FAQ's

What is the "Two-Bucket" method?

 

For the people who believe swirl marks are the work of Bin Laden, or the people who have original coats on their ageing cars, you will want to use the "Two-Bucket" method. There is no real gimmick, you just minimise the chances of washing your car with contaminated water/wash.

. You get two 12 litre (roughly) buckets, one is ¾ full of water with car shampoo mixed in, the other is ¾ full of pure water (warm water is nice in winter, but can soften your wax coating, as long as only mildly warm it will be ok ).

. Start washing the car in the prescribed manner on the page you just came from. Once you have finished a panel, submerge the wash mitt into the pure water bucket and rinse it by shaking it vigorously, before placing it back into the wash bucket. Gather as much water and suds as your applicator can carry, then reapply to the next panel. Repeat this process, washing every panel on the car.

That's the mysterious two-bucket method!! It does make good practice; we use it on certain cars as a rule. It dramatically minimises your chances of accidentally picking up some debris from one part of the car and rubbing it all over the rest, causing unsightly swirl marks.

 

Why do you insist a car should remain wet at all times during the washing process?

 

Allowing your car to dry naturally, rather than with a chamois, increases the likelihood of water spots from 'hard water' and streaking.

If you are washing your car in direct sunlight (Naughty, but nice!) Imagine the droplets as little magnifying glasses, they get hot real quick, damage your paint, then evaporate, leaving behind the tiny metals and trace mineral’s debris it couldn't take up to the clouds with it. Leaving stubborn water spots, and on more fragile coats of paint, etchings where the water has, for lack of a better term, “boiled" on the surface causing discolouration. Leave them on for a few days and they slowly get into the paints surface, something you really do not need.

In extreme cases removing water spots can be a very labour intensive and expensive job. With random orbital or rotary buffing machines, purpose specific buff pads and cutting compounds (polishes) needing to be used. Our call is to try your best to not get them in the first place!

Keeping the car very wet, then getting it very dry is the smart and safe way to wash your car.

 

Why can't I wash my wheels and tyres first?

 

If you really want to you can, in fact a lot of pro car detailers do. BUT, and that is a very BIG BUT, make sure you use a separate bucket and cloth/sponge, to what you will use on the rest of your car. Brake dust has all sorts of resins, metal particles, Kevlar and other nicety’s that really do not like paint.

The wheels and tyres get the worst of it; they are constantly covered in brake dust and they are the first to pick up road grime and dust. Then to top it off, those tyre gel or spray you are using most likely has at least 75% silicone in it, something that is fine on rubber, but you don't want to be rubbing it all over your car.

Between the silicone, road grime and nasty brake dust, you have a very hazardous combination of paint fouling goop. This concoction must avoid you wash mitt at all costs!!

 

Why shouldn't I use dish washing fluid?

 

Dish washing detergent is a very effective cleaning agent and some of the formulations used in the better detergents are quite clever.

However, the brief that the chemists would have been given by their employers would have been something along the lines of "Clean at all costs, as long as your skin doesn't burn, we don't mind...".

Dish washing detergents are formulated to remove fatty food substances and make the treated surface a sanitised area, ready for food again. To achieve this outcome effectively, salts (= rust) and acids are utilised along with high ph detergents. Great stuff for dishes and cutlery, but real average when it comes to car care.

Car wax (or more specifically, Carnauba) in its basic form is a fat, the very thing that dishwashing detergent is formulated to remove. It does this with ruthless efficiency, leaving the cars panels looking nice and clean, but completely exposed. And not to mention how it degrades the shine.

Our Auto Body Gel is specifically designed to remove dirt and contaminants but leave your protective wax on the car. I would like to say so are all the other auto specific car washes, but just like dish washing detergents, some are great, and some leave you scratching your head wondering why they bother...

 

What about just washing my car with plain water?

 

Washing with plain water is the best way to scratch your paint and bring on a huge professional detailing bill down the track. Good quality car washes are made to make the removal of dirt and grime easier, by reducing the surface tension between the water and paint surface. They also create a lubricating barrier to minimise the chance of scratching and produce foam, this foam suspends dirt and stops it from being re-deposited on the paint, again to minimise the chance of scratching. Basically, water by itself to wash paint is an old wives tale, if you love your car, don’t do it.

 

Where can I buy Bowden's Own from?

 

Have a look at the 'retailers' link to your on the premium car care tab above, that should have a comprehensive list of where all the AutObarn's and other selected retailers are around Australia.

