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Looking for a good engine bay cleaner; the engine is currently out and the bay is FILTHY (looks like there was an oil leak that got oil everywhere, and the guy had bad axles the slung a bunch of grease in the lower part. Any suggestions? I'm hoping for something I can just spray around in there and let sit for an hour or so, then hose it down to get it cleaned out.
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Jul 9, 2014 03:36
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Simple Green Extreme is safe for aluminum, but I wouldn't let it sit for an hour. This was just Simple Green Extreme + a crappy electric power washer:   It had like 3 months to dry out, though. 
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Jul 9, 2014 03:58
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Bajaha posted:Did some detailing yesterday Welp, I thought I had done a pretty good job on mine until I saw this.
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Jul 13, 2014 07:58
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MikeyTsi posted:Looking for a good engine bay cleaner; the engine is currently out and the bay is FILTHY (looks like there was an oil leak that got oil everywhere, and the guy had bad axles the slung a bunch of grease in the lower part. My normal technique is to use a load of that first, because anything it'll get off or thin down is something I don't need to use a much more expensive product on.
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Jul 13, 2014 09:39
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Are there solid black waxes out there? Everything I found on amazon is a liquid.
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Jul 13, 2014 14:16
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always be closing posted:Are there solid black waxes out there? Everything I found on amazon is a liquid.
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Jul 13, 2014 17:53
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InitialDave posted:When you say a "black wax", do you mean a wax that's good for black paint, or a wax that is itself black? Prerably one that is black, so it wont show as much in crevices etc.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:07
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always be closing posted:Prerably one that is black, so it wont show as much in crevices etc. If you're leaving gobs of wax on the car it's a procedural issue, not a product issue. And it's gonna look like poo poo no matter what product you use.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:09
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Motronic posted:If you're leaving gobs of wax on the car it's a procedural issue, not a product issue. And it's gonna look like poo poo no matter what product you use. Not gobs really just fine lines around trim and poo poo thats in total contrast to the paint cor. Anyways, any product like mentioned in the op for black cars?
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Jul 13, 2014 18:17
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Yep. Those "coloured" waxes you see in motoring stores are, basically, a con. On a modern clearcoat paint, they actually dull your colour compared to a normal wax, their only purpose is as a bodge to try and hide minor scratches. Wouldn't even do what you want, anyway, they usually dry a lighter shade, so you'd just have grey marks instead of white ones. Be careful, don't slap it on like an old lady's makeup, and mask off stuff you don't want to get wax on (3M's 3434 blue masking tape is really good). You want really thin coats, not a big crust of wax. If you do get any in panel gaps etc, try and get the worst out before it dries, and use a damp microfibre and some detailing spray to clean it up. always be closing posted:Not gobs really just fine lines around trim and poo poo thats in total contrast to the paint cor. Anyways, any product like mentioned in the op for black cars? InitialDave fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 18:17
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Motronic posted:If you're leaving gobs of wax on the car it's a procedural issue, not a product issue. And it's gonna look like poo poo no matter what product you use. This, plus the "color" waxes are used primarily to cover up defects. A properly polished car will look good regardless of the color with any reasonable set of product.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:17
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EVERYWHERE 
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Thanks for the posts! Ive been using nxt tech wax and it works great, just wanted to get an edge if I could.
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Jul 13, 2014 20:19
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Well, I doubt you'll get significantly better than the NXT in terms of product, so I'd say concentrate on your technique. But seriously, masking tape is really useful. Gave the Zoe its first detail today - claybar and wax. Nice to work on something with good paint that's relatively unmolested, really just dealing with transport detritus. Annoyingly, whoever pdi'd it got a bit of wax on the trim in a couple of places, and the first thing I did upon getting it home was scrub the world's flingiest dressing off the tyres. God, I wish dealers would just leave well alone, but I suppose it's my fault for not explicitly telling them not to do anything. Not that they'd have listened anyway. Also, apparently it's possible to get a car shiny enough that teenage girls walking past will stop to talk to you about how shiny it is. Why couldn't this be the case fifteen years ago dammit? I'm probably in their mother's target age range these days!
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Jul 14, 2014 00:04
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Yo, Ratbert what happened with that Subaru you were cleaning up?
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Jul 14, 2014 02:13
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BoyBlunder posted:Yo, Ratbert what happened with that Subaru you were cleaning up? I work for a 5 man company and ended up starting to work 60+ hours a week again. I started a new job recently with a pay increase of 120%, and as such I will be purchasing new suspension for the Suby and I know a guy who will paint it for around 600$ + paint, so expect updates in the next month! Thanks for asking, I appreciate it a lot! I am glad people are still interested in it.
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Jul 14, 2014 02:28
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Good for you man, glad to hear!
