mikeyb13 wrote:Giving the car its Winter makeover. Filling the stone chips, good polish wax etc.
Looking for advice about the bits you can't see. Planning on getting the underneath done while im at it. Looking for advice on cleaning products for suspension, floors, engine bay etc and the do,s and don'ts Looking something to apply once its all clean to help protect the nitrons etc from the salt.
And how do you get your brake calipers all shiney
These guides might help:
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... dvice.html
and my write-up might help a little bit:
http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... 10&t=29384
Once you've got the undertrays off, wrap tin foil round any exposed connectors to protect them from water ingress. I'd also take off the wheels and arch liners if possible.
Use a pressure washer to blast as much muck off as possible - if you've got a hot water feed, that'll be even better. Take care not to force water into any connectors but the pressure washer uses less water than a hose in my experience.
I'd then make up a spray bottle
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... cat25.html http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... -head.html with Super Degreaser at 4:1 dilution:
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... easer.html and spray it onto small areas at a time, then use a soft brush to agitate before rinsing. Do small areas as you don't want to let Degreaser dry on the surface.
The same process will apply to the engine bay and the undertray - with the engine bay, put a freezer bag over the air intake and ty-rap it in place to avoid water getting in. Degreaser will work on the exhaust too.
Work on a cold engine but once you've cleaned it and removed all the foil and bag, start it up to speed up the drying off.
The undertrays are a bit of a chore to make them look really neat; if you can get as much of the road flim and actual dirt off, that's a pretty good result. It's always going to look a bit matt/dull unless you really want to try machine polishing it (I gave mine a buzz with the machine and a mild polish and it didn't do a great deal).
Brake calipers: I'd use egreaser on them too to get them spotless and then paint them. (Ford Radiant Red is almost identical to Porsche red.....or I painted mine matt black)
I treated my coilovers with Swissvax Motor Shine:
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... shine.html I've been very impressed with it; it forms a flexible lacquer coating on the surface; looks good with a bit of gloss but nothing too cheap looking. My tin's done a few coats on the coilovers and a few engine bays and there's still some left so you just need really thin coats. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be good for protecting the undertray too.
If the wheels are off, I'd take the opportunity to really clean the insides of them:
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... n-gel.html and then get a decent sealant on them: a few coats of this
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... alant.html will make a bit difference, or if you want to go for maximum protection with little or no topping up:
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... alant.html
For the bodywork; let me know if you need any product or application advice for it.
) but even with the best intentions I always run out of enthusiasm before I get to the underside. If there is a good/quick way of dealing with the oily bits I would be interested in knowing too. 