If we are not in your local area, you can buy it over the internet through our official online store, just click on the "Products" page and scroll down.

 

Where can I visit the cars?

 

We always have roughly half a dozen or more cars on constant display around Australia and we regularly attend car shows and race meets. These events and sites are posted on the 'what's on' section here on the site. Due to privacy, security and insurance reasons, we cannot allow people to visit our property. We do however have our big annual “open days” for our customers, which is a full day guided tour of the collection once a year./ More on this here…

Click here to see the museums our cars are on display at.

 

Who makes your products?

 

A couple of Queensland based research chemist’s, who we contract to create most of the formula's. They are very capable people to say the least and completely understands how much we care for our cars.

Their brilliance and complete understanding of why we are doing this, is what sets them apart from other chemist's. This in turn, puts us well ahead of the competition.

 

Why do we do it (The cars)?

 

Good question!

David always saw the touring cars of the 60's, 70's and 80's as special. An era where parity was governed by technology and skill. Not CAMS, TEGA or whatever takes your fancy. So when his hard and smart work started paying off, instead of taking the "large boat and waterfront mansion package" so many other successful people take. He started buying old race cars, the more David and his friends searched, the more leads they got, and more cars were rescued.

This 'crusade' of sorts started a phenomenon that we are still amazed with; People who had owned particular cars for many years and felt that they could not look after them safely, or restore them correctly, started offering us their cars.

People, who just like us, would rather see their cars going to the right home, other than the right bidder. We are happy to say, that most of those cars are now restored to when they were at their competitive peak. Again, to all of those who helped, our most heartfelt thanks.

 

Why do we do it (the car care stuff)?

 

The process mentioned above, of "search and restore", did not happen quickly. We only like to do one car at a time and a lot of the collection was sourced from overseas.

A time was finally reached when we could reflect on costs (ouch!!) and what path the collection was taking, we happened upon two things;

1, We had amassed an amazing amount of motoring history.

2, One of our greatest expenditures on the cars was high end car care products. Something we knew a hell of lot about working with, but not about what makes some better than others.

We now know for a fact, that the car care industry is pretty un-regulated and there is a fair bit of B.S. floating about. When we started we were pretty clueless, so we did what we always do when stumped for answers;

call in the experts.

For this example it was a talented research chemist, referred to us by a friend. A very thorough process of trialling and testing followed and after a substantial amount of time and money was spent, we drew up a hit/shit list of sorts. The overall conclusion was pretty simple;

"you get what you pay for"

(The chemist, to his credit, started the project saying this.)

However, three points struck us as odd:

1. Was that no manufacturers met a simple criteria; Quality at an affordable price. We are not saying that there aren't any quality manufacturers out there, as we tested some very good ones. The problem is you pay a lot for the quality they deliver, even then you have to wonder what they have in the products. When you are maintaining around 80 cars the costs are simply horrific. We believe the manufacturers of the genuine premium products

2. would probably agree.

2.The above point led us to a second conclusion. That no-one makes products for their own collection of cars. So why would they give a hoot about what you inhale, rub all over your skin and rub all over your car? Who cares if you have to re-spray your car? Who cares about you in 10-20-30 years? When the dust settled from all of our tests, it seemed to be your classic case of big business making money and bugger the end user.

3.Why the hell is Australia's car care market dominated by imports? It has the most harsh and unique climate in the western world and no one is making the formulations needed to protect our cars from it? (I can hear their ad men making changes to their marketing copy, right now!!)

As for the other products that we tested...

Well, a wise person once said to me;

"Only no good, can come from no good."

(Not as deep as you would have thought, huh?)

All you, the consumer, can do is conclude that there must be a very good reason as to why these guys bother making their own products.

Sorry for the rant and rave, but we are VERY passionate about car care and our health. I hope that covered the question? 

 

When you restore a race car. where do you get all of the information on it? (Model car enthusiasts, please READ this, as you can save yourself some time and money.)

 

To start with we give our substantial library of racing magazines and programs a thorough going through, then we politely try and contact the driver, mechanics, managers etc. to see what we may (will) have missed.

Then finally we call David Blanch at Autopics.com.au and grovel to him, as David has over 460 000 images of motorsport from the 1950's,60's,70's,80's,90's and naughties. David will have the images you need to get your restoration looking just as it should and will get them couriered to your door, ASAP.