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Jul 14, 2014 18:52
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savesthedayrocks posted:Good for you man, glad to hear! Thanks! I now work out at the gigantic company right past downtown. At least for the next few months.
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Jul 15, 2014 06:58
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I've always skipped cleaning my engine bay because I was worried about loving something up, but recently I had to hose everything down to track down a coolant leak and realized it really isn't that bad. Assuming a fairly modern car (2000 - 2003), what exactly should I be protecting if I wanted to do a thorough detailing of the engine? When I hosed down my leaking coolant this past weekend, I just disconnected the negative terminal of the battery, covered my throttle body with a plastic bag since I had disconnected the intake, and did my best to avoid hitting my ignition coils. Do I really need to worry about anything electrical if I disconnect the battery and wait until everything dries?
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Jul 25, 2014 02:02
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MomJeans420 posted:I've always skipped cleaning my engine bay because I was worried about loving something up, but recently I had to hose everything down to track down a coolant leak and realized it really isn't that bad. Assuming a fairly modern car (2000 - 2003), what exactly should I be protecting if I wanted to do a thorough detailing of the engine? When I hosed down my leaking coolant this past weekend, I just disconnected the negative terminal of the battery, covered my throttle body with a plastic bag since I had disconnected the intake, and did my best to avoid hitting my ignition coils. Do I really need to worry about anything electrical if I disconnect the battery and wait until everything dries? As long as you're not using high-pressure water (and you shouldn't need to), don't worry about much. I've been using Zymol's Strik engine cleaner and, while a lot of Zymol's stuff is "meh," this engine cleaner is a nice, effective citrus-based degreaser that does a really good job. I've got it reduced in a spray bottle, and give the warm motor a good coating and let it sit about 10 minutes. Quick brush with a long spoke brush and a rinse and I've had really good luck with motors ending up looking fantastic. I would imagine any quality citrus-based degreaser would work the same way.
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Jul 25, 2014 02:13
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I'll have to find a citrus based degreaser. I have the spray foam Engine Brite or something similar right now, it did a decent job on a thermostat housing I had removed, but it wasn't incredible.
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Jul 25, 2014 18:32
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Yeah, engine bay cleaning isn't all that bad, most connections should be weather resistant and can take a splash of water fine, I've never gone as far as disconnecting a battery to wash the bay. Mostly you'd want to bag or shield stuff like the intake, if you have an aftermarket cone style intake, or really sensitive electrical connections but even then I've seen guys blast their engines with full pressure at a coin op car wash to no ill effect. I'd personally stick away from going full pressure crazy, but you know, to each their own. If you have a brush with long soft bristles it's great to agitate the gunk off an engine once you've applied whatever degreaser you're using. After a quick rinse going for a decent drive (10 mins or so) is usually enough to dry engine bay, afterwards I've generally found 303 aerospace protectant to be great for all the various rubbers and plastics in the engine bay.
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Jul 25, 2014 23:10
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Depends on the engine, depends on how bad it is. The Subaru I inherited? Full pressure washer, I bagged the alternator and any loose electrical plugs, and I disconnected the battery. After that it was full blast away! For normal cars? Regular garden hose after some degreaser.
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Jul 26, 2014 01:16
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I made the #1 detailing mistake today, being impatient. I had some sap or some yellow tarry poo poo on my <1 year old car and it wouldn't come off with goo gone and took a billion passes with a clay bar to get off. I started scraping it with my fingernail and now you can see pretty much everywhere I did that.  There are stains from bird poo poo in a few spots as well, so I'll have to put the PC buffer to use at some point in the future and see if it can be corrected. Overall the car looks pretty good after washing, claying, and waxing over about 5 hours.  I'm loving beat.
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Jul 26, 2014 19:12
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That doesn't sound too bad. Try a good compound -> multi step polish -> glaze to hide the tiny imperfection. Also for engine bay cleaning, scrubbing bubbles and a quick rinse has always worked for the show car guys out here.
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Jul 26, 2014 20:39
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Clayed/waxed my car for the first time ever. Less hassle than I expected. Pain in the rear end to see the wax as you apply it on a silver car though.    Kinda needs a polish, but decent enough for a track car. Is there any trick to getting off baked on brake dust? I got the majority of it off but there's a ring around the inside edge of the lip I can't get off.
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Jul 28, 2014 01:46
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So, I'm hoping this is the right place, and goons can offer their insight. I recently purchased a used 2012 Toyota as a DD, and the only downside (other than being a Prius - so practical it hurt, sorry!)is it has lovely dealer installed vinyl pinstripes on it. They have to go. Looking around on the internet, The 3M eraser wheel seems to get good reviews and seems easy enough. Does anyone have any experience using it, or any other recommendations for removing vinyl pinstripes? Also, after removing them, I'm guessing the paint might be noticeably less faded on the areas under the pinstripes? Any suggestions on evening up the paint if this is the case?
