Week off work! What tasks can i do?!

[Benji]

Yes i have next week off work! but im after some suggestions from people as to what i can get stuck into with my car?
I'll probably give it a thorough wash and wax it aswell, but that doesnt take that long really, and i'll probably do that in the evening when its cooler.

Things to note, is that i am planning on selling the car in a few months time, when im closer to having enough for a LCR.
At the moment i drive a Flash Red 1.6 SE.

A fantastic project is to porter cable it, but im unsure this time because of costs i.e pads/polishes etc...
I might calculate how much it should all cost just to see anyway.

I really can't think of anything apart from that
Any ideas?

 

[DannyC87]

wash, clay, clean, polish, wax paintwork + seal alloys; that'll kill a day or so
Clean engine bay with degreaser etc; another half day...
Then sunbathe with some beers and admire your work

 

[seantdi]

whip off the wheels and give them a good clean! get something like wonder wheels and some tar remover and a polish and sealer for them! finish off with a good tyre sheen. when they are off give your arches a good clean also. give the black plastics a nice shine! will look way better when you go to sell it! also you could clay the car if tou have never done it before!

 

[Fl@pper]

drive it down here and renovate my bathroom for me if ya bored

 

[DannyC87]

Sit my exams for me??

 

[brightsideteeem]

that was my plan while i was off this week, but i always seemed to be busy. doing nothing

 

[Benji]

wash, clay, clean, polish, wax paintwork + seal alloys; that'll kill a day or so
Clean engine bay with degreaser etc; another half day...
Then sunbathe with some beers and admire your work

Sealing the alloys is something that i really wanted to do. They are a problem area of the car for me, as there caked in brake dust in certain places. An excellent suggestion!
My one question is... How nervy is it when the car is sitting on the jack/s? or bricks or whatever people use? I might get my brothers jack aswell as mine, and some bricks just to play it safe!

whip off the wheels and give them a good clean! get something like wonder wheels and some tar remover and a polish and sealer for them! finish off with a good tyre sheen. when they are off give your arches a good clean also. give the black plastics a nice shine! will look way better when you go to sell it! also you could clay the car if tou have never done it before!

Yeah, the wheels are a great suggestion like Danny said, i'll get some autoglym alloy wheel cleaner which worked wonders last time i cleaned them. What would you suggest also?
Yeah it makes sense to do the arches aswell, i do think it will look excellent if its half as good as i plan it to be.

drive it down here and renovate my bathroom for me if ya bored

Although i have had 2 great suggestions i just knew! i'd get someone offering me to do something completely different! lol

Sit my exams for me??

Although i do miss being in education sometimes, there's always something that makes me pleased im not!

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[DannyC87]

Best products for your wheels imo are bilberry safe wheel cleaner and chemical guys wheel sealant paste. Re supporting the car without wheel on; try and source a trolley jack and some axle stands - much safer than scissor jack and bricks..

 

[Benji]

Best products for your wheels imo are bilberry safe wheel cleaner and chemical guys wheel sealant paste. Re supporting the car without wheel on; try and source a trolley jack and some axle stands - much safer than scissor jack and bricks..

The Bilberry safe wheel cleaner i have heard much about, its favoured by many, so i might have to give it a go.

Also i've heard the scissor jack to be quite the widow maker, wrecked many brake disks in its time!
Having said that, my brothers jack has held his Golf 3 times now without any problems.
A trolley jack would be much better but i cant think of anyone who has one i could borrow. Buying one would obviously be the thing to do, but im trying to keep costs down as much as possible.

 

[DannyC87]

The Bilberry safe wheel cleaner i have heard much about, its favoured by many, so i might have to give it a go.

Also i've heard the scissor jack to be quite the widow maker, wrecked many brake disks in its time!
Having said that, my brothers jack has held his Golf 3 times now without any problems.
A trolley jack would be much better but i cant think of anyone who has one i could borrow. Buying one would obviously be the thing to do, but im trying to keep costs down as much as possible.

If your using a scissor jack make sure the ground is firm and level, and as soon as the car is in the air put something under the sill of the car so if it falls it doesn't hit the floor or crush you

 

[seantdi]

try argos or halfords for a trolly jack! you should be able to get one for about 20 quid. sometimes they have them with axel stands. a worth while investement esp if you plan on doing work on your own car!

