Red Car
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
Windows and Clear Plastic
Your "window" to the world is through your glass and dash gauges, here's how to make them sparkle.
Super Tip:
Avoid dry dusting dash gauge lenses at shows, this will put fine scratches in them faster than anything. Use a clay product (sometimes called "Quick Detailer" sprays) lightly on a soft cloth (don't spray the lens directly, it could run down into the gauge).
Glass and clear plastic
These are two completely different problems, so let's break them down:
Glass: 
We have all fought with re-appearing streaks and fog on the inside and outside of the glass in our car (and home). The problem most of the time is the type of cloth/paper we wipe the windows with. Typical paper towels just don't work for this type of job. Cloth is even worse, what a smeared mess!
What you need is the detailers secret (and almost totally free) method. Newspaper. Here is how I get a clean window. Use a good cleaner. I make my own from distilled water, a bit of ammonia and denatured alcohol. Use them in a 10-1 ratio of water to alcohol with just a splash of ammonia per gallon. Put it in a trigger spray bottle and coat the glass well. Then use a good paper towel. I like the blue paper "shop towels" that are in most discount stores. Wipe the windows down but not dry!
Next take a wadded up newspaper page and dry the window. Start by going around the edges, then wipe over the whole widow and repeat till gleaming. Do it again if you still see streaks and use a new newspaper. Remember to do both the inside and outside.
NOTE: Do not use the newspaper trick on aftermarket plastic widow tint, or on soft plastic windows or gauge/lens covers. It could leave fine scratches in the surface. It won't hurt glass.
A rubber squeegee works well outside, but makes a mess inside, and leaves water dribbling over the outside too, so the above newspaper trick works the best from what I have found.
What you need is the detailers secret (and almost totally free) method. Newspaper. Here is how I get a clean window. Use a good cleaner. I make my own from distilled water, a bit of ammonia and denatured alcohol. Use them in a 10-1 ratio of water to alcohol with just a splash of ammonia per gallon. Put it in a trigger spray bottle and coat the glass well. Then use a good paper towel. I like the blue paper "shop towels" that are in most discount stores. Wipe the windows down but not dry!
Next take a wadded up newspaper page and dry the window. Start by going around the edges, then wipe over the whole widow and repeat till gleaming. Do it again if you still see streaks and use a new newspaper. Remember to do both the inside and outside.
NOTE: Do not use the newspaper trick on aftermarket plastic widow tint, or on soft plastic windows or gauge/lens covers. It could leave fine scratches in the surface. It won't hurt glass.
A rubber squeegee works well outside, but makes a mess inside, and leaves water dribbling over the outside too, so the above newspaper trick works the best from what I have found.
Plastic gauges and plastic windows:
Here you do NOT want to use paper towels or newspaper. Treat these items like a fresh clear coat paint job. Use your softest polishing towels. Ones completely clean (remember never use or wash final polishing cloths with those used to compound or wash dirt off your car, keep the two types of shop "rags" separated, more on shop rags in the near future).
Meguires makes an excellent clear plastic polish that is an extremely fine cut polish. Used with care with a soft cotton polish rag like our 100% cotton polishing cloths, you will keep lenses looking like new for years. This product also works with taillight lenses and plastic headlights. Do NOT put products meant for vinyl on hard clear plastic.
Here you do NOT want to use paper towels or newspaper. Treat these items like a fresh clear coat paint job. Use your softest polishing towels. Ones completely clean (remember never use or wash final polishing cloths with those used to compound or wash dirt off your car, keep the two types of shop "rags" separated, more on shop rags in the near future).
Meguires makes an excellent clear plastic polish that is an extremely fine cut polish. Used with care with a soft cotton polish rag like our 100% cotton polishing cloths, you will keep lenses looking like new for years. This product also works with taillight lenses and plastic headlights. Do NOT put products meant for vinyl on hard clear plastic.
Super Tip:
Avoid dry dusting dash gauge lenses at shows, this will put fine scratches in them faster than anything. Use a clay product (sometimes called "Quick Detailer" sprays) lightly on a soft cloth (don't spray the lens directly, it could run down into the gauge).
