Best engine shiner upper?

[Photonfanatic]

I'm going to detail my engine tomorrow. I've got it all "clean". Well, as clean as I can get it with dish soap and a rag. I'm letting it dry overnight, and tomorrow I want to "shine" it up. Specifically, all the black plastics. I want to give it that clean and well maintained engine look. I have used Armorall in the past but it just attracts too much dust. So today I tried a small amount of WD-40 on an inconspicuous part of the engine. It looked great when I first put it on, then after I drove the car and got the engine warm, it completely evaporated and left the black plastic even MORE faded than it was before!

So is there something out there that won't just evaporate when the engine gets warms up, but also doesn't attract dust? And has at least some staying power.

 

[OnyxCobra]

you could try spraying/wiping some tire shine on the black plastic and hoses

 

[Photonfanatic]

Thought about trying that in a small area. High temp clear coat might be what I really need. Just some of that off the shelf autozone clear engine paint in a can.

 

[Ninety8stang]

I use back to black. Makes everything shine for a long time. haha

 

[Musturd]

Back to black rules

 

[Photonfanatic]

Got some of that in the Garage. So it actually holds up to the engine heat once the car has been driven for a long time? That's my main concern here. Don't want to do all that work for nothing. I know some of you guys probably let your cars sit for a week at a time like I do.

 

[Ninety8stang]

it holds up fairly well but It's going to be hard to find a product that's going to be considered permaclean lol

 

[Orange 94]

 

[Burninrock24]

Simple Green and a nice steam bath or hose. Just make sure to cover your electrical components. This is how any detailer does it.

 

[OnyxCobra]

simple green does a great job but it doesn't leave anything shiny. you're going to need to add stuff to the engine to make it shine or pop, i'm not sure clearcoating everything is the answer. and nothing you do is going to stay looking good forever, part of keeping a clean car is cleaning it a lot.

 

[Photonfanatic]

True. I used to work for a used car dealership though, and that was our favorite thing to do lol. We'd get an engine all cleaned up, and then douse the engine bay in that high temp clear coat stuff from autozone. We'd let it sit overnight, before driving it anywhere, and the customers would come in and say "Daaaaam that engine is clean! Somebody must have took care of this thing!!" It actually holds up pretty well to the heat too. It takes about 2 years for it to start fading out or coming off. We had one ranger that we just couldn't sell so we used it as a parts getter for junkyard parts and such. Did that to the engine when we first got it. It seemed to look really good for a couple years before it finally just sort of faded away.

The engine does of course still get dirty, but you can powerwash all the dirt right off and then you get the clearcoat look again. It even works to make radiator hoses look freshly armorall'd for a long time. Just not sure I want to do it to my own, personal car lol. Be nice to find something you just do every once in a while.

 

[proudgeek]

I used to use simply green (can stain aluminum) and turtle wax f21 foam tire shine. I now use meguiars all purpose cleaner and dressing.

Run the engine until warm (idle 5 -7 minutes)

Shut off and cover electronics with foil paper

Mist water onto engine bay

Spray cleaning solution and lower hood for 10 minutes to let it soak in.

Use a long brush to scrub around. I bought an expensive wheel brush from autogeek.net and its worth it.

Rinse and spray dressing of choice

Lower hood for 5 mins

Use air blower to get stuff out or use rag to wipe down

Touch up as required

Daily driver cleaned up for show:

 

[OnyxCobra]

I'd be interested to see what this clear coat stuff from Autozone is...