[kebl2555]

Hi, I’m due to receive my iX3 in just over a month and want to take better care of it than my current X1. It would be great to learn what cleaning tools and products you use and processes you follow when cleaning your iX3.

[GDEvans]

I drive mine to the local car wash. The man there jet washes it, then it pulls me through the tunnel!!

[GaSelle]

Hand wash only; as with all my other cars. Pressure washer (powered by rain water ), foam lance, bucket with grid, two sponges and drying towels is what I use. And a seperate bucket for the wheels.

[Allen Aquino]

Originally Posted by kebl2555

Hi, I’m due to receive my iX3 in just over a month and want to take better care of it than my current X1. It would be great to learn what cleaning tools and products you use and processes you follow when cleaning your iX3.

It would be great if you use your hand to wash em….The only places that should be needing the pressure washer would be the wheels and tires sides

[RedJon]

Spray bugs with Auto Glanz BugOff
High pressure rinse whole car with pressure washer to remove loose dirt
Spray wheels with Bilt Hamber wheel cleaner, scrub and rinse with pressure washer
Spray tyres with Auto Glanz rebound rubber cleaner, scrub & rinse
Snow foam with Garage Therapy or Meguiars Ultimate snow foam, pressure wash off
Shampoo with Garage Therapy /one car shampoo using 2 bucket method
Rinse with pressure washer
Spray with Meguiars Hybrid ceramic wax for beading, and gently rinse
Dry with large microfibre towel
Clean glass with Auto Glanz moonshine glass cleaner
Prep tyres with Meguiars endurance tyre gel
…..and enjoy!

[kebl2555]

Originally Posted by RedJon

Spray bugs with Auto Glanz BugOff
High pressure rinse whole car with pressure washer to remove loose dirt
Spray wheels with Bilt Hamber wheel cleaner, scrub and rinse with pressure washer
Spray tyres with Auto Glanz rebound rubber cleaner, scrub & rinse
Snow foam with Garage Therapy or Meguiars Ultimate snow foam, pressure wash off
Shampoo with Garage Therapy /one car shampoo using 2 bucket method
Rinse with pressure washer
Spray with Meguiars Hybrid ceramic wax for beading, and gently rinse
Dry with large microfibre towel
Clean glass with Auto Glanz moonshine glass cleaner
Prep tyres with Meguiars endurance tyre gel
…..and enjoy!

Wow! You do all these steps each time you wash your car? Impressive.

[keninuk]

The first thing I did was get the car detailed by the place that sorted years of neglect on my last car. Gtechniq CSL+EXOv4 which is not the professional level coating they do but sufficient for my needs.

Chances are that your shiny new car may have some issues depending on how well they prep the car. Mine had one quite bad panel and a couple of places where they noticeably marked the clear coat. The head of business at my local dealer was excellent and paid half the £600 cost of my detailing.

The dealers offer paint protection but they generally spend very little time on the prep and can seal in the defects you may have.

As far as general cleaning goes:
I snow foam first using Bilt Hamber which seems to help get rid of a lot of dust etc.
Rinse with hose + jet wash arches/wheels and use a wheel brush or sponge.
Hand wash with two buckets (with grit guards) and a lambswool mitt.
Rinse with hose in trickle mode as the sheeting seems to get rid of most of the water rather than spray mode that leaves hundreds of droplets.
1-20 mix of Gtechniq C2 ceramic in a spray bottle as a drying aid with large microfibre towels and also it helps restore the shine.
Every few months I aim to apply a Gtechniq C2 coating when dry as a sacrificial top layer to my main coatings.

NB: I find the Gtechniq MF4 cloth very good to absorb the bulk of the water (might need a rinse or two) and a standard large high quality microfiber as a final light wipe gives me good results.

I try and do the above every couple of weeks currently as even the day after I can see the dust/pollen build up on the bonnet. I have the Sophisto Grey which I really like and generally think darker colours look better on this type of SUV due to the height but I can really see the benefit of a white car in this respect and will probably go that way next time, especially having seem a white iX3 in the flesh recently.

Loads of other stuff available for cleaning/spraying the car (bugs+tar etc) and cleaning+coating windows etc but if you can avoid rubbing grit/dirt over your paintwork and aggressive jet washing you should hopefully keep your paintwork in pretty good condition and a ceramic coating/wax top up every so often should help mask the very fine scratches that will almost certainly happen over time.

