Regarding “Popular Car Wash Faces Eviction" (Aug. 10): I know that business reality for small firms is always richly complicated—there's no such thing as a “simple" idea. But, really, am I the only one struck by the thought here that a detailing shop and a biofuel depot could make fantastically great partners to co-locate at Ashby and Sacramento? These seem to me to be services that complement one another and that should have only a little bit of logistical trouble sharing the space—if some business structure/system of contracts, etc., can be worked out.
Just a suggestion, anyway.
Thomas Lord
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Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Washing away the car-wash blues
That question elicited a wide range of responses when asked of local car owners.
"I use dishwasher detergent," said Rosalia Munguia, a mother of two who has little time for frequent trips to the car wash and would rather save her money.
The question caused Patricia Simpson to laugh and confess that she doesn't do it very often. She washed her car in June, she said, "but that's only because they were doing construction in my apartments and it was covered with dirt and I couldn't see." She has little time with her busy job working for the court system, so when she does go to the car wash, she shells out $11 and gets the works, which includes vacuuming the interior and polishing the exterior with a spray wax.
Not so for Roberto Campos, a Mexican immigrant who manages a landscaping company.
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"I use dishwasher detergent," said Rosalia Munguia, a mother of two who has little time for frequent trips to the car wash and would rather save her money.
The question caused Patricia Simpson to laugh and confess that she doesn't do it very often. She washed her car in June, she said, "but that's only because they were doing construction in my apartments and it was covered with dirt and I couldn't see." She has little time with her busy job working for the court system, so when she does go to the car wash, she shells out $11 and gets the works, which includes vacuuming the interior and polishing the exterior with a spray wax.
Not so for Roberto Campos, a Mexican immigrant who manages a landscaping company.
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Pamper your ride
Finally, a reason for women to pay more attention to their cars.
PREVENTION is better than cure, believes Violet Yong, referring to the paintwork on her car.
A lot of people think you only need to worry about that when your car is old, but they fail to realise that care must begin when your car is new.
Yong was one of the first to subscribe to the specialised services offered by Carnauba Autospa, located in Glenmarie, Shah Alam. One of her real estate clients recommended the car-care centre and shes now a faithful follower of the autospa mantra. She religiously drives her Mazda6 in for a weekly wash and a quarterly detailing service.
I find that their products are very good, and so far the service has been great, she enthuses. A regular customer for more than two years, she educates, Did you know that even the direction in which you wipe the car down is important to maintain its lustre?
Well, admittedly the majority of women do not pay similar attention to their cars, but Yong is one of a rare but growing breed who are quite into their cars.
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PREVENTION is better than cure, believes Violet Yong, referring to the paintwork on her car.
A lot of people think you only need to worry about that when your car is old, but they fail to realise that care must begin when your car is new.
Yong was one of the first to subscribe to the specialised services offered by Carnauba Autospa, located in Glenmarie, Shah Alam. One of her real estate clients recommended the car-care centre and shes now a faithful follower of the autospa mantra. She religiously drives her Mazda6 in for a weekly wash and a quarterly detailing service.
I find that their products are very good, and so far the service has been great, she enthuses. A regular customer for more than two years, she educates, Did you know that even the direction in which you wipe the car down is important to maintain its lustre?
Well, admittedly the majority of women do not pay similar attention to their cars, but Yong is one of a rare but growing breed who are quite into their cars.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Help need for recommedation to get rid foul smell in car and interior cleaning
Foul smell can be get rid easily with the use of car ioniser. i had this problem after i collected my car as its a coe car. Have sort of old musky smell before that n its turn better after i used a air-con cleaner brand "Comma, clean-air". I use this mat on dashboard been more then a month now and I love it every minute its there from the first day I stick on my dashboard. Before there will be smell when the car is under the sun for a long time but now no more problem even if passenger sweaty armpit will be gone or even durian smell, great wonderful stuff. Heres the link http://www.gv.vrsoftsolution.com/Nanoblok.htm
Worth every cents I spend on it and even more.
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Worth every cents I spend on it and even more.
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Monday, May 5, 2008
Intro to Detailing Products
The following are some of the popular detailing products that are used by our members and is not an exhaustive list, so do feel free to use other products out there that works better for you:
- Car Shampoos: Armourall Blue ~$9.00/bottle, Armourall Green [heavy duty], Armorall Pink [frequent wash], 3M Car Wash, Meguairs Soft Wash Gel, Autoglymn Bodywork Car Shampoo.
- ClayBar: Soft99 [Green Colour] ~$10
- Polish/Sealant: Hi-Glaze88 ~$32 to $36 per 1L bottle, Glare Polish [not for sale individually, thru GLARE package only], Klasse AIO/KSG ~$90 for a set of 500ml bottle each of AIO and KSG..3 microfibre applicator pads..1 microfibre cloth, Zaino ~$28.50/bottle [online @ http://www.cazcomp.com] , SuperGlaze Teflon Polish ~$19.80/500ml bottle, Mothers' Sealer & Glaze ~S$13/bottle, Mothers' Perfect Polish ~S$29.
