Author Topic: Couple of amateur questions  (Read 9695 times)

Offline scanesare

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Couple of amateur questions
« on: 13 March 2018, 20:09 »
So, after years with cars that did not seem that important to care for myself (meaning not with my own hands but still with my own money  :tongue:) I made the mistake of trying to get into a washing routine with the Clubsport. I had always been skeptical about hand washing (like why lose my own time if it's going to become sh1te the next day) but for some inexplicable reason, I have now become attracted to it, go figure...

Just doing the very basic stuff for now (washing and drying, and a bit of the interior) as I think the ceramic coating on the car flatters my work, or at least doesn't make me feel I need to move into the polish, wax, seal field (yet...). On to the questions then:

I have this Sonax microfibre towel: https://www.sonax.com/Products/Accessories-and-Aids/(location)/15782-SONAX-Microfibre-drying-cloth  In the beginning it works very well and I can do around 1/3 even 1/2 of the car leaving it super dry with just one pass, but after that it becomes so wet that I am merely smearing water all over, and it does not seem possible to continue using it. Is it normal for one 80x50cm towel to not be able to last the entire car meaning I need two of them, or I just need a towel with better absorption? (in any case I will need an extra product...)

For the interior I have the Gtechniq I2 tri clean https://gtechniq.com/products/auto/i2-tri-clean which I mostly use on the dash. Now I noticed that this leaves a smudgy finish on the surfaces which is unpleasant to the touch so after I clean a surface I need to wipe it with a different cloth to dry it from the I2, and I mean I need to insist, it doesn't easily go away with a single pass. Is this how is it supposed to be applied /used?

Cheers

Offline SRGTD

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #1 on: 13 March 2018, 20:36 »
Glad to hear you’re enjoying cleaning your car scanscare. It can be very satisfying to see the results of your labours.

I use a warm air blower to remove most of the water from my car, and I find that I only need 1 towel to pat dry any remaining water droplets from the paintwork that my blower hasn’t removed. Before I had a blower, I’d use two towels to dry the bodywork.

Before starting to dry my car, I always rinse it with an open-ended hose first to ‘sheet’ most of the water off the bodywork. This leaves much less water to dry off with a towel. I use a separate dedicated microfibre towel for my wheels too. I use the Wo-Wo drying towels. They’re quite small, so there’s minimal risk of them dragging on the ground when drying the lower sections of the car but they’re double thickness so can soak up a surprisingly large amount of water.

Twin layer drying towel;
https://wo-wo.co.uk/collections/wo-wo-car-detailing-products/products/twin-layer-drying-towel

Alloy wheel drying towel;
https://wo-wo.co.uk/collections/wo-wo-car-detailing-products/products/alloy-wheel-drying-towel

Discount Code GTIFORUM20 will get you 20% off the website prices.

I’ve never used Gtechniq i2 tri clean. I use Poorboys Natural Look Dressing on the interior trim in my car. It leaves a nice non-shiny, non-greasy finish and smells nice too (if you like the smell of marzipan). Just wipe on with a mcrofibre cloth and wipe off with a second microfibre.
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
2002  mk4 Golf GTI (the 150 bhp diesel version); Deep Black Pearl

Offline scanesare

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #2 on: 13 March 2018, 20:52 »
Thanks SRGTD. I was actually considering a leaf blower (is it the same thing or there are specific "car dryers"? ) to get rid of my towel issues, although getting a second towel is a much cheaper option I suppose. Was just wondering whether there are towels out there that can dry the entire car and I just got an average product, or it takes two towels for that. I understand what you say with removing as much water as possible, and consider that I have a ceramic coating as I said that makes water much easier to be removed from the car, still I can't use the towel after 1/3 of the car.

The I2 tri-clean was suggested to me as an odour-less option as I don't like any other artificial smell. It just needs three times the effort you made during application to remove it off the surface you applied it on. Guess I could switch to something else but I still got a lot of it to use!

Offline SRGTD

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #3 on: 13 March 2018, 21:10 »
No, I don’t use a leaf blower. I use one of these;

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/metro-vac-sidekick-blaster/prod_1152.html

It’s quite small but also quite powerful. With practice, I’ve perfected the art of blowing most of the water off the car, so very little is left to dry with a drying towel. I find that blow drying is easier if the car is well protected with a good layer of wax, sealant or a coating . It’s really great for blowing the water out of all those water traps too (mirror housings, door handles, grilles, badges etc). Rebecca Booth (Booth11) used to have one of these, but upgraded to the larger Metro Vac Vac n Blow which is a great machine, and is also a vacuum as well ad a blower.

There probably are towels that can dry an entire car, but they’re likely to need to be very large, so there is a risk of dragging them in the dirt on the ground. I prefer using a smaller drying towel, but that’s just my personal preference.

Hopefully someone will be along to advise you on applying and removing the i2 Tri Clean.
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
2002  mk4 Golf GTI (the 150 bhp diesel version); Deep Black Pearl

Offline Watts

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #4 on: 13 March 2018, 21:19 »
I have three towels for the car and one for the wheels. Use an open ended hose as explained above and two will probably be enough. But, if you drop one, you will need the third. For the small cost it's worth it. As SRGTD, I haven't tried the Gtechniq (although I do use some of their other products and rate them highly) but do also use the Poorboys which is excellent and very easy to use. For the exterior plastics and tyres I'd recommend FinishKare Top Kote Tire Dressing.
2019 Oryx White 5dr TCR.

