Lockdown Valet, continued

My third day of the long weekend was spent with the outside of the Bongo getting the same treatment as the inside. I haven’t polished the van since getting it resprayed back in January, the weather not the best for getting the polish to behave, and then the incessant rains we had at the end of winter meant the opportunity to lavish some attention on the new coat hadn’t arisen. Until the best and driest April on record, of course, and the Lockdown meaning that the opportunity to get away in my beloved Bongo wasn’t an option. So, determined to make the weekend a positive experience instead of dwelling on the stay-at-home imposed, Ali got the valet of a lifetime!

Starting with a wash, the first thing I do after gathering all the products I want to use, filling my bucket, unrolling the hose and bringing out the essential caravan step, is pre-treat the wheels and tyres with some wheel cleaner. Working round the van, I liberally spray each wheel with my trusty Autoglym Custom Wheel Cleaner. This cuts through the brake dust and road film deposits, loosening them off prior to washing. I take a medium sized detailing brush and a small jug of water to keep everything wet, and I brush at the tyre and wheel, dipping the brush in the water frequently as I go. Grit and dirt are the enemy, so it’s important not to scratch the wheels as you clean them, and I find the brush is the best way to get into everywhere. I now hose the dirt off each wheel and tyre (yes, I wash the tyres too!), and then hose the entire van, to loosen off any grit, bird droppings etc. If required, prior to brush cleaning the wheels, I would treat the leading edge of the bonnet, front bumper, door mirrors and windscreen with a dose of Traffic Film Remover (TFR), or the Meguiar’s All purpose Cleaner mentioned previously. This is to loosen off the squashed insects etc before hosing. So, back to the water part – hose thoroughly, from top to bottom, paying attention to inside the wheel arches, and loosen off as much grit and dirt as possible. This greatly reduces the chance of scratching your paintwork as you sponge. Now out comes my bucket, dosed with Pure Shampoo, and a good quality sponge or two ( as I downgrade my sponge with a new purchase, I keep the older one for the wheels and lower bodywork) I divide the Bongo into roughly three parts – the roof and windows – windows down to bumperline – bumpers to ground. I wash gently all round the top part, then hose this off before tackling the next third, and so on. All this does is to help prevent soap drying on the paintwork and glass, leaving water marks, as well as re-wetting the lower parts. If the bucket contents becomes dirty looking at all, then replenish before going on, to save dirt and grit scratching. Lastly, give the wheels a wee wash with the last of the soapy water, and hose everything down until there are no suds.

At this point, if the van wasn’t getting a proper polish, I leave drip dry for ten minutes, then with a couple of microfibre cloths and a bottle of Autoglym Rapid Detailer, I spray and dry with one cloth, buffing with another.

Up until today, this was the only after-wash treatment the van has had, however, today was different, so I just dried the paintwork off with microfibre towels prior to polishing. With my new paintwork, there was no need to use anything more abrasive than my Super Resin Polish, but in the past, to buff out fine scratches and marks I would use Autoglym Paintwork Restorer, which has more chalk in it and with persistence can lift most hazing and light scratches from your paintwork. It takes effort and time, but it does work. After this, you would polish with the Super Resin to restore some protective wax. Now, the Super Resin Polish is old school, requiring a bit of elbow grease, and the right conditions – for instance, don’t use it in bright sunlight as it gets difficult to buff up. My top tip here, if you are finding it difficult to both apply and to polish to a shine, is to dampen the applicator ( I use a microfibre covered sponge pad), and keep a wee misting spray of water handy, just lightly dampen the panel and immediately buff up. perfect!

It was getting quite sunny now, so I had to keep turning the van on the driveway to keep the panel I was working on in the shade. Tackling a panel at a time works best for me, and you really want the polish as thin as possible to ensure it will buff up. A damp applicator helps it spread more easily, and if it won’t buff out easily when dry, just lightly mist with your water spray and buff again. You shouldn’t have to lean too heavily when buffing off, and keep turning your cloth to a fresh side. Carry on round the entire van, a panel at a time, before proceeding to the next phase of the operation – applying a top coat.

Now, a top coat isn’t necessary, and you might not honestly see much improvement in the shine, but it isn’t too difficult to apply, and the smoothness of the panel once buffed up is incredible. Modern products all talk about a “ceramic finish”, and I won’t begin to try and understand how this actually works, but essentially the Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection is like a glaze coat, a protective shell, which in theory helps keep the polish you worked so hard applying stuck on the paint when next you wash it. It is also supposed to help reduce the effort required to remove insects etc subsequently….not sure how much, but I use it anyway! The application method is slightly different for this stuff, it is supposed to be left for at least 30 minutes to completely dry before buffing. Using a fresh applicator sponge, I spread very thinly and as evenly as possible over the entire van to window height, carefully avoiding any plastics, glass, or vinyl – this stuff leaves a white residue which I HATE to see after polishing!! So, take care round door handles and bumpers, rubbers etc, as it is a swine to remove the white marks without White Spirit or something equally horrible. On the plus side, I can coat the entire van in about 10 minutes, and buff off in about the same.

The finishing touches are what makes the job I feel, and the whole thing isn’t done without cleaning the glass (guess what, Autoglym make a glass cleaner too, called Fast Glass!) and dressing the tyres. This takes only a few minutes, but just gives your beloved Bongo that forecourt look. I use a small sponge to apply sparingly the tyre dressing Autoglym, again), working round all four wheels, then going back over anywhere that has dried in too quickly and reapplying. Carefully buff off any excess from your nice clean wheels, and then lastly it’s the windows. Use another fresh microfibre cloth, and spray a couple of squirts on each window as you go, before immediately buffing off the whole window. You don’t need much of this stuff, and if you wash and clean the windows weekly you get months from a single bottle. This stuff is great on the inside too, but work on a grey day, not direct sunlight for the inside of the windows, especially the windscreen, or you end up with streaks.

A last once-over round the door closure areas, and you can now step back a few paces and admire your hard work!!

And that’s it. There are no real shortcuts to a decent valet and detailing finish. try to work methodically, finish one job before tackling the next on the whole vehicle, and attention to the little details – I suppose that’s why they call it detailing, eh?

As I have said previously, there are a mind-boggling array of products available in your local auto shop or branch of Halfords. In the current Lockdown, I find myself turning to Ebay and Amazon for most things, but bear in mind there are postage costs on top of most items, so it pays to buy your items from one supplier and in the same order if you can. This reduces costs and the number of delivery drivers travelling around. I can’t warrant any of these products, or claim they are any better than other brands, but I have used them for a long time now, and every time I try something different, I keep coming back to the Autoglym brand.

To recap

Bodywork – Pure Shampoo, Super Resin Polish, Extra Gloss Protection. Top up between polishing with Rapid Detailer.

Inside wheel arches, pre-treatment of insects etc – Meguiar’s All Purpose.

Wheels and tyres – Custom Wheel Cleaner, All-Purpose Cleaner, finish with Instant tyre Dressing, not sprayed, on a sponge.

Glass and mirrors – Fast Glass.

Now step back and admire!!