Member Since: 20 Jun 2019
Location: Reading
Posts: 110
Underbody washing
Greetings all,
So the brake pad wear indicator presented itself recently. I took a gamble and jacked up the front only to discover the pads were fine. It must be the rear I thought. Swapped around the axle stands and confirmed the rear pads were almost to metal. I kept going and discovered the shoes were down to around 2.5 mm. This then is the first job on my new toy!!! Bits ordered from AF, wanted to do the V8 upgrade but alas, the fronts aren't done and I don't want to upset the brake balance. Next time!
Happy with everything so far. Shouts out to Bodsy for the bible, very useful info indeed. Nearly fell over when a paperback Haynes dropped through my letterbox - when did that start happening? Anyway, I am now presented with this
Click image to enlarge
I'd really like to blast out all that crap and crud and put a course of Dinitrol (or similar) on the underside of the vehicle. It's too much to attempt the whole lot in one go so I'm sort of convincing myself this could work little bit by little bit. I'll start at the rear axle then since I'm replacing the brakes. I don't think I'll do the suspension as I can imagine I'll replace that all too sometime soon. I'm really talking chassis here.
Now to the thrust: I'm really nervous about getting my Karcher and blasting the out of it all. Primarily because I worry about damage to rubber and connectors and so on, but also because I'd flood my pit and have a fairly major cleanup operation. Of course I could move the disco to the front drive and do it there - nervous too but that's about getting it up on axle stands. Different problem so ignore for now! Even with the pit and jacking beam shown below, lifting this thing is a dangerous and serious undertaking. Everyone please take care....
Can someone please recommend an approach to this. I've been trying a really good muck cleaner (for motorcycles - Hein Gericke) and it seems to work fairly well but it's an arduous task - you can see I've done the hub and a bit of the suspension. Maybe steam - less mess perchance. Maybe a karcher is fine and I just need a mop. Or what, some magic gunk perhaps...
Thoughts please!!!LR3 MY05 TDV6 2.7 HSE - 130k
Audi S3 Black Edition Quattro (2020) - 11k
ZZR1400 (2010) - 55k
8th Oct 2019 10:59 pm
jenseneverest
Member Since: 12 Jun 2017
Location: somewhere
Posts: 769
i have used a chassis clean chemical neat on mine. there is a load on ebay.
Rinse off with a karcher, the aluminium bits come up like new but you can see it reacting with the ally so rinse off quickly. It will not get rid of the rust, so you will need a rust neutraliser, then treat the chassis.
Use brake cleaner on brake parts and check your metal brake pipes while your doing that job, mine are on my to do list
8th Oct 2019 11:54 pm
Ambit
Member Since: 12 Dec 2017
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 231
I just set the suspension on high use a Traffic Film Remover TFR which you can buy in 25L drum from any local motor factors about £20 I use a hot pressure washer or a cold Karcher. Don’t be shy with it gotta get right in there. You get can down nice and low and get under a lot of the chassis this way and all around the inside of the back bumper. Have fun.
9th Oct 2019 5:54 am
nicedayforit
Member Since: 05 Sep 2011
Location: Beside the Solway
Posts: 369
I used a garden sprinkler sat under the car to clean it.
Moved it about every so often to cover the whole underside and wheel arches.
Was surprisingly effective.
9th Oct 2019 7:28 am
Andym01207
Member Since: 01 Mar 2012
Location: County Durham
Posts: 412
Back in my life before kids days and we had a TVR for fun, a lot of folks did the garden sprinkler trick under the TVRs to rid them of salt and road grime as they had chassis like tissue paper
9th Oct 2019 8:50 am
Beretta
Member Since: 11 Oct 2012
Location: Rochdale
Posts: 1180
Kärcher Do a chassis cleaner - Never used one but do fancy one one day.
2011 D4 XS - OBD port protection, RLD spare wheel protector, All LED interiors lights, Timed Climate enabled, iiD tool paired.
2011 D4 Landmark - Stolen from same dealer before I paid for it
2011 D4 GS - Stolen whilst at dealer ... All LED interiors lights, DRLs, Spare Wheel protector.
1996 300Tdi - Eaten by tin worms
9th Oct 2019 9:55 am
lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
I would be very wary of using high pressure water anywhere under any modern vehicle that is laden with sesors and electrics, as water can and will get in everywhere.
