Well I've had my 500 for 3 weeks now and thought I would make the most of the lovely weather today and give Fifi a right good wash and wax. I only ever hand wash cars, and since discovering Meguiars a few years ago that's all I ever use now.

So here she is all clean and sparkly

Looking good, I got the Meguiars G220 Dual Action Machine Polisher out last weekend to give the car a polish and it looks great.

Looking great, I coincidentally also just completed waxing my white Uno mk2 with Meguiars Cleaning Wax. I discovered Meguiars a couple years back and have been using their products eversince.

Wow!

It does look good.

Puzzled as to why the number plate is blank in the first photo if the others aren't.

Looking good

One thing I don't understand lately, that I have noticed anyway is that dealers are screwing into the front bumpers at the tops of the number plates?

I don't actually know, perhaps car manufacturers have started to provide pre-drilled holes at the top, but it makes no sense to me, my (08 plate) 500 had two holes at the middle of the height of the space at the front...

I know this is a weird thing to pick on, but I've seen so many cars with it, and often the front plate ends up at a tilt because it is screwed on tightly (of course) but only at the top? Not only does it look a bit odd but it becomes a trap for all kinds of dirt and rubbish... very strange. I guess it would be my OCD, because it is so asymmetrical, when cars are so much about symmetry.

My father got a new car from a certain German brand and they'd screwed it on so tight at the top of the front plate that it was tilted at least 10 degrees facing the sky, (probably more, not sure of degrees! ) I had to take it off and drill new holes in the plate mount so that it was "normal".

Maybe I am just OCD

Charlie -

Oooh, shiny! Looking good!

grimwau said:

It does look good.

Puzzled as to why the number plate is blank in the first photo if the others aren't.

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Haha cos it's a right PITA!!! I did that photo first, and couldn't be bothered to do the rest

Thanks for the nice comments folks - I really enjoy cleaning the car (which is probably why it takes me 4 hours, start to finish!!)

I even have a toothbrush to do the fiddly bits on the alloys

Assimilate said:

Haha cos it's a right PITA!!! I did that photo first, and couldn't be bothered to do the rest

Thanks for the nice comments folks - I really enjoy cleaning the car (which is probably why it takes me 4 hours, start to finish!!)

I even have a toothbrush to do the fiddly bits on the alloys

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Someone with OCD will no doubt tell you that you should in fact use a patented Meguars Alloy Fiddly Bit Cloth because the tooth brush will scratch your alloys.

RobinPJ said:

Someone with OCD will no doubt tell you that you should in fact use a patented Meguars Alloy Fiddly Bit Cloth because the tooth brush will scratch your alloys.

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I do my wheels with an electric toothbrush. Annoyingly now that we've had our bathroom done I can't put the wheel in the bath

I rest my case, M'lud.

RobinPJ said:

I rest my case, M'lud.

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You'd be a pretty poor lawyer I just directly contradicted what you said

Very nice indeed.... always looks nice when a car is clean.

Enjoy
RnR

Looking great. My Seicento is called FIFI too

306maxi said:

You'd be a pretty poor lawyer I just directly contradicted what you said

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Two things. First, I am a lawyer! Second, you may have said something slightly different to what I expected, but your comments did rather prove the OCD part...

Oh, and third thing: good lawyers always claim they are right even when they are wrong.

RobinPJ said:

Two things. First, I am a lawyer! Second, you may have said something slightly different to what I expected, but your comments did rather prove the OCD part...

Oh, and third thing: good lawyers always claim they are right even when they are wrong.

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RobinPJ at work


You know I'm only kidding of course and I knew you were a lawyer anyway

Haha, my white 500 is also called fifi.

RobinPJ said:

Someone with OCD will no doubt tell you that you should in fact use a patented Meguars Alloy Fiddly Bit Cloth because the tooth brush will scratch your alloys.

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A toothbrush will not scratch your alloys to any visible extent and will do a good job of getting into small gaps! In fact, a few detailing companies sell quite abrasive wheel brushes to use on alloys.

Does anyone else miss (remember) Barry. His wise words extolling the virtues of the humble "horses hoof" brush always make me smile.:slayer:

Nuova500 said:

Very shiny Mark, have to laugh at those little brushes you call Envy Detailing Brushes... Ive been using them for years on my cars and they are actually brushes sold for applying hoof oil to horses, about a £1 from a tack shop

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charliestyr said:

I know this is a weird thing to pick on, but I've seen so many cars with it, and often the front plate ends up at a tilt because it is screwed on tightly (of course) but only at the top? Not only does it look a bit odd but it becomes a trap for all kinds of dirt and rubbish... very strange. I guess it would be my OCD, because it is so asymmetrical, when cars are so much about symmetry.

My father got a new car from a certain German brand and they'd screwed it on so tight at the top of the front plate that it was tilted at least 10 degrees facing the sky, (probably more, not sure of degrees! ) I had to take it off and drill new holes in the plate mount so that it was "normal".

Maybe I am just OCD

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Not weird or OCD at all - there are several of us on this forum who insist that the number plates on our new cars be stuck on, rather than screwed, for this very reason.