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Have any of you guys used the single bucket carwash products out there? I live in an apartment complex so I don't have access to a place where I can hook up a hose and wash my car. There is, however, a spigot on the side of one building where I could fill a bucket and then sponge down my car in front of my garage. Are these products any good or worth the money? My black car is just getting filthier and filthier.
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Mar 30, 2014 21:54
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ratbert90 posted:Single bucket car washes can be good for light amounts of dirt. If your car is really bad I suggest taking it down to a non-automated car wash and spraying it off there first with a high pressure nozzle and soap. DO NOT USE THEIR BRUSHES. Then you can bring it back home and do a single bucket car wash. Yeah, I'll usually stop by an automated, touchless wash or one of these places to rinse the car off before I hand wash it. I wish claybarring wasn't so tedious. The Mazda3 hatch has so much surface area.  Full Circle posted:I just did my first hand wash of the year since moving into an apartment. I used Optimum No Rinse with a bucket/gritguard and 4 microfiber towels. The whole process took under 20 minutes and had just as good results as when I had hose access and used normal wash liquid. That's the brand I've been looking at. Where did you pick yours up, and are there any coupons or discounts for Optimum stuff?
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Mar 30, 2014 23:58
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I wish I had a faucet and a hose at my apartment, but about the best I can do is rinseless carwash, clay barring, and this Ultima Paintguard Plus stuff. I'm not convinced it's any better than waxing, but it's super easy to apply at least.
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Nov 10, 2014 07:54
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meatpimp posted:
Sorry I'm just jumping into this thread but is there a link to this ceramic coat kit? I'm curious. And any walkthroughs on using it? I've watched a few videos on what's involved in applying these coatings and it does look quite labor intensive, but the results are awesome. Also, probably 10-12 years ago I bought this Mr. Clean AutoDry carwash kit that had a replaceable resin DI water filter for final rinses so that you wouldn't get water spots. I recently found it in my parents' garage, but of course I don't have a filter for it and it appears they are long out of production. Is there an inline or small/portable/inexpensive option for spot free rinsing?
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Jan 29, 2019 01:29
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Yeah my 10+ year old windshield has a lot of pitting... I wonder how much a new one will run me.
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Feb 15, 2019 08:13
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Scott808 posted:To add on to this, I've been going on one application of Aquapel for about 2 years now. I cleaned my glass with Duragloss Nu Glass before application. Maybe it's just the mobile app, but that link doesn't seem to go to your post, for me.
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Feb 20, 2019 16:53
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Scott808 posted:To add on to this, I've been going on one application of Aquapel for about 2 years now. I cleaned my glass with Duragloss Nu Glass before application. After reading a little on windshield polishing, I think, after I refresh my suspension, I'm going to borrow my friend's DA, polish the windshield and apply some aquapel. However, looking on Amazon there are a ton of sellers and multipacks but they look suspiciously like counterfeit goods. So, where did you buy yours? It looks like Autopia sells it.
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Feb 22, 2019 21:30
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toplitzin posted:I bought the 3 pack on amazon from HVACR tool supply. I guess we'll find out if they are good or not. I'd like to know if yours works out and seems authentic. The price on Amazon for those packs seems good.
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Feb 22, 2019 21:50
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I can't help you but is that a clear wrap or color?
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Apr 23, 2019 23:55
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In spite of my neglect, the results are pretty good when I finally get around to doing a wash, clay bar, and seal. I don't want to own a black car again. 
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May 5, 2019 15:48
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Yeah I'm pretty sure that it already got dusty with a light breeze and the garage door open.
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May 5, 2019 18:50
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I've watched a few videos by some English (Irish?) car detailer who does some exhausting work. For the casual, how is a foam cannon used? Is it in place of a bucket of soapy water, or is it some sort of soak before you then come back with a sponge/mit and bucket of soapy water? The way this guy used it seemed to be a separate step, among many others, before he actually touched it with his hands.
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May 24, 2019 06:00
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What's the implication between snow foam and rust formation? Wouldn't more rust mean that the foam stripped off whatever oil or protective coating was on the metal? Is that bad?