I see it daily at work after the trucks have been steam cleaned.
9th Oct 2019 11:56 am
stiff
Member Since: 17 Jul 2017
Location: Either cashpoint or garage...
Posts: 293
Beretta wrote:
Kärcher Do a chassis cleaner - Never used one but do fancy one one day.
Unfortunately it’s been discontinued for a couple of years nowMY2008 D3 - It got me hooked...gone
MY2012 D4 - It kept me hooked...gone
MY2007 D3 - Mid-Life crisis toy continues driving me to bankruptcy...
MY2018 "D5" Si6 - But is it a "true" LR...discuss...but now gone
Back in a D4 with a lot of extras....
9th Oct 2019 12:11 pm
Beretta
Member Since: 11 Oct 2012
Location: Rochdale
Posts: 1180
That must be why I havent seen one, back to lying on the floor with the lance2010 Disco 4 HSE
- Digital Dash Club
- GAP BT IID
9th Oct 2019 12:40 pm
Kilovolt
Member Since: 29 Jun 2015
Location: South Derbyshire
Posts: 1029
I have one of these on the end of a Karcher extension lance.
Works a treat "Track day running - Don't put your foot back on the accelerator until your absolutely sure you don't have to take it off again"
Current Ride: D4 XS Commercial Baltic Blue SDV6 fully loaded with heated everything
Track Days: BMW E36 M3 Evolution MY 1996 (3.2 Litre 377 BHP sat in 1,250 Kgs of car, with a pro safety cage and some serious braking power)
9th Oct 2019 12:45 pm
M3DPO
Member Since: 22 Sep 2010
Location: Notts.
Posts: 8124
I made one out of copper pipe, used it regularly both on the old D3 for 10 years or more and now on the D4, never had any problems with water ingress or rust, although I do wax oil every 2-3 years.It can when others can't,
It will when others won't,
It goes where others don't.
9th Oct 2019 12:50 pm
lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
Frequent chassis waxing is the answer.
I have a 26 yr old defender on its original chassis and a 60 yr old s2 on its original chassis, both waxed every year or two.
9th Oct 2019 3:18 pm
aja4x4
Member Since: 14 Apr 2019
Location: Westbury
Posts: 2459
Hardware17 wrote:
You may need to do a deep clean.
9th Oct 2019 7:24 pm
General_Git
Member Since: 20 Jun 2019
Location: Reading
Posts: 110
Wow, I feel like I'm in Land Rover heaven. Not only have AF delivered the toys within 36 hours despite promising 3 to 5 days, but I also have a lot of good ideas to work from in this thread.
After considering your kind replies, I'm going to replace the brakes and move the disco round the front and get down and dirty with a complete wash - not sure with what yet although the little karcher right angle connector looks favourite so far. I also have one of those vacuum hand pump thingies so I'll grab some TFR and give that a go too.
Then, back over the pit for some rust conversion - much cleaner job but I sort of think I'll need to leave it a while to thoroughly dry. I will upload some pics but please be aware I can't devote a lot of time to this in one go so I'll end up drip feeding progress.... (there is a pun there somewhere)!!!
One thing I noticed tonight when unwrapping AF's presents was that the front end was much higher than I have seen and I also recall the air suspension moving while jacking. I turned the ignition on and the landy told me the suspension was in extended mode. I read about this but is this safe to leave the air suspension at full stretch for a few days? If not, then do I need to refit the road wheels to safely lower back to off-road or normal height? I also get the message that I need to reset the suspension once the obstacle has been cleared. How do I do this?
Any help much appreciated...LR3 MY05 TDV6 2.7 HSE - 130k
Audi S3 Black Edition Quattro (2020) - 11k
ZZR1400 (2010) - 55k
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out of it all. Primarily because I worry about damage to rubber and connectors and so on, but also because I'd flood my pit and have a fairly major cleanup operation. Of course I could move the disco to the front drive and do it there - nervous too but that's about getting it up on axle stands. Different problem so ignore for now! Even with the pit and jacking beam shown below, lifting this thing is a dangerous and serious undertaking. Everyone please take care....
... All LED interiors lights, DRLs, Spare Wheel protector.
