Cleaning the beast ...

[raajk8]

So when you buy a vehicle as sexy as a BMW (in my case the 650i) there is always a need to keep it pristine and clean like it left the showroom.

The leather on the seats (In my case Dakota Beige), and the material on the steering wheel (in my case the M Sport Steering wheel) have a very Matte finish.

Its not rocket science that with all the dust and dirt flying around and the humidity, will play havoc on your seats, dash and steering.

So my question is, how do we keep this as good as new?

Do we go somewhere, where do we buy products? what are you guys buying? How often are we cleaning the leather?

Let your inner hygiene and cleanliness freak emerge ... !

[ghoonk]

I recommend Zaino's Leather in a Bottle if you can get your hands on some, otherwise Zymol makes a really good leather cleaner and conditioner (2 bottles). Worst case, there's always Meguair's and they also have a decent cleaner and conditioner (2 bottle) and available at Ace Hardware. make sure you also buy some cotton towels -- at least 1 for application and scrubbing, one for cleaning off, one for applying the conditioner and another for wiping off. Try not to mix up your towels -- i recommend using a black marker to mark the towels where possible

I'm using the Meg's combo until I can figure a way to get my preferred chemicals shipped into Dubai. The light beige/grey leather seats on my RS4 are also prone to getting dirty, and I've decided to take it in for a proper valet at X Service Centre next week to get paint imperfections sorted out once and for all, and for them to clean up my leather interior. If your seats are as dirty as mine, then I would recommend leaving it to the professionals (who have more hands on the job) to do the major work, and you just maintain it twice a month for good measure. It's hell trying to do a complete clean up of the leather in this heat.

[raajk8]

Ghook ... thank you for that ... :)

For the time being Prada gave me some leather lather cleaners and protectors for my shoes. So I figured, if its good enough for my Prada shoes, its good enough for the 6 and I was right. The car is brand new but had some marks around the door from getting in and out, but the lather cleaner took em right out.

It is hell to clean it. I spent 20 minutes and I was drenched.

My plan is too clean them very regularly, so that I dont get to a point where they get extremely dirty.

I will shop around at Yellow Hat and Ace to see what I can find.

Thanks for the tip.

[hiten86]

Zymol's leather care products are good.
I get my car completely washed outside/inside at a service center every week,
and once i'm back home i rip out the zymol and get to work- It's recommended atleast once a week.
Keeps it shining a cleaaan.

And oh - mind the smoking in the car and eating as well :P
It's a no no for anyone who sits in mine!
Even for myself!
Cheers mate!

H

[raajk8]

I need to find this Zymol now ....

Need to figure out where in the UAE i can get it ...

As for the smoking and eating, not a smoker and eating is banned like Etisalat and flickr :P

Big NO NO ... I even tried saying "take off your shoes before you get in!" to my fiance but that didnt go down to well :(

I agree with the every week though ... wont run into major issues in the long run and will maintain the cars resale value.

RK

[hiten86]

Big NO NO ... I even tried saying "take off your shoes before you get in!" to my fiance but that didnt go down to well :(

RK

Big NO NO for anyone . .haha

[ghoonk]

Haven't seen Zymol in the UAE. Might want to consider shipping it in.

That said, if anyone is shipping anything into UAE from the US in a 40ft container, I'd be keen to get some stuff from ChemicalGuys as well -- detailing stuff, not chemical weapons :)

[SewerSideUp]

Haven't seen Zymol in the UAE. Might want to consider shipping it in.

That said, if anyone is shipping anything into UAE from the US in a 40ft container, I'd be keen to get some stuff from ChemicalGuys as well -- detailing stuff, not chemical weapons :)

:rofl:

[Ayham]

Haven't seen Zymol in the UAE. Might want to consider shipping it in.

That said, if anyone is shipping anything into UAE from the US in a 40ft container, I'd be keen to get some stuff from ChemicalGuys as well -- detailing stuff, not chemical weapons :)

There shall be a shipment for the race team in the future, keep an eye out..

[ghoonk]

Sounds good!

[Ayham]

If I may suggest, you can take your car to Bruno's garage every once in a while for a quicky polish job (1 day) to take care of Dubai roads "deeds"! We all do and can't complain really :)

[Bruno]

i was reading somewhere that Zymol has a dealer in Switzerland... we have a member who is there at the moment. i'm sure he can pick up few of their lovely products on his way back. or if not i'm heading there soon so i'll also able to pick some up. list the names of the bottles.

i've been using meg's combos too.
_swirls and scratch removal (duration: 1.5 hours)
_step 1-2-3 (clean, wax, and polish) for the outside (duration: 1.5 hours each step)
_step 1-2 (cleaner and conditioner) for the interior (leather only)

in fact i have had the exterior polished twice so far within 2 months... results were fascinating. i tested the leather care polish on my rear arm rest and believe it or not this thing works. i applied them on half of the arm rest to compare it to the other half. i will post pictures of this later on.

[Ayham]

Cousin doing his thing again!!!

[ghoonk]

To be frank, having gone down this path of being an OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Detailer -- wash and detail car once in the morning, and again in the evening, every day / 2 days), here's my recommendation to deal with exterior blemishes:

Get a professional to use a machine to work on the marring, light scratches, etc. Get it off once and for all. For this, I'm going to X Service Centre because

a. they are a body shop
b. they use 3M body shop compounds which my team (I used to run my own detailing service in Singapore) has used successfully in the past. I would prefer use of Menzerna PO (I still have some bottles in Singapore) but since I did not bring them over on my last trip, 3M is the next best thing

I will be personally supervising the job to ensure that they use the 3M medium cutting compound to deal with the more severe marring, and then go over the car completely with the light cutting compound, followed by 3M paint glaze and sealant. Once the car is COMPLETELY blemish-free, I will be using a series of acrylic-based sealants to provide multi-layered protection.

Once this is done, I will not be getting my car washed at normal stations and will probably try to work something out with X Service Centre for a weekly wash and relayer using MY microfibre mitts, MY car shampoo (am trying to get Zaino Z7 for this), MY microfibre applicators and cloths and MY acrylic sealant combination to ensure that there is no more possibility of marring.

This is probably the least effort intensive method of achieving and maintaining the perfect shine that I know of.

[raajk8]

Ghook,

I got my car 3 days ago ... at what stage would I get into this type of detailing?