Beetle Hand Wash Products

I never washed my car myself but with the New Beetle I want to give it a bath, personally.

However, I don't have any thing except the tire cleaner spray and the chrom cleanser. What else would I need beside a sponge and a bucket?

Thanks.

Reply to
goldfgn
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I use some car cleaner (I get the cheap stuff, but made for car use) and a couple of old bath towels. Others will get into more stuff, but that works for me. I generally wax it about every two months. I use a good name brand of wax. It seems to be easier to apply and last longer.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Don't use a sponge. It will hold grit on the surface and scratch your finish. Best is a wool wash mitt.

Use a car wash soap. Dish soap is high pH and will strip the wax. If you get the same brand soap and wax then you can be confident that they are compatible. (But I don't bother. I just pick quality brands which DO NOT include Armor All products.)

Start at the top and work your way to the botttom, rinsing the mitt often to release any grit.

Dry with 100% cotton towels. Well, that's my choice. Some people prefer a chamois. I also use one of those California water squeegees but still have to follow up with a towel.

Reply to
Hank Barta

That's true!

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Car wash soap, a bucket, two sponges (one for the rims, and for doing the grity areas around where you pop the hood, doors - sills, frames - etc... they get filled with grease and other crap... do those areas last, and rinse out that sponge a LOT, the other sponge should be larger sized for doing the body).

You will need a spray attachment for the garden hose, or a pressure washer to rinse the car (I go with the plain old hose and 30+ year old spraygun attachment I found in the garage... works fine)

For drying get two towels (either chamois, or cotton... I prefer a leather chamios) - same deal, one for the body (the good one) and one for the door sills, around the opened hood etc... the grity parts, which yes, should now be clean... but the chamois usually removes a bit of dirt too). Rinse these often in very clean water, then squease the water out.

You will also need a good wax - do this every 2-4 months as needed (when water doesnt bead). Remember to do around the doorframes, and door sills - this is where the most dirt/water accumulates, notice how cars rust there first!... clean and wax those areas.

Every year or so go around with some heavy grease and grease up the moving parts on the doors, trunk, hood etc...

You don't need a lot of soap or wax to do a good job, just time... It costs a fair bit of coin initially to get all your products, but they tend to last a while, and they don't run out at the same time, so it's not too bad... Cheaper then sending it out to the detailer (who doesn't love your car like you do, and is bound to do an inferior job to yourself)

Optional items are things like a good shop vacuum and the attachments for doing the interior vacuuming... a steam cleaner is really nice for the carpets.

My rundown:

-Rinse

-Soap body with big sponge

-Open doors, hood, trunk

-Use small sponge on door sills, door frames, trunk frame, trunk sill, hood sill, sides of hood, rims

-Rinse, spray lots of water in the door panel gaps

-Dry body with chamois

-Dry doors/door sills.... etc with chamois #2

-Wax body panels (dont do the whole car, work by areas)

-Wax doors, sills etc...

-Use a very very soft cloth to buff the whole car

-Vacuum interior

-Apply plastic cleaners, chrome cleaners, lens cleaners etc...

-Check tire pressure

-Grease doors if needed

Without waxing I can be done in under 2 hours, easy... I've done it in under an hour before

With vacuuming and waxing etc... it can be almost 3 hours... Feel free to omit steps you don't feel necessary at the present time of course.... I don't always clean the engine compartment around my hood ;-).

Reply to
Rob Guenther

I use separate buckets to hold the wash and rinse water. Rinse the wash mitt often to get the dirt out. Artificial chamois towels are good, as are heavy duty micro fiber towels (the latter are great for buffing wax off).

Meguiar's No. 26 is good wax for a decent price, but I usually coat and wax first with Klasse, a German two -step acrylic wax that lasts a long time. Then I top it with the No. 26.

Also, wash your car out of direct sunlight when the paint is still cool.

Reply to
Ken Sternberg

||I never washed my car myself but with the New Beetle I want to give ||it a bath, personally. || ||However, I don't have any thing except the tire cleaner spray and the ||chrom cleanser. What else would I need beside a sponge and a bucket?

Best thing I've found for cleaning is a long-bristle horsehair brush. Gets into crevices and does not hold grit and scratch the paint like a sponge or a mitt. If you cannot find one of those, look for one of the synthetic brush heads used on those carwash brushes that attach to a grden hose. Get the pro grade brush and it will have a finer bristle at the tips that is easy on the paint. If you have to use a sponge, dip it in the soapy water, wash a section, then wash the hose off with your hose before sticking it back in the bucket. The soapy solution with last longer and stay much cleaner, plus you won't be putting the dirt back onto the finish. For car wash soap and wax, it's hard to beat anything by McGuiar's (sp). Also worthy of consideration is the 3M car care products, which is their professional product in smaller containers. Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

Like Rex, I have found that a brush works great. In addition, it's much faster than using a rag or sponge and you don't bust your fingers up as much. You can do a quick wash in about 5 minutes if you have to. I got one of those synthetic brushes that attaches to a hose. However, I found that it's much easier to use it without the hose. I got it at Walmart for about $12. I had to use epoxy to glue the brush onto the shaft because it kept unscrewing as I used it. I use an old dish rag for the rockers and wheels and do them last, of course. I also use a car washing soap that I got a Walmart. It's one that DOESN'T have wax in it (who wants waxed windows?). A presoak with dilute Simple Green helps remove the bugs on the bumper/grille. Let's see... what else...As someone else said, Meguiars 26 is good. It lasts a LONG time and for a lazy person like me, that's just fine. A chamois or pseudochamois works well to minimize water spotting. A small (eg 1 inch) paint brush will work well to clean around emblems, etc.

Bill

78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
Reply to
William Maslin

It does. I've also used old toothbrushes.

sd

Reply to
sd

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