best way to clean the engine good

[pb4ugoout]

everyone keeps suggesting to spray wd-40 in the engine bay. i wouldn't recommend that at all. yes it shines but that stuff has chemicals in it and it WILL eventually eat away at anything rubber. i would recommend a sprayable silicon. it will do the same thing and it's totally inert. it won't react with anything and it wont eat your hoses. i also wouldn't recommend spraying that stuff on your engine anyway. it attracts dirt and holds on to it. get a citrus based degreaser and it will shine just as well and it won't really attract the dirt as much. i used to spray my sway bar bushing with wd-40 to keep the squeaking away. when i replaced them finally they almost crumbled in my hands taking them off. and it was only the outsides where i sprayed the wd-40. i don't use that on anything that isn't metal anymore. just not good for anything else.

 

[bigwoofer]

Thanks Mr. Detailer!! I take pride in my engine bay, my car is a daily driver/showcar so I have to keep up with the engine bay so nothing deteriorates to the point where it won't come clean again. I have owned used cars before where the previous owner never touched the engine and no matter how much you clean it, you will never get it looking good. I want my engine bay to look like it's brand new always.

Overall it's pretty good, but it's the little things that i'm the most proud of.

The fact there is no dirt or grease build up on the painted areas...

-yes i know the clamp is crooked, i have to take out the piping to get into the areas underneath, so i just pressure fit it for the picture.

And I am particularly proud of the fact my block is usually pretty clean looking too

But I do have a question for you Mr. Detailer, what do you use for polishing stainless steel? I have tried a few things, but haven't really found anything I particularly like

 

[Mr Detailer]

I use either Mothers Mag/aluminum Polish, or if a gentler product is needed, I use Einzett Chromepflege. The abrasives in the Chromepflege seem to break down faster. If you don't allow the abrasives to break down (this goes for any polish, whether for metal or paint) you'll end up with tiny scratches. Here's a pic of the OEM stainless exhaust tip on a Protege that I polished with Mothers mag polish, and then sealed with Wolfgang Paint Sealant:

This is the only pic I could find of my exhaust tip. This is after polishing with Einzett Chromepflege, then Klasse AIO, then Wolfgang Sealant.

That pic was taken when I was in the process of swapping my summer wheels for my OEM wheels and snow tires.

 

[L8R]

Nice guys, very nice!