Whether you are a car enthusiast or just looking to keep your vehicle looking nice, a car wash is a great way to keep your pride and joy clean. But it is important to be aware of the risks associated with car washing. Here are some tips for having a safer car wash experience.

 

Be Prepared

Before you start washing your car, make sure you have the right tools and supplies. Having the right supplies on hand will make the task much easier and safer. Invest in good quality cleaning solutions (chemicals) shampoo etc. Do your research into paintwork and products, cheapest is rarely the best and most expensive isn’t always the right product either, take your time. Soft applicators, wash mitts or a high quality and super soft sponge are essentials. A good bucket (ideally two or maybe three) with at least one bucket filter, (scratchshield). Lots of enthusiasts opt for a two or three bucket system, (wash, rinse and wheels).

 

It is also important to make sure that you have a safe working environment. Make sure the area is free of debris and that the car is on a flat, level surface. It is also a good idea to wear gloves to protect your hands from chemicals. It is also important to follow the instructions on any cleaning products that you are using. Make sure to use the right amount of product, as using too much can damage the car's paint or finish. Additionally, avoid using harsh chemicals, as these can be dangerous to both you and the environment. Harsh chemicals and the wrong procedure can result in scratching your paint, just as cloths/brushes and equipment that are not soft and “paint friendly”.

 

Stay Safe

When washing your car, it is important to stay safe. Make sure to wear protective clothing, such as gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection. Additionally, it is important to avoid standing in water, as this can be a shock hazard. Finally, make sure to avoid working in direct sunlight, as this can cause skin damage, damage to your paint and make it difficult to see.

It is also important to take extra precautions if you are washing your car in a public area. Make sure you have permission to wash your vehicle at this location. Make sure your products are safe for the environment. Be aware of your surroundings and make sure to stay away from moving vehicles. Additionally, make sure to put away any tools or equipment that you are not using to avoid any accidents.

 

For extra safety you can use a grit magnet, a new product that collects an additional 20% more ferritc material that would normally be circulation in your buckets and potentially scratch your paint.

 

Conclusion

Washing your car can be a great way to keep it looking nice and can help it hold its value.

 

Covid-19

This post is dedicated to All key workers and the NHS. Therefore, we must start with a huge Thank You.

When we first went into lock down, we didn't know what to expect, we feared the worst and hoped for the best. A bit cliche, but it was all we could do!
Thankfully key workers and technology has allowed us to maintain "service as usual" (almost) during this pandemic. The couriers are under enormous strain, so please be patient, deliveries are often late.
April has been one of our busiest months ever, It would seem that the lock down has meant some people have re- discovered a passion for cleaning their own car, we hope that it will continue. If you are one of the many converts, please help yourself to our totally free guide to scratch free car washing, we don't even ask you to put in an email address.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is dedicated to all key workers. Nurse, Doctor, warehouse operative, courier, postal worker and many more, we normally take you for granted and hopefully we will remain thankful for your service after this crisis. As they say "not all heroes wear capes".

Another quote that has been overused is "The world will be a different place when we come out of this". None of us know what it will be like, but one thing for sure Spring 2020 will not be forgotten for a long time. There is a good chance that you will become an "Uncle Albert" (from Only Fools and Horses) but instead of "during the War" you will say "During the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020..." In the meantime, stay safe!

A shared journey of a small manufacturing company.As we celebrate passing 8 years of trading.

What difference does a bucket make?

With literally hundreds of buckets available, various sizes and prices from a few pennies what difference does a bucket make? The answer is not straight forward, in fact it might be easier to explain the meaning of life, but to some it makes a lot of difference, who is right?

Just like in this image both sides of the argument are right and wrong at the same time, can this be possible? Its largely an opinion, but an opinion that is based on facts, facts which help you make an informed decision. So, enough confusing waffle, lets look at the facts, the reasons some people like certain buckets, then you can make your own mind up.

To start, the small, very common bucket, normally around 10 Litre capacity, found in most homes, available almost everywhere, relatively cheap. Can you use it to wash your car? Yes, of course, but it has downsides. First downside is,  these buckets are often too small in diameter to allow the use of a bucket filter, such as a Scratch Shield, which increases your chances of Scratching your precious paintwork, you also may find that 10Litres of foamy water isn't enough to clean your car thoroughly. In our opinion and in the opinion of most car wash professionals/valeters/detailers or enthusiasts, not a great choice for for car washing.