Was - 2015 Tornado Red 3dr GTI PP, manual, Santiagos, Audi short shifter.

Offline scanesare

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #5 on: 13 March 2018, 21:24 »
No, I don’t use a leaf blower. I use one of these;

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/metro-vac-sidekick-blaster/prod_1152.html

It’s quite small but also quite powerful. With practice, I’ve perfected the art of blowing most of the water off the car, so very little is left to dry with a drying towel. I find that blow drying is easier if the car is well protected with a good layer of wax, sealant or a coating . It’s really great for blowing the water out of all those water traps too (mirror housings, door handles, grilles, badges etc). Rebecca Booth (Booth11) used to have one of these, but upgraded to the larger Metro Vac Vac n Blow which is a great machine, and is also a vacuum as well ad a blower.

There probably are towels that can dry an entire car, but they’re likely to need to be very large, so there is a risk of dragging them in the dirt on the ground. I prefer using a smaller drying towel, but that’s just my personal preference.

Hopefully someone will be along to advise you on applying and removing the i2 Tri Clean.

Nice weapons no doubt, but a bit steep for my level of detailing (actually washing) yet! For that amount of money I have a few other priorities higher up my mod list  :tongue: Maybe in the future. I think for the time being I'll go for a second good towel.

Offline scanesare

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #6 on: 13 March 2018, 21:26 »
I have three towels for the car and one for the wheels. Use an open ended hose as explained above and two will probably be enough. But, if you drop one, you will need the third. For the small cost it's worth it. As SRGTD, I haven't tried the Gtechniq (although I do use some of their other products and rate them highly) but do also use the Poorboys which is excellent and very easy to use. For the exterior plastics and tyres I'd recommend FinishKare Top Kote Tire Dressing.

Thanks, second towel it is then. I was after something for the tires so I may give Top Kote a try.

Offline Booth11

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #7 on: 13 March 2018, 21:35 »
One towel is not enough to dry a whole car. You need two at least.  As already mentioned air blowers are a good option but I’d leave that for a future purchase when and if you ever feel the need.  Good quality drying towels are perfectly good for drying and even though I have a MetroVac Vac n Blo dryer/vacuum, 90% of the time I dry my whole car with drying towels alone.  I generally use 3 towels for the body then two dedicated wheel towels on the wheels. 

Also as said above, make sure your final rinse is done with an open ended hose, a free flow of water (no spray attachments) as this sheets off the paintwork, even more so if you have good protection on, and leaves considerably less standing water to mop up with towels.  Even so, you need at least a couple of towels.

If you’re in the market for a great second towel, get this.  Bought some of these last year. Very very good towel.

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/drying-towels/gyeon-q2m-silk-dryer/prod_1630.html

My other long term favourite towels are.  Small but twin layer so highly absorbent.  Been using these for years.  Excellent towels. 

https://wo-wo.co.uk/collections/wo-wo-car-detailing-products/products/twin-layer-drying-towel


As a change to my usual Poorboys Natural Look Dressing and Swissvax Quick Interior Finish,  I tried Gtechniq  TriClean a few weeks ago on the interior and was not impressed. This is what I said in my post when I first tried it...

Gave it a thorough interior clean because it was totally disgusting.  Tried Gtechniq Tri-clean on the whole interior. Found it very good on seats and textured plastics etc, but rubbish on piano gloss trim, left a smeary residue which required too much buffing to effectively remove. Was ok on carpet.  Very antiseptic smell which I didn’t mind. 

So not impressed with Triclean on certain types of trim, but good on seats, but still no match for my usual Gliptone Leather Cleaner tbh.
« Last Edit: 13 March 2018, 21:57 by Booth11 »
Black Beauty: MK7 R 5dr DSG, DBP, 19" Pretoria, DCC, Vienna leather, Keyless, Dynaudio, DNS Pro, Rear camera, HBA
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Offline Sootchucker

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #8 on: 13 March 2018, 22:31 »
Actually can I ask a slightly off topic question please. I have a Metro sidekick blaster for some years now, but can’t find the wide “fan” push on fitting (just the longer “snout” one) anyone know who sells these as replacements please ?
« Last Edit: 13 March 2018, 22:34 by Sootchucker »
2022 Tiguan R-Line 2.0 TSI 4-Motion. Nightshade blue, pano roof, IQ lights, Nav Pro, Harmon Kardon, Heated Windscreen, Heated rear seats, Wireless charging, Heads up display, dual height boot floor, Keyless with electric tailgate, Electronic TPMS, underbody protection, Area View Cameras

Offline Booth11

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Re: Couple of amateur questions
« Reply #9 on: 13 March 2018, 22:36 »
Actually can I ask a slightly off topic question please. I have a Metro sidekick blaster for some years now, but can’t find the wide “fan” push on fitting (just the longer “snout” one) anyone know who sells these as replacements please ?

https://www.cardryers.co.uk/accessories-MVC-195AB.php

https://www.cardryers.co.uk/Car-Dryer-Accessories-Sidekick.php
Black Beauty: MK7 R 5dr DSG, DBP, 19" Pretoria, DCC, Vienna leather, Keyless, Dynaudio, DNS Pro, Rear camera, HBA
2012 MK6 GTI DSG
2008 MK5 GTI DSG
2005 MK5 GTI Manual

https://www.flickr.com/photos/booth11