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-   -   For All Car Lovers - Keeping Your Car Clean (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/16918-all-car-lovers-keeping-your-car-clean-31.html)

Thanks.

I will stick to the yellow cloth and my old cotton t-shirts then.

I have heard in many places diesel used to clean the surface of the car. Is it a good practice, why it is used? Does not the normal shampoo washing cleans the car?

Could you guys tell me more about this diesel aspect of cleaning?

Diesel/Kerosene/Petrol etc can be used to clean the car by acting like a solvent. At times - tar from road, resin/gum etc can stick to your paint surface which is insloluble in shampoo/water/alcohol based solvents. This is where oil based solvents come into picture. Any of these stuffs - petrol/kerosene/diesel be used for this purpose but each of these have their own pros & cons.
Petrol - Expensive & volatile
Kerosene - Hard to get for a normal person, abrasive for painted surface
Diesel - Easy to source, not expensive, not volatile.

Please don't overdo diesel wash - it's a dirt magnet. You need to ensure that all residues of diesel are removed from your car's paint else - it won't take time for a white car to be transformed into brown.

This is useful only to remove tar spots as it is a solvent for tar, and nothing else. It is actually harmful to the paint, since it's a solvent for paint also.

Therefore i would recommend using diesel/kerosene, very sparingly, with a cloth for spot application on the tar itself, wait a couple of minutes and dissolve the tar. Then flush abundantly with soap and water. The garage people tend to spray diesel en masse on the entire car , which is really not good for the paint.

I just gave my 8 year old TVS Suzuki Samurai a thorough cleaning and polishing, following the suggestions on this thread. V12's bike was an inspiration! The results were very good.
Here, we don't have access to some of the best products. We mostly settle for Formula 1 and Sonax products.
I use thicker cotton cloths that are absorbent and not abrasive. The cloths I use are actually meant for the kitchen, to wipe wet things dry. Another type is the cloth meant for cleaning glass. Any cloth (mostly cotton) that is thick, absorbent, and non-abrasive is good.
Motorcycles have a lot of tough-to-reach nooks. So, I used a pressure wash nozzle to clean tough-to-reach parts. I highly recommend this, it's really useful for cleaning the underside, engine and wheel hubs. Don't waste water, use the spray only for tough-to-reach parts. Even a vacuum cleaner's blower connected to a spray bottle is useful. Advantage is you can add cleaning agents like shampoo, vinegar, etc to the water you spray. Downside is, you need to keep refilling, spray bottles are small.
Remove the bike's removable panels while cleaning. You'll be able to clean some tough-to-reach parts easier. Wax the removable panels while they are off the bike. This way, wax polish won't get stuck and dried up in the crevices between panels.
I used the following procedure for my bike:
1. Washed with Sonax Gloss Shampoo mixed in hot water. Used a soft toothbrush to loosen grime in some places.
2. Used pressure washer on tough-to-reach parts.
3. Wiped off excess water and let bike dry for 15 minutes.
4. Used Armor-All Wheel Cleaner on wheels, hubs, fork, and engine casing.
5. Armor-All Wheel Cleaner needs to be rinsed off, so I used the pressure washer to rinse off the wheels, hubs, fork, and engine casing.
6. Wiped off excess water and let bike dry for 15 minutes.
7. Used STP Son of a Gun on plastic and rubber parts (not tyres). Need to apply it again.
8. The tank was dull with superficial scratches, so used Formula 1 Scratch Out. Results were pretty good.
9. Waxed all painted parts with Formula 1 Carnuba Car Wax. I used Waxpol wax polish before, but Formula 1 gave a better result. Waxpol works wonders on chromed parts.
10. Waxed chromed parts with Waxpol wax polish.
11. Used Formula 1 Black Gold on the tyres.
I have not yet posted photos of the results, will do so shortly.

Here are some photos of my TVS Suzuki Samurai, a few days after the cleaning and polishing:

[quote=akshay4587;1044564]
there's one Colonel gurpreet singh in mohali. he owns a shop called - performance motorsports. he has amazing stuff.

pm me to get his contact number

Thanks man! Couple of people thought it was new, and asked me how I got a new Suzuki Samurai (company stopped making them in 2000/2001, mine is from the last batch of bikes). So I gotta explain to them that its 8 years old, and its just a well-maintained machine!

Not sure if some of the tips I'm mentioning below are useful, but helps me keep my vehicles in pristine condition :

1. While washing the vehicles, use running water rather than using the bucket and cloth approach.
2. Use a chaomois cloth / leather. This is the yellow thick cloth which absorbs water like a king. This is normally available from most automobile shops and should cost about Rs. 100/-. One cloth should typically last about 6-8 months, using it atleast once every week.
3. For the tough spots, instead of using diesel, it is advisable to use Kerosene and dab it on the spots and leave it for say a few minutes and then wipe it off with a kerosene wet cloth and then wash as usual.
4. As mentioned in this thread, Sonax or Formula 1 shampoos should be good for washing.
5. To dry the vehicle, preferabally use the chamois or may be even a soft bath towel. I have kept a set of both exclusively for my vehicles. The advantage of using the chamois is that there are absolutely no streaks or cloth lint on the car once dry.
6. One of the polishes which works wonders on any black plastic, leather or rubber part of the vehicle is black cherry blossom shoe polish. Apply it with soft polishing cloth to the area you want to polish and buff it to a shine. Trust me this beats any other product off the shelf, if you have the time and patience. Also doesn't leave an oily surface.
7. A recent thing I discovered for car dashboards was to use the tyre polishes for car plastics. Seems to do a better job than products which are meant for dashboards.

Having said all these, best is for you to test these in a small inconspicuous place and then do the whole surface and also perform all these tests when the vehicle body is cool and the vehicle is in a shade.

I'm also sure that some products really do give better results than others. Its all about what you percieve works best.

Now, this is news to me. I will need to try this out on my car ORVMs and side strips which are turning grey. I am still doubtful about there not being an oily surface once done.

Just want to add that if you use any type of strong solvent (like kerosene) to remove stains from the paint surface, rewax the area afterwards or you'll expose the paint. This is because these solvents strip away any protective coating you have on the paint and attack the clear coat directly. Leave them on for too long and you'll be looking at a repaint job.

How about using a soft Sponge? I've seen it people using it abroad. Wouldn't it be easier to dip it into water and use it for washing? I doubt it would make any scratches and will definitely last longer than a yellow colour cloth !
A brick size soft sponge would cost around Rs 50.

I have taken my black swift to car bath in bangalore south (near caritor)a couple of times,
not a very pleasing end result to me

The guys there use a rubber thingy like our viper blade rubber attached to a handle to remove water from glass adn body parts

i wanted to know if anyone does this at home and is it advisable to use this rubber on body parts
on glass it gives best results

Where can i get a replica of that tool if its of no problem to use on body parts

Cheers
Scarlet

I do and by the way how different is it from the car wipers.

China Bazaar at about 30 Rs or so.

However I use it only on a freshly cleaned glass. Never on a even slightly dirty surface.

I use following 3M product (rubber blade) to remove water from windshields and glass. I've never used it on body parts.
I've found this blade very effective in removing water and water stains from the windshield and is handy during long drives.
First I put some water on the windshield, clean the glass using some soft cloth and then use this blade to remove excess of water and watermarks from the windshield.

3M India : Scotch-Brite® : Squeegee