How big is an X5

[graemeX5]

Well you might be wrong as I spent a lot of the weekend finding out just how big an X5 really is. I reckon about it's a big a a football pitch.

Started on Saturday with washing car first with rinsing off then spraying with body wash then washing using two bucket method.then rinsing and drying off. I then decided to clay the car which took a while and found a good use for the 2 small platforms I had previuosly bought from focus a lot easier access to the roof. When finished it gave the car a better feel.

At this point I decide a break was in order and had lunch with my wife and with my new found energy I decided finish the job by polishing the car.

As I thought it was only going to be a quick job I didn't bother with the machine polisher.
I used autoglym and my smart takes a whole 15-20 minutes to do. Well the X5 took longer or I'm getting slower, I finished about 430 Saturday with sore arms and shoulders.

Well guess what I decide to do today yes your right the job was to clean the ally running boards with autoglym somebody had recommended and using a toothbrush and this took a while but the results good.

Rather than sit back and relax I decide to wax car with some dodo juice this went on ok but you need to wipe off fairly quickly especially the roof which the sun hardened quickly.

Then as it was finished I had a nice cold bottle of yes, you guessed water that was it finished. I should have taken some pictures but will do that tomorrow. Well Monday came and went and but as I was not back till 730 sorry no pics - must try harder

[squeaky2]

I did something similar on sunday and im still not right........am definitly going to get a polisher.....cant remember last time i ached so much.

I did cheat abit as i took the car to the local jet wash but then i came home clay bar'd, meguiars paint prep, meguiars super resin polish and finally some meguiars canuba wax.

Spent a good 5 hours cleaning but am always happy how the car comes up. Tend to only do it twice a year too......before and after winter.

[X5Sport]

A lot bigger than they used to be I'm sure. Definitely takes me longer to do a decent cleaning job than it did when I first owned an 'X' in 2005!

Either that or age and misbehaviour are catching up....

I think the phrase goes along the lines of 'It now takes all day to do what I used to do all day!', or something like that..

[Raj]

They are rather large for sure. All my previous motors could be done in about half the time it does on the X. I need to do a proper job on mine as it is swirly wirly unfortunately.

[pvr]

You whimps

I will cheat actually, as I am taking the new X5 to NL to get it coated there so never any waxing required after that Cuts the proper washing time down to about an hour for a real thorough job compared to the 2 hours I just spend trying to clean it (and still not up to my standard).

[X5Sport]

Typical. I can just see your reports. "Sets himself low standards and consistently fails to achieve them."

Mine were always, "Must try harder.......". I took no notice as you can tell....

Out of interest though, what are you getting it coated with?

[pvr]

Company is Protech, a technical overview is here:

http://protech.mc/gegarandeerd-vertrouwen.html

Not available in the UK for some reason, but have had both my Z4s done by them. My M still has zero swirl marks and it protects against stone chips as well, which is great.

[Raj]

[quote=""pvr""]You whimps

I will cheat actually, as I am taking the new X5 to NL to get it coated there so never any waxing required after that Cuts the proper washing time down to about an hour for a real thorough job compared to the 2 hours I just spend trying to clean it (and still not up to my standard).[/quote]

NL? And coated in what?

[X5Sport]

Er...cough.....read the post above your response....

[Raj]

[quote=""X5Sport""]Er...cough.....read the post above your response.... [/quote]

PMSL. Didn't refresh to see the other posts and just went for it...

[jaynana]

[quote=""pvr""]Company is Protech, a technical overview is here:

http://protech.mc/gegarandeerd-vertrouwen.html

Not available in the UK for some reason, but have had both my Z4s done by them. My M still has zero swirl marks and it protects against stone chips as well, which is great.[/quote]

interesting, so what's in this 'majic formula', that none of the manufacturers or mainstream paint manufactures haven't figured out, and after all its so good that they're able to give a 5 year warranty? kind of surprising that nobody else has picked it up? even if that means paying for patents?

also what are the cons, apart from havin to pay for it?

[Raj]

Don't suppose you fancy pm'ing me the price if this as it does sound very amazing for what it does.

[pvr]

No need to PM, I get 10% customer discount and I don't pay the VAT as I am VAT registered.

For the X5, it is €650.

I can guarantee you that you will not be able to see a single swirl mark on my Z. My new X5 has the usual dealer special delivery swirls, so thank goodness they will all be gone in a couple of weeks as well. Not to mention that bird droppings can lay in the sun for hours without damaging the paint.

[pvr]

Cons - not really found any, the only con there is that in The Netherlands, it is recognised by the insurance so if you have to have a panel resprayed - the retreatment is covered by the insurance company. Don't think the UK insurance will cover that ...

The other "con" is the smell of the cleaning shampoo. As there is no wax on the car, all dirt is sprayed off first with a vinegar smelling type of stuff.

The technical stuff about colour loss on a car is interesting. A normal 3 year old car has lots something like 50% of its colour content, whilst a treated car next to nothing.

I prefer the look of a non waxed car as well. I can park in the full sun and no wax shiny bits to be seen as there is none on the car.

[pvr]

This is the English version web site. Warning - has music on the main page for some reason, so NSFW perhaps.

http://protech.mc/home-en.html