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Jul 28, 2014 12:40
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For pinstripes/company logos/dealer vinyled vehicles, I usually take my time with a heat gun and some goo-gone. I'd be afraid of using something like that if you don't have a barrel of experience with polishers. Looks like an easy way to burn the paint if you're not careful. You likely don't have any crazy amount of fading with a truck that new, but if there is, I've had success with Meguiars Ultimate compound/polish.
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Jul 28, 2014 13:11
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I've heard good things about the eraser wheels, but they scare me. For vinyl stripes, especially something so new, I'd use a heat gun and pull them right off and follow up with a quick wipe of Goo Gone like SlimManFat said. Also, I agree, probably no fading issues at all. Basically, yeah, what SlimManFat said.
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Jul 28, 2014 14:29
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Attentively, go to your local coin op car wash and blast it with high pressure at a shallow angle, usually works best when you get a corner up before you start. I think I spent about 3-4 minutes blasting off the hilariously oversized dealer vinyl's and plastic badging off the back of my Veloster.
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Jul 28, 2014 15:04
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I scrubbed the hell out of the instrument panel and the streaks remained. PlastX worked well though. It was a pain to get a good polish due to the angle and location, so there's still more work to do. In the mean time, I can see the messages clearly, and I've got the stuff do to more plastic polishing.
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Jul 28, 2014 18:49
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what wheel cleaning product(s) do you guys like? I had some extremely dusty (stock) pads for the last 4 months and it exhausted my stash. I'm ready to try something new.
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Jul 30, 2014 22:25
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Lamar Smith R-TX posted:what wheel cleaning product(s) do you guys like? I had some extremely dusty (stock) pads for the last 4 months and it exhausted my stash. I'm ready to try something new. Whatever you use, a good wheel sealant will make life much easier for you going forward.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:00
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Sonax was really popular from what I saw, pricey but it seems like it works pretty good. I've used TurtleWax F21 wheel cleaner (it's in a neon green spray bottle) and it seemed to work wonders on brake dust. Pretty cheap too from what I remember.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:07
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Which porter cable bundle on autogeek do you guys recommend?
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Jul 30, 2014 23:34
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Bajaha posted:Sonax was really popular from what I saw, pricey but it seems like it works pretty good. I've used TurtleWax F21 wheel cleaner (it's in a neon green spray bottle) and it seemed to work wonders on brake dust. Pretty cheap too from what I remember. Yeah I ended up grabbing a bottle of Sonax "full effect" cleaner, some people on bimmerforums recommended it. pretty excited to see this color change they talk about actually take place.. haha
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Jul 31, 2014 00:43
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Google Butt posted:Which porter cable bundle on autogeek do you guys recommend? I don't like autogeek's product or service. Chemical Guys, on the other hand, have been nothing but awesome for me. Their pad cleaner works great. Their "regular" buffing polish works great. Their Hex pads work great and clean up nicely. Their urethane backing pad for the PC is so much better than the stock one, I'm mad at myself for not changing to it earlier. Prices look to be competitive with autogeek. http://www.chemicalguys.com/Chemical_Guys_HOL_668_Porter_Cable_7424XP_Kit_p/hol_668.htm
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Jul 31, 2014 00:46
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Google Butt posted:Which porter cable bundle on autogeek do you guys recommend? I bought the $200 bundle where you choose your pads. You just missed a 15% off no exceptions sale, so unless you absolutely need it right now, you might wait. They run sales about once a month. There will likely be something around Labor Day. The most I've seen is 20% off, but that usually excludes polishers. I've always had great service from Autogeek. Chemical Guys are awesome too, really good service from them as well.
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Jul 31, 2014 11:18
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Lamar Smith R-TX posted:Yeah I ended up grabbing a bottle of Sonax "full effect" cleaner, some people on bimmerforums recommended it. "I wonder if I have a stuck caliper?" 
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Jul 31, 2014 14:44
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Google Butt posted:Which porter cable bundle on autogeek do you guys recommend? Take a look at Detailers Domain. They have a Griots 6" kit with 5 pads, a bunch of microfiber, and 3 Menzerna products for $350ish. There's a few coupons floating around so you can easily get that knocked down to around $310 shipped.
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Jul 31, 2014 14:53
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Lamar Smith R-TX posted:what wheel cleaning product(s) do you guys like? I had some extremely dusty (stock) pads for the last 4 months and it exhausted my stash. I'm ready to try something new. Sonax. Chinatown posted:So I bought a bottle of Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner after hearing about it online and god drat is this poo poo amazing.
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Jul 31, 2014 17:01
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