 

Bathurst 1979 Gossie and KB shot courtesy of David Blanch and Autopics.com.au.

Oddly enough, these two are now sitting side by side in one of our sheds!

www.autopics.com.au

 

Why don't you race the (Insert whatever car we own right here)?

 

To genuinely RACE a car means that you have to be prepared for it to be damaged. As they say: "That's motorsport.".

We are not prepared to race a lot of the cars, for the simple reason that they mean a lot more to Australia's motoring history than the driver, or spectators, getting their jollies at that point in time.

They have won their races and proven their worth.

We frequently do driver demonstrations etc, at racing speeds, as then it is only mechanical and driver error you have to factor in. Not someone who thinks mirrors are for checking their helmet hair in, or some unfortunate chap who oiled up that high speed corner.

We are not prepared to take that risk, and if you think we are selfish for that, then I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

 

How often should I cleanse and wax my car?

 

If the wax you are using is of a high quality (Auto Body Wax), and the car is garaged most of the time, then you could get away with maybe two to three times per year. Some of our cars NEVER see the elements and are garaged out of direct sunlight in a cool dry area, they only need to waxed once a year max.

On the other end of the spectrum, our work van and regular race cars need waxing every other month. More frequently in the hotter and usually wetter summer months as the environment and heat does a good job at breaking it down. The trick is to be honest with yourself and assess how much you use your car. If it cops all of the elements, lives outside and is driven every day, then you will only keep it looking its absolute best if it's waxed every month. You could get away with every second month, but then it wouldn't be looking too sharp after a few years.

Another plus for waxing the car regularly is that you don't have to cleanse every single time. I do the bonnet every time, as it cops the most heat, bugs and grime on the car. But the rest of my cars get by with a good wash and loving wax. If you let the wax deteriorate away you will need to re- cleanse. To tell if your wax is still on the paint there are a few different methods, we recommend these three. First telling sign is the easiest, the shine, how does it look? If it is getting dull, re wax her (and most likely cleanse as well). Another is if water is still beading tightly on the paint, if it is, there is still wax there, but we have found that this is not always a 100% true indicator. So a final test is to run your dry finger with a reasonable amount of pressure over the dry paint surface, if it slides and has no “squealing” noise, there is most likely something still there. If not, give her some wax!

So to keep it simple, here we go;

Every day cars, Cleanse the car at least twice a year (daily driven cars get more imbedded dirt than most), wax a minimum of every 2 months especially in the warmer summer months.

Occasional use cars that live in a garage, Cleanse once a year, wax every 3 to 4 months, remembering to show it more love when it gets warmer.

Garage and show specials, Cleanse once a year, or cleanse and wax before each show or once a year to keep it looking show-car special.

The average car, stored under "normal" (Is there such a thing?) conditions, would benefit greatly from being waxed every second month. Be honest about the action your car see's and from the information above find the balance that matches! Simple huh?

 

 

Clay bar, how often and why?

 

Clay bar is a little angel in the car care world, removing any high sitting particles that are bonded to the paints surface. It gives a smooth, glass like finish to your paint with minimum work. It is basically a blue tack type material with varying types of abrasives blended into them. When used with a lubricant (Our Body Detail spray and Auto Body Gel wash are perfect) it is safe, does not affect or remove any paint or scratch clear coat. Use it without a lubricant and it can hurt your paint, badly! Also be aware that some types of bars with higher quantities of abrasive can slightly mar paint surfaces. Ours is as fine as you can get, takes all the top stuff you don’t want off. But is not harsh enough to affect the paint surface and even leaves some wax on there.

We have found Clay Bar to quickly get rid of overspray (Blue, from mum’s brand new silver Merc after a month of waiting for an engine part in the dealership, she was impressed with them), road tar, kamikaze bug remnants, tree sap, imbedded dirt and good old industrial area fallout. It does not do anything to increase the paints shine or remove surface defects like swirling, scratches, water spotting or radioactive bird/ bat fallout.

The best way to tell if your paint needs the clay bar is after washing and drying the car.. Put your hand in a plastic bag and run it across the dry surface, (if the neighbours didn’t already think you’re a total car freak, they will certainly be onto you now). If it’s not nice and smooth, meaning that you can feel little bumps, roughness or grit still on the paint, you should give it a clay.

We use it twice a year on our daily drivers, and always cleanse and then wax afterwards as a part of our car care system.

