Over the December holiday, we took a 2500km ‘all terrains’ road trip exploring the East Cape of South Africa. During the trip, a lot of crud had baked onto the outside of the car, combined with snacking along the way, and having gotten in and out of the vehicle, dragging in different terrains into the footwells. I wasn’t looking forward to the deep cleaning the car needed when it got back.
Why not just take it to a car wash? Look, if my vehicle is mostly clean, then I do usually take it to get cleaned at a car wash. However, when it’s in a disaster, having had such a rough adventure, the only person that I trust to clean it the way I want is me. So, I was delighted when Motul, who knew I was going on the adventure, gave me a set of their Car Care products to try out on the vehicle once I got back…
Wheel Clean:
First up was to clean the rims using Motul’s Wheel Clean.
Our wheels had gotten extremely dirty from the different terrains we had travelled on our road trip. So, I was keen to see how Motul’s Wheel Clean would tackle the dried-on crud.
After applying some water, I sprayed the rim and waited 3 minutes (as indicated on the bottle). During the waiting process, you could see the cleaner getting to work on loosening that dirt.
I then rubbed it with a wet sponge and sprayed it down with a power washer.
The results: no more crud, the wheels were back to mint shiny condition again. Wow, this is an excellent product from Motul.
Car Body Shampoo:
Now, onto the soapy stuff: enter Motul’s Car Body Shampoo.
The first step was to hose down the Jimny. Then, after adding 30ml of liquid into a 5L bucket of warm water, I sponge down the vehicle and power wash away all of the soap and grime, after which I leather the vehicle dry. I even used the product on all of the door hinges and wheel arches, which were full of dust and dirt, having driven on a combination of dirt highways and salty beaches.
The result: a shiny, clean Jimny. I have no complaints about Motul’s Car Body Shampoo, it did exactly as promised on the tin.
Tyre Restorer:
Next up were the tyres, and for this, I would be using Motul’s Tyre Restorer.
Now, I am not a fan of using tyre shine. Usually, if I take my car to be washed at a car wash, I specifically ask them not to put any tyre shine on my tyres. The reason, I hate having to get home and take out a rag and rub off the greasy crap that they put on the tyres. It just doesn’t look good. In my book, they are making the tyre dirty, and I don’t see the point. So I was very sceptical about using this product, to be honest with you.
Spraying Motul’s Tyre Restorer onto the already cleaned tyre, and I could see straight away that this product wasn’t greasy compared to my previous experiences with tyre shine.
Once sprayed, I wait 1 minute (as indicated on the bottle) and then polish it up with a microfiber cloth.
Not only did the cloth stay clean, but the tyre wasn’t greasy like when at a car wash, it had a matte finish which brought out the darkness of the rubber and gave the tyre a fresh factory look. I am sold, this product has now changed my perspective on tyre shine, I am very impressed!
Plastics Clean:
On any long road trip, you’re inevitably going to spill that sticky, cool drink of sorts. This happened to us, so I was keen to put Motul’s Plastics Clean to the test.
Once vacuumed, I sprayed the affected area and rubbed it up clean with a microfiber cloth. Voila! No more sticky residue—another great product from Motul.
Overall, I was very impressed with Motul’s Car Care range, they certainly aided me in getting my adventurous Jimny back into factory condition.
The standout product for me, which will be going into my collection of cleaners, is the Tyre Restorer. I will certainly be using this product going forward on my vehicles. I’ll go one further, when I take my Jimny to be cleaned at a car wash, I will ask them not to put tyre shine on, then do it myself when I get home with Motul’s Tyre Restorer.
For more information, visit – www.motul.com
