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 
Preparing for Trax ’10, pt. 1
Only one week until Trax 2010 now… so I’m doing a couple of final touches this week…
Started off by giving it a damn good clean… I’ll be doing it again before Trax next weekend, but it really needed doing anyway…
I took my angel eyes off today, as they were letting it down a bit… especially after I lost the rear rubber cover to one, and in the wet weather, it half filled with water
So… I cleaned it about a month ago, and promised myself I would not clean it again until I moved house… which was supposed to be in like, two or three weeks of when I said that… Well, we kinda only set the move date last night in the end, so I broke my promise, as it really did need a clean… This is the state it was in:
So yeah, pretty filthy… Especially after the wet weather we’ve been having recently and being forced into a very deep and very muddy puddle down a country lane the other night 
I started with the interior, which in the twoish months of owning it, I um, haven’t ever done… So that was needed, especially after my Dad gave me a few bags of soil and rubble to take down the tip and one of the bags split in the boot
Gave it a good hoovering out…
Followed by going over all the dash and door cards with TurtleWax Platinum Cockpit Shine
Once finished with the interior, I closed everything up, and got the pressure washer out to start going over the exterior…
That lasted a very prompt 30 seconds before the hose connector on the tap shattered and the hose fell out… So I had to quickly run down the road to the DIY shop handily placed a 3 minute walk down the road and get a new one…
Came back and started over again… Once I’d rinsed it all over… attacked the body work with some of this:
Drying off with a microfibre towel & some Meguiars QD as I go
After that, I attacked the wheels… Normally, I do this before the bodywork… but for some reason that I still can’t work out, I didn’t this time… But either way, I used Meguiars Hot Rims All Wheel Cleaner and Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing 
I tried to clean up the calipers a bit as well, as they’re already caked in brake dust since I painted them, and they’re a bit better but I couldn’t get at them very easily without taking the wheel off, which I couldn’t be bothered to do today… I’ll do it one night in the week I think…
So here is the car all nice and clean:
Can you spot the difference between that picture, and this picture? 
Time to bring out the polish… Used Autoglym Super Resin Polish, and I’ve got to say, I used a microfibre applicator pad today for the first time and it was really good… much better than using the polishing cloths. A much more even spread in much less time…
Also applied some Autoglym Car Glass Polish (Really rate this stuff ), and then buffed off with another microfibre towel
Out with one of my favourite waxes that I’ve used so far Really love the smell of this stuff 
Typically, just as I was finishing off the waxing, it started to rain Just my luck… but it was only a light shower that lasted about 3 minutes
The final product of a few hours work
And for those who couldn’t work it out in the spot the difference… or for those who did, but want a closer look… It was a bit of a nightmare to fit as it just kept sticking to the backing paper It went on really easily once I got it off the backing paper though 
I’ve got something tomorrow, so will get some pictures of that when that’s sorted, also got one or two things on order that I’m hoping will be delivered in time for Trax.
Will update as soon as I get things
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!