Our Fine Clay Bar come with an freebee instruction manual in the box, to show all you need to do for a great finish.

 

 

What’s with Leather care in cars? 

We take leather care very seriously, which is why we worked for two years to make our specialist Leather products... Can you believe when we did our testing that none of the major car care companies had a suitable product for car leather care.. We thought it was crazy, so have a read about our journey making something for this type of leather by clicking here.

 

With everything that is not fabric or leather we have madxe another product, ideal for your dash, door trims, vinyl seats, plastic parts and rubbers, Just read  away here

 

 

How to use metal polish ?

Our main reason for making a good metal polish was the old magnesium wheels that are fitted to many of our older race/ sports cars (Brock A9X, GT40, AC Shelby Cobra etc. We used to find any polish we used would take a lot of work for an average result, then a week later we would be infuriated to see the shine totally gone. Quite simply there is no harder metal to look after than magnesium. With this in mind we set to work on our own polish. It took a while, but we finally came up with what you have in your hands now. We find it brings up a brilliant shine in all polishable metals, most importantly those magnesium wheels! It is incredibly easy to use and we find the shine now lasts months, not days as it did previously. This is due to the protective qualities we have built into the formulation, All other metals come up absolutely fantastic as well, particularly alloy and stainless materials.

 

First thing you will notice about our polish is the bottles weight, this is as we use a unique mix of cleansers and fine abrasives that brings up a shine like nothing else we have ever seen. For an easy clean up afterwards we have made it so it washes off with water, something you will appreciate if you have used any other products without this feature!

Firstly make sure that the metal surface you are using is suitable for this polish. Do not use it on lacquered metals, fine silver or anodized aluminum, as it will remove these coatings from the metal. We find with chrome you just need to wipe it on and off, there is usually no need to buff it in like other metals.

 

For the best results you have to make sure the metal surface is clean and dry. Shake the bottle (Our stuff is really thick so do the best you can!) and apply a small 10-cent dollop to one of the Microfibre Cloths. Buff this into the metal surface till the cloth feels smooth to run back and forth over the metal. You can actually even hear the difference as the polish cleans the surface back. Try not to use too much product as we have found it is easier to use a little amount each time while repeating the process (If needed) as opposed to slathering it on all at once.

Then remove the residue (It is usually quite black) from the metal with the second, clean cloth. We have found that you can even use water to clean down the finished metal with the water beading off on the protected metal surface. You will now have a shine like you have never seen before, so smile at yourself in the reflection!

There is an endless list of things you can use our polish on, we seem to find something new every day. Try it in the home on things like the sink and taps (Just make sure the missus does not claim the bottle though), to things like the old baileys ladders (For those who are that way inclined) as it brings these up to a beautiful mirror finish. Boats, planes, trucks and bikes… basically anything with a polishable metal area will benefit from our polish.

 

 

 

Microfibre care

As far as our family are concerned, if it’s a cloth and it comes near our cars, it is just has to be Microfibre. Apart from making the whole polishing routine that much easier and faster, it also provides you with a far superior finish.

 

There are some important issues you need to know about to look after any microfibre product. Microfibre should last for many years when cared for correctly, If you don’t follow some simple rules you will get increasingly poor results with the cloths as they prematurely age and die. Having now killed a few cloths in the past, we have learnt the hard way on looking after our cloths, let us share with you our lessons so you have good working cloths for years to come! Click here to read our lessons .

 

 

Layering our Auto Body Wax

 

Want a little bit more oomph in your cars depth and shine, maybe just need a little bit extra protection?

Good news, as our wax is utilises carnauba it is able to be layered. Basically all it is, as the name suggests, layering a film of wax on top of another.

To do it, wash, cleanse and then wax your car, then let it sit for at least 8 hours, this allows our wax to cure. Make sure the car is kept in a sealed area (like a garage) so no extra dust or residue settles into it during those 8 hours. Then, go over it again with another layer of wax, to increase the shine and protection. We have done a lot of testing and fine that 2 coats is fine, 3 coats is for those really pedantic people out there, but any more than this does not do anything more than burning away some extra calories as you apply the wax…

Personally, I use two coats on my everyday car and notice the difference it gives. But we know most people are usually happy enough with the results the one coat by itself can give. We are all different in what we want and need, so give it a go and see what you thin

 

 

Who do you recommend for detailing tips?

US!

I was born with a bucket and sponge in my hand. Drop me an email for any advice you may need.

dan@bowdensown.com.au