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May 24, 2019 07:38
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I bet your gas one requires more maintenance and upkeep for a task you don't do very often.  Like, sure my old gas mowers were potentially more powerful and easier to refuel, but the carburetors kept getting gummed up and having to be serviced. What is a one hour job with my battery powered 40V Ryobi mower would take me two to three hours to do with my gas mowers after accounting for dealing with hard to start/stalling/disassembling the carb and cleaning it out. Maybe if the gas mowers had a fuel cutoff or petcock or we had ethanol free fuel it wouldn't have been as big of a problem. Who can say? Good riddance.
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May 28, 2019 18:24
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Red_Fred posted:I had the idea the other night to ceramic coat my wheels as they get covered in brake dust very quickly (the fronts within a day or two of washing). Does anyone have any recommended products? I've never ceramics coated before and do plan to do the rest of the car but only once I'm better at polishing etc. My friend just picked up a Model 3 performance and immediately got a some PFP installed along with ceramic on the 20" wheels. He told me he was billed $275, in Austin, for the wheel off treatment. I'm trying to convince my gf to go ahead and do that with her TTS 20" wheels to try and make them raiser to clean. However. Really not clear how ceramic coatings prevent brake dust from sticking or make brake dust easier to clean off-- and with Regen braking set to max on the Model 3 I kind of question if he will even have that much brake dust to worry about.
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Jun 23, 2019 01:11
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BraveUlysses posted:whats the good product for clearing up the air conditioning stink? Ozium, maybe
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Aug 2, 2019 00:49
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toplitzin posted:Ozone? Ozium 805539 1-Piece Air Freshener & Sanitizer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0143M9KP6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_j63qDb1ZFBJJC
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Aug 2, 2019 01:06
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I wonder if an ozone machine would get the horrid BO funk smell out of my motorcycle leathers.
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Aug 2, 2019 22:31
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I'll have to research how you would actually do it, but I'm intrigued.
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Aug 3, 2019 04:50
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Here4DaGangBang posted:So, like a lazy fuckwit I left birdshit on my (black) car for some time and after giving its first wash in about a year the other day the paint looks raised in the area where the bird poo poo was, it's weird. I think you can slightly feel it with your finger too. I've been meaning to give the car a thorough going over with clay, polish, wax/sealant etc., but I'm guessing that's not going to fix this defect now. Experts, how boned do you think I am here? Try washing and the claybarring that part.
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Sep 2, 2019 04:02
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Okay, so I've finished my suspension work on my car, I think. I want to try my hand at polishing the windshield with a windshield polish kit and a borrowed DA buffer. Have any of y'all done this? Any suggestions? I don't really /need/ a new windshield, but it's scored enough from 10 years and 90k miles of driving that there's a lot of glare and stuff. Any product recommendations? Edit: And I guess, after I do that, I'd like to try Aquapel or a ceramic coating.
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Sep 27, 2019 04:38
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MrOnBicycle posted:From my understanding, to have any real effect you really need to use Cerium-Oxide with the proper pads and a ton of time on your hands. A rotary will work much faster than a DA. There are some good YouTube detailers that showcase this. I compounded the windshield on my Dads V70 with normal paint compound and it maybe removed the very lightest of scratches, as well as deep cleaning the window. His windshield is a perfect example of how quickly windshields get scratched on cars that are never washed. My 2010 car has much less scratches. Yeah I've watched a few videos of guys using various kits with cerium-oxide and a rotary polisher. Should I still be able to achieve good results with a DA assuming I have the correct rayon pad and polishing compound? I don't have a good idea of how long this type of thing would take to complete but I would love to have better optical clarity through the windshield, and a ceramic coat on the glass sounds like a good addition if it isn't all too expensive. Re: Aquapel on Amazon I couldn't figure out what to make of it. I saw the same mixed reviews. Single use original package Aquapel was crazy expensive but then there were sellers selling bulk packages for quite a discount. I couldn't tell if they were counterfeit or just someone reselling them under the table or something like that. I was tempted to try it when I first heard about it.