- Leather Cream/Conditioner: Autoglym Leather Conditioner, Mother's Leather Conditioner ~$18/bottle, Zymol Leather Conditioner ~S$16/bottle.
- Tyre Shine: Formula 1 Black Gold ~$12, Armorall Extreme Tyre Shine ~$16.50, Meguairs Endurance Tyre Gel
- Engine Bay Cleaning & Shine: Selleys Engine Degreaser, Pennzoil Multi-purpose cleaner, Meguairs Endurance Tyre Gel
- Detailing cloth: 3M Microfibre cloth ~$8, Mystic Maid Auto/Marine cloth ~$15 [online @ http://www.mysticmaid.com.sg], 100% cotton cloth, FiberShine Microfibre
- Drying cloth: C300 Chamois, 100% cotton towels, microfibre towels
- Applicator pads: Meguairs ~$2
- Scratch/Swirl mark remover: 3M Swirl Mark Remover ~$22 [for dark/light coloured cars], Meguairs Scratch-X [for fine scratches] ~$13
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- Car Shampoos: Armourall Blue ~$9.00/bottle, Armourall Green [heavy duty], Armorall Pink [frequent wash], 3M Car Wash, Meguairs Soft Wash Gel, Autoglymn Bodywork Car Shampoo.
- ClayBar: Soft99 [Green Colour] ~$10
- Polish/Sealant: Hi-Glaze88 ~$32 to $36 per 1L bottle, Glare Polish [not for sale individually, thru GLARE package only], Klasse AIO/KSG ~$90 for a set of 500ml bottle each of AIO and KSG..3 microfibre applicator pads..1 microfibre cloth, Zaino ~$28.50/bottle [online @ http://www.cazcomp.com] , SuperGlaze Teflon Polish ~$19.80/500ml bottle, Mothers' Sealer & Glaze ~S$13/bottle, Mothers' Perfect Polish ~S$29.
- Leather Cream/Conditioner: Autoglym Leather Conditioner, Mother's Leather Conditioner ~$18/bottle, Zymol Leather Conditioner ~S$16/bottle.
- Tyre Shine: Formula 1 Black Gold ~$12, Armorall Extreme Tyre Shine ~$16.50, Meguairs Endurance Tyre Gel
- Engine Bay Cleaning & Shine: Selleys Engine Degreaser, Pennzoil Multi-purpose cleaner, Meguairs Endurance Tyre Gel
- Detailing cloth: 3M Microfibre cloth ~$8, Mystic Maid Auto/Marine cloth ~$15 [online @ http://www.mysticmaid.com.sg], 100% cotton cloth, FiberShine Microfibre
- Drying cloth: C300 Chamois, 100% cotton towels, microfibre towels
- Applicator pads: Meguairs ~$2
- Scratch/Swirl mark remover: 3M Swirl Mark Remover ~$22 [for dark/light coloured cars], Meguairs Scratch-X [for fine scratches] ~$13
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Thursday, April 24, 2008
How To Clay Bar Your Car
Here's what I do:
Clay Bar:
From a normal 150gm clay bar..cut it up into 8 equal pieces/blocks. Bag each piece into a zip lock and keep aside for future use. Each piece can be used about 2-3 times depending on how dirty your car is. Before throwing away, use it to clay bar your rims.
Car:
- wash car [dont dry]
- fill up pail with freshwater and some car shampoo [slightly less than normal]
- hold clay bar lightly in palm of one hand, car sponge in other hand, dip both hands into pail to wet, use sponge to wet car panel and then run clay bar over paintwork in straight lines in the direction of air flow for top panels, for side panels..run clay bar over in top down motion. Clay panels in order..bonnet, boot, roof...then 2 front quarter panels, doors, 2 rear quarter panels, boot, front and rear skirtings, side skirtings. After clay barring each panel, fold clay bar into half, flatten, and use clean portion on next panel. Always make sure panels are well lubricated by continuously sponging, same goes for clay bar...just dip you hand into the pail.
- after finishing clay barring, bag the clay bar into the zip lock with some of the water from the pail
- if panels are not lubricated properly, you might 'drag' and 'streak' [just like plasticine] your paintwork and you will have to wash it off using the car shampoo
- once done with clay baring, you can wash the car again and rinse
- dry car
- apply a sealant on the paintwork after drying in order to fill up all the holes from the grit removed by the clay bar and also to seal in the paintwork. Your car is now prepped for your polishing/waxing.
