Re: Undercarriage detailing
I have the same thoughts as you about that. Sure on a ordinary road I can understand it if not anything happens. Would like to see the impact on the cars break length though and the handling on wet roads and when you drive more aggressive. Maybe if that slick layer wears of fast and the thing 303 does to softerner the rubber is the meaning of it I can see it benefit. But that needs some serious testing before I would take the chance of useing it that way. It sure does to be great on rubber to other parts. The 303 rubber seal protectant is incredible on the door seals.
Re: Undercarriage detailing
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Coleroad
i saw the video you`re talking about. I know he said that it doesn`t affect traction, but ...
..[individual]...staggers from wrecked car, facing a lifetime of lawsuits, thinking "but that guy on the internet said it`d be OK".
There have been rare, but documented, cases where a carwash`s tire-slime has caused customers to wreck, or at least contributed. Yeah, we`re all better than that, but still....heh heh, tell that to the non-autopians in court.
Not entirely dissimilar to what happened when I let IUDJ get on brake rotors, thinking "eh, it`s just QD and will wear off the second the pads make contact". NO IT DID NOT, the braking distance was *significantly* impacted for one stop, enough that it could`ve been a life-changer.
I`d keep slippery stuff off of things that require friction.
Re: Undercarriage detailing
I hope it`s not against protocol to revive an old thread. If so, my apologies.
Those of you who use a spray wax under the car, do you spray it everywhere or are there parts you avoid (exhaust comes to mind)? I`m not a spray wax user -- is there one that holds up particularly well for this application?
Re: Undercarriage detailing
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dmath
I hope it`s not against protocol to revive an old thread...
Quite the opposite! I love it when that happens :D
Quote:
Those of you who use a spray wax under the car, do you spray it everywhere or are there parts you avoid (exhaust comes to mind)? I`m not a spray wax user -- is there one that holds up particularly well for this application?
I usually just spritz the SprayWax onto whatever towel I`m drying/wiping it with. I`m not really trying to "give it a proper wax job" under there; any "waxing" (scare-quotes kinda intentional) is pretty minimal. But not, IME, so minimal as to be worthless. Even on vehicles that I`ve never LSPed properly (underneath), the repeated use of a SprayWax results in a buildup of product that keeps it cleaner and *really* helps make future cleanups a lot quicker/easier. Note that I only clean my undercarriages/etc. with (a pretty strong dilution of) regular shampoo, so it`s not like I`m stripping the SprayWax completely every time I wash the way my APCs used to do.
IMO the trick is to get things really clean first. Maybe even go over the easily accessible areas with some kind of AIO/Paint Cleaner/etc. and maybe even a proper LSP. (NO worries if that AIO/LSPing is too extreme, it`s not *really* necessary for decent results.) Then just do a quick cleaning with shampoo mix and a quick rinse during the regular wash, and dry things off by wiping with a SprayWax-misted towel. Keep at it and the results will get more impressive over time, and I bet you`ll appreciate how easy it is to keep things nicer than you ever thought possible..well, possible with so little work.
The SprayWaxes I use are Meguiars D156/Ultimate Quik Wax and Optimum Car Wax. Both work about the same for this application, neither has ever given me any issues.
After a while, during washes when the underneath isn`t really dirty you can just clean it with a good RW. That`s when you might *really* appreciate what the SprayWaxing does.
I find good BHBs *very* helpful for the underneath, including for the RW approach. The bristles get into areas that`d be hard to access with a mitt/towel.
Re: Undercarriage detailing
Thanks for the information -- I appreciate the help. Brushes are a good idea for washing off the Wisconsin winter (which lasted well into April this year).
Re: Undercarriage detailing
dmath- Just be sure to use the *right* brushes for the various kinds of work. Boar`s Hair, plastic, and other materials can all have their proper, and IMproper uses.
Re: Undercarriage detailing
Hadn`t thought about different brushes for various car cleaning tasks. Is there a brush primer somewhere that will tell me the dos and don`ts?
Re: Undercarriage detailing
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dmath
Hadn`t thought about different brushes for various car cleaning tasks. Is there a brush primer somewhere that will tell me the dos and don`ts?
Eh, not that I`m aware of.
A few sorta-random tips follow:
-Use natural-bristle brushes on surfaces where marring could be a concern, and soak them in [liquid] before use to soften them up
-Boar`s Hair rinses cleaner easier than anything else I`ve ever tried; OTOH some [stuff] won`t clean off synthetic bristles
-GOOD quality BHBs can be too gentle for aggressive cleaning, at least if used properly
-BHBs can be made more aggressive by cutting the bristles back to 1) eliminate the usual flagged tips and 2) provide the "shorter is stiffer" effect
-Dirt won`t "migrate up the bristles, safely away from the paint"; like anything else, once a brush gets dirty it`s a scratch machine
-Flow-through brushes aren`t great IMO because flowing water (as opposed to a better cleaning solution) just rinses away any cleaner and I want all the mechanical agitation finished before I rinse
IMO it`s best to let the cleaning solution do the work rather than relying on scrubbing hard with a brush. I want the mechanical agitation to help the cleaning process, not become the primary aspect of it. So..cleaner softens the contamination up and starts to disconnect it from the surface, then the brush helps whisk it away, then you rinse off the now-clean surface. Or at least that`s the best-case-theory, as opposed to "the mechanical agitation from the brush scrubs all the dirt off" being the idea. But, IRL what works best is kinda in-between, at least IME when it comes to daily drivers.