Car cleaning products

[KenM]

Being a grumpy bastard, I'm normally completely impervious to advertising and promotions of all sorts. I happily give the flick wave to people in shopping centres hawking all manner of bollocks, however this afternoon I let my guard down for a sec and found myself listening to this fellow who was flogging this spray cleaning/wax stuff called FW1. He gave me this demo on my filthy landcruiser and managed to get the outside of my side mirrors looking beautiful and scratch free I must say, so I had a moment of weakness and bought a can of this stuff. I'm looking forward to testing it on the benz on the weekend, it's supposed to remove bugs and road grime, which I have, and has the all important carnauba wax as well. What can go wrong?
The grump may smile yet...

[KenM]

Well I've given this stuff a go, it seems to have polished up quite well, hasn't done a lot for removing road grime etc but it seems a reasonable option if you don't have time for the whole wash/clay bar/wax and polish thing or if you are on a water saving trip.
Here are some before and after pics.









and one for good luck, forgot to do the rims

[Necrosis]

Nice sheen to her, as for your attitude type Im the same

"Wait there is more!"

Me "No more your invading my eardrums you f#$^" lmao

[oscar]

Does it shine free steak knives as well

I'm the same too.  I growl at hawkers usually, swear at telemarketers or give the phone over to the kids when it's an overseas caller.  But I have faltered more than once.  In a half drunken state I once paid $5 for a blunt pocket knife multi tool thing from a peddler in a pub preying on half drunk unsuspecting pub goers.  Man I was fuming the next day!

FWIW Ken the pics are small but the shine does look crisp.  I haven't done a polish in a long time but for chrome and trim I just love Autosol for the once a year and Never Dull Wadding by Eagle One for the in betweens.  For the quick clean of duco without water I've previously used detailing spray from Meguiars which worked really well but I dare say there's an old home recipe of sorbolene, sugar soap and a twist of lemon that could do the same thing.  I think some of these products can be a bit overpriced based on hype and popularity, but if a hawker has got something that works and is cheap, it's hard to beat.  Even if you feel morally cheap and used after buying said product it might be worth it.

[flutes]

Home recipe of sorbolene, sugar soap and a twist of lemon?  I'd be a bit nervous on this in case I got the quantities incorrect and damaged something accidentally.  Any chemists care to weigh in on this one?

[oscar]

Completely tongue in cheek that concoction.  Not sure what the effects would be, just a vague reference to home cleaning recipes which reminds me of something I heard on the radio recently about some latest book for homemade cleaning recipes where the commentator said the authors of such books must have shares in vinegar and bicarb of soda producing companies.  LOL.

[flutes]

Thank god for that I thought you were serious!  Sugar soap is alkaline, which will etch glass, permanently, if left on for any period of time.  I'm sure chrome and aluminium would suffer if it wasn't washed off thoroughly and immediately!

[KenM]

Oscar, good pub story, very funny. I got taken by some prick flogging 'reconditioned' power tools a few years ago, naturally I got my planer home and found it fell apart at the first use. I keep a picture of it to remind me of what a tool I can be. I had a couple of JW's at my door yesterday and being in a bit of a pooey mood I gave it to them with both barrels, cheered me up a bit.
I have no doubt that this stuff I bought is probably just OK, I have heard good things about Autosol and do plan to buy some, supposed to be good for the polished aluminium.
As you can see by the size of the pics I'm still on L plates with this picasa thing, we'll get there.