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Do we have a long running thread for this?
I found a few things in Halfords that have pleased me quite a bit lately. One was a dedicated car drying towel that is the thickest, heaviest most luxurious soft pile I've ever seen, and is really effective. I found it better to use a synthetic shammy to wipe most of the water off first though. Definitely recommended as I've previously had trouble drying my car well.
I also bought some 'snow foam ceramic sealant'. You're meant to spray it on with a foam gun and then just hose it off. Well, it didn't really turn to foam with my gun but that may not matter much since the results are amazing. Sprayed on, hosed off and very quickly buffed with a fluffy mitt. It didn't feel quite as slick as wax, but my car is incredibly shiny, and it was really quick to do. Far quicker than even spray wax from a bottle, especially if you have a big car.
I picked up some of that wheel cleaner that turns brake dust deposits into blueberry syrup that you can just hose off. For the most part, anyway - I needed a quick brush in a couple of spots. But it's extremely effective as well.
Really chuffed - saved loads of time and got great results.
What brand was the snow foam? I’ve been using Chemical Guys beer smell snow foam and it really does make your car smell like a pub !
I forget what snow foam I used, but the ceramic coating snow foam was Halfords own. You snow foam first, jetwash, then wash and rinse, then you use the ceramic coating foam.
Do those foams work with just a hosepipe? I've a very tall camper I need to clean and it sounds like less wobbling on a ladder, a good thing to me...
What?
Ceramic stuff can be a pain in the arse on glass, mind you, and it can be big hassle if you ever want to get a paint repair done. But yeah it's great. I like having a shiny car, occasionally, but I cannot be arsed with detailing or proper waxes and all that- nothing wrong with all that but it's a hobby of its own. I forget the brand I use, some cheap internet one, but it makes half-assed washing look better and last longer and that's all I wanted.
Another good un is a clay mitt. Clay barring is too much like effort but I got a cheap mitt a couple of years back and it's fantastic, does I dunno, maybe 75% of the job with a fraction of the effort and no pissing about with the actual clays.
@matt, you can get foam guns for standard hose connections, you do need good water pressure though for it to work well. I had one and it worked fine on a short hose but with the big extension fitted it was just a bit crap.
Do those foams work with just a hosepipe?
No, you need a jetwasher.
There's two things here - snow foam lets you soak the crap off your car before you wash it. You spray it and then leave it for a bit, jetwash it off and then go at it with two buckets and a shaggy mitt.
The thing I just bought was 'foam' ceramic coating, which you do after you've washed it using the same thing as the snow foam you used earlier. It's like wax, a bit more durable, but in this case you can just spray the whole car and rinse off which takes a few minutes, instead of having to rub it in and buff.
If I just keep the moss to a minimum that's good enough for me.
Ceramic stuff can be a pain in the arse on glass, mind you
It advised to clean the windscreen and wiper blades with glass cleaner, which I did - no ill effects it rained today as I drove to the tip.
it can be big hassle if you ever want to get a paint repair done
Hmm, I view this as durable wax not real ceramic coating, but we'll see how it goes!
Another good un is a clay mitt
Yeah the one I have is good, but if you rub too hard it leaves massive black streaks, even if you use detailing spray with it, especially if the bodywork is a bit warm.
If I just keep the moss to a minimum that’s good enough for me.
Then this thread is not for you.
Where do these chemicals you're spraying onto your car end up? Down the drain and into the local river or ground water system?
There are plenty of great products on the saturated “detailing” market. I wanted to clean my car as quickly and effectively as possible, but I fell down the detailing rabbit hole. I’ve wound it back now to some great products from Bilt Hamber.
SurfexHD as an all purpose cleaner / degreaser. Diluted down to 10:1, water to chemical, is for heavy duty cleaning, car wheels, chain degreaser. 20:1 is for filthy car panels, 100:1 for car internal wipe downs.
Touchless as a “snow foam” pre-wash. Foam on, rinse off. I also use it on my bikes as a touchless wash.
Auto Wash is a bucket wash / contact wash. It only needs 5ml in a 15ltr bucket. I’ve also been using it through a snow foam lance. Same amount to cover a large car.
But the best bit is Touch-On ceramic spray on sealant. Again applied through the snow foam lance then rinse off. It’s gives a nice slick feeling to the paintwork and is hydrophobic like wax.
