easy cleanup
Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 1:13 am
I must say that I am not one to get the hose and bucket out much, but I do like my bikes to be clean and shiny. Usually just a quick once over with a can of Honda spray cleaner and polish(best stuff in the business, or rather, was.) I got myself a case of it when they discontinued it due to a falling out between the manufacturer and Honda, so I'm set for life. It's a shame because it was such a good seller, I've got thousands addicted to it over the years and have yet to find a perfect replacement.
Anyhow, I can't really sit here and extoll the virtues of product you can no longer buy,(unless your lucky enough to be near one of those dealers that horded it at the last minute!) so on to something else.
It got down to the point where I pretty much had to get the hose out, cuz I'm not wasting my Honda polish on dirty, nasty wheel rims and other grimy parts on the lower end of the chassis, so I figured I'd try something new. I picked up one of those Mister Clean AutoDry Carwash kits at the auto parts store and proceeded to check it out and see if I really could do away with the chami. I can't stand water spots and I'd rather not have to wipe it down when I'm done and that's what this things claim to fame is. It's basically an attachment for your hose that has a reservoir for the "dry rinse polymer car wash concentrate", a replaceable water filter and a valve that lets you switch between straight from the hose spray, soap spray and filtered water spray. You wet the bike down with straight water, then give it the soap spray. The soap itself seemed pretty good, cleaned off all the bugs and road grime ok, of course, there's always a little scrubbing involved on the rough spots. Then comes the magic part. Switch it to filtered water and rinse off the soap....and watch.
I went ahead and started on one of the other bikes while the Superhawk was drying, constantly looking over my shoulder to see what it was doing. What it was doing, was drying. Really fast. And absolutely spot free. I was so thrilled I went ahead and washed four of the bikes that were at hand and easy to get to. The rinse water just kind of sheeted it's way off the bike just leaving a little droplet here and there, but each droplet vanished without the slightest trace of a spot. I suspect that it's mostly due to the water filter not letting any of the typical impurities associated with typical household plumbing out to bond with the clean surface, but I'm sure the sheeting action caused by the soap's polymers helped in a big way too. Since it left the surface so quickly there wasn't much time for dust and pollen to collect in the moisture to take the place of the other impurities, and believe me, the pollen is pretty thick right now.
I'm giving this one a big thumbs up, it's taken away another step in my drudgery that I can live without. Now if I could only summon the energy to use it to make that dusty yellow looking car out there to look red again.
Anyhow, I can't really sit here and extoll the virtues of product you can no longer buy,(unless your lucky enough to be near one of those dealers that horded it at the last minute!) so on to something else.
It got down to the point where I pretty much had to get the hose out, cuz I'm not wasting my Honda polish on dirty, nasty wheel rims and other grimy parts on the lower end of the chassis, so I figured I'd try something new. I picked up one of those Mister Clean AutoDry Carwash kits at the auto parts store and proceeded to check it out and see if I really could do away with the chami. I can't stand water spots and I'd rather not have to wipe it down when I'm done and that's what this things claim to fame is. It's basically an attachment for your hose that has a reservoir for the "dry rinse polymer car wash concentrate", a replaceable water filter and a valve that lets you switch between straight from the hose spray, soap spray and filtered water spray. You wet the bike down with straight water, then give it the soap spray. The soap itself seemed pretty good, cleaned off all the bugs and road grime ok, of course, there's always a little scrubbing involved on the rough spots. Then comes the magic part. Switch it to filtered water and rinse off the soap....and watch.
I went ahead and started on one of the other bikes while the Superhawk was drying, constantly looking over my shoulder to see what it was doing. What it was doing, was drying. Really fast. And absolutely spot free. I was so thrilled I went ahead and washed four of the bikes that were at hand and easy to get to. The rinse water just kind of sheeted it's way off the bike just leaving a little droplet here and there, but each droplet vanished without the slightest trace of a spot. I suspect that it's mostly due to the water filter not letting any of the typical impurities associated with typical household plumbing out to bond with the clean surface, but I'm sure the sheeting action caused by the soap's polymers helped in a big way too. Since it left the surface so quickly there wasn't much time for dust and pollen to collect in the moisture to take the place of the other impurities, and believe me, the pollen is pretty thick right now.
I'm giving this one a big thumbs up, it's taken away another step in my drudgery that I can live without. Now if I could only summon the energy to use it to make that dusty yellow looking car out there to look red again.
