I live in an upstairs flat with a partner who grumbles if I need repeated buckets of water to wash the car so against my better judgement, it gets left to the "valeter" who does the company cars. A week ago his usual slapdash job was amplified by drying the coachwork with what appears to have been a Brillo pad. Every panel was scratched all over. Very noticeably indeed.

Nothing I could do, his word against mine and on raising the complaint he got very aggressive. (" I have been doing cars exactly the same way for 29 years.") Cars are finished with very different paints these days, as we all know!

  I spent a week of evenings and two weekend days with G3, Autoglym and Turtle wax and I have taken the worst of it out but with a four year old white car, it will need to be done again, probably twice.

I did manage to clean all the bits that don't usually get done, deep under the rubber trims and light fittings, all around the door handles and the gaps between bumpers and coachwork. Popped the towing eye cover and cleaned around that then waxed the whole car twice. The glass got pink Windolene and the black plastics smooth pb which has replaced Armour All as it works and lasts better and it doesn't ruin the windscreen either. Took the Summer mats out and fitted the rubber ones in time for the weather to change today. Thirty five hours work in all but it will not have been so deeply cleaned before, ever and it looks very well cared for. Most importantly though, the other half gets it. She felt my sheer fury for several days. Nobody else will be cleaning my car from now on and if I can find a voodoo doll with a sponge...

Very annoying.

I never let anyone clean my cars, most people have no idea how to do it properly to avoid the fine swirly scratches.

I'd kept my previous 2016 Fiesta absolutely immaculate. Took it for a service at the local Ford dealers and told them not to clean it for me after the service.

Went to collect it and was told they have washed and waxed it, was horrified.

Fortunately they seemed to have washed it ok without damaging the paint but every bit of black trim was now covered in white wax. Took me two days to get it all off again.

I can recommend a soft pencil rubber (needed 4 to get it all off of mine) if you have got wax on the black trim.

 

 

The kids will be wondering what Windolene is. 😉

 

The best black trim cleaner I have found is smooth and not crunchy. Cleans all the wax off and remains black and waterproof for weeks. Costs next to nothing (85p for 380G, Aldi.) Contains no silicones so doesn't do long term damage to the trim and doesn't smear on the windscreen. Windolene cream is the best glass cleaner, bar none. I don't worry about swirls at this time of year. Swirls are due to an excess of wax: your best protection against Winter.

23 hours ago, anon said:

Swirls are due to an excess of wax: your best protection against Winter.

By swirls I meant fine scratches in the paint caused by incorrect washing techniques. You won't get them out with a wax.

 

By swirls, I mean excessive wax.  Scratches are called scratches, no matter how they get there.

On 9/27/2021 at 6:50 PM, Blatto said:

Very annoying.

I never let anyone clean my cars, most people have no idea how to do it properly to avoid the fine swirly scratches.

I'd kept my previous 2016 Fiesta absolutely immaculate. Took it for a service at the local Ford dealers and told them not to clean it for me after the service.

Went to collect it and was told they have washed and waxed it, was horrified.

Fortunately they seemed to have washed it ok without damaging the paint but every bit of black trim was now covered in white wax. Took me two days to get it all off again.

I can recommend a soft pencil rubber (needed 4 to get it all off of mine) if you have got wax on the black trim.

 

 

I am the same as you regarding car cleaning.

Just occasionally I will get wax on the black trim, I find one of the high quality black trim cleaners hides the wax marks and because it puts a thin coating onto the black trim helps it to repell any future wax additions

Armourall is one of the products and Maguires also make a good one

16 hours ago, anon said:

By swirls, I mean excessive wax.  Scratches are called scratches, no matter how they get there.

Swirls are fine micro scratches that do not penetrate the clear coat and are generally only visible in direct sunlight.

You might think that but scratches are scratches whether they are fine, micro or through to the bone. 

I clean my car with a vacuum cleaner. It's quite gentle and safe.

If you're anything like me, you put off and put off cleaning because you know you have to spend ALL day cleaning. But what if I told you that there are several ways to clean no matter where you are cleaning, with household steamers for cleaning it will be much faster and easier, just read the article at the link above and you will find specific tips and ideas there to make your cleaning go like clockwork.