New Jeep Owner needing advice

[nickrunssyd]

Hi everyone.

I just joined the forum. This past weekend I bought my dream car, a Jeep Wrangler Sahara and I love it. I've only owned older cars that were falling to bits. I really want to take care of this car and I need some advice.

1. Which cleaning products do you recommend?
2. Which wax should I use? I understand the cheaper ones take paint off?
3. The front grill gets lots of flies stuck in it. What is the best way to get rid of them? I've seen the grill inserts, are they any good?
4. what is the best products to maintain the leather seats?
5. can anyone recommend some mats that fit. the ones I have now and the ones I tried in the shop don't fit.


Sorry for the laundry list of questions. I am just a bit clueless

[Steve F]

Hi congrats on the purchase.

1 and 2. I don't really wash/wax mine, I'm sure someone will answer it though. I do use a product called Nu Finish liquid polish on my motorbikes though, it's not abrasive and is great on quality paint, leaves a good shine and protects well. It's suited to a paint that needs no cutting or abrasion to polish and is sold as a once a year polish.

3. Get a mesh insert that fits behind the grill, keeps grass and crap out of the radiator and protects it a bit offroad from sticks etc.

4. No idea on the leather seats, in my daily (which has leather) I just use a bit of soapy warm water to keep them clean and then get it detailed once a year and those guys apply "something"

5. Lots of mats on the US sites like Amazon, Quadratec, Morris4x4 etc. Look for a slush mat tailored to the Jeep, they have a high side and normally a deep tread in them to help contain mud and water. I have the Mopar Slush mat in my JK and they are brilliant and since they are designed for the Jeep they don't move around and catch all the dirt.

Cheers
Steve

[Peterjeeptj]

Lol ive had my tj wrangler for neary 3 years last week was first time i washed it... im never taking carpets out again easy 2 minutes to get out 2 hours to put back in

[Dru]

Thought I'd add my 2c.

Scratches will happen. They just will. I cant imagine anything worse than spending time on the trail stressing about branches, lantana, black berries etc. The best advice is ignore them. DONT use a cutting compound style polish to get rid of them. Wait till you go to sell one day, and get a professional cut then. It'll look like new. In the mean time a wax polish is fine. We use a "wash and wax" style car shampoo - any product will do. Then once a month or two or three we use a wax polish. We have DEEP scratches, and the wax pretty much hides most of it. We could not be bothered doing it every time we wheel but only every now and then and the JK rubs up a treat.

One of the things we love about the JK internals - it is, when you need it, hose out. Honest. We've had 2" of mud inside and had to pick tadpoles and fishes out of the carpet. Pull the floor bungs, remove (unclip) the carpet and hose in and out. Careful not to splash the electrics. (Take note if you have electric seats.) The carpet is some form of external grade, even though it looks nice.

For the leather and the dash, we just rub the mud down while we wash. Sponge with a bucket of clean water. Again, with the waxing, once in a blue moon, Armorall products bring everything up swish. Armorall for the external plastic too - for the Sahara the door handles, external mirrors and the Hood latches.

We use a form of towelette to mop the dust off before we head out.

One of my favourite treatments, which I do every week is RainX to the windscreen - makes a huge difference in rain and even when using the washers to remove mud splatter.

EDIT: VRP trucky recomendation for the external rubber/plastic.

The best advice though is not to get too precious - a Jeep has a job to do and that comes first!

[Elio S]

I use Bowdens products for all my cars. http://www.bowdensown.com.au/. They're a top notch product made by an Australian company. If you go offroad as already mentioned, no matter how careful you are you will get surface scratches from Lantana etc. It's just a fact of life, although scratches and all my black TJ still looks great. It's usually nothing a good detail won't fix. As for the mats. Check ebay for rugged ridge or similar mats to suit your car. They're usually a little on the pricey side, but they're pretty good for keeping the mud off your carpet.