Obsessed with cleaning?

The definition of true love.....cleaning inside your hubcaps, inside your doorjambs, under the kick panels, taking a Q-tip to the air vents and climbing underneath to hose down your spare with tire wet.

Am I the only one nuts enough to clean places like these? How about you? What have you cleaned that usually gets overlooked?

 

[Stephen S]

When I do wash my truck...it doesn't stay clean long...but when I do wash it, I do like to wipe down the door jambs, around the oustide edges of the doors, up where the hinges are and stuff. I always wash down the underside, clean out all the dirt and little rocks that get caught between the door sill and the weather stripping.

I don't know about the tire wet on the spare on a daily driver though.

Thanks for the tip about the Q-tips on the air vents. I hate all that dust that gets on those things.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

I do all that but I tend to spend more time on the exterior than the interior because people look at the exterior more than the interior. Back in November, I spent more than 7 hours straight to detail my rig's paint. I'll be doing the same thing again Tuesday when I'm home for the summer. Here's a pic of the result:

And the last one...

I use a paint brush for the air vents and little places. I use the Q-tip dipped into the Quik Detail spray bottle and go over where the letters "Explorer" on the liftgate. When I'm done detailing Tuesday, I'll post some new pics.

 

[aldive]

I too like a clean truck and am just as "bad" about the details.

I q tip the vents, polish ( Zaino ) the door edges and jams as well as the trunk. I uses Zaino products on the dash, the steering wheel and all the door and center console material.

I vacuum the inside 2 to 3 times a week. I use my truck in my business.

The truck is washed at least once a week and the tires treated with Zaino goods.

 

[ok89]

What do yall use to clean the dash?
What about to condition the leather?
What about the armrests in the doors?

Im looking for something I can buy in a local store so please no Zaino Al

 

[aldive]

What do upi folks do under the hood for cleaning?

 

[Jason_25]

Originally posted by aldive
What do upi folks do under the hood for cleaning?

I hit everything with the "presoak" at the do-it-yourself car wash, then do a low speed rinse. But before I cover up the batter, alternator, and computer just to be sure.

 

[Alec]

I try not to use water under the hood, too many electrics. I usually just use a rag and a spray bottle of something. I can never get into all the crevices in a decent amount of time though, just for it to get dirty again within a week.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

I use Simple Green to clean the stuff under the hood. I wrap the fuse box, alternator, and anything that looks like electronic up with plastic bags. Then spray Simple Green onto the engine and used a scrub. Then I used free flowng water to rinse the stuff off. After that, I used a non-silicone type protectant and make them shine.

As for interior, I use Eagle One Protectant Lotion. It's non-oily so it won't give the gloss Armor All gives. Note: never ever use Armor All because it'll kill your paint, literally. The Eagle One usually last a few weeks. If there're dusts on the dash, use a Swifer wipe and cut it into a few pieces and put it in your glovebox so that you'll have something to wipe the dust off.

 

[Perry]

If I just drove it on the road it would look a lot better but as you can see with tires that stick out this far it's hard to keep clean.

 

[Flounder]

I do the same... q-tips, multiple coats of wax, and when I do the interior I use our Bissel steamer to make sure the carpets look their best. Also, at the end of everyday that it's clean (till it rains) I wipe it down with Meguiars Quick Detail to get any road dust off the body and break dust off the rims. When it's clean, I like to keep it that way

 

[Perry]

And this is what my rims are looking like after fighting the rocks in the mountains. As you can see the rocks win most of the time, or do they? I do get thru most of the trails.

 

[Perry]

This is one on the other side.

 

[Perry]

Even though I four wheel the hick out of this truck I still try to at least keep the hood looking good. This is a reflection of a tree in our front yard.
What do I use to make it shine? I just wash it once in a while and don't rub it with anything that will put scratches in it.

 

[Perry]

But to the ones here that just drive on the street you have to clean yours more often for us that don't. We don't want people thinking we drive around in dirty vehicles.

 

[aldive]

Anyone use these Dead Link Removed deodorizing products?

 

[yob_yeknom]

Originally posted by aldive
What do upi folks do under the hood for cleaning?

Looks like you had your fingers over a key on the keyboard there Al.

I have used oven cleaner and it worked well on the engine itself. I just hosed off the engine off to remove dust, let it dry, sprayed with oven cleaner, drove around until the engine got warm, let it cool back down, then sprayed it all off with a pressure washer. Worked pretty well.

I read on this board that WD-40 works well for cleaning the rubber hoses and whatnot, but have yet to try it. (Hopefully I never will because I have no intention of mudding in this Explorer.)

 

[aldive]

Hihn, does the oven cleaner remove any paint it gets near?

Thanks....

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

Perry,

You think that's somethin? Look at this!

That was back when I used Gold Class, but now I use #7 & #26. You need somebody to clean your truck? I'll send you one of my cards I detail cars for a job now. I operate out of our shop and have one 'employee', and we're hooked up with a used car dealer, and looking for more places.

As far as me detailing my own vehicle, I'm obsessed I suppose. Taking a rough count, I have around 75 different products I use for various jobs when I clean, and I've used over 100 different things before. Nobody can ever believe it when I tell them its a '95. If you ever go to the Autopia site, the people there are even worse. Billy should know what I'm talking about. Some of them spend $400+ on towels alone. But they're starting to get to me, I take my tires off to clean inside the wheels, inside the spokes, and on the backside of the tires. And to make it even worse, I take pictures :

I use a large variety of products for different things, and one product can be used for several different things. One product that I find very valuable is the Eagle One Protectant that has been earlier mentioned. I use it on my tires, interior and exterior trim, leather seats, dash, interior trim, door panels, and so on. I like the look it gives on tires (see above) but I have to rub it in between each and every little tread block. I like to use tire gels because they last realyl really long, but take even longer to apply. I usually dont use the EO on the dash very much because I feel it can give it too much of a shine. For the dash I use Black Magic dash protectant. I was unsure about it because it had the Black Magic name, but it really does work good. It leaves a nice soft lustre that looks new. If you get any, make sure it is in a black bottle and it smells like lemons.

But I dont care if I'm obsessed with detailing, because nobody around here care aobut keeping their car clean, so mine realyl stands out. Keep em shiny,

Grant

 

[Jason_25]

Keep up the good work, Grant. I wish I wasn't so lazy about mine.....