C5ALIVE Forum

C5 Help => C5 Support => Topic started by: Umpa on 01, February, 2009 - 18:21:26

Title: Cleaning body work
Post by: Umpa on 01, February, 2009 - 18:21:26
Hi,

Ok so I have this new power in personal transport, its not a bad machine (well as far as I can tell) but the body works is scratched - rough to the touch and has dirt ground in it.

Can anyone offer any advice on whats best to use to clean the old girl up to a nice new bright white ?

Cheers

Ian..
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Karl on 01, February, 2009 - 20:07:39
Everyone has their own preferred method of cleaning the c5 bodyshell, so hopefully others will post some alternative suggestions here as well.

I tend to use Cif bathroom cleaner and a large paint brush when renovating C5's shells. To get the cleaning fluid into the "grain" of the plastic, the paint brush needs to be adpated by chopping the bristles down so that it becomes more like a scrubbing brush.

I've not used it myself, but I've heard you can use brake disc cleaner to get rid of some really ground in dirt. You really need to be very careful with such strong chemicals  :o. Another alternative is a bathroom cleaner called "astonish" which was in the cleaning kits sold via c5alive before I took over.

Some scratches can be smoothed out by using "wet and dry" sandpaper , but again care needs to be taken to avoid smoothing out the grainy finish.

The bodyshells can put up with quite a bit of abuse during the cleaning process !

Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Umpa on 02, February, 2009 - 06:13:55
Thanks for the info, I can see I'm going to have to get scrubbing :)
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Retro Andy on 02, February, 2009 - 07:01:19
Hi, if you look at:- Andy's Project, you will see how mine was when i got it and in my post i detailed how i cleaned "Charlie". You simply can't clean them in one hit, i cleaned mine several times before it was ready for the road again. I find hot soapy water, a kitchen pan cleaner and jif (sorry cif) just be careful if you use brake cleaner, this is good for cleaning apart from i found out it make the headlight decals run and fade, i also used metal wool to remove some scratches, hope this also helps.

Retro Andy.
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: fezza_rs on 02, February, 2009 - 11:12:39
I use TFR (traffic film remover) spray it on leave it 5 mins and then get a scrubbing brush with hard brissles and some cream cleaner e.g cif (i actualy us wilkos 20p stuff lol!) and scub all of the body it comes up a treat rinse off and put on your shades as your c5 will be bright white!
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Umpa on 02, February, 2009 - 11:34:50
Thanks again guys ;)
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Umpa on 04, February, 2009 - 17:57:16
Well - it might be my turn to contribute !

I made an attempt at cleaning the wheel covers.

I used one or two different chemicals (what whe had in the house) and the results are good.

I used

Tescos BBQ cleaner
Solvent PVCu Cleaner
Acetone
Soft pan scourer green and white with sponge.

I found that they all have a role, but the BBQ cleaner worked the best.

(http://umpaserv.no-ip.org/photobucket/sinclairc5/IMG_0373.jpg)

(http://umpaserv.no-ip.org/photobucket/sinclairc5/IMG_0371.jpg)

(http://umpaserv.no-ip.org/photobucket/sinclairc5/IMG_0372.jpg)

(http://umpaserv.no-ip.org/photobucket/sinclairc5/IMG_0383.jpg)
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: copendriver on 27, July, 2011 - 14:32:58
Hi All

Took delivery of my 1st C5 yesterday & although not really that grubby at all I thought I'd have a go at cleaning some of the oily thumb prints they can attract.

I used a combination of the following:

1: Cif Power Cream spray, for Kitchen.

2: Auto Glym Clean Wheels. Leave this bite into the grainy surface of the C5's white body sections as this is an alloy wheel & plastic trim cleaner.

Then scoured this in gently with a green plastic scouring pad & a mesh covered sponge from a halfords cleaning kit.

When cleaning the alloy wheels on the car, I find stubborn area's which have break dust or tar stains, come off with an extra spray of Clean Wheels and some scrubbing using an old tooth brush. Could see this working on the C5 too.

If unsure of any NEW cleaning product is suitable I'm guessing it's wiser to do a test patch on an unseen part (say the underside of the seat) rather than my feet first approach!

Neil
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: fezza_rs on 28, July, 2011 - 16:45:53
2: Auto Glym Clean Wheels. Leave this bite into the grainy surface of the C5's white body sections as this is an alloy wheel & plastic trim cleaner.


Its similar in make up to the TFR I use but a fair bit weaker.
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: danny7147 on 29, January, 2013 - 07:41:52
Just thought I'd add mine to this. I used Cillit Bang bathroom, it doesn't really matter which Cillit Bang you use, it just happened that the bathroom one was on offer. Spray on. Wire scourers, the cheap value soap filled kind, and in an hour it went from being covered in grease and black marks to looking almost new. A quick soap and water afterwards and it's ready to show. Highly recommended :-)
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Phoenix on 29, January, 2013 - 18:49:30
I use car wash shampoo, then let dry, then cif, I leave it on for 5 mins or so, then a good scrub, then car shampoo again gets it looking great, when I got mine it looked grey, amazing how different it looks now, for stubborn stains I put a little neat washing up liquid, and just leave then wash it off.

This is how mine did look when brought

(http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o557/PhoenixDriving1/b6860ba8.jpg)

To this after I finished doing everything ...... Did take a few cleans

(http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o557/PhoenixDriving1/image-2.jpg)
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: kamilb1998 on 29, January, 2013 - 19:47:23
I use car wash shampoo, then let dry, then cif, I leave it on for 5 mins or so, then a good scrub, then car shampoo again gets it looking great, when I got mine it looked grey, amazing how different it looks now, for stubborn stains I put a little neat washing up liquid, and just leave then wash it off.

This is how mine did look when brought

(http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o557/PhoenixDriving1/b6860ba8.jpg)

To this after I finished doing everything ...... Did take a few cleans

(http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o557/PhoenixDriving1/image-2.jpg)

That is quite a transformation!  8)
Title: Re: Cleaning body work
Post by: Paul Langton-Rogers on 15, May, 2016 - 14:34:00
It sure is!  WOW looks brand new like it rolled off the production line yesterday... great job!!

I'm been reading all the tips on this old sticky thread, some great tips..thanks guys.. I'm about to roll my sleeves up and clean a C5 that hasn't been touched in 30 years...it's not too bad about average level of dirt and only minor scratches and scuffs in the usual places...

I cleaned up the front-wheel covers last weekend..OMG they were absolutely FILTHY black and covered in several mm of dust. I was astonished how well they cleaned up (almost like new!) just from soapy water, a sponge and a cheapo Morrisons kitchen spray cleaner with has a very low concentration of bleach. It was great to see the Sinclair logos inside..you couldn't even see them before!!   :D  Also the reflective decal material was not affected by my really "going at it" and using a lot of water and scrubbing. It cleaned up just as well and didn't bubble or peel off as I feared it might.