I’ve just started using Korrisol fallout remover. Spray it on to wheels or paintwork and watch the iron particles dissolve and turn pinky-purple. I did a full body decon and even on a black car it removed loads of imbedded contamination. The paint was really smooth afterwards.
I could go on and on but instead of spending ages using crap products using something decent has made the whole thing rather painless, almost enjoyable.
I have to agree with alpin, it's all going down the drain and almost certainly somewhere it shouldn't be
I looked at a bottle of car shampoo I found in my new house. The label said 'harmful to aquatic life'
Our rivers and watecourses are ****ed as it is, our sea water bathing areas deemed polluted
We really aren't helping ourselves
At what stage did car washing get so complicated!?
Back in the 70’s/80’s your dad would give you 50p to wash the cars. You’d traipse outside with a bucket of hot water with load of Fairy Liquid in. Then you’d grab some random sponge off the garage floor and away you’d go!! Hosepipe pissing water everywhere as it had more holes that a sieve!! 🤣🤣🤣
Where does the 60l of chemicals you put into your car or van every few weeks end up?
That's a poor justification at best . But oh so predictable. I think we all knew it was coming.
Any snow foam tips please - just using tne spray bottle that came with my little Nilfisk, and wanting a better, thicker coverage.
Then this thread is not for you.
Tbd. You carry on with your paean to Halfords car cleaning products, I'm hanging out for the moss-killing tips.
johnners
Free Member
If I just keep the moss to a minimum that’s good enough for me
I washed mine for the first time about this time last year when I had covid and was bored, and the algae is starting to grow back already! You can kind of see where the sponge went as it's making pretty streaky patterns.
For killing moss I find upping the washing to once every two years is very effective,
For an in-between wash top up-a salt and rain soaked drive to my parents (6h each way) does wonders for all the hard to get places 😉 ( wink emoji if the emoji gets lost)
I bought some wax for my new car. Used it once, it took ages and felt very much like hard work. The bottle claimed it would be easy, maybe it's easier than other waxes.
Bought some fancy auto glym soap. I've used it 5 times in 5 years. Mostly as my wee one likes "washing the car" aka soaking me with the hose when it's hot.
The car looks nice clean, just not nice enough to spend 30min washing it and getting hosed down
That’s a poor justification
It's not any kind of justification. I put diesel in my own tank. Just pointing out how we're all complicit.
At what stage did car washing get so complicated!?
About the same time as everything else in life. All this is of course optional. Although to be fair, polishing and waxing cars has been around a long time. I never used to wash the Passat or the Prius, it wasn't worth it. However my current car is a nice motor, and it looks terrible when dirty but really fantastic when its clean. The last two cars looked just as boring just slightly shinier after 3hrs of effort.
I did all that stuff on my previous car including carefully hand applying proper wax and everything, the paint on the roof still blistered eventually, people still opened their doors into it in car parks then it was crashed into and written off.
I don't bother anymore.
Just looking at Halfords who in their right minds pays 20 quid for a " detailing " bucket FFS ! 😳😳😳🙄🙄🙄
Drive though car wash for £8.99. Not perfect but theres no point spending ages cleaning the car in this weather.
One was a dedicated car drying towel that is the thickest, heaviest most luxurious soft pile I’ve ever seen, and is really effective.
Yeah, we had one of those for getting most of the water off of motoring school cars after jet washing them outside. Our jet washer was diesel powered with a tank of soap, so ideal for cleaning all the crap (literally) off of cars that had been sitting out of doors for sometimes months! I keep meaning to get one, but the cleaning kit I’ve got is designed to spray the wax straight onto the wet bodywork after rinsing off, then I spray Rain-X onto the glass. Getting a pack or two of microfibre cloths is a good idea for applying wax polish and buffing off - they’re cheap, and dry really quickly.
Yeti bucket with the utility belt under £100 for both surely? https://uk.yeti.com/collections/buckets/products/loadout-bucket
The lad who lives opposite us has all that gear, 20 quid Meguiars buckets and shit. Spends about 2 hour's hoovering his car every weekend then another two hours cleaning and waxing the outside and unfortunately it still comes out looking like a Ford Fiesta when he's done.
“Tbd. You carry on with your paean to Halfords car cleaning products, I’m hanging out for the moss-killing tips”
4 lid caps of Round up, a squirt of Fairy liquid in a bucket of ice cold water.
