Makrel

Has the DWC gone to wholesale only? I just finished up my 32oz DWC bottle and wanted to get a gallon to refill but only see either a kit or qty4 / 1 gall order availability. Did I miss a change? Just curious. Mak

I've got both, I (unfortunately) got better results with the Folex :| Here are a few after I pulled the pieces out. The sunlight hides the utter disgusting nature of the panels. I've yet to scrub the dash or door panels yet, just replaced the blower motor resistor and need to grind and treat a large rusty section under the driver's feet. I'll do some Exterior pics when we stop having winter storm watches... PICS: http://s272.photobucket.com/user/makreljohnson/library/

Ok I have the panels all cleaned and I steam cleaned the carpet twice. I'm thinking I need to hang it up against the house and pressure wash it until the water runs clear. I used Folex in the cleaner and while it made it look like different carpet, it's not clean yet. Would pressure washing the carpet wind up destroying it? It has the mass backing and is in pretty good physical shape. I just don't want to wind up cutting the piece in half because it's less durable than I think it is. I know my way around the washer so I know I won't get too close or any other novice errors. I just believe I can rinse the rest of the grime off if I can soak thoroughly it with some pressure behind it. ...and thanks to anyone here that's mentioned Folex, it's liquid miracle. (I still forgot to upload pics!)

Got pics coming... the interior is all removed and I have some floor-rust to treat. I do have great news - using mineral spirits WILL help you remove what was at least a tube's worth of silicone caulk CLEANLY from your paint. I rubbed the Spirits in after carefully cutting off the bulk of the bead with a razor. I let it sit for 10 min, then scraped with a plastic scraper. It took elbow grease and it comes off in coffee-ground size particles but it's all gone. This, aside from the rust holes, was the worst I imagined I had to repair. Hope that helps someone else out. -Mak

I should do some before / after. The bar is set REALLY low on this, so it may not be anything worth bragging about. Can you polish rust spots? 'Cause if so, this thing will blind you with brilliance! I tested a few spots on the body yesterday and it'll polish up decently, but the ghostly lettering from company stickers may always be there until I can see fit to repaint. Need to re-read up on panel patching and cutting out rust...

I picked up a truck this weekend with the sole purpose of it being a hauler for Home Improvement runs. I swore it was going to stay as it was bought so I wouldn't be concerned about dirt, etc. The fact I'm here shows I couldn't allow that, so I'm putting together an attack plan for an interior that looks like the bulk of the dirt was carried INSIDE versus in the bed. The gray is mostly coffee / cola colored so any improvement will be drastic improvement... Plan is a follows: 1) Gut the interior - pull as much apart as possible to clean aggressively 2) Treat carpet with APC, let sit, then carefully pressure wash clean, hang to dry 3) Bissel steam clean seats pre treating with [need suggestion: CC? APC?] and let dry before re-install. 4) Clean vents with vacuum and dryer vent cleaner thingy, then a microfiber on a stick to wipe clean 5) Clean all plastic parts with diluted APC and then treat with [ TID or VRT or better suggestion?] 6) While interior is out, replace / reseal rear window - a prev owner used a thin silicone sealer poured into every gap in the trim to stop a leak. Peels out nicely though 7) Try to remove scum layer from under dash / wiring / pedals etc... - Blast the areas with compressed air and have a fan blowing across the interior - I plan to use a very diluted APC on a wheel brush which seems to work well on nooks and crannies - not too damp so I don't short anything out before I can find and fix 8) De-Stink - Attempt to remove the blend of sweat, coffee and hint of smoke. I read that Ozium and window up with vents at full blast can / will work. I'll try that. 9) after re-assembly, wipe down all surfaces with TID. Are there any words of wisdom for getting out dirt and dust from some of those impossible to reach dash places? Thanks! Mak BTW I notice I don't see the Green or Orange machine polishes on the site anymore, what happened to those? After I don't feel so filthy just getting in the truck, I'll likely polish the outside.

