How often to you wash/wax your Z?

This is where you can find out about valeting and detailing--washing, cleaning, polishing, waxing and other car care issues.
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Andre_z_3000
Joined: Thu 01 Apr, 2004 09:19
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How often to you wash/wax your Z?

Post by Andre_z_3000 »

I was curious how much time people here spent keeping their Z in top nick and how often they did it?

Being new to Z's, I'm thinking of cleaning mine once every 3-4 weeks, though to be honest I could do it every week cos I enjoy it (well at the moment, it might wear off:P). But I'm worried if I clean it too much I'll just wear down the paint or something.

Previously never owning a car I considered good enough to warrant the time and effort of waxing I think with the Z I'll get that Meguires Gold Wax stuff that people have been raving about and give it a shot. Tires are new but when they fade maybe some of the Meguires ultra black tire stuff that's meant to last for a few weeks as well.

Got two people shouting out to me in town last nite about how nice the car looked, so guess I better keep it that way:P
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Robin
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Post by Robin »

Andre the two main things that stop a car being in top nick are swirl marks & stone chips. The former you can avoid by only using soft hand brushes or a jet wash followed up by scrupulessly clean cloths for polishing. I recommend Liquid Gold wax. I'm sure Meguires is as good but dearer though. See other thread.
The latter you can only avoid by not driving your car. In other words you can't avoid chips.
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DavidM
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Post by DavidM »

Wash - every week - if she has been driven - normally every other week though as PN's Zed and mine alternate weeks on the commute

Wax - the full treatment every three months

Wax - the interim treatment - every two months

Wax - the touchup treatment - every month
DavidM
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Post by DavidM »

Robin wrote:... or a jet ...
Not at a garage - as the water is often repumped from the catch pits below the wash - and has been found to contain quantities of sand - which does wonders for your finish - personal jet wash - that I have faith in - and own one myself

Search elsewhere for my anal attitude to cleaning - but much of it backs up what Tim and Surj have added to this thread already
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Robin
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Post by Robin »

DavidM (King Of Chrome) wrote: Not at a garage - as the water is often repumped from the catch pits below the wash - and has been found to contain quantities of sand
Struth David. :shock: I'll stick to me Karcher from now on !
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ZZZEMMCO
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How Pure is your Water??????

Post by ZZZEMMCO »

A BIG word" LIME "in your water!!!!!! Never gave it a thought. :shock:

Have often noticed stains on paintwork, after washing by hand with shampoo , and leather drying .I thought with a wax of Gold class , stains would be gone, but still there.So tried cleaner with no success.
Drastic action--- the last thing I thought I would need---T -CUT .

Did the whole car , and 99% of stains have gone, so will now resume the routine, but-- will only use watersoftened house supply, NOT outside hose tap. So -- many hours of work wasted by poor quality water, glad we drink softened.
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Post by DavidM »

yeah John we have the same issue - I used to wash with house water then hose down from the outside tap - not anymore - I now rinse with buckets of water from inside the house
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Alfie
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Hard.

Post by Alfie »

Our tap water is very hard and alkaline, but I've never noticed 'stains' on the paintwork provided I get to chamois it down before the surface water evaporates. If it does dry out, what a mess!

There's so much muck in our tap water that when the H2O vaporises, the muck that's left is horrendous.

Yesterday, whilst ankle deep in deer poo, Tim gave us a brief demo of some of his cleaning methods and tools. Perhaps Tim, you could do a quick write-up of that, including a description of the microfibre cloth you use instead of a chamois? Handy hints for all, I reckon.

Cheers!
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JUNGLE
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Hi

Post by JUNGLE »

Mine is cleaned every time I use it if poss. Its washed before it goes back into the garage, Its tucked up under several sheets then just receives a wipe over with a dust removing waxed cloth thing when it comes out to play.

I polish it every other week with a very thin layer of high gloss polish, and it gets a heavy duty wax about every 3 months.

I use MER to clean the car and sometimes neat as a polish/ wax. I also use Turtle wax High Gloss ( which smells and looks like the old Windolene ) as a quick high shine in between... I find both products excellent.