Follow up with T Cut with all the rubber bits dyed a bit biege.
Win
But then the lad could be looking at you riding your bicycle around the woods whilst making motorbike noises for 4 hours every Sunday and thinking “it’s a bicycle, when’s he going to get a motorbike?”
If it makes him happy then so what?
"If it makes him happy then so what?"
Fair do's. Perhaps I should put excessive car cleaning on my bucket list.
Life's too short.
It's not something I especially enjoy as an activity in its own right, but the thing is that it's a constrained activity. It has no other dependencies, it's just you and the car and you can focus on that and nothing else. And you get results - the car gets nice and shiny and that's pleasing. It's like building the Eiffel tower out of matchsticks or doing jigaws or something. Pointless but absorbing and calming to an extend.
I don't do it often, I just did it at the weekend because the car was filthy. It hadn't been washed all winter and it'd been parked under a tree for a month whilst I sold the Nissan.
Life’s too short.
Too short to judge others?
My car revelation this week was finding (and using) a spare Optimate that was hiding somewhere in the garage. My car gets used about once every four weeks ATM so the stop/start battery is always complaining. Not anymore. Saved me paying the Dealer telling me it was x hundred pounds for two new batteries as well.
I like washing them as well and suffer the green growth issue due to low use/lots of standing. A small stiff brush sorts that out in no time. Bessie Mk2 is still resident tho...
I clean my car probably about every 6 months. I do live in Scotland so I don't really see the point, unless you either don't actually drive anywhere or like washing your car twice a day. Except for them two months a year where it is gloriously above 12 degrees and the car can stay clean for nearly a week. Plus the wind and rain can be so bad that it's like having a jet wash, so it's like a free car wash.
A guy I used to work with, thought washing his 3 series was the highlight of the week. Not for me.
This might be the wrong okace to ask 5his question (I have no idea what 'detailing' is) but does anyone have any extending hosepipe brush recommendations suitable for a large van that gets a wash once or twice a year? I can't reach the top of the sides from the ground, and it's difficult reaching the middle of the roof from a ladder too. The only ones I've had before have been sh1+ and end up leaking after a couple of uses.
I did all that stuff on my previous car including carefully hand applying proper wax and everything, the paint on the roof still blistered eventually, people still opened their doors into it in car parks then it was crashed into and written off.
I don’t bother anymore
You'd be a proper ninny washing a car that's been written off though.
Just pay a fiver to your local ilegal car-wash, they need to eat too.
The ones at my local work like dogs...and I bet they are not earing much cash. it's pretty bad... the local police and council must be aware about it, modern day slavery in the open.
"The ones at my local work like dogs…and I bet they are not earing much cash. it’s pretty bad… the local police and council must be aware about it, modern day slavery in the open."
Regular targets for the relevant authorities, I can assure you.
If you pay less than a tenner for a hand car wash you are almost certainly contributing to some sort of illegal activity.
I've fallen quite deep into the detailing rabbit hole to (even though I don't actually enjoy the process).
For snow foam you need a decent foam cannon & pressure washer, MJJC ones get good reviews (I have the v2 but they released the v3 not long ago). I don't think any work with just hose mains pressure but you can do it out of a hand pumped spray tank instead (albeit with a fair bit more effort).
+1 For Bilt-Hamber touch-less foam and Car Pro Reset is the best (non-stripping) shampoo I've found, along with Soft99's Fusso Coat wax (just be careful when using it not to get it on plastic trim etc. as it's a pain to get off)
I would say that any spray-on/rinse-off type products with wax or ceramics in them are mostly marketing (in terms of any long-lasting benefits they claim) but if used just when maintenance washing they can work well. Applying a proper long-lasting (12-24 month) ceramic coating is a lot of work (you need to strip wash, clay, polish, IPA rub down and then apply the ceramic coat carefully and it really should be done indoors).
I really want a blower dryer but I don't want to be the knob making a racket whilst using it on a Sunday with everyone wondering wtf is he using a leaf blower on a car for...
"Fair do’s. Perhaps I should put excessive car cleaning on my bucket list."
Add it to your 25-quid-detailing-bucket list I should.
For snow foam you need a decent foam cannon & pressure washer
I have the basic one that came with my Karcher and I don't think it's top of the line but it works well enough. Foam stays on long enough to do it's job.
