Interior / Exterior

I've got a new Diamond White 05 LX (no photo yet)

Never had a new car before and want to figure out :

What's the best cloth or mit for hand washing the paint
I've got factory Paint protection and my dealer has supplied
this ordinary white (quite hard) spong :yeees:
They supplied the special wash additive which matches and
recoats the factory protection stuff each time you wash
so thats good, but the sponge is too hard I think.
I've seen all the variety of sponges micofibre mits etc...
But which is the best?

Also I know about armoral and the other silicone type products
for interiors, but anyone know whats "the best" and do I use
a soft pure cotton rag with the product or what?

Yes I'm a bit obsessed with my new Fiesta and that is very OK _2:

[Danny]

Erm. Dont use silicone on the dash. Nothing screams "!USED CAR!" More than an oily greasy sticky shiny dashboard (even if your car is brand new). Besides, Silicone on the dash attracts dust (it sticks to the silicone) and looks awful. Simply wipe it over with a damp chamois each time you wash the fiesta so all dust comes off, and it will look perfect!

FOr the outside, a real leather chamois is good, or I like the megiuars ones. And jsut a normal softish sponge will do. Once you polish the car, you dont really need to use too much soap solution as dirt will slide of freshly polished paint without it, and soap tends to wash off the polish. Having said all this, im off to bed. My baby Zetec needs a wash tomorrow morn!

hope i helped out
-Dan

[mitch_lx]

hey
for the outside of the car i used to use a meguiars mitten, but it gets too dirty and is too hard to clean i now find the best thing to do is just go to big W and in the car section they will have a few sponges. get the thickest best quality looking one there is. they are usualy no more than like 4-5 bucks i think.
i use armor all light blue formula without wax. rinse the car well, wash it wish a good amount of car was soap so that the least amount of friction needs to be applied with the sponge which will minimise scratching, rinse well again. Take car for a quick blast around the block a couple times to get most of the water off. then holding two edges of your chamois drag it over the surfaces, this also minimises friction on the paint, meaning less scratching.

for the inside i do as danny said, but once a month or so i go over the interior with polyglaze interior spf protector, windows with meg wind cleaner and leather bits with meg leather cleaner.
its alot of work :| sux but looks great in the end.

and if i thought that was alot of work :( my mums going away so i have to look after the house, she tought me everything i need to know today and theres alot of work involved !! not looking foward to it. lol :P

[Timmeh]

Originally Posted by kim

What's the best cloth or mit for hand washing the paint

I use a blue cloth by Turtle Wax, it's just awesome. Sponges leave micro scratches in the paintwork and don't rinse out as easily as this cloth, I wouldn't use anything else. I bought it from Big W's automotive section.

Tim

[fordel]

I pay someone to do it, comes up much nicer then i could ever do

Chris

[mitch_lx]

lazy lazy lazy :P

[b2tf]

Havent given mine the full treatment yet, put a carlovers hand rinse on it though (just rinsing it with water using the high pressure gun) to get the dust off and it worked a treat - mine has the paint protection too which i got for zip ;).

I use 'Ultra Violet' carwash which is made by Pacer, and its what the dealers specify to use with the paint protection. I have however noticed a few little scratches here and there, so ill be having it detailed properly soon.

[fordel]

Yep lazy, best way to be, even the crash repair place washed it for me when they fixed it

Might have to take some snaps of it all fixed now i think

Chris

Thanks for that feed back _2:
Theres lots of info there to process
My sweet baby is one week old today
so she hasn't had a wash yet but needs
it soon the way things are going so will make
some decisions soon about what to use.
From what you said Mitch I'm not so sure I am
clear if Armorall is or isn't a silicone based product :
but I certainly won't be using anything that is!
I too hate greasy sticky surfaces
Truth is I've never used anything on interiors except
a damp cotton rage, and some turtle washnwax on the
outside. Will be checking out all the sugestions ASAP.
Thank You Lads

[b2tf]

Armorall works like cooking oil on the interior plastic - it soaks in, attracts dust and youll find you need more and more of it over time to keep it looking good.

[Danny]

AMen Bak 2!

I think our e-series experiences come in very handy now we have new cars!

[Teki04]

Kim, is yours a 5 door or 3?

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Danny

I think our e-series experiences come in very handy now we have new cars!

Definately - had a fair few screwups i wont repeat on this car.

[Timmeh]

Originally Posted by Danny

AMen Bak 2!

I think our e-series experiences come in very handy now we have new cars!

