dan

i use i4detailing too, one of my prefered sites.

symo

i used the flash cleaning gun on my old car the soap went on like snowfoam think its still in the shed might give it a go on my black focus see if its still as good

BM08

what you using for car wash? me and my dad have been using Chemical guys wash and wax for the last year, highly recommend it. It lathers loads if you fill up with a tap/powerful hose etc, and still loads left after 30-45mins of washing. It leaves the paint feeling really clean/smooth and looks like you have polished the car from washing only

v man

i tend to use 3 polski's armed with spray bottles full of harsh acid and shit cheap wash

but car always looks nice and clean after they have rubbed ther belts up and down the doors

gavt123

iTrader: (2)

me to and i use dodo juice orange crush its for reds,oranges,yellows etc etc bloody good stuff

st170dan

yeah i thought they had one aimed at reds and oranges.

Rich1880

Get onto www.carkandy.co.uk they have a few photos of an orange ST which they detailed, looked fantastic once it was finished.

BM08

Paynee

looks awesome, ill be happy if i get half as good results!

Its trafalgar wash and wax, got around 150 ltrs of concentrate left, got a load off a mate when he was working for a valeting company at a main dealers and they closed the branch after losing the contract, probably falls into the category of V Mans post above but hoping the snow foam will do most of the work and then the polishing / waxing will get the results.

BM08

yeah it will indeed

Rich1880

I use a range of items, its a minefield out there with all the different products, I mainly tend to use:
3M cutting Polish
CarKandy.co.uk Clay and alloy cleaner
Collinite Wax

All are great products and keep my toys looking their best