Yeah alright, it does need doing, my once a year thing won't work up here as it gets anything in the air blown at it and mostly onto the roof and as the van is quite low on the front when parked it all ends up on the cab.
So what is your choice of poison when it comes to putting in the bucket of water please?
Common or garden car wash liquid gloop stuff. Warm water and one of those long extending brushes (around 10-15 quid from the local market or Ebay/Amazon).
Rinse off with garden hose on sprinkle setting.
Go around and dry windows and glass with microfibre towel.
Use fly + tar spot remover for ingrained crud. Black streak remover for...err...black streaks!
It used to take me all day G, hence the idea of stuffing it out of sight, Lidl used to sell some gloop that worked, might still have some, it also needs a good polish as it has some odd-looking dull patches.
I take 3 to 4 hours cleaning, but that includes moving stepladders around and having to wait for gaps in the main road traffic etc. I also clean under the bonnet and the rinsing involves flicking clear water onto the bodywork with an extendable squeegee before a more thorough wiping off with the squeegee, i.e. the sponge being immersed in the clean water bucket and then wrapped in the faux chamois leather to wipe the body clean [this avoids the soapsuds contaminating the clear water]. Then use a 2nd squeegee wrapped in a second faux chamois leather to wipe the body clean]. And then I polish the cab exterior, and the pavement side of the Van [do each side on alternate weeks; safer than running up a stepladder on the traffic side of the road!] I also try to wash the roof about every 2 or 3 weeks, including the Solar Panel, and spend time looking for any bodywork scratches from overhanging branches etc. I prefer to wait until I'm in the mood to clean Brunhilde, so that I can my time to do the work and quite enjoy it, rather than it becoming a chore [which cleaning the alloy wheels always is]
In previous times I would spend up to a day detailing my cars but I take much less trouble with the MH because it's so big and because of where we live (muddy roads etc). It still gets a regular clean but I'm not that fastidious. as long as the insides are clean for our use that's more important to me now.
Awful lot of chat about cleaning vans but not much real action as far as I can see.
Auto car wash €4 last week and for the last 40 years now the van has gone.
I would never use one for my car tbh as those whirly brushes are seldom if ever cleaned and are full of crud which gets ground into the paintwork of the car. Nor an issue if one was driving an old banger but not great for others.
i'm not sure my MH would fit in one either!!
I use the two bucket method when doing the car along with a grit guard. In winter I tend to jet wash it first to get the layers of crud off before hand washing. Tbh in winter it mostly only gets jet washed rather than hand washed due to the state of the roads.
Anyway, I just managed to wash the MH before the rain started again.
Our last car had been auto washed for 21 years and we got €1,400 for it. How much more would we have got for hand washing it all those years?
Our current Golf is now 18 years old and shines like new when auto washed.
It's all about what keeps you happy really Ray. Swirl marks when the sun is on the paintwork are what are caused by poor washing technique but 99.99% of cars have them and the same percentage of folks don't really care.
We have two very pedantic and paranoid friends who only use pure rain water and hand wash their BMWs. One is leased and must be returned in pristine condition and the other is just particular.
Both were amazed that our old cars had been auto washed all their lives but still would not deviate or try the auto machines.
If they are that pedantic Ray, wind them up and tell them they should use de ionised water really....
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