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
How to Get Smells Out of Your Car
You have to think like a smell to get rid of them!
Last time I mentioned that one of the big no-no's in detailing is to use buckets of hot soapy water on your interior. That is one of the biggest creators of a sour smelling interior and it makes getting the smell out super hard. So, how do you think like a smell? People that are good at porting racing heads like to say they "think like air" when grinding and filling ports to make horsepower. They know that air moves in a certain way. Air moves in a car interior too. Smells come from one basic thing...moisture. Moisture creates mold and mildew. Spilled mustard is wet and, if it could only totally dry, it wouldn't smell, but there is always some humidity in the air, and that is why the smell keeps coming back. That is why you don't use lots of water on an interior. A bad smell like pet urine soaks into your carpet. If you use hot soapy water on it, you dilute the problem, but spread it over a larger area. Once the smell is bad, then it coats everything inside the interior. The dash, seats, carpet, (and here is where you have to think like a smell) even under the seats, dash and on the headliner! Yes, that smell may be coming from above your head! You must also determine how deep the smell is. Smells on the headliner will be surface only unless it has gotten wet somehow. But smells on a carpet can be down past the padding underneath. If the smell producing problem is on the surface, don't make it worse by soaking the entire area and spreading to deeper and wider. Use your carpet cleaner in a small area and if the smell is deep, soak only that area with something to kill mold/mildew and neutralize smells. The stain from most spills is just nap deep, the smells can be much deeper.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Get Your Carpets Clean the Right Way
Get intimate with your carpets and give them a good massage!
So, what is this about a massage! When dealing with carpets, I have found one big no-no and one really good idea. First the no-no.
NEVER soak your carpets with soapy water. This is a favorite trick of dealership detailing shops. They don't know how to get cars looking and smelling like new without soaking the carpets and seats with hot soapy water. Then they park the cars on the lot and close the windows that night. Several days later you have enough mold spores to start a new universe. How do you avoid this? By not using soapy water and not soaking the carpets.
How, you ask, then do you get them clean. Here comes the good idea.
Use a product like Blue Coral Dry Clean. This is a product designed to clean carpets. Spray it on the worst spots and here is where the massage part comes in. Use your FINGERS to work in the cleaner.! Brushes will yank and pull the nap so you get "FUZZY" carpets that look old before their time. Use those fingers and a clean white towel to pat the spot dry. Then spray the entire area with the same cleaner and again work it in with your fingers. Lightly buff with the towel, or pat dry and you will have carpets that look clean, smell clean and won't start their own basketball team made up of green mold! The carpets will dry in about 15 minutes....be sure to leave the floor mats out till the carpet is dry.
You can use the same product on most cloth seat fabric.
As always, test a hidden area of the carpet before using any cleaning product to make sure your particular carpet is colorfast. Almost all factory carpets are, some aftermarket cheap products may look nice, but the dye can come out....so test first!
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Dashboard
Again this week we stay inside the carWe all like to have a nice new looking interior. When some of the first vinyl care products came out, they made your interior look like it had been dipped in oil. The best of todays products do a better job in several ways. First, they have UV protectants in them to keep your vinyl from crumbling after a few years.
Second, they don't attract dust like the greasy products of the past.
Third, they don't shine like they did in the past.
You don't want your dash shiny since it will reflect in your windshield and make it a lot harder to see out, especially with the sun from the wrong angle on a cloudless day.
The trick to a nice looking dash without too much shine is to use a quality product like Lexol Vinylex and to apply it sparingly to a dry, lint-free cloth. Then wipe the dash. Finally turn the cloth to a dry section and wipe again. Your dash will have a healthy glow, but won't shine!
Second, they don't attract dust like the greasy products of the past.
Third, they don't shine like they did in the past.
You don't want your dash shiny since it will reflect in your windshield and make it a lot harder to see out, especially with the sun from the wrong angle on a cloudless day.