I would say that any spray-on/rinse-off type products with wax or ceramics in them are mostly marketing (in terms of any long-lasting benefits they claim)
It only claims to last up to three months, it's not pretending to be a full ceramic coating despite the word ceramic in the name. Given how easy it was to apply and it's fairly inexpensive, I'm happy so far. We'll see how long it actually lasts.
I'm conflicted now. I actually enjoy cleaning my cars (I'd say detailing is a bit far fetched but I do one or two big wash/polish/wax sessions on each car a year and then keep them looking decent inbetween) but do I continue killing wildlife with the stuff I use or do I contribute to modern slavery by getting some illegals to throw a rag over the car that'll have been on the floor etc, picked up a load of grit etc and damage my paintwork. Its not as if the illegals are using industrial grade TFR mixed so strong it'll take your skin off - they use rainbow water produced by the fairies.
Ransos – I think the correct thought is that excessive car washing should be on your TWO bucket list
Don't forget the grit guards.
but you can do it out of a hand pumped spray tank instead
Yep. I tried snow foam from a proper foam lance attached to a pressure washer, but found it messy and a faff. Swapped to using Bilt Hamber Auto Foam diluted in a hand-pumped 2L garden sprayer. Works brilliantly - it's enough to keep a car respectable over winter without doing anything else: spray on, wait a few minutes, blast it off with pressure washer. It helps if the paintwork's got a decent wax on it before winter though.
I don't understand the inverse snobbery around wanting to look after a valuable asset. Yes it's a car/van, yes it'll just get dirty again, but - to me at least - it's something I've spent a shitload of money on so why not look after it a bit?
Nobody ever mentioneds getting on their hands and knees making sure the wheelarch lips are free from mud or washing the road salt off the exposed subframes, or blasting leaves out from the arch liners. That to me is more important than shiny bodywork.
I used a cheap car wash once a few years back & vowed never again, while watching one of the blokes cleaning the car next to where I was waiting get a massive sponge, rub it along the sill first to get all the winter grit & crap onto the sponge, then proceed to rub it all over the side of the car.
I suppose if you don't really care about your car, or it's just a lease car that you are giving back in a couple of years, then it's not really a problem, but I buy my cars outright & hang onto them for a decent length of time so would rather take them time to look after them, than get them trashed by some bloke earning less than min wage at a car wash.
I don't find the time to clean my car very regularly, but do use decent products and find it quite therapeutic.
Headphones on, music or a podcast & just set to it. Similar to gardening or any other domestic job that needs doing, really.
I have tried the old snowfoam thing & find it more faff than it's worth - it's mainly the effort of getting the jetwash out, plugging it all in, dealing with the tangle of hoses & cables and then when you rinse the snowfoam off.........hmmmm, it's a little bit cleaner but I'm not sure if that's because of the snowfoam or because I've given it the once over with the jetwash.
I keep meaning to try it again at some point.
In relation to molgrips original post - I tried one of those expensive towels a few years ago & found it was crap. It was a Meguiars one & felt very nice, but just shoved the water around without really absorbing it.
It was weird, like it had some kind of hydrophobic coating on it 😄 - just went back to a chamois, which I think is frowned on in detailing circles, but does the job very well.
I've started using TurtleWax Hydrophobic sealant spray after a wash. It gets decent reviews & is basically a spray on, wipe off sealant for the paint. Not sure what it does in practical terms, but water beads up nicely on it.
I've often chipped into these threads...I really like cleaning my car..
It's the first posh car I've had in my life, and I'm proud...
I like to 'semi detail' it... Brushed, different pads/compounds..keep the alloys clean etc...
I'll clean it properly every few weeks, and keep on top (quick detail spray) every week.
It definitely looks better than a car that ISN'T treated like this. Whether that matters to you, that's your business 🤷🏼
DrP
Exactly. One of mine has been on the front cover of a car magazine and had the main feature about it. But sure, I’ll let foliage grow on it…
Careful. Before you know it, foliage growing on a car will be the next big 'scene' in the car world...
I've never managed to dry a car with a chamois! The Halfords towel though was ultra absorbent, very effective.
Snow foam has been meh in the past but this time I left it much longer. It softened the dirt so it almost all came off with the jetwash and, and any bits I'd missed wiped off very easily.
I squeegee all the excess water off, then use 2 or 3 amazing basics drying towels...
Gets it very dry, and then apply finishing stuff.