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Sep 27, 2019 22:12
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Yeah I was thinking about buying the bulk pack to apply to my shower glass. But first I need to find a good glass cleaner to remove the mineral and water spots. Halp
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Sep 27, 2019 23:38
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Where do you rent an ozone generator and how do you use it? I have a set of two-piece motorcycle leathers that have got some bad funk that i have not been able to clean. Presumably I have to put the leathers and generator in some sort of sealed compartment?
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Oct 7, 2019 07:02
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TheGoatTrick posted:I bought a brand new car that had been sitting on the dealer lot for a year. Coated it this weekend and used an iron remover during prep. Had to do three passes with the iron remover, but it saved a ton of time and effort when I clayed it later. What iron remover did you use? I bought a bottle of the Meguiar's Mirror Bright wheel cleaner from a local Pepboys for, I want to say $6, that had a iron removing formula. I think the price was pretty good in comparison to other wheel cleaners I've used, but I only got 3-4 car washes out of it and I can't find it stocked locally anymore. I had read about using it to clean paint, but there wasn't enough volume to try it on that.
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Dec 16, 2019 03:46
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Does anyone in here have experience vinyl wrapping interior trim or is there a more appropriate thread to ask questions in? Long story short, I ordered an Android Auto head unit for my MS3 and I think I will want to vinyl wrap the trim kit/bezel to match the gloss black of the trim. The trim kit doesn't look too complicated so I hope I could do a half decent job. It looks like the 3m 1080 series gloss black vinyl is fairly inexpensive and will be good for this use. Where should I look to buy it (or another brand) to avoid getting some counterfeit good? Is there anything else I should watch out for?
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Jan 24, 2020 00:35
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meatpimp posted:I used 3M 1080 for blacking out the chrome trim on my BMW wagon. Definitely pay the extra for the legit 3M stuff. For the amount you're looking at, the price is negligible. It goes on easy, is very workable, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing a body panel myself, but inside trim I'd do without hesitation. Just have a heat gun to warm it up when you need it to bend/stretch a bit more than it wants to give straight away. I got mine on eBay from a high-volume seller and it was legit. Cool, thanks! Do you need any special tools or squeegees to do the job, or will a plastic credit card or something like that so the trick?
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Jan 24, 2020 06:12
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meatpimp posted:Sorry, missed this question. Get the cheapo plastic scraper/squeegees from Amazon/HF/Aliexpress and that's all you need. Credit card works, but the squeegees are more flexible and cost next to nothing. I got it done without a squeegee, it's not perfect, but it works. However, the orange peel in the 3m gloss black vinyl is pretty bad. That's kind of disappointing. Also, it looks like I was shipped the 3M 2080 vinyl instead of 1080. A quick googling says that the 2080 is apparently easier to install? I'll have to take some photos of the installation in daylight, but here is my first attempt. Getting those rounded inside corners right was difficult and there is a little wrinkling. I could probably try to redo it, but whatever. 
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Feb 5, 2020 00:45
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Another option is to quickly mask it off with painters tape and paper, and then just use a can of rattlecan plastidip to spray it. That's what I did on my mom's 2001 Tacoma many years ago. It held up for a decent amount and looked better than the faded/discolored overfenders. There is also some products that will restore the color of oxidized body plastics. Something like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Meguiars-Ultimate-Black-Restorer-Protect/dp/B0055PD1H4 Edit: I misunderstood the question. Nevermind.