"The builders bucket", again a very common bucket and found in most domestic situations, a term used to describe a sturdy and very practical bucket commonly used on building sites. Readily available at varying prices and quality, often with a capacity of 12-15 Litres. This is a very popular choice with car wash professionals/valeters and enthusiasts alike. Its low cost, some bucket filters will fit (Scratch shield fits) and holds enough water to clean a  car. The cheaper end of the market tend not to be great quality, so it would be worth buying the slightly better quality ones, which then puts you close to the "20Litre buckets".

Once only the choice of the professionals and the enthusiasts that wanted to emulate professionals the 20Litre bucket used to come with a hefty price tag. In recent years decent quality "20Litre" buckets have become available at prices similar to the "builders style" buckets, so why would you pick one over the other? Like the "builders" bucket you can fit in a bucket filter, it will hold enough foamy water to do a car, only real downside, when full its heavier to carry. Many believe that the extra capacity means less chance of contaminated water, which is a good point. Some opt for two and three bucket system. In brief, two bucket consists of one bucket of soapy water and one of rinse water, the idea is to keep the soapy water cleaner (and it works). The three bucket system is for the very "particular" the third bucket is dedicated bucket for extremely dirty areas, such as wheels, engine bays, wheel arches etc. These buckets will be marked "wash", "rinse", "wheels" to ensure they are always only used for the one application, avoiding any contamination.

Once you have made up your mind about the size of bucket, what about the colour?

This is where personal preference and opinion kick in. Does the colour matter? A black bucket is practical, as it doesn't show any dirt, but its difficult to see how dirty the water is too. Light colours such as white, yellow or orange bucket, will show dirty marks. The old army saying "Always keep your weapon clean" springs to mind, would you want to clean your pride and joy with dirty equipment? Would you want a professional using dirty equipment? Probably not, but white buckets can easily be kept clean and the low costs mean you don't have to spend a fortune replacing them when they do become tatty and shabby.

The difference is clear, opaque buckets are the choice of some, it helps you see just how dirty the water is and can help you see what settles under the filter.

As mentioned in the first lines of this post there is a vast choice of buckets, our aim has been to give a balance review of what we believe is the most relevant to car washing and hopefully explains why we offer the buckets that we do. Good quality with exceptional value for money.

We will be back very soon to talk about patents, packaging and waxstock.

We can produce a number of excuses for not posting a blog for a while, but that’s all it would be, an excuse. As our extended and hot summer draws to close there are a few things going on, keeping everyone in the industry busy. Winter protection and maintenance of your pride and joy. Daily driver of fair weather use, it still needs to be prepared for winter and maintained. See our guides to winter protection.

Its showtime, Automechanika, Frankfurt is currently taking place, this bi annual show is so big, you need a few days to take it in or need to target specific sections, well worth a visit if you are in the industry or just interested to discover how diverse it is?

Closely followed by SEMA, set in Las Vegas, it’s boasts to be the worlds largest car show (although we think the previously mentioned Automechanika will give it a good run for its money). Although the summer has finished, the car shows go on. But this just creates one more question, when will I find time to clean my car? 

Enjoy the autumn, the car shows, the rest... we will be back soon, we promise. We actually have some news, which will help you understand why we haven’t been very active on this blog.

Like most ambitious small business owners, we have a few role models that we look up to and admire. Its fair to say that there probably isn't an exact formula for what makes someone more successful than the other, hard work, determination and passion are taken as a given, but the way different people approach a new challenge is always fascinating. Two massively successful entrepreneurs we have in mind are Lord Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson. (Before we continue, its important to point out that we don't actually know either of them and these opinions are based on public information).

Lord Sugars image is one of a more traditional hard nosed business man, smart suits, stern, serious, blunt and to the point. In his autobiography he claims that a lot of his sense of humour and fun side has been knocked out of him by being at the sharp end of a high flying empire (and the media). This is probably the case and we do see the odd glimpse of a dry sense of humour on the apprentice. But they say "even comedy is a serious business!".

Sir Richard Branson on the other hand, appears to waft around partying, almost "hippy like", always has a smile and dresses in a very casual way. We do know that his approach to business is far from casual though. So, looking at two of the most successful entrepreneurs in the UK and the world, we ask, can business be fun?

We have customers that have played fairly high profile "April fool" pranks. Overall these seem to have worked, but as with all jokes, not everyone gets it and some irreversible damage has been done. We prefer to inject fun, tongue in cheek stunts, rather than jokes. Overall met with positive or underwhelmed reactions, so we wanted to see the reaction to our new bucket sticker. Harmless enough, not to offend, but hopefully enough to get a smile?