Main thing is to enjoy your new car when it arrives

[GaSelle]

I picked the color based on how easy it would be to clean, haha. Had a black 5-series and that was a nightmare to keep clean. Just thinking about touching it would show scrathes and swiwel marks.

So picked Cashmere Silver for the iX3; I´m done with dark colors for now

[Imspartacus123]

Originally Posted by keninuk

The first thing I did was get the car detailed by the place that sorted years of neglect on my last car. Gtechniq CSL+EXOv4 which is not the professional level coating they do but sufficient for my needs.

Chances are that your shiny new car may have some issues depending on how well they prep the car. Mine had one quite bad panel and a couple of places where they noticeably marked the clear coat. The head of business at my local dealer was excellent and paid half the £600 cost of my detailing.

The dealers offer paint protection but they generally spend very little time on the prep and can seal in the defects you may have.

As far as general cleaning goes:
I snow foam first using Bilt Hamber which seems to help get rid of a lot of dust etc.
Rinse with hose + jet wash arches/wheels and use a wheel brush or sponge.
Hand wash with two buckets (with grit guards) and a lambswool mitt.
Rinse with hose in trickle mode as the sheeting seems to get rid of most of the water rather than spray mode that leaves hundreds of droplets.
1-20 mix of Gtechniq C2 ceramic in a spray bottle as a drying aid with large microfibre towels and also it helps restore the shine.
Every few months I aim to apply a Gtechniq C2 coating when dry as a sacrificial top layer to my main coatings.

NB: I find the Gtechniq MF4 cloth very good to absorb the bulk of the water (might need a rinse or two) and a standard large high quality microfiber as a final light wipe gives me good results.

I try and do the above every couple of weeks currently as even the day after I can see the dust/pollen build up on the bonnet. I have the Sophisto Grey which I really like and generally think darker colours look better on this type of SUV due to the height but I can really see the benefit of a white car in this respect and will probably go that way next time, especially having seem a white iX3 in the flesh recently.

Loads of other stuff available for cleaning/spraying the car (bugs+tar etc) and cleaning+coating windows etc but if you can avoid rubbing grit/dirt over your paintwork and aggressive jet washing you should hopefully keep your paintwork in pretty good condition and a ceramic coating/wax top up every so often should help mask the very fine scratches that will almost certainly happen over time.

Main thing is to enjoy your new car when it arrives

I've gone for white, I love the dark colours but as we live very near the sea, there is constantly sand landing on the cars so black or dark grey would look dirty all the times and white strangely enough stays looking cleaner for longer, I used to have a black FTO, looked brilliant for a few minutes after washing, but soon attracted every piece of dust and dirt

[hollpe]

My wash routine is similar to some of the others. I wash it about every 2 weeks unless it's winter or really dirty. If I don't have time to do it properly I won't bother. One bad, rushed wash, especially on a black car, will result in swirls, scratches and a complete meltdown of my car OCD

- Snow foam
- Brush around windows edges etc with a soft detailing brush
- Rinse off with jet wash
- Clean wheels with Bilberry wheel cleaner
- Two bucket wash with a decent shampoo & large lambswool wash mitt.
- Rinse off with jet wash
- Spray each panel with Aqua Wax or similar whilst still wet and then dry with ultra plush giant drying towel (waxes and dries at the same time).
- Autoglym fast glass on the windows
- Apply Zaino 8 sealant and buff off
- Apply wheel protectant to wheels and tyre shine / gel to tyres (meguairs usually).

That little lot takes just over an hour depending on how energetic I'm feeling!

I vacuum and clean the interior once or twice a week (inc windows). That keeps on top of it, takes no more than 20 mins and keeps it looking great. I use Meguiars Quik Interior detailer (good for all surfaces) with different cloths for the seats and trim and dash. That minimises scratching the black gloss trim.

For the dashboard display I just use a slightly damp camera lens cloth. Anything else seems to leave it looking a mess.

I've had silver or light grey cars for the past 8 years and I've been reminded why I moved from a black car! Mine is Carbon Black and looks amazing when its clean but it shows every mark and literally brushing against the paint marks it. I'm having a stage 1 Polish and ceramic coating done next week, which should help. My last black car was a Z4M and the ceramic coating made a massive difference in protecting the paint and stopped it marking so easily.

[RedJon]

Originally Posted by kebl2555

Wow! You do all these steps each time you wash your car? Impressive.

Yep, sometimes add a prewash spritz if it’s really dirty, or skip the snow foam if it’s not dirty.