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Feb 7, 2020 00:13
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MomJeans420 posted:Auto Geek has a 25% off coupon for today only - FOOL2020 meatpimp posted:Nice, thanks. I was able to grab https://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-m27-pro-hybrid-ceramic-sealant-16.html for $31 after shipping, which is about the lowest right now. I'm anxious to see how it does. With the shelter-in-place thing I hunkered down and did a full detail of my car. Although, I don't have D/A or any mechanical polishing tools, I could at least, do a fairly good job of hand washing, claybarring, a rudimentary polish, along with patching some paint chips with Dr. Colorchip. Then I went ahead and spent way too much money at Autogeek with the above coupon and just finished putting two coats of this M27 hybrid ceramic sealant on my car. The results seem pretty good, although I haven't taken the car of the garage in a while and my lighting in the garage is garbage. I wonder if I could've gotten away with trying my hand at applying an actual ceramic coating. The car has some swirl marks and whatever else, but I don't really care-- it will mostly live outside because I can't fit two cars in the garage, and my fiance has a much newer TTS that gets the garage spot. So if a true ceramic coat would make it much easier to keep clean and wash off pollen, maybe it would've been worth the effort. I think this is after applying the first coat:  This is 24 hours after the first application and just wiping off the second coat. It's hard to photograph, but the Mazda metallic black mica is pretty nice when super clean:  After this second coat cures, I'm going to wash and claybar the TTS and then do some touch up paint on some rock chips on the hood and put this sealant on it, too.
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Apr 12, 2020 01:03
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opengl128 posted:Looks great, and kind of crazy I instantly recognized it as a MS3 just from those body lines. I sort of wish I was able to find a metro gray MS3, simply because keeping a black car clean is impossible. Arson Daily posted:I used an iron decon for the first time today. Jesus that stuff smells terrible! Also used megs professional sealant 2.0 and am really impressed how easy that stuff is to work with. Had my car washed, clayed, polished and sealed in less than 2.5 hours. Yeah iron decon smells loving horrible. I wear my my N95/VOC respirator when I use that stuff, now.
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Apr 13, 2020 05:50
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FilthyImp posted:Ok, so with all the free time I've washed, claybarred and waxed the cars. Is the hybrid ceramic all its cracked up to be?? My shoulder hurts from excessive applications of elbow grease, so I only use easy-to-apply sealants anymore. Previously I used this stuff: https://www.autogeek.net/ultima-paint-guard-plus.html Application of the M27 is very similar, a few dabs on a microfibre applicator pad, wipe it on, let it sit for a few minutes, and then wipe off. It has some sort of self-leveling component and doesn't really haze over, so removing any excess sealant isn't a big deal. The bottle says it cures over 24 hours and you can apply it in direct sunlight. I haven't driven in the rain, but it does feel extremely slick under my hand. For kicks I put it on my chipped/pitted windshield to see how it handles the rain, at some point. Bug guts wiped off extremely easily. I plan on keeping the MS3 at least until I can buy an EV truck of some sort, so that will be another few years it seems. I'm probably going to replace the windshield, and if I do that I want to try a glass ceramic sealant like the Gtechniq product line.
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Apr 14, 2020 17:28
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I thought diluted Simple Green was the pretty much standard engine bay degreaser.
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Apr 15, 2020 20:10
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My Fiance's TTS windshield got destroyed by a big rock on the freeway a few weeks ago, and she's getting a new one installed tomorrow, assuming Safelite actually shows up. I am very tempted to apply one of those ceramic glass coatings. Should I order the Gtechniq windshield/glass ceramic coating or is there something else out there that is better or cheaper or easier to apply with a very long lifespan? I have been meaning to replace the windshield on my Mazdaspeed3 so if the Gtechniq or other kit can do more than one windshield and isn't impossible to apply on new glass, I won't feel bad splitting the cost between two+ cars.
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May 7, 2020 05:40
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Got the new windshield installed on the TTS yesterday from Safelite. The glass has the Audi stamps so definitely got an OEM windshield. I also just ordered the Gtechniq G1/2 so I'll be trying out application of that soon. Wish me luck What should I do as far as prepping installation on a brand new windshield. It won't need any polishing. Do I just need to do an IPA wipe or something?
