Detailing Your Tacoma

Drape a hot, wet, soapy towel over the area and leave it sit a few minutes. I learned that trick cleaning plexiglass motorcycle windshields/fairings. Works pretty well on four-wheel vehicles too.

 

Awesome, thanks for the insight!

 

a car wash will not do anything for items like that when the sun has baked them most likely causing some etching in the paint. only a true mechanical polishing will remove it.

 

Any paint etching mostly comes from acids in the bug guts; love-bugs in FL are bad for this, but generally I've not had any real issue over the years.

Still, think whatever you want. I stated what works for me in actual practice.

 

sure it will remove the bug. but if you want to PROPERLY remove and fix the paint you will have to polish once it has been dried on there and most likely etched its way into the paint some. I was saying how to correctly remove it completely.

also for any quick bug removal even if dried if your only looking to remove the bugs and not fix the paint. Spray it with a citrus de-greaser first for a few mins of dwelling. once you go over with a wash mitt they will come right off. Something like this.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/ZEP-128-oz-Heavy-Duty-Citrus-Degreaser-ZUCIT128/100676344
dillute it down properly and you got a TON of cleaner for bugs/road tar and other road grime it will chew right through

 

We're just going to have to agree to differ on the "properly" part. I'm not hitting the front end with an orbital polisher every week or two for eight months of the year. Doesn't seem like it'd end well. Particularly when I'm happy with the results I've been getting for years.

Yes, the citrus cleaners can certainly help with whatever the hot/warm soak doesn't remove. Thanks for the tip on mixing up some bulk cleaner.

 

we went to florida in aug. when I got home front of wifes car covered in bugs. I sprayed the front end down with the citrus cleaner as I was getting the bucket ready after I soaked the car down. by the time I wiped the bugs with the wash mitt the citrus cleaner lifted them they wiped right away with no effort

 

I have found that if the vehicle has a good coat of wax on it , the bugs wash off easily with any car wash soap and water .

 

depends on how long they are on the paint. how long they are baked on and everything.

 

good point ! my vehicles are garage babies and do not bake outside for more than a day trip .

 

This summer I put 3000 miles on the truck through Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and despite having just waxed the truck immediately before the trip with Maguires Ultimate Synthetic liquid wax, the bugs were a b*** to get off after a week long road trip. Incidentally, I found wiping the truck down first thing in the morning when the heavy dew was still on the truck helped get the bugs off but there were a lot of stubborn ones.

I'll definitely give the hot towel and citrus cleaners a shot next time. Thanks for the tips gents!

 

What does everyone use for their interior? Im having a hard time cleaning the whatever type of fabric that's on the door, I see what looks like scuff areas on the fabric after a short time. The plastic around my feet seems to scuff up really easy. Im just wondering if there's some sort of protectant to keep it a little more scuff resistant. Im used to the light grey interiors and Im finding out that black interior is a much bigger challenge for this kind of stuff.

 

I only use cleaning products for the interior plastics and don't put on any protection as most will give the plastics at least some gloss and I'm not a fan of the look. For the rubberized plastics, you really don't want to clean with any cloth that sheds. I'm using a boars hair brush with Einszett cockpit premium to clean, then just dabbing with a MF towel to avoid any shedding by dragging.

Aerospace 303 or similar protection is a good choice to minimize scuffing if you don't mind a minor amount of visual change to the plastics.

 

Will the Einszett cockpit premium to clean the fabric part on the door?....I say fabric, but it almost feels like some sort of textured rubber on the sides of the door....What exactly is it?

 

It's textured plastic I believe, just sort of looks like fabric. Maybe even woven plastic, I've not looked real close. Definitely plastic though not fabric.

 

Turtle Wax! JK!

Chemical Guys!

 

Yes, it's a rubber or rubberized plastic. Like I said, I use a brush because it will scrub without shedding. The material is pretty grippy so I don't want to scrub with a towel.

 

Thanks guys! Also, when I got mine, they offered me that simoniz coating for the exterior and interior. Seemed pretty pricy at the start and I figured there would be a cheaper alternative. I called a detailer, they said a good polymer wax is all you need for the exterior. I sort of forgot to ask about the interior. Asking around elsewhere, a lot of people thought the simoniz interior was nothing more than scotch guard. Any ideas on that as far as all that goes?

 

Exterior I believe the product they use is akin to other ceramic coating options. These are, generally speaking, always going to be superior to a polymer sealant for longevity. The interior is probably just a scotch guard equivalent and not worth it, IMO.

If you're one who likes to wheel and may be encountering situations where you will be frequently polishing your paint, ceramic coatings are a waste as they will be removed by polishing. That's a scenario where I would stick to sealants and/or waxes. I also am not a fan of dealer applied ceramic coatings since that really needs corrected paint prior to application, and dealers aren't particularly well known for keeping the paint looking good or having detailers that take pride in their work.

 

Yeah the detailer I called said the claim that simoniz exterior will last a lifetime (which was told to me) was total BS. He said the polymer sealant (they use) applied once and then a few months later will last "a very very long time". Now their service was in the $300 dollar range. I cant imagine them using something more powerful than the sealants you find on Amazon, so I figured Id just do that once and again in a few months later and get the same or similar results.