                

If we can have fun and engage with customers in a fun way, we will. However, the fun comes after the best possible customer service we can manage, quality control and professionalism. When we get the balance right, its the best job in the world, taking inspiration from the previously mention big hitters, adding our own twist and reaping the rewards.

Have you ever heard the saying “if you do what you love, you will never spend a day at work”? Wise words, often recited by successful individuals who have allowed their passion and enthusiasm drive them to success. A success driven by more than financial gain, that almost certainly has had a helping hand from suitably inspired individuals, its infectious!

So what's my point?

A couple of years ago we were approached about “sponsoring an event”, this isn't unusual, but what was unusual was the way we were approached and what followed. As I just mentioned, we get asked a lot about this, but normally decline. But this was different, its hard to put it into words, but something about this approach made us take notice and not just decline (politely of course).

A dedicated event for Jaguar owners and enthusiasts, organised by passionate Jaguar fans and owners. But the real difference was, they weren't requesting free stuff,looking for what they can get, they were asking for support, anything that could make a difference to the enthusiasts and owners that were going to spend a Bank holiday together, talking, eating, living and breathing everything Jaguar, making sure those that made the effort to turn up and support, got something back.

We got involved on a very small scale and the response we received meant we would be continuing our support for this event. On a commercial scale its hard to say if it was a success for us, but that's not the point, although we are a business, the fact that our small contribution had made such a big difference, made us want to be part of it in the future. We are also very passionate about what we do and its the little things that make a big difference! The second event took part over the last May Bank Holiday weekend, once again a success, bigger and better than the year before, so we cant wait for next year! Keep up the good work!

What's next

Plans and organising are already in progress for next year, if you want to be a part of it, follow any of the links within this post, I'am sure you will be welcome.

The second long weekend of the year, the sun is shining and is set to all weekend (although we all know bank holiday means, guaranteed rain), this can only mean one thing, its showtime! Car shows get busy this time of year, with a massive choice all over the UK from specialist shows, brand specific to general car appreciation shows.

Once again we are sponsoring a few shows. Best Turned out Jag at the free Jaguar event in Brighton, show n shine at the Castle Combe Ford show later in May and a few more to be revealed at a later date. The Scratch Shield is the perfect partner for the car show fan, it can make all the difference. A concours finish isn't easy to achieve or maintain.

Made in Britain

As the Scratch Shield is made in Britain, we are also busy preparing, making sure we have enough products to meet demand through this busy period. We can supply quickly as the product is made here in the UK, but we also made a video, just to drive the point home. Hope you enjoy it?

See you at the shows. Love your paintwork

Some great news today, as it is revealed that new cars sales in 2016 were at a record high? This news comes the same week as Bernie Ecclestone gets replaced as the CEO of F1, coincidence? (probably, as we cant see any way to link the two) So whilst half of the country is trying to talk us into a post "Brexit" recession, the other half got their heads down and did well. We have been asked many times, what impact has Brexit made on our business, none is the short answer, but in the longer term it may well have an impact. The truth is, nothing has changed, OK the country has voted to leave, but that's it. We do export to Europe, so it may have an impact, but until such times, we will continue, hopefully following the trend of new car sales. But all in all a great week for the "Automotive" industry.

They say "a picture paints a thousand words", if that's the case what does a video do? "Going viral" is the phrase we hear all too often, sometimes its something simple like a talking dog, an other may be a choreographed piece of work (even if it is staged to look like amateur footage), never the less, lots of entertainment for everyone. Sometime ago we set out to create a new video, as making videos was not our strength (and we didn't have a Hollywood budget), we were inspired by this video from Dollar Shave Club. On the face of it, it's simple, funny, low budget and gets the message across. Reality is Mike is a lot smarter than he would let on and that video not only went viral, but it crashed the main website, due to the interest it created. Mike and Dollar Shave Club went on to have amazing success and reportedly selling the business for $1Billion (USD).

So how hard can it be? Very, would be our short answer! We don't have any comedians within our company, limited imagination and resources, we decided to be a little more conservative. After a very long, cold day of filming, even longer days selecting footage and editing, we finally launched our new video last week. We know it doesn't come close to Dollar Shave Club and its certainly no masterpiece, but it tells the story of our products. But is that good enough in these days of social media and viral videos? We don't know, but for now, it will have to be. We concentrate on what we are good at and when the day comes, where we can make a funny, entertaining and informative video, we will.