I will admit, I'd like a worx leaf blower to PROPERLY dry it!
DrP
"hmmmm, it’s a little bit cleaner but I’m not sure if that’s because of the snowfoam or because I’ve given it the once over with the jetwash."
Snowfoam should be applied to a dry car rather than prewash with the jetwash.
PS Where have the markup options gone?
shinton
Snowfoam should be applied to a dry car rather than prewash with the jetwash.
Yeah, I read that & it was done dry.
But when I rinsed the snowfoam off I used the lance on the medium setting & that seemed to be doing a lot of the job of dirt removal.
I also found that even though the car was in the shade & it wasn't a particularly warm day the snow foam was drying so I ended up rinsing it off much sooner than I had wanted to. I probably had the mix wrong, to be honest. Need to try it again, definitely.
I have tried the old snowfoam thing & find it more faff than it’s worth – it’s mainly the effort of getting the jetwash out, plugging it all in, dealing with the tangle of hoses & cables and then when you rinse the snowfoam off………hmmmm, it’s a little bit cleaner but I’m not sure if that’s because of the snowfoam or because I’ve given it the once over with the jetwash.
Just using water through the jetwash does virtually nothing, Jon on the Forensic Detailing Youtube channel demonstrates this on this video, start about 9:43 in, then skip to 11:25 to see the results.
edit- in fact you can see it in the thumbnail below, from left to right it's BH Autofoam, BH Touchless, a ph neutral pre wash, and just water
I can recommend Auto Finesse’s drying towel over the Meguires yellow towel.
https://www.autofinesse.com/collections/car-wash/products/silk-drying-towel
That and the wing mirror spider.
I’ve got one of them. And one that lives behind the sun visor. I wonder if they know each other ?
The lad who lives opposite us has all that gear, 20 quid Meguiars buckets and shit. Spends about 2 hour’s hoovering his car every weekend then another two hours cleaning and waxing the outside and unfortunately it still comes out looking like a Ford Fiesta when he’s done.
He’s probably equally bewildered that there are grown adults who spend thousands of pounds on pushbikes to ride through mud whilst wearing weird clothes. We’re in no position to judge other people’s hobbies.
I enjoy cleaning mine.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uqe7bJfiWfunecug9
That took about 6 hours! i could have gone on a bike ride i know..... worse still its dirty the next day.
However its a 11 year old car. Things are starting to rust and soon it wont be viable to polish it. While its still doable i like the fact that i can get some alone time, a bit of exercise and have a sense of achievement.
For those just dabbling in this. Get the autoglym polar kit (comes with a snow foam bottle) like all their stuff it just works (although it is more expensive)
multi21
Oh really? I’m so glad you mentioned that, I’d been using my tongue to remove it until now.
Obvious in hindsight.
Not wanting to turn this into a bicker-fest, but to be fair, you did say
multi21
Just using water through the jetwash does virtually nothing
which I guess is what molgrips was referring to.
I quite like that Forensic Detailing blokes videos, although he always seems to have a cold & sniffs a lot.
But, it is not really clear in that video how he has applied the different things he is testing. The shape of the spray pattern, makes it look like he hasn't used the jetwash/foam cannon to apply the different cleaning methods - probably just out of a spray bottle? Maybe he says how he did it, but I skipped through the wordy bits of the vid.
When he 'jet washes' the surface down, he uses what appears to be a very gentle lance from quite a distance away.
Using just a jetwash alone, I reckon I have managed to get the paintwork clean to somewhere around the PH neutral example in his video. But that's with the medium setting on the lance & holding the spray within ~100mm of the car.
And this is what I was getting at by saying I was unsure how much of a difference the snowfoam has to the pre-cleaning of the car, compared to just going over the whole thing with the jetwash. Just water & the jetwash seems to get a lot of the dirt off, prior to going at it with the mitt & bucket.
I have actually seen that video before & the touchless stuff (Bilt Hamber?) really does seem like a step-up. Maybe I should give that a try.
This last time there was almost nothing left after the snow/jet so I think it was worth it. I can't remember what brand of snow I have, I'll check later.
the thing with snowfoam lifts off all the rubbish that you would otherwise grind into your paint. its not to clean it fully.