Yeah the overspray was on the whole car, glass and all. Good news is that it was practically the same color so it didn't show, was just gritty. I clay barred lightly and it all came off. The finish is squeaky clean now. I'll do another wash / scrub then Seal/Wax/Glaze this weekend (hopefully). I let the sealant sit for 12 hours last time to cure. I can't see the YouTube's at work, it's 12 hours between laying MSS and Wax, isn't it?

Let's get the 'yes it was stupid' out of the way: even 15 feet away from the garage door and outside, spray can overspray WILL land and stick to your car. My fault - I'll fix it. My question is, since I did a correction, seal and wax < 3 months ago, I'd like to clay bar the over-spray off but don't have the time to go from sealant up to a wax for a week or two - I believe the clay will remove the sealant and I'll have to start with fine machine polish, sealant, wax and glaze. Can anyone confirm? I used all Adams stuff: Clay, Swirl Remover, Fine Machine Polish, Machine Sealant, Buttery Wax and then Glaze. Lesson learned, Mak

Sure did... I always mist the wet car with Detail Spray - it helps to dry it more cleanly. I think it might just be surface gunk. I'll try a mix of just Car Wash and see how it performs... especially since I used the last of my turned-green Waterless wash. Not been a fan of WW so there's that

W H O A. Got my Foam lance (gun) yesterday and used a 50/50 mix of Water-less and Car Soap and both of our jaws dropped then there was uncontrollable laughter. It was like having a super-charged can of Shaving Cream spray a 4' fan all over your car. I was able to coat the car in 4-5 swipes of the wand and wash it in half the time. Love it. Come summer, someone's getting Foamed I did notice that I had absolutely no beading after the rinse and it was VERY difficult to dry. My MF towels (washed with the MF Rejuvenator) would soak up water but the surface would just NOT dry... like the water was different or something and left a pattern that looked like the splatter / soap pattern. Would this be the effect of the water-less wash? Once dry it's as smooth as normal, but took forever and twice as many towels to do so. Weird...

Don't forget to try the new Deep Wheel Cleaner - got mine last week and it took the winter muck and grime off our 08 outback wheel and they looked like new... minus curb rash, hey it's a utility vehicle! Been hoping Adams would put out a heavy duty cleaner for a while. I highly recommend it! I have a set of summer wheels I just got tires mounted on and I'm going to use the machine sealant on these since it's all I have. Hoping for the same protection and ease of clean.

I pulled the trigger on the Simpson 3000psi from Costco. They've never let me down when it comes to service and it came with a concierge service in case I have trouble. Not too shabby for $299. Got it all prepped with the seal conditioner and such... now I'm off to order my foam gun. Gonna double check the forums here for that suggestion, but I am leaning towards the [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Foam-Lance-Adjustable-Bottle/dp/B004GNZYY4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=26ZZTD1XTM59E&coliid=IHB4ZWF1SVGOX]MTM FoamLance[/ame] The wand doesn't quick disconnect st the handle so the gun (for now) will sit at the end of the wand. I'll just have to hold it like a rifle until I install a Q.D. at the handle... Thank for your input guys - I'm counting down the days until spring breaks and I can actually USE my PC from Swirl Remover up to the Glaze. Right now they're just taunting me in the laundry room, begging for use... Thanks for all the input... if I remember, I'll snap pics and post em! -Mak

Definitely want to go towards the foam cannon route and also have it be suitable for concrete and house cleaning. I like the Honda engine my mover has, so I may use that as a bias when looking...

I'd like to start using a pressure washer to knock the Colorado winter muck off the car prior to foaming it and washing it. I'm really tired of feeding the touchless wash and undoing my 'Adams Clean' as I call it. I've spied the Simpson one at Costco and the Generac at Lowes. I've got no prior experience but I've read all the 'don't blast the paint off' threads I could find, so I think I'll be ok... what I'm looking for is a quality unit around 3000 psi. I have heard that the simpson is a grab bag of bad out of the box and perfectly fine. I'm pretty good mechanically and I service all my equipment well. Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!