I notice your little ex E-series to Euroford club thing going! Some of us have had that for years - most notably Fordel and myself, both ex EL and EF Falcon drivers to the Focus, and both ex E-series members, I used to do a fair bit for the club before I started this one!

There's a large number of ex Falcon pilots here.

Tim

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Timmeh

I notice your little ex E-series to Euroford club thing going!

Feel free to join in :sm_headba

[Timmeh]

Haha, what, and start another website, buy another domain, get stickers made up, organise more cruises, and get our own forum?

No fear! :

I'll just stick to the eurofordclub.com thanks! out:

Tim

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Timmeh

Haha, what, and start another website, buy another domain, get stickers made up, organise more cruises, and get our own forum?

No fear! :

I'll just stick to the eurofordclub.com thanks! out:

Tim

err, no? i only meant putting it in your sig........ : used: :

[Timmeh]

Just joking about the amount of work that goes into eurofordclub - combined with the fact I can't fit anything else in my signature!

:

And Kim has a 3 door LX, I have been sent some photos, not sure if he wants me to post them here or not!

Tim

[Teki04]

Oh ok... saw a 5dr White one in paddington.... guess it wasnt him then.... the guy looked like he was enjoying the drive LOL

Hey Teki
Mine is a two door like yours. But its a stock standard. The white looks good.
No special mods yet, I'd like to get a photo up but don't know how to
do the right shot to post on the club forum?
When I try to post the shot a message says I can only post a photo 100 x 100 pixels :
Whats that about? I've tried trimming the shot right down but it must be the setting of the camera?
Is that right? Can anyone tell me how to do it? My camera is one of those little toy ones, but I've got 2 settings on it.
1 is up to about 380 pixels the other is up to 680 pixels.
The photo quality is not that good but I thought it would be :
good enough to post a little shot on my members ID tab and a couple in a thread!
Kim

:nutsycuck oops
I didnt see your little PS Timmeh.
Yes I do want to get some pics of the LX up on the forum
Do you think the quality is good enough?
If I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with the pics' posting
I'll be quite happy to post them myself :

[Teki04]

wouldnt have a clue.... for the photo under your name, yea it has to be 100x100... but for the attachments on the thread, it doesnt matter the size.... if im not wrong

[b2tf]

Kim if youre having trouble i can host the pictures for you. my MSN is austin_joefus@hotmail.com, you can add me and transfer the files to me that way.

Yes Its a 3 door
Wish I could figure out how to post a pic or two on the forum
I think I mite be a high maintenance newbee
I seem to need alot of help (im not a teki thats 4 sure)
But I can do other things really well!!!
Kim

HAHAHAHA (I just thought I lost the previous posts) :

Thanks back2

I sent the files to your address.

Thanks buddy, I do want you guys to see my LX :voldar02:

[Timmeh]

Ok here they are...









If you want to use them in another post, type this in without the spaces and they shall appear! As for the last one, if you want to use that as an avatar, right click and save it to your desktop, then using the User CP (at the top of the screen on the left) Edit your avatar and choose that one!

[im g]http://www.eurofordclub.com/assorted/Kim1.jpg[/im g]

[im g]http://www.eurofordclub.com/assorted/Kim2.jpg[/im g]

[im g]http://www.eurofordclub.com/assorted/Kim3.jpg[/im g]

Oh yeah, and the pictures were pretty hard to get where they are, especially the last main one, had to do some extra work on that one haha.

Get some more pictures sometime, otherwise they are the best I could salvage from those photos. Looking good though! :

Tim

[Teki04]

NICE.... just screaming for mods... and yea, that last main pic doesnt look strange, especially that right light... what was wrong with the pic?
I always see this blue fiesta with the 16s in surry hills coming up from central station towards bondi, but lately.... its been the same car with same rims, but in black.... im guessing the blue one got totalled...

[0xyg3n]

Guys just be carefull if you wash the engine bay. Did mine on the weekend and the strut towers filled up with water. The drivers side was the worst because of bracket on top the whole thing was like a bird bath.

Timmeh
How did you get that headlight there?
You must be a magician on the photoshop?
I will get some better pics some time.
Ive actually got a pretty good sony digital vidio camera
that is 2 mega pixel still shot capable, but looks like you
must have a real high pixel stills camera.
I've noticed your pics are super sharp
Anyhow it's great to get the Fiesta on the Forum
Cheers Buddy

[fordel]

kim,

just a tip, you dont have to press enter at the end of every few words

basically take a pic of the part of the car you want then in photoshop or something like that just crop out the parts you dont want to keep, then resize the pic to suit

Chris