Clean for The Fast Show 2011
Well, with TFS on Sunday, I thought it was about time I gave the car a clean… so I popped over to Halfords to get some supplies…
So this was the state of the car at 11am this morning:
Hoovered the interior and cleaned all the dash and plastics with some Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care:
I then stopped taking photos and got to work. I also did my Mum’s car at the same time…
First up, rinsed it all down with a pressure washer.
Then cleaned the wheels with some Wonder Wheels (It’s all I had, and couldn’t justify buying some new wheel cleaner when I already had some 
)
Washed the car with some Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, two bucket method.
Dried using a waffle weave towel and some Demon Shine as a drying agent.
Cleaned the glass using some generic supermarket glass cleaner.
Polished the glass with some Autoglym Car Glass Polish.
Sealed the wheels using some Autoglym Alloy Wheel Seal.
Dressed the tyres with some Meguiars Gold Class Endurance Tyre Gel.
Dressed the plastics and vinyl B-pillars with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care.
Polished using a machine buffer and Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine.
That got me to this stage, where I got the wax out 
Once I waxed everything, I re-dressed the plastics and vinyl B-pillars as I got some polish/wax on them which wouldn’t come off… But here’s the file results 
So 7 and a half hours work, and the results speak for themselves 
My first time using that Autoglym HD wax… and first time using a non-liquid based wax as well… and I’ve got to say I was impressed. Smelt quite nice, spread really nicely once I got used to it. And the pot looks barely touched after I’d done the whole car, and I think I used it too thickly… so it’ll definitely last a long time I was getting put off by the £45 price tag, but I would say that’s well worth it now I’ve actually used it
Another busy day
Well I’ve had quite a busy day today
First up, tyres. 
Thursday morning, ordered two Falken FK-452 225/40/18 for the rear tyres from Blackcircles… They were an advisory on my MOT as the side walls are beginning to perish… but one of them now has a slowish puncture, so I’ve been limping on it until pay day so I could finally get some.
Got to the garage this morning to get them fitted, all happy I don’t have to worry about that dodgy rear tyre any more. Walk in, “Oh, I tried to call you and left you a message. Unfortunately there’s been a bit of a problem…”
Turns out, the numpty at BlackCircles who sent my tyres to the garage sent two Falken FK-452′s, no problems… but one was a 225/40/18 and the other was a 215/35/17. 
How can you get it that wrong? Apparently they left me a message, but when I asked what number… it was my old mobile number from the last time I used that garage. They could have looked on the BlackCircles order and noticed I’d changed my bloody number.
So went home, and got this lot together for an afternoon working on the car
I wonder what he’s doing
Well first up was to give it a good wash… so I did
Fitted new dust caps, as I lost one of my VX logo ones, and someone nicked another one… so I had two chrome ones and two black ones
Now we all hate the old orange light, don’t we?
So I fixed that
But then the back looked out of place now with the old orange light 
So I fixed that as well
Took off a few bits from the car… and prepped them for a colour change
While letting all that set, I started about cleaning out that bloody EGR valve that’s been causing me so many problems recently… After I did some swearing when I realised my socket set only went upto 12mm and I needed a 13mm, I found a 56-pc socket set in my parents tool box that went up to something silly massive, and down to like, 3mm… so found what I needed, took it off and found it like this 
So flushed it out with some Wynn’s Air Intake & Carb cleaner. By this time it was dark, so I went and re-fitted it, did a lot more swearing as I couldn’t see what I was doing… Got in the car, fired it up and did some more swearing when the EML light stayed on. Checked it all over again, fired it up, no more EML light! Rev’d it, did some more swearing as the EML light came back on… Checked it all again, fired it up, no EML. Rev’d it, no EML
Couldn’t drive it yet as my Dad was parked across me, so I went and did some more painting and lacquering of the bits, then packed everything away:
Took the car out for a drive after, once my Dad went out, and my God. Not only did the EML light stay off like a good boy, it is so much more responsive. I’ve never actually seen it so responsive. So I’m happy happy happy
Just about to go give the painted bits another coat of lacquer or two, and then they’re all going back on the car in the morning
A well deserved clean!