There's also different types of snow foam, some are high pH and designed to be a bit more aggressive (but will also partially strip a wax coating). They can pull an impressive amount of grime off in a pre-wash. Others are more either to lift a bit off or even more just to provide a lubrication layer so you use your wash mitt without rinsing off the snow foam itself (I often do two snow-foamings, first to lift surface dirt that I rinse off then a second for lubrication for the hand wash part).
But detailing is similar to a lot of other things discussed on STW (e.g. knife sharpening), where there's a few basics everyone agrees on and then a whole load of stuff (best technique, equipment etc.) you can argue about for years and quote various conflicting sources etc.
multi21
Oh really? I’m so glad you mentioned that, I’d been using my tongue to remove it until now.
Obvious in hindsight.Not wanting to turn this into a bicker-fest, but to be fair, you did say
Well upon reading it back, my reply sounds a lot more snippy than I intended so sorry to @Molgrips for that.
But TBH I didn't think a caveat about being able to blast off caked-on mud was necessary on a thread where we're talking about 'detailing' levels of car cleaning.
Yes, it assists with softening mud etc, but snow foam is really for removing road grime, grease, grit, pollen, that sort of thing - as shown in the video I linked - so that you don't rub it into the paint during your contact wash and cause swirls. That is what my post refers to when I say "water does virtually nothing".
If you don't trust the video, then just pressure wash one panel only with water, then leave it to fully dry and you will see.
My dad was an industrial chemist, he reckons Fairy Liquid is an amazing cleaning agent for practically everything and could cost a fortune if it wasn't so ubiquitous/produced in such insane quantities.
His view of the world was fixed in about 1989 though, so make of the above what you will.
Autoglym Magma is magic stuff. My car is parked 99.9% of the time on my driveway. Last summer you could feel the iron deposits on the paintwork (nearby rail line). Bottle of this stuff for about £10, used half of it. Sprayed the whole car and it literally turned blood red. Rinsed off and all the iron deposits were gone leaving a lovely smooth paint finish.
Hands up, i like to clean my wifes car. Not my own Merc, that goes through a car wash. I enjoy handing the keys over to my wife on a sunday after and hour or so cleaning it. Guilty as charged.
Last sunday was a little more than normal. About 5 hours because its the clean that lasts the year and gets it down to about 30min + on future washes. It went something like this
1) Rinse (Just to get it wet really)
2) Wheel acid (Whatever brand is cheapest. Its turtle wax at the moment)
3) Snow Foam - I use Bilt Hamber Autofoam through foam gun. Works well but its not some kind of miracle soap. It does not remove 100% of dirt and it certainly doesnt replace a contact wash. Same with their touchless product.....it still needs a shampoo to be 100%. Ive used Autoglym Polar and Halfords own. BH is the best ive used but the halfords Own product is the best value for performance.
4) Rinse (Including wheels)
5) Shampoo - Autoglym Shampoo conditioner
6) Rinse
7) Clay Mitt with autoglym detailer lube.
8) Autoglym Tar & Glue on sills and lower front bumper
9) Rinse
10) Full Polish with da polisher - Autoglym Super resin polish - Ive just always liked it.
11) Full Wax with Turtle wax graphine Max Wax using da polisher
Next weekend the car is getting lanoguarded underneath. I would then wash weekly
1) Rinse
2) BH snowfoam
3) Rinse
4) Shampoo
5) Turtlewax flex wax spray
6) Rinse
7) Towel Dry
That takes me about 30-45mins.
That's something I haven't played with.. autoglym magma was recommended to me too.
Also..I'd recommend glyco glass cleaner/prep stuff... Works really well to clean glass and hydrophobe coat it.
DrP
I used normal glass cleaner as instructed after the spray 'ceramic' wax. The wipers don't smear but the windscreen is still quite hydrophobic so it's lovely and clear and the water mostly beads off anyway.
Oh i forgot another stage.
12) Autoglym plastic & trim conditioner (Lots of black plastic)
I tend to wax the car once a quarter - usually Autoglym stuff. I wash the 'well used' cars once a week - just makes the job easier and quicker. Snow foam for when filthy - spray on, let it soak in and sponge wash.
Autoglym seems to have the same reputation in the detailing world as Muc-Off does in the biking world.
My van gets the one manky bucket/sponge treatment every now and then. Need to invest in some better gear though as the wifes new Volvo is black, worth afew bob and came ceramic coated from the dealers so would like to keep it nice, plus I do enjoy doing it TBH. Patience runs out on the big cleaning sesh's though!