After 3 weeks unwashed, my beloved’s MX-5 was in a bit of a state after taking on the winter M62 many times and having a run up and down the Lancashire coast… it’s also been bloody freezing for ages and the sun goes out of sight by 3 o’clock, so a quickie was demanded!
Fortunately I’d given her a nice coating of Collinite 915 a couple of months ago, the wheels had Poorboy’s Wheel Sealant doing its best, and the glass was Rain-Xed, so I was hoping for an easy ride before I froze something off…
Artillery:
- ValetPro Ph-Neutral Snow Foam
- Meguiar’s Hyper Wash
- ValetPro Bilberry Wheel Cleaner
- Autoglym Hi-Tech Wheel Brush
- Trusty Karcher with its own-brand foam gun
- Bucket & Grit Guard
- Meguiar’s Lambswool Mitt with a mesh back
- Poorboy’s Waffle Weave Drying Towel
- an old Water Magnet for the wheels
First mishap – the Snow Foam had been in the garage, and had turned into a white gloopy mass in the bottle! That soon went back to liquid after standing the bottle in warm water for a while… I made up a broth of 1 shot Hyper Wash, a slug of Snow foam (about 50ml or so in total) and topped up to 400ml with warm water.
The Bilberry Wheel Cleaner was applied first, diluted 1:1 with water into a spare spray bottle (I think it had bathroom cleaner in it originally…). That can stay on the nice gritty grey wheels while I foam up… Unfortunately I didn’t think to take pictures before I’d started foaming… and my phone camera didn’t know quite what to do with the fading light… oh well.
Snow Foamy and Bilberry-y
The bilberry & snow foam smell nice together Left that all dwelling for a while while I warmed my hands on a cup of tea supplied by the lovely Janet, and gave the wheels a good agitate with my trusty Hi-Tech Wheel Brush.
Snow Foam after a cup of tea
All the foam and the nasties it had absorbed was Karchered off, the wheels and arches were blasted clean (look no hands!), and I gave the body a quick caress with a bucket of hot Hyper Wash and a lambswool mitt. Lovely. All rinsed down and dried off with the brilliant waffle-weave towels.
Oh look, the car's red and the wheels are silver!
Stand back, light your pipe and admire your handywork from somewhere warmer… and look smug that you prepped the car in the good weather and stocked up on good shiny products 
shinearama
