DFB's Garage

[Coatingsarecrack]

Nice write up and great job. In the future try applying CCEVO to applicator with disposable eye dropper. Much nicer and no worry of over spray.

Also next time use the coating on th glass way better water behavior and durability. Except for windshield. Use the Quick view or a dedicated glass coating for that.


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[DFB]

Nice write up and great job. In the future try applying CCEVO to applicator with disposable eye dropper. Much nicer and no worry of over spray.

Also next time use the coating on th glass way better water behavior and durability. Except for windshield. Use the Quick view or a dedicated glass coating for that.


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Thanks! And thanks for the advice earlier in the thread.

I actually used Can Coat on the glass sunroof, only for efficiency though. Will certainly try it on more glass.

As for the pipettes, I think I have more than enough on hand to experiment that idea with..............

[DFB]

Another week, another of my boss's cars and another Mazda!











I last did this car in February 2021, today was a bit different though at a chilly 0 deg C / 30 deg F 9am drop off. This 2014 CX-5 is a family car and has done just on 170,000 km on the clock.

Being too cold to have my hands in water, I decided to do the interior first. I don't remember the carpet being this reluctant last time! Sand and grass were resisting the Karcher vacuum, even with the help of the Tornador. I actually had to vacuum the interior twice, as the Tornador tends to stir things up and displace debris onto already cleaned areas. There was no other way though.

Being a family car, I needed to clean rather dust the rest of the interior surfaces. Today, I used a new interior scrub pad.



This is similar in concept to the Carpro Inner Scrub Mitt, although it has a softer reverse side for the application of dressings. I actually prefer this pad compared to a mitt as I find mitts cumbersome. Teamed here with P&S Express interior cleaner, it had no trouble lifting the ingrained filth.



Notice how the pad started off white and then turned a lovely shade of brown.



The remaining residue is then wiped away with a clean interior towel.



Another new item for me to try was the VLB from The Rag Company.





This brush was designed to clean vinyl and leather, hence the VLB name. These have an unusually soft set of "bristles" or "fibers" to deep clean dirty leather. The shape of the brush is also very handy for getting into the corners and different shapes a seat present. Here, I have teamed it with KC Pol Star.



It was then onto the exterior. While it looks clean in the pics, white always hides dirt on camera, so there was a healthy amount of wet winter grime accumulated on the wheels and body.

My first move was a complimentary engine bay clean. I mean, this is the bosses car after all.



After a quick rinse, I'm using APC and some brushes to loosen any stubborn dirt.



After another rinse, I then applied KC Motor Plast, distributed with a little compressed air.





I then dropped the hood and left the engine running while I cleaned the wheels to help dry it out.

The wheels were taken care of with my usual combination of Purge and Brake Buster. Strangely, these Cooper tyres did not offer much in the way of browning.



Today's soap of choice was Carpro Lift, which had no trouble "lifting" the road film during the pre-soak phase. During the wash, I did need to use some Bug Remover, although the tar deposits needed no chemical assistance.



Carpro Lift is not as slick as Reset, nor does it have that amazing scent either. But it does cut through the grime very well.

I then used Gyeon Wet Coat as what is now being termed a "rinse aid".



With the car mostly dry, I grabbed some Meguiar's HCD to mop up any remaining water, add some protection and ramp up the gloss left by Wet Coat. I really like the ease of use and results this product provides.



The glass was then cleaned, the interior of the windscreen needing two cleanings, the second with a new set of towels.

I then applied Mothers Naturally Black to the unpainted exterior trim, doused the wheel arch plastics with Hyper Dressing and coated the tyres in Gyeon Tire Express. This dressing is not a favorite of mine, it's ok but not great like, say, Carpro Perl or NV Onyx. So, I'm using it up on someone else's car!



With some extra time to spare, I also attended to the exhaust tips. I have a pet hate of clean cars with dirty exhausts, such a minor detail really brings down the overall appearance. Being a diesel, I had to get out the Autosol to deal with these.

With the customer on the way, I had a little time to add some protection to the leather. Pol Star apparently does have some protective element to it, but I decided to go the extra mile for this car.



A misting of my favorite interior scent and it was ready to go!











The car looked stunning driving away down the street. White tends to hide the amount of work that went into making it look so good. My body sure knows though!

