Hello guys
Quite a few of you lot are pretty OCD about your vehicles **Looks at Newgolf, Greenouse and Phil** so I figured I would create a write up of what to clean without becoming an OCD victim and yet still have an amazing GTI. I have posted this on a few other GTi forums so I hope its not a repost for some of you.
So here goes. I did this in as much detail as I could (Excuse the Pun) so I hope its undestandable. First off. To complete this you may want to have about two or so hours free. If you rough the job you can do it quicker but nobody likes rushing.
I have split this clean up into two sections. Both Exterior and interior will be focused on. So starting with the exterior:
The golf has bnot been cleaned for about a month now due to me writing my exams and telling my mom that I will murder her if she gets its cleaned elsewhere. So the car was pretty mucky with lots of salt and road grime.
The exterior:The rims looking a bit sorry for themselves:
Sand and dirt on the boot:
Calipers that are filthy:
Some pretty sooty exhaust pipes:
And so the clean up began. Using a normal paint brush (Lets not be too posh about this) and some degreaser I began with spraying and rubbing each rim down. Im a tad OCD so did the insides of the rim too but most people dont bother really. While you are at give the tyre walls a good scrubbing as this helps the tyre gel to last longer and look better. Dont forget that the calipers also need some love.
I then moved along to the engine bay. Although you dont need to do this I felt it needed some TLC. So using the same brush and some desgreaser I gave the engine bay a good wipe down. ATTENTION! If you have a high pressure washer then please do not spray the engine bay down with it. This leads to corrosion etc and damage. Just use a jug of water or normal tap pressure.
The car was then foamed down with a product called APC 3000. Its a cleaner and degreaser my dad supplies that gets rid of grease stains etc and as you can imagine its pretty potent at destroying the Kamikaze flies and road grime without stripping the paint.
After leaving the car for five minutes (to allow the APC to really get working) I then blasted the car off paying close attention to the rims, arches and door linings. Also focus on the grille and badges to remove dirt trapped amongst them.
Usually at this point you would dry the car off with a Microfibre cloth but I didnt do this... My dad has six bikes and keeps them in tip top condition (In one year his bikes have actually gained value) and has bought us a blower thing. Basically it blows hot air at extremely high pressures and is used mostly on bikes cos it is able to dry all the water etc which you normally cant reach. I used it on the golf and the results were fantastic.
Getting a car looking good is not just about cleaning the obvious places. Attention to detail is needed. Focus on your door seals and arches and do as I did above. After drying the car and the door sills etc down leave the doors open so that the seals can dry properly and get some fresh air into the vehicle. Door sills:
As I have already mentioned the small details are what gets a car looking good. Firstly the tyres need to be dressed. For this I used an ordinary tyre gel. As you can see below the results are fantastic giving the car a fresher, newer and deeper look.
Due to the South African sun the bumpers on the GTi have a habit of fading very quickly. Once again. Dress the bumpers with some shoe polish or any other product you have, The difference is very much noticeable.
The exhausts although a small part of the car can be what lets the entire car down. I often degrease the exhaust after doing the rims. For better results use a scrubbing brush and some Autosol or any other metal polish.
And lastly the final touch to any vehicle like this is the badges. Using a soft cloth give each of the badges a good wipe so that they shine like the paint on Blues car. Of course some of you Edition 30 owners may have about ten badges to clean now depending on how trigger happy you got with the supplier
The difference is very much noticeable.
Now that the outside is complete move onto the interior.
Interior:Transporting two kids, a teenager and others around can get the car looking pretty shoddy inside. The VW carpets seem to attract dirt like cr*ap attracts flies which is rather annoying. Some befores:
I began with the actual dashboard itself. Using a dry brush and my little air blaster friend I blast most of the dust off the controls, knobs and gearstick surround. Then taking a damp microfibre I gave everything a good wipe making sure to remove everything out the door pockets, centre console and glove compartment.
Before vacuuming make certain that you focus on the following. Slide the back seats forward as you will surprised at the amount of grime that gets trapped there especially if your family involves children sitting in the car.
Attention to detail is also important with the interior. Using a damp microfibre cloth run your finger between the linings of the leather and remove the dirt trapped in there i.e the stitching lines.
The clocks need some cleaning too and the steering wheel coloumn.
The pedals. These seriously enhance the look of the car when clean and should be given a good wipe.
After wards vacuum the vehicle and take the mats out too. You will be surprised at how much dirt is under those mats. If you want tyour leasther to last adn have the time. Give the leather a wipe down with some leather wipes etc and restore them to their former glory.
Some afters:
And last but not least something that is important for both driver vision and cosmetic appereances... Please give the windows a good clean:
And the last few finals that I have of the vehicle. I had to speed it up near the end as my dad returned after his 200 mile ride through cape Towns top Mountain passes and such (Only takes him two hours and thats with stopping for breakfast) and wanted the blue bike in the bakground cleaned too. And the Pajero :scared:.
Some general tips:1. After spraying th car down open the boot and leave it open whilst drying the rest of the car. Water accumilates under the lining of the boot and window and when you open the boot drains on either side usually wetting the bumper and such all over again.
2. Clean the mirrors. Most people forget to clean the mirrors.
3. Dont bother about trying to dry the grill. Rather take the car for a spin and so some heavy braking. This removes the water on the grill and elsewhere on the vehicle.
4. Set your products etc out neatly before you start cleaning. This makes your turnover time much quicker and more organised.
5. Listen to some music when cleaning the car. It gets you into a good tempo and makes the time go quicker.
:drinking:
Some general afters:
I hope you guys can make some use of the information provided here and that it makes cleaning your MK5 more effective and rewarding.
Mike