- polish your car and add on at least 4-5 layers if possible [this should last you at least 3-6 months depending on which polish you use] before you need to reapply again
- regularly wash car at least once a week
- try to remove contaminants such as bird droppings, tree sap ASAP by placing a wet tissue on the area, wait about 5 seconds, and wipe off
- subsequent clay barring. when washing your car..feel the paintwork, if it feels gritty, run your clay bar over the area to remove the dirt, or if you want to be thorough, clay bar the entire again
- Clay barring can be done about every 6 months or 1 year....depending on where you park your car and whether it is exposed to the elements, otherwise, you can clay bar as and when necessary. It's not going to take off any of your polish/wax...just the dirt.
N.B: Try not to drop the clay bar on the floor. If this happens, throw it away ! Never reuse it or the dirt brought up from the ground will scratch your car.
Time taken to clay bar a medium sized car should be about 1-2 hours.
Cheers and happy clay barring !
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Clay Bar:
From a normal 150gm clay bar..cut it up into 8 equal pieces/blocks. Bag each piece into a zip lock and keep aside for future use. Each piece can be used about 2-3 times depending on how dirty your car is. Before throwing away, use it to clay bar your rims.
Car:
- wash car [dont dry]
- fill up pail with freshwater and some car shampoo [slightly less than normal]
- hold clay bar lightly in palm of one hand, car sponge in other hand, dip both hands into pail to wet, use sponge to wet car panel and then run clay bar over paintwork in straight lines in the direction of air flow for top panels, for side panels..run clay bar over in top down motion. Clay panels in order..bonnet, boot, roof...then 2 front quarter panels, doors, 2 rear quarter panels, boot, front and rear skirtings, side skirtings. After clay barring each panel, fold clay bar into half, flatten, and use clean portion on next panel. Always make sure panels are well lubricated by continuously sponging, same goes for clay bar...just dip you hand into the pail.
- after finishing clay barring, bag the clay bar into the zip lock with some of the water from the pail
- if panels are not lubricated properly, you might 'drag' and 'streak' [just like plasticine] your paintwork and you will have to wash it off using the car shampoo
- once done with clay baring, you can wash the car again and rinse
- dry car
- apply a sealant on the paintwork after drying in order to fill up all the holes from the grit removed by the clay bar and also to seal in the paintwork. Your car is now prepped for your polishing/waxing.
- polish your car and add on at least 4-5 layers if possible [this should last you at least 3-6 months depending on which polish you use] before you need to reapply again
- regularly wash car at least once a week
- try to remove contaminants such as bird droppings, tree sap ASAP by placing a wet tissue on the area, wait about 5 seconds, and wipe off
- subsequent clay barring. when washing your car..feel the paintwork, if it feels gritty, run your clay bar over the area to remove the dirt, or if you want to be thorough, clay bar the entire again
- Clay barring can be done about every 6 months or 1 year....depending on where you park your car and whether it is exposed to the elements, otherwise, you can clay bar as and when necessary. It's not going to take off any of your polish/wax...just the dirt.
N.B: Try not to drop the clay bar on the floor. If this happens, throw it away ! Never reuse it or the dirt brought up from the ground will scratch your car.
Time taken to clay bar a medium sized car should be about 1-2 hours.
Cheers and happy clay barring !
.
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Sunday, April 6, 2008
KLASSE Application Tips
The Application
And while applying Klasse isn’t rocket science, it does take some effort, time, and patience in order to achieve the best shine possible. On a unclean car I would give my self probably a good 3-5 hours. In reward, the shine (with regular washing will last up to 9 months or more. With Klasse, the ends do justify the means, so lets get started.
The each kit contains both the AIO and the SG in 2 oz bottles. And while that may seem like a small amount, the typical Klasse application is about 1 coat per ounce. You will easily be able to get a 2+2 coating in with this kit providing for months of acrylic Klasse protection and shine. Someone who is used to the product may get double the coats you might, the first time. On my car, I got a coat of SG in about ½ an ounce (this is beacause of paint prep, the smoother your original finish, partly due to the AIO and other paint prep, the thinner you can spread the SG) You might want to take before pictures of your car before continuing.
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And while applying Klasse isn’t rocket science, it does take some effort, time, and patience in order to achieve the best shine possible. On a unclean car I would give my self probably a good 3-5 hours. In reward, the shine (with regular washing will last up to 9 months or more. With Klasse, the ends do justify the means, so lets get started.
The each kit contains both the AIO and the SG in 2 oz bottles. And while that may seem like a small amount, the typical Klasse application is about 1 coat per ounce. You will easily be able to get a 2+2 coating in with this kit providing for months of acrylic Klasse protection and shine. Someone who is used to the product may get double the coats you might, the first time. On my car, I got a coat of SG in about ½ an ounce (this is beacause of paint prep, the smoother your original finish, partly due to the AIO and other paint prep, the thinner you can spread the SG) You might want to take before pictures of your car before continuing.
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