[Tasmania]

Hey DFB do you ever cover the alternator or ECU and have you ever had any engine problems codes etc,

Plus with the car cleaning/detailing do you have insurance or is this just for selected clients.

[DFB]

Hey DFB do you ever cover the alternator or ECU and have you ever had any engine problems codes etc,

Plus, with the car cleaning/detailing do you have insurance or is this just for selected clients.

Some engine bays are more enclosed than others.

My XR8 for instance has an exposed air filter, ECU and battery. In that case, I used a plastic bag and a towel (not shown) to weight them down.



This Mazda 3 has those elements covered so I just went to town.



I have done this a number of times now with no issue. I never really liked the idea of using water in the engine bay, but I have become confident in doing it now.

As for insurance, I have public liability for my main business, but I will probably need to look into if it covers working from home on cars. I once would pick up and return the cars but are I am now having them dropped off to eliminate potential accidents in my care.

In terms of clients, I have been keeping it close. I don't deal well with the unknown and I like to know what I'm in for. As such, I'm happy to just keep it friends, family and colleagues. Winter is the quietest time for my gardening business, so slotting in cars during this time is a convenient gap filler in my income stream. Reaching out further for unknowns would not work for me once the spring and summer growth is in full swing, I wouldn't have the time to fit them in.

[Big Dave]

Some engine bays are more enclosed than others.

My XR8 for instance has an exposed air filter, ECU and battery. In that case, I used a plastic bag and a towel (not shown) to weight them down.



This Mazda 3 has those elements covered so I just went to town.



I have done this a number of times now with no issue. I never really liked the idea of using water in the engine bay, but I have become confident in doing it now.

As for insurance, I have public liability for my main business, but I will probably need to look into if it covers working from home on cars. I once would pick up and return the cars but are I am now having them dropped off to eliminate potential accidents in my care.

In terms of clients, I have been keeping it close. I don't deal well with the unknown and I like to know what I'm in for. As such, I'm happy to just keep it friends, family and colleagues. Winter is the quietest time for my gardening business, so slotting in cars during this time is a convenient gap filler in my income stream. Reaching out further for unknowns would not work for me once the spring and summer growth is in full swing, I wouldn't have the time to fit them in.

You might want to check your home insurance as well, I read a recent story about a family whose house burnt down, and they ran a small business from home, but because they had standard home insurance they weren't covered. The insurance company refused to pay out, claiming they didn't have the correct type of policy. The fire had nothing to do with the small business in any way, but because they hadn't disclosed it on the policy they weren't covered.

Thousands of people with side businesses could have the wrong home insurance, experts say - ABC News



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[Azure]

That VLB you used is very similar to one I've used decades ago to paint around trim in the house. I could see where that might work pretty well on vinyl and leather.

[Tasmania]

Some engine bays are more enclosed than others.

My XR8 for instance has an exposed air filter, ECU and battery. In that case, I used a plastic bag and a towel (not shown) to weight them down.



This Mazda 3 has those elements covered so I just went to town.



I have done this a number of times now with no issue. I never really liked the idea of using water in the engine bay, but I have become confident in doing it now.

As for insurance, I have public liability for my main business, but I will probably need to look into if it covers working from home on cars. I once would pick up and return the cars but are I am now having them dropped off to eliminate potential accidents in my care.

In terms of clients, I have been keeping it close. I don't deal well with the unknown and I like to know what I'm in for. As such, I'm happy to just keep it friends, family and colleagues. Winter is the quietest time for my gardening business, so slotting in cars during this time is a convenient gap filler in my income stream. Reaching out further for unknowns would not work for me once the spring and summer growth is in full swing, I wouldn't have the time to fit them in.

I can see the confidence and progress in the engine bay cleaning and look's so good with the KC MP i also got some Carpro lift, spotless and hydro lite

Just waiting on the pine trees to finish pollinating soo early September because there is no point washing the car's when it's just going to get on them even if they are in the garage.

[DFB]

Mustang's turn today! I had to look this up, the last time it was washed was 70 days ago. Various things, both inside and outside of the garage have had my attention during that time. Now that I have cleared a backlog of customer cars and garage improvements, I wanted to spend some time on my favorite car to detail.