Regards
JUNGLE
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Zmeagol
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Post by Zmeagol »

The problems with water stains are why you should always wash in the shade. I always keep the car wet during this process, then use a California Water Blade to remove the excess water as soon as possible, followed up with a microfibre towel. The towel is more effective than a chamois leather and has the advantage of a microscopic cutting action.

Tim
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Steve
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Post by Steve »

Tim
Is there something special about Californian Water Blade as opposed to the things you see in Halfords?
Also where to you get them......yeah California - I know :?
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DavidM
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Post by DavidM »

Steve wrote:Tim
Is there something special about Californian Water Blade as opposed to the things you see in Halfords?
Also where to you get them......yeah California - I know :?
Steve
Very similar thing - this is what I have used in the past - http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8665 - now I just use NXT wash which sheets off itself when rinsed
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Robin
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Post by Robin »

David I think I'll try some, not that I'm an auto geek of course :oops:
http://store.auto-geek.net/mg12664.html
I live in a hard water area & the residual lime spots are the biggest hassle for me with car cleaning.
The other alternative is to go for a Teflon coating like Lorraine's which also enables her to fry eggs on the bonnet of her black car in this heat with confidence, safe in the knowledge that they won't stick :lol:
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DavidM
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Post by DavidM »

Robin - you'll get it nice and quickly from http://www.speeding.co.uk/ - they do almost all the Meguiars range and their service is pretty good

We too live in a limey water area - and had to have watersofteners fitted before the water was even usable - as noted above I wash with tap water and then rinse with softened water from inside the house too - the water sheets - then I dry with microfibre cloths

Horror of horrors - I found some lime build up on the sill seams and had to use T-Cut on a babybud to get rid of it
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Robin
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Post by Robin »

DavidM (King Of Chrome) wrote: Horror of horrors - I found some lime build up on the sill seams and had to use T-Cut on a babybud to get rid of it
:lol:
Maybe The NTX wash without a softener won't do the trick on it's own.
I'll give it a swirl, uh I mean whirl though.
Actually it could be that a major cause of swirl marks is due to polishing a car without removing limespots 1st. Better still to avoid lime spots forming in the 1st place no doubt.
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DavidM
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Post by DavidM »

Bear in mind - I only changed to NXT about 6 weeks ago - prior to that he car had been hosed from an outside tap that uses unsoftened water - every week for about 5 - 6 months
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Post by mihart »

Hi Guys,

Have just ordered some NXT wax and NXT wash from Meguires UK, hasn't arrived yet but due any day. The car is all clean and prepared to be waxed this weekend. I understand two lightly applied coats 24hours apart should do the trick, although from what I have gleaned from some US sites it's not the most durable of finishes, still if it's not too difficult to apply a re-coat maybe every 6-8 weeks might be the answer. Apparently the depth of finish is worth it not being too durable.
Any one else got recent experience.

Cheers

Mike
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Andre_z_3000
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Post by Andre_z_3000 »

Thanks guys, some great tips here, got a whole swag of Meguires products, saw some of the Liquid Gold stuff on a friends car looked pretty schmick.

The only suckey thing is you can't get the rear window cleaner here downunder (or at least can't find it anywhere) so I got a 'mothers' brand plastic window cleaner instead which predictably doesn't work very well at all (for that matter how to unzip the rear window has got me puzzled in and of itself).
garyw
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Post by garyw »

The BMW own plastic window cleaner does give excellent results, not that costly (here) anyhow.
Prior to the info on this forum, I had used "other" products with terrible results. Bought the whole cab maintenance pack, well worth the money..
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Kiwi
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Post by Kiwi »

Appreciate this is an old thread but thought I would chime in anyway.

Andre - re Meguiars plastic window cleaner not being available in Oz - I'm surprised by that. I can buy it here in NZ from Repco (who I think is in OZ as well - pretty sure they are an Australian company) and I think I have seen it at Super Cheap Auto as well (which is definitely an Aussie outfit). Maybe the Oz Meguiars distributor doesn't bring it in over there.

One of the things not discussed above which I reckon is pretty important to looking after a Zed is treating the fabric roof with a UV protectant and waterproofing agent - can't get Ragtop product here in NZ or any other alternatives that I know of so have been using the BMW branded stuff from the dealer. Have been applying every 6 months or so and it lasts fine - certainly seems to work well on the waterproofing function at least.
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