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May 14, 2020 21:44
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FilthyImp posted:This was forever ago but thanks. With all the Coronatime I decided to clay bar and clear our cars. I have a Chevy with black sparkle effect paint and I would live to get rid of the swirls before applying, but I don't think I trust myself to throw a pad and compound on my orbital sander. Car's 8 years old so it could probably do with some paint correction though. I hope it holds up. I applied it to both my fiance's white 2016 TTS and my metallic black 2009 MS3. Unfortunately between a too small two car garage, some junk, a motorcycle trailer and my motorcycle I can't fit both cars in the garage so my MS3 gets parked outside. Despite having a few weeks of dust and dirt the paint still beaded water in the rain..I need to do a hand wash and see how it holds up. It seems like it has done mostly a good job after I applied it to the windshield, too so that's really neat. I bought some Carpro eraser to prep her windshield for when the Gtechniq G1/g2 windshield coatings arrives. Hopefully that goes well.
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May 20, 2020 20:13
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I'm extremely disappointed with the Carpro FlyBy Forte windshield coating. I got a new windshield in November and saw it as a perfect time to try applying a ceramic glass coating. I had done the exact same thing on my fiance's TTS after she had to get her windshield replaced. For her car I used the Gtechniq G1(i think) and it was kind of a pain in the rear end to apply and then buff off with the second solution that it comes with. For both cars I cleaned the glass thoroughly, ran a claybar over it, and then used the Carpro Eraser as a final step before allowing it to try and applying the coating. The Gtechniq has been on the TTS since May and still works well. Water beads and slides off while driving. For the Carpro FlyBy Forte, I put it on around November 17. We didn't get much rain in central texas until very recently. The rain was so heavy at low speed that I had to use my wipers-- and by the time I got up to speed I found that the water didn't bead at all in the areas where the wipers passed. It's completely dead now. No sheeting or beading. I emailed the customer service desk and got a response of "Well you must have done something wrong, or something contaminated it before it cured", but it sat in my closed garage for probably 48 hours since we don't drive much. I just checked the reviews on the product again and found a number of people who had the exact same failure as me in as little as a month or two. I guess I'm not out too much money, but it is tedious to apply, and now I'm not sure if I'll have to use some cerium oxide polishing compound to remove any of the previous coating before I go back and apply the Gtechniq, this time. /end rant.
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Jan 6, 2021 08:39
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MrOnBicycle posted:Yeah mine didn't last very long neither. Don't remember exactly when it failed enough that I had to use wipers. I even polished the windscreen and used proper panel wipes etc. Lasted me maybe 4-5 months? The stock hydrophobic stuff on the front side windows is super good though, I wonder what it is. Yeah, so I need some tips on how to proceed? I don't have a rotary buffer, but I guess I need to polish off whatever coating remains from FlyBy Forte. Is there a better glass coating that sheets or beads off water at low speed, and will last longer than the month it lasted me?
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Jan 7, 2021 04:44
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MrOnBicycle posted:There probably are better coatings on the market. If I'm honest I don't know what it was that sold me on FlyBy forte, and I haven't looked into coatings for a year, so I'm a bit out if the loop. To be sure I'd polish off the old stuff (and any dirt and grime that the decontamination didn't get) so the new coating gets a proper chance. I'll probably give FlyBy forte another go since I don't want to throw it away. What sold me on FlyBy Forte was the application process for the Gtechniq G1. Basically, you apply -- I forget, 3 coatings of the ceramic coat fluid waiting some time in between, and then you come back with the second fluid in the kit to remove/buff off any haze. FlyBy, in contrast, only has one product that you put on several coats with, and then they tell you to buff offer any haze with the same applicator pad, I believe. The Gtechniq product hazed up pretty bad and gave me a sore shoulder by the time I managed to buff off all of the haze, but it's still working well.
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Jan 7, 2021 09:43
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MetaJew posted:I'm extremely disappointed with the Carpro FlyBy Forte windshield coating. I think I'm going to buy the Carpro Ceriglass kit and Gtechniq G1 and redo my glass coating. While browsing AutoGeek, I saw this spray sealant. Have y'all heard of it or used it? https://www.autogeek.net/blackfire-hydroseal-paint-coating.html
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Feb 14, 2021 06:37
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