This car has a base layer of Gyeon Q2 Wax, topped with NV Nova Jet. It felt appropriate to give the new Boost v2 and whirl on the Mustang's paint, door jambs and wheels.



Meanwhile, the trailing continues on finding a tire dressing to suit these PS4S's. Last time it was NV Onyx, today it was KC PSS.





I think Perl is still the winner with these tyres, although I love how PSS lays down.

I also took delivery of two new buckets and gamma seals today. I remember reading a post by Mike Phillips stating you should always have a "clean dirty bucket" or words to that effect. Now that might sound a bit strange, however the concept being you should have a clean bucket to place your used or dirty towels in as you work around the car. In other words, a laundry basket.

Me being me, I went with a large black 20lt bucket fitted with a red gamma seal lid and rolling on my old bucket dolly............... with some Ford branding, naturally.





I also added a smaller 15lt bucket into the mix to house all the clean towels I will use on a detail.





Was so nice to work on the Mustang in the sunshine today, was like catching up with an old friend.

[DFB]

A subject that has had me wondering about for a while is the TDS of the water I use to wash cars with.

I know a lot of people get worked up over the hardness of their tap water and the effects it can have on automotive surfaces. The main concern with water drying on the paint surface is the minerals left behind in conjunction with heat or sunlight etching into the clear coat. The result is water spots.



Water spots can be very difficult to remove. Sometimes, an acid-based water spot remover can reduce or remove them. In other cases, they may need to polished out. Water spots can even return depending on the climatic conditions and minerals that initially caused the damage.

TDS is an abbreviation for Total Dissolved Solids and is a measure of the total concentration of dissolved substances and minerals contained in water. TDS is measured with a TDS meter -



This kit also came with a pH meter, something I want to have a play around with on a variety of detailing chemicals I use.

As a base line, I trailed the TDS meter on some demineralized water. As it should be, the reading was 0 ppm.



I then did a series of readings of my tap water over the course of the day.





I got readings ranging from 92 ppm and 109 ppm. The below pics put these readings into context.





So, a reading at around 100 would seem to indicate that my tap water is at the lower end of the scale and is ideal for drinking. Readings above 170 ppm are considered hard water and it may be worth using a deionizing filter to reduce the risk.

In my case, I have never really had issues with my water causing water spots. This is mainly because I work quickly when washing in the sun or by washing cars in the garage. For that reason, I have not bothered to look into a filter. Taking these readings has given me peace of mind.

As mentioned earlier, the TDS kit also came with a pH meter. While the TDS meter can be used right out of the box, the pH version should be calibrated.

In my case, I went with the single step calibration which requires a testing solution made up from a buffering powder and 250ml of distilled water. Once dissolved, the meter is left for 5 minutes in the solution and set once it reaches 6.86.



Now for the fun part.

For context, this is the pH scale, ranging from Acid at 0 right through to Alkaline at 14, with neutral being 7.



In broad terms, a product leaning towards either Acid or Alkaline will have more cleaning power than a pH neutral product. There are exceptions though, for example, NV Purge wheel cleaner is considered pH neutral but is exceptional at cleaning filthy wheels.

There are also times when certain types of "dirt" or contamination will require a specific pH range to remove. Greasy/oily tyres require an Alkaline cleaner to cut through that grease. Using a pH neutral product here will simply move that contamination around rather than dissolving and encapsulating it before being rinsed away. Think along the same lines when attempting to remove a wax or sealant, hence the use of high pH "strip" washes.

The first product I wanted to try was P&S Brake Buster. I have only ever heard anecdotal pH figures for Brake Buster, but never an official figure. It's known as an Alkaline cleaner, but how Alkaline? Here, I'm testing a small quantity of un-diluted product.



The reading stabilized at 12.17, a figure that is about what I expected. This is why Brake Buster cleans so well undiluted, and why it loses grunt when diluted.



Going in the other direction, the acidic Carpro Descale.



The reading at 3.72 shocked me a little -



Again, I knew Descale was acidic but not how acidic. That figure would most likely go up once diluted though. This is why Descale is such a great cleaner and why it can reduce or remove water spotting.

The next step from here will be to test a variety of diluted products including Koch Chemie Green Star and Brake Buster.