Long long ago it was the 24th of July. Vacation was ahead and did some basic interior cleaning (only vacuum)
The plan was to clean thoroughly the interior to get rid of the sand and dust of the beaches.
A bit of boredom made me keep the car still dirty (which is a shame after 2.5 months I admit)
In the meantime I did some buying preparation :
1) Inner Clean by Chemical Guys (www.chemicalguys.com/Inne…an_16_oz_p/spi_663_16.htm)
2) So2Pure by CarPro (www.carpro-us.com/interio…re-odor-eliminator-120ml/)
3) FlyBy30 (www.carpro-us.com/exterio…ss-coating-full-kit-20ml/)
4) Original rubber mats (front and rear) (www.ebay.de/itm/volkswage…49282?hash=item4870f80b22)
Last 3 weeks are rainy so I kept on postponing the interior cleaning…Until last Saturday…Weather forecasting gave a 0% rain probability. Temperature was 23 Celsius and some clouds in the sky diffused nicely the bright sunlight.
Woke up, breakfast coffee and at 9:30 interior cleaning started. Stage 1 was by vacuum cleaner to remove obvious debris and sand. Stage 2 was a combination of pressurized air and vacuuming of the fine dust that the air gun removed from every surface.
Stage 3: With microfiber 35x35cm towels and steam cleaner every plastic surface was treated to ensure cleanliness and a bit of disinfection
Stage 4: Having surfaces cleaned, degreased and steamed it was time for some protection. InnerClean offers a conditioner, UV rays protection and dust repellent. What I like most is that it leaves the surfaces without any shine. It leaves the dashboard matte as when it comes from factory.
It was now time to place the new rubber mats.
Stage 5: Although as clean as possible I now sprayed So2Pure on fabric surfaces (headliner as well) and rubber mats.The bottle is small but is enough for 2 cars. It has a nice mint smell (I advice you to wear some breathing mask as the fine mist from the sprayer is very easily inhaled and made my throat feel strange) and creates a refreshing atmosphere.
2 hours have passed and I started feeling a bit tired but…one last step to go for this day: rain repellent on windshield
Stage 6: Local detailing shop had only FlyBy30 available and gave it a try.
Work steps are nothing special but have to be followed carefully.
The steps can be found on product webpage and can be visualized in this video:
Unfortunately I polished all glass surfaces by hand and had no heat gun available. So I left the car for 16 hours in a closed parking space (minimum 12 hours) as after applying FlyBy30 no water is allowed to touch the glass.
That last stage was another 45 minutes of work. A total of 2 hours and 45 minutes approximately..Conclusion: next time I should never leave the car so dirty for so long…
Now I have to find the combination of free time and weather to clean and prepare the outside for winter…Let's hope…
P.S. Next day of course it was pouring a lot of rain and had a chance to test FlyBy30. 30 means 30 mph (48 km/h) which is supposed to be the speed limit after which the drops of rain start to "fly" away from your view. What I noticed is that raindrops start to "fly" away from 70 km/h (43.5 mph). In the product webpage it is mentioned that in fact the speed limit is between 30 and 45 km/h so the product description is correct.
An additional observation is that this product is in my opinion more suited to cars that don't have rain sensor. As the sensor "senses" rain, the wipers remove it from your viewpoint before noticing the "fly" effect. If you switch off the wipers you can see the effect of "flying" but it is obviously dangerous to drive with no wipers and 70 km/h.
Comments 3
probably these OEM rubber mats are OK for Greece, but here in Ukraine reality is slightly different and more truculent weather/environmental conditions — more dust on the roads, more salt and other aggressive reagents that are applied to roads to melt snow during winter time.
so I had to sell original nice looking rubber mats and get LLocker ugly mats — but with better carpet coverage and high flanges. ugly but weather-proof :)
You have a point here. Indeed inthe 3 years I use these rubber mats I have not a single complain. I did not have a complain even when it snowed 2 times this winter (Yes! 2 times in a winter is too much for my region). People do not invest in winter tires too. So, when it snows few cars choose to go out on the streets.
In my region it usually rains but rain water is not carried in the car. So these mats suit my needs perfectly.
I also use them during sumer vacation so that beach sand is removed easier from them
We have a similar product for the windshield called RainX. It works pretty good, it's like waxing your windshield. The only problem with that stuff is, you will forever be putting that on your windshield :)