 

[Benji]

Aha! A trolley jack has been located! I'm a little embaressed to say that i was told by the brother that we have one in the garage!

Anyway...now that the jack issue is sorted, i need to know the strongest points to jack the car?

Also, i need to do a list of things i need for my few days of tasks.
I plan to:

Wash/clay/seal/wax the car.
Take each wheel off and wash/wax?/seal them.
Clean the engine bay.

I have all the shampoo's & waxes & sealant's. I just need some good alloy wheel cleaner and some clay, im gonna go to halfrauds later and i might pick up a few things.
The one thing i would quite like, is some snow foam! I cant find this anywhere apart from on the net so i might pass on it. It's not a neccesity but it makes the job more fun and would be good on the wheel arches.
Also the only place where i can just buy 1 lump of clay is on the net! Halfrauds do the Megs 'Clay kit' and i dont need all of that and its quite pricey aswell.

I'm trying to keep costs to an absolute minimum because of my savings, but i might have to get some clay and snow foam from the net.

Also... I have a pressure washer and has anyone pressure washed their engine bay?
Water and engine's aren't a good mix as everyone knows, but i did use a bit of water on the hose to clean my engine about 6 months ago.
I was as minimalistic with the water as possible, but surely a pressure washer would be better as its more of a mist but more powerfull aswell?

 

[seantdi]

use the standard jack points but place a peice of soft timber on the topof the jack 2 help protect the jack points! i never power washed the engine in my own car but i have done it on tractors etc! if you are going to do it spray some wd40 in and around any electrical joints you can see! this will help stop water getting into them

 

[DannyC87]

alternative you can jack off the subframe mounting bolts at the front - fairly obvious large bolt heads

 

[jwfcms]

dont use a scissor jack, you will end up paying for a new sill and wing when the car drops off. They are cr@p! always fall over or give way and if you are going to be working on the car and removing the wheel then i wouldnt use one at all. maybe get a proper jack from halfords a cheap one and it will come in handy for your next car + you wont get crushed underneath it use an axle stand

 

[Benji]

Im going to look into where to jack the car up a bit more, i'e never done it before so i want to make sure im doing it right. Quite a costly mistake if im taking the wheels off and exposing the disks!

Im going to make an order on the net, luckily i've got about £7 in loyalty points so i'll claim them and have next day delivery!
So far here's what i have:

Bilberry safe wheel cleaner
PH neutral snow foam
Sonus green clay

That little lot came to £30 and thats as much as im willing to spend really.
I've got a box of various other things i'll use and a keen detailer for a brother who has a cupboard load.

 

[Benji]

I've been busy!

This is what i've done so far...

1. Clean engine bay
2. Wash
3. Clay
4. Seal
5. Wax
6. Clean bumbers/rub strips with 'bumper care'
7. Clean the interior & glass

I'll try to get some pics up later on, my brother has the camera with him at work though.

What i havent done is get the hoover out and clean the carpets under the mats and also do the seats. Last week i got all the mats out and thoroughly washed and scrubbed them. I sprayed on some 'Chemical guys Fabric clean' scrubbed with a brush, then hosed them down. That worked fantastically! I highly reccomend it!

I can safely say that i have never seen my car this clean!
I have a certain feeling of achivement!

 

[lordgibbness]

Sounds like good work!

I got my car back from the bodyshop at the weekend and decided to give it a proper going over. I usually polish it quite regularly with Mer polish, but wanted to remove all the crap from the paint and give it some protection so I went out and bought some proper cleaning materials:-

couple of wash mitts
some microfibre towels
two clay kits
Autoglym's expensive Hi Def wax
a second bucket
some nicer wash formula

After cleaning using the two bucket method using a wash mitt (why did I ever use a sponge!) I gave the car the clay treatment to clean it up nicely. I was amazed just how good they are! I clayed the whole car top to bottom, windows and lights included and really removes all the crud in the paint etc.

Then finished off with the HD wax. That wax is so nice and seems to last for days... very impressed indeed. It gives a nice layer of protection and looks so nice. Think I'll be waxing more often.

I also waxed the wheels and calipers for extra protection - I'll never be using anything strong on wheels/calipers again after the flaking it caused.

Lastly finished off with the usual Mer polish to the windows for the good rain beeding effect.