General Guides
Looking After Your Fiesta
Guidance
If you haven't already got one then buy a Haynes manual they don't cost very much and without one you might not know where the things referred to below actually are. It will be one of the most useful things you ever buy for the car! Now follow the guidelines below for how to protect your car against the elements.
Wash, T-Cut and Polish!
The best way to make the car look better is to make it shine better. For the main part of washing and polishing the Auto Glym range is highly recommended (Auto Glym shampoo, resin polish and glass polish), although when it comes to cleaning alloy wheels use Wonder Wheels or Turtle Wax. T-Cut is also recommended and there is one available for plain and metallic colours. If you have a non-metallic car then the colour restoring products are great but if you have a metallic finish they tend to make it look dull and less metallic. For the bumpers or side mouldings, Back To Black is recommended. It doesn't actually make stuff black but makes then shine in their original colour which is generally a shade of grey on a Fiesta.
Follow these guidelines for the ultimate shine:
- If you have alloy wheels then apply your wheel cleaner first, follow the instructions on the can or box for the best finish.
- Give it a good rinse off, preferably use a hose pipe attachment or pressure washer to blast dirt out of the wheel arches - be thorough.
- Now give the car a good wash using plenty of car shampoo. Start at the top of the car and work downwards, make sure you clean everywhere, even round the bottom of the boot, valence and sills. Also clean the wheels but leave this till last as they will be the dirtiest part of the car!
- Don't leave it to dry because it will dry with streaks across the paint. Instead get a chamois leather and once again starting from the top dry the whole car. When the chamois gets too wet rinse it off and then wring it out again before continuing, otherwise you'll start to rub dirt into the paint. The wheels aren't so important but if you want to dry them do it last as before.
- Once the car is dry, start with the T-Cut, it doesn't really matter where you start from with this. Apply it to a clean dry cloth and rub into the paint using a circular motion. Once the whole car has been done leave it until it dries to a powdery white finish. Then clean off using another clean dry cloth, this may require a lot of effort to get a shine but it all pays off in the end so keep at it!
- Once all the T-Cut has been removed you can start with the polishing. Use yet another clean cloth and use the same technique as with the T-Cut, read the instructions on your particular polish as some require application to be with a damp cloth. Cover the whole car, then when it's dried to the same finish as the T-Cut, polish it off. This will be considerable easier than with the T-Cut and the car should look far better.
- Attention! Never T-Cut the car and then drive it with out polishing, the T-Cut removes the top layer of paint and leaves an unprotected surface, if this is not polished then dirt will make it go dull again very quickly.
- Now the car is shining nicely you can clean the windows. Using a different cloth yet again, apply a glass cleaner to both sides of each window (not the inside of the sun roof!) once the glass is entirely covered allow it to dry and then polish off again. Never use car body polish on the wind screen or rear window as this will make the wipers smear when it rains.
- Finally you can make the plastic bits shine, apply a trim cleaner such as Back To Black following the guidelines on the can of your chosen product. You can use the same stuff on the side walls of the tyres but it is expensive so you'll be better off getting a tyre shine product or the like if you really want to make your tyres black and shiny.
- Once you've got the car nice and shiny you'll want to keep it that way. Wash it at least once a month, preferably more often, and polish it at least every 6 months, reapply Back to Black every time you wash it. Don't T-Cut it too often though or you'll start to rub through the paint! Once a year is often enough or just leave it till it starts to look dull again. If properly looked after it shouldn't need T-Cutting again for a few years!
Wax
Hamerite Waxoyl (just the plain wax) is the best to use. Unless you're planning on doing an entire fleet then one or two spray cans should be enough. In some places you can only get this stuff in by spraying but in other places it is best to spread it out and work it into any awkward corners or gaps using a brush.
Apply in the following areas:
- Behind the front indicators (take them out first).
- Under the ledges at either side of the engine bay.
- Into the door hinge area.
- Into the wing cavities either side of the boot.
- Behind the plastic inner wings at the front.
- Into the sills through the drain holes under the car
- Along the bottom of the door inside (behind the panels).
- Along the bottom of the boot lid inside (behind the trim panel).
- Inside the rear wings just behind the doors (behind the panels).
- The inside of the bulkhead behind the dash, spray from below.
Under seal
Hamerite Underseal with added Waxoyl is highly recommended. This time it's best to get a spray and a brush applied pot, the brush on stuff is best for large areas especially if you use a large brush, something like a 2 inch paintbrush is ideal.
Follow these guidelines:
- First get a wire brush and go round underneath the car looking for rust and scrubbing it with the wire brush to get rid of the loose bits. If you can't get the loose bits off with a wire brush then use a screw driver or scraper to get rid of corrosion until you reach a solid surface.
- Still using the wire brush try to get rid of most of the rust, it's not necessary to get a shiny surface but if you can then all the better.
- Now get the pot of underseal and using a brush go over all the bits that you've just cleaned off with the wire brush. Make sure you cover these well and work the underseal into any surface pitting or welds or gaps where panels meet.
- Leave the last bit for about 30mins then go back and, still working underneath go over the entire floor area of the car from front to back, do the under sides of the sills, the chassis box sections and up inside the rear seat area, making sure you work the underseal into every gap and referred join.
- Now using the spray can, spray underseal up into the rear chassis areas above the trailing arms and into any areas where you couldn't quite reach with the paint brush.
- Finally, take off all the wheels and using the brush for the main areas and the spray can for the corners and hard to reach parts, go all round the inside of the wheel arches.
Lubrication
WD40 is the most widely used spray lubricant but it isn't the only one. The problem with WD40 is that it dries, and once it's dried it doesn't really do a lot. The best known alternative to WD40 is Duck Oil, but even better than that is an oil called GT85, which is best known in the mountain bike world. This is similar to WD40 except that when it dries it leaves a layer of PTFE lubricant on the surface (the stuff used on non stick frying pans). This means that even after it's dried it still continues to work. It's highly recommended that you get a can of this (it's black, white and red with GT85 in big letters!).
Apply to the following areas (try to avoid getting any on the brake discs - use methylated spirits to clean them if you do):
- Door hinges and latches
- Boot hinges latch
- Bonnet hinges and latch
- Door, boot and ignition locks
- Throttle linkages on the carburettor
- Linkages on the brake bar
- Slide bolts on the front calliper
- Hand brake cable centre bracket under the car
