Cleaning & DetailingA lot of Ford addicts are obsessed with the way their car look and how it stands out from other vehicles on the road. Cleaning and detailing go a long way to get your car looking top notch. Share you product experiences and let us know your recommendations.
I currently suffer from OCD. The good news is that it only pertains to my truck. At least once a week I like to wash and vaccume. Every month I like to use a spray detailer and really get the inside good as new. I would liket to go over some techniques and products which I currently use...
Exterior:
Armor All Wheel Cleaner, for wheels I use the soft side of a sponge. I use the same product on the actual tires except I use a hard bristle brush. Rinse, then allow to dry and apply Armor All Tire Shine. After letting this soak in for 15 minutes, I will rinse again and wipe with a terry towl. This prevents streaks from the shine.
Armor All Auto Wash for the exterior with a sheep skin mit. I follow up with a good drying with a chamoi. Depending on what shape it is in, i will either use Turtle Was ICE wax on the paint and exterior plastic moldings/bumpers. If it is between waxing, I will use Turtle Wax Spray Detailer.
Then the windows get a aresol glass cleaner with amonia.
Under the hood I will use either Gunk Engine Bright, or Simple green.
Interior:
I start with a good vaccume and use the brush attatchment and cover everywhere I can. I will use the simple green on the plastic interior areas, sometimes with a soft bristle tooth brush. After vaccuming, I Armor All the interior by applying to a micro fiber towel, and wiping on. This allows a more even coat. Then the same class cleaner for the interior glass. If there is a stain, I will use Armor All Upolstry Cleaner, but this works slightly at best. Last step, I will deoderize the interior by leaving a exposed bowl of baking soda in over night. Or I will just use Febreeze Auto.
If you are like me, then you do your best to hide all wires. I like to have my cabin look more like a cockpit... XM, Navigation, radar detector... All are neatly placed with the wires behind the dash.
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for either interior or exterior cleaning. I do have a hard time in the texture of the dash, but I do not want to scrub and mark up the interior. Does anyone have any ideas or products they would recomed? Here is how I rate the products, 1 - 10, 10 being best...
Armor All Wheel Cleaner (8) Takes some scrubbing
Armor All Tire Foam (7) A mid level of shine
Armor All (8) Does fade and streak
Armor All Car Wash (9) No complaints
Napa Glass Cleaner (9) No complaints
Engine Bright (foam/gel) (8/9) Gel is great on verticle surfaces
Turtle Wax Spray Detailer (8) No complaints
Turtle Wax Synthetic Paste Wax (10) Great for plastic, no white residue
Turtle Wax Liquid Polish (8) Same as spray detailer
Rain X (10) Never use wipers again, for a while
Febreze Auto (8) Great stuff, if you like the smell
Armor All Carpet and Upholstery (2) Nice smell, thats all
Simple Green (9) Good proportioning, multiple uses
Hope this helps you choose what products to use. Of course, its all personal opinion rite now, whats yours?
i am under the impression that once you stop using armor all on your dash it only lives so long before it cracks, (this is not a professional opinion) this is what i have been told be a few different people when i stopped driving my 82 bronco and left it for 2 years, when i came back to it big cracks in most of the stress spots.
i am under the impression that once you stop using armor all on your dash it only lives so long before it cracks, (this is not a professional opinion) this is what i have been told be a few different people when i stopped driving my 82 bronco and left it for 2 years, when i came back to it big cracks in most of the stress spots.
sounds like it could be true, although there are many reasons for cracks... fortunatly for me, I will only stop when I become a parapaliegic, even then, my dash is molded plastic, so no worries.
personally I dont use ANY! over the counter products... and I deem turtle wax to be probally one of the worst out there... now some people swear by it.. me? I have been detailing cars for 8 years as a side job and I would never touch one of mine or customers cars with their stuff... I would recommend any Zaino product except their swirl remover... Meguires Pro lvl swirl compounds are pretty damn good *cant generally get the compounds at a store* and chemical bros paste wax is pretty good stuff if you feel like paying for it.... By far Zaino is the longest lasting wax I have ever used... good 6 months of protection.. but I personally wax every 2 washes
Armor all does not crack dashes, false info. I have known people to use it on cars since it first hit the market and still own the car with the same dash!
What cracks the dashes is Sun damage, older cars were prone to this. No matter what protectant you use it still can crack if it is an older car and the dash is not protected with a Sun screen.
FYI... I do not use Armor All, I use another brand so I am not sticking up for something I use. I do have a bottle of Armor All I am using up right now cause I needed a cleaner out of state and bought Armor All cause I could not find my regular brand.
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Mark V
Look for me on the PS3 network, I am usually playing Uncharted 2 demo right now. My PS3 name is delorean6683
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