Our Favourite Product
One of our most favourite products and the one we use the most of is the Body Detail spray, mainly due to its brilliant quick cleaning properties. It is a pretty stand-out addition to any car enthusiast’s/ lover’s car care cleaning kit. To understand why we went to all the drama to make it like we did, here is our story:
Casey, our happy car care girl loves the Body Detail
Car Covers
Many years ago we had issues with keeping all the cars clean, as we did not like to use car covers. We were finding that the car covers were scratching the bonnet and the roof above the windscreen as we would pull the covers on and off. (We like to look at our cars, so this would happen quite a bit!) In a perfect world the covers should not do this, but over the years of being in a dusty shed (even the cleanest sheds get dust!), dirt would build up in the covers and finally begin scratching our cars every time we took them on and off. So nowadays the only time we use a cover is short term - if a car is in peril (like being in a busy workshop) or for security, so no one can see what car it is under the cover.
Not a car cover in sight, and why would you want to cover up such beauties!
Neighbourly Relations
So, if you cannot use car covers you get all the issues with dust building up and washing your car with water is the only alternative. This means that you have to take it for a drive afterwards, to dry all the water out from those hidden crevices and panels. This is something that our neighbours and most residents of quiet little Buderim would not be too pleased about, especially in something like Norm Beechey’s Monaro, which hits the sound meters at 130dB… We were not fans of a lot of the other “detailing sprays” due to the silicone content and do not even start me on the “waterless wash” products that use not so car friendly, cheap formulas with the big, somewhat false claims they give!
David's 1951 J2 Allard, a big fan of the Body Detail
Our Unique Formula
So we spoke to our industrial chemist and with him on the job we made our own answer to the problem, which we now call Body Detail. To cut it short, we made this with all the following properties:
Attracted to wax oils, (Carnauba wax) so it pushes all the dust on the surface of the paint up and away, so when you wipe it off, it minimises the chances of scratching your car. It bonds with your wax to enhance the gloss and renew its protection.
Anti-Static and silicone free, as too many of the ones we tested left a surface that dust loved to be attracted back to. Ours is the only one out there where this does not happen, hence the reason it is so popular with the show car guys! It’s also popular with courier companies who now use it on the back windows of their cars as it stays cleaner, longer. Plasma TV owners too are fans as you don’t get that static dust build up any longer - very cool to use before the Bathurst race each year.
Spray direct onto the surface to be cleaned
UV protection built in, to give your paint a better chance of survival in Australia’s harsh climate.
Low vapour point, so it evaporates quickly in the confines of an undercover shed, minimising the chance of smearing. It also means it is good for “no smear” finishes on chrome and glass.
Water friendly, unlike so many of our competitors’ products, if you get water droplets near the sprayed area it will not go that milky white colour and be impossible to remove from the surface.
Safely removes water spotting, and bird/bat droppings before they can damage your paint. We keep a bottle in a lot of our road cars for this very purpose. The quicker you can remove them the less chance you will have for damage to occur.
Not damaging to plastics, so use it on any hard surface with no fear, it cleans them all!
Environmentally friendly, this product is an alternative to using precious water to clean your car. However, if the car is really dirty, it’s always best to initially wash with water as there is nothing in this product to encapsulate small grit particles and contaminants that can potentially scratch your car. A lot of car collectors and top show competitors do not like to wash their cars full stop, so the Body Detail is a great product to serve as a replacement for water.
Attention to detail is everything, especially the shiny stuff.
Super bloody quick and easy to use
In our opinion, the ease of use is the best thing about the Body Detail. To use it, just lightly mist it evenly over the surface you want cleaned. I try and segment the areas by doing it a panel at a time, or half a bonnet, roof or boot section. Use enough product to have the area mildly damp, then lightly wipe it away with a clean microfibre buffing cloth, finishing it off by turning the cloth over to a dry side and gently buffing the area for a prefect, high gloss finish.
When doing multiple cars, or a bigger car, we use two buffing cloths; one for product removal and the other for buffing to a glossy finish. With this system we can usually do around 4 to 5 good sized cars before needing new dry cloths. With over 60 cars in our main shed to clean, you can imagine we go through quite a lot of product before each tour or show we do with the cars! This is another reason why we do this bottle in 750ml sizes and also sell 5 and 20 litre packs of it as well.
Those jeans are from her many devoted hours cleaning the low riding cars in the collection.
When doing a car in the sun, like at a car show, use it the product a bit more heavily, almost like water, as it evaporates so quickly, cleaning small areas at a time - like you’re spot cleaning it. This ensures you will not get any streaking and that you get the best possible finish. Likewise, if your using it to clean away bird droppings or the like, concentrate a few trigger sprays direct onto the area affected and wipe away safely, using a clean part of the cloth with each cleaning stroke, it goes with out saying that you need to wash this cloth out afterwards.
Over the years we have also found the Body Detail is good to clean away tyre rubber marks on your paint, whether after a drag racing run or a few fast laps at the track. With both Chris and I running white cars, we have found it is an indispensable part of our racing kit. Even for that quick clean between runs, you can keep your car looking top notch the entire day, again something that is important for clean freaks like us!
Someone will be cleaning the light again....
Our Fine Clay Bar is also made to be used with the Body Detail as it's lubricant. We like it this way as it is a "no mess" job indoors, read all about this system of products to bring back a perfectly smooth and clean paint surface right here.
Use it with our Fine Clay Bar too.
There are always new uses for this product and we love hearing about them, so please feel free to email me and add anything else you have found it works on dan@bowdensown.com.au
Hope you get as much joy out of this product as we do, give it a go and you will begin to understand why we love this one product so much.
You can get Body Detail at AutObarn and many independent stores nationwide, find them on our stockist links here. For some more information it's also here on our website page.
Love your car,
Dan Bowden
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