Well I’ve not cleaned the car in about a month, and with all the recent snow and ice, there has been the inevitable mass of salt and grit on the roads, so the Astra has been absolutely filthy. I only really noticed how bad it was the other day when I opened the boot and remembered what colour the car really was when I saw my hand prints
This is the state it was in up until this morning:
Now the polish I usually use is Autoglym Super Resin Polish… but I’m running out of it, and while I was in Halfords yesterday getting one or two other quick bits, I noticed Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine, so I thought I’d try that.
To be honest, I found SRP to be absolutely brilliant on my old Black Sapphire Astra. Really, really brought it up nicely… but I don’t rate it to well on my Moonland Grey Astra… so I thought I’d try something different, and I’ve got to say I’m impressed with the results.
This is after just washing with Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner:
And then, I attacked it with the Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine, and wow was I impressed at the difference
Massive difference I think I’m going to become good friends with this Ultra Deep Shine stuff
So now I’ve just got to sort out the grille as it’s getting chipped to hell, and sort out the front bumper as it’s in a right state 
Ready for Sunday’s meet
On Sunday, I’m heading down to Portsmouth for the Modified Madness show with Astra Owners Network. Although we’re not actually having a club stand, because we couldn’t get enough people (It’s not easy as RO trying to get people to come ), I decided to shine up the car. I think we might go and have a group photoshoot somewhere local afterwards with those who do turn up, and so far I know at least 5 of us are going
Seeing as we’re currently on level 2 Heatwave alert, and feeling it, I decided to clean the car last night while it was cooling down, instead of waiting until today where I’d have more time but it would be hotter… So here is my army:
To name everything from left to right… Zymöl Cleaners Wax, Zymöl Natural Shampoo, Carplan Demon Shine, Autoglym Car Glass Polish, Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing, Autoglym Clean Wheels, Autoglym Super Resin Polish & Meguiars Smooth Surface Clay Kit. Behind is a Turtlewax Microfibre wash mit & two buckets. I also used a Turtlewax wheel brush, some Autoglym Perfect Polishing Cloths and a few microfibre towels.
So here is what it looked like before:
I rinsed it off with a pressure washer to get most of the crap off… I then attacked the wheels with the Autoglym Clean Wheels & a Turtlewax wheel brush, working one wheel at a time. Shampoo’d the bodywork using the Zymöl Natural Shampoo using the two bucket method & the Turtlewax wash mitt. After each panel, rinsed it down with the hose, then dried it off using the Carplan Demon Shine & a microfibre towel. Once I’d done all that, another microfibre towel came out with the Meguiars Smooth Surface clay kit. Clayed the whole car, then moved onto the tyre dressing. Sprayed the Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing onto each wheel one at a time, left for about 30 seconds, then wiped off using a microfibre towel. Out comes an Autoglym Perfect Polishing cloth, the Autoglym Car Glass Polish & the Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Started with the lights & windows, then moved onto the bodywork. Coated the whole car and allowed it to dry to a haze before buffing off again with another microfibre towel. Once that was done, coated the whole car with the Zymöl Cleaners Wax. I love the smell of this stuff, its got things like banana and coconut extract in it. Again, left that to dry to a haze before buffing off again with a microfibre towel.
At this point, it was now 10pm and getting dark, but I was happy. The first time I cleaned this car, I used the sampler of Meguiars Cleaners Wax that came with the Smooth Surface clay kit and I thought it was good, but this paint colour didn’t show up as well as the black did. After using the Zymöl Cleaners Wax again (which is the best wax I’d used on the black Astra), I was shown that it wasn’t the paint colour letting it down. It came out absolutely stunning like the black one used to, so I can safely say that I’m not impressed by the Meguiars Cleaners Wax, and for now will be sticking to the Zymöl stuff. I really would like to try out some of this Dodo Juice stuff that everyone raves about though… but I can’t really afford to be buying wax that expensive at the moment!
So here is the result of all that hard work:
I’m umming and arring whether I should clean the interior today. I haven’t cleaned the interior since I bought this Astra, but it’s not actually that bad. We’ve not really had that much wet weather since I bought it (In fact, I don’t think we’ve had any), so I’ve not really dragged in any wet or muddy stuff… so it’s just ground dust hanging around in the foot wells and maybe a few crumbs here and there from the odd lunch or two… so in this heat (It’s about 31ºc outside right now), I’m not sure I can be bothered.
Roll on 7am tomorrow though when I’ll be off to Portsmouth for this show!