Perfect way to clean your car
Henry Dobson demonstrates how easy it is to clean a car. Photos: Liz Dobson
One of the conditions of reviewing a car as a motoring writer is that it has to go back to the car company in the same condition you got it in; that means clean inside and out!
With Auckland’s current water restrictions, having the test vehicle in pristine condition is hard as you can’t hose it down at home and putting the cars through a car wash that buys in water gets expensive.
But even before I contemplate cleaning it on return, I have to photograph it at Parihoa, on Auckland’s west coast where the road to the farm is gravel – and that means dust!
Dirt coats the rear of cars due to the five minute drive down the gravel road.
So when I arrived at Chapman house before each photo shoot I had to go through the rigmarole of hosing off the dust and, until recently, using specialist towels that cost a pretty penny and can only be hand washed. It took me on average 20 minutes to get the vehicles spotless – and with no water marks – though the Rolls-Royce Phantom took two of us an hour!
Then Perfect Plus approached me to see if I wanted to trial their microfibre towel that they said makes cleaning a vehicle easy. They had me at easy!
The Big Sucker ($35) is 150cm x 75cm and designed for quick car drying. Perfect Plus says it’s super absorbent and it’ll last for hundreds of uses. Better still, you can pop it in the washing machine.
The Big Sucker comes in a drawstring bag.
Perfect Plus also said you can use it on utes, boats, bike or jet ski while you’ll need two towels if you have an SUV.
Luckily, Parihoa is on bore water and has many water tanks so hoses are fine.
With my trusty assistant (my son Henry) we tested the Perfect Plus car cleaning towel – and found a way to use it in Auckland where hoses are banned.
Oh, and if you are after a Father’s Day gift then its free shipping if you buy two Perfect Plus Big Suckers!