The trick to a nice looking dash without too much shine is to use a quality product like Lexol Vinylex and to apply it sparingly to a dry, lint-free cloth. Then wipe the dash. Finally turn the cloth to a dry section and wipe again. Your dash will have a healthy glow, but won't shine!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Start with the Interior!
Start with the Interior!
SUPER TIP: When doing a full detail of your ride, try starting with the interior the next time instead of letting it wait till the last. If you wait till everything else is done, you will be hot, dirty and tired. You don't want to carry more dirt into the interior as you are cleaning it, and you will be crawling all over the interior to do a good job of it.
When doing the interior, pull out the floor mats and vacuum them, then scrub with a cleaner like Blue Coral Dry-Clean if not too dirty. Since mats can be removed, you can soak them down good if they are really dirty. Do the dash and interior vinyl parts next. This will prevent you from smearing the windows later, then clean the windows, seats, and finally the carpets. Each of these areas, which have their own unique problems.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Tips in keeping your car in tip-top shape
Tips in keeping your car in tip-top shape
Use the following tips pages to help you keep your car or truck in the best shape possible. These are not necessarily in order of the way I like to detail a vehicle.
NOTE: These tips, products and methods are good for ANY vehicle, of ANY year. Feel free to write if you have specific questions.
Sometimes it's nice to get an "attaboy" from a noted source. If you take Road & Track magazine, check out the June, 1999 issue on page 189 in the Technical Correspondence article. I take the magazine to task for recommending, in a previous issue, that people store vehicles and start them on a regular basis just to keep the valve springs from deteriorating. No less an authority than David Roth of Daimler-Chrysler's Advanced Engine Technology department agreed with me that valve spring deterioration is not a concern. I also made the point that running a car for just a few minutes will create condensation in the crankcase and exhaust system that does much more damage than just letting the car sit till it can be driven for a nice drive of at least 10 minutes! Check out my car storage tips below:
I prefer a detail order like this:
Interior including inside windows (start inside while you are still dry and clean yourself!) Trunk (or luggage compartment for wagons/SUV's) Engine compartment (be sure to rinse off the paint nearby afterwards!) Body wash Wheels/Tires (dress out tires at this time too) Polish and wax the body Detail exterior parts like rubber trim, black plastic, headlights/taillights and chrome Exterior windows
Where to put the undercarriage in the above list? I would either do it first or last, and on a different day! The undercarriage is an entire project of it's own and can blow your energy and mood depending on how nice it was to start! Of course not every car will need or get undercarriage attention, more on that later.
Use the following tips pages to help you keep your car or truck in the best shape possible. These are not necessarily in order of the way I like to detail a vehicle.
NOTE: These tips, products and methods are good for ANY vehicle, of ANY year. Feel free to write if you have specific questions.
Sometimes it's nice to get an "attaboy" from a noted source. If you take Road & Track magazine, check out the June, 1999 issue on page 189 in the Technical Correspondence article. I take the magazine to task for recommending, in a previous issue, that people store vehicles and start them on a regular basis just to keep the valve springs from deteriorating. No less an authority than David Roth of Daimler-Chrysler's Advanced Engine Technology department agreed with me that valve spring deterioration is not a concern. I also made the point that running a car for just a few minutes will create condensation in the crankcase and exhaust system that does much more damage than just letting the car sit till it can be driven for a nice drive of at least 10 minutes! Check out my car storage tips below:
I prefer a detail order like this:
Interior including inside windows (start inside while you are still dry and clean yourself!) Trunk (or luggage compartment for wagons/SUV's) Engine compartment (be sure to rinse off the paint nearby afterwards!) Body wash Wheels/Tires (dress out tires at this time too) Polish and wax the body Detail exterior parts like rubber trim, black plastic, headlights/taillights and chrome Exterior windows
Where to put the undercarriage in the above list? I would either do it first or last, and on a different day! The undercarriage is an entire project of it's own and can blow your energy and mood depending on how nice it was to start! Of course not every car will need or get undercarriage attention, more on that later.
Cars Tips and Guide
Welcome to my blog.In this blog, you'll learn about cars tips and guideline how to treat your car as your best car in the worlds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
