Cleaning Door Shuts

[anchorman]

It seems a common theme that Toyota use the rear door to cover the rear wheel arch and it gets proper dirty.  I suggest regular carefully directed blasts with the pressure washer to save getting your clothes dirty and damage to the door seals.   

[TonyHSD]

Good job done.
I do clean those every car wash but I don’t blast them directly with the jet nozzle but only from outside with the water spray going along the gaps at angle and then wipe them dry at the end. Not trained valeter can easily power wash the rest of the interior if they try that for a first time 🌊🙂

[bathtub tom]

I've found that directing a jet washer at the gap below the door can result in getting water inside the car (think electric components). It would seem the rubber door seal isn't designed to resist the pressure.

[Catlover]

Just be careful with a pressure washer, they can be much too powerful for what we do with it sometimes. Blasting dirt of paving slabs is one thing, blasting a high pressure at car paint work could cause you an headache which I wouldn't class as a car manufacturers problem (no matter the manufacturer of the car).                      Thats one reason why I dont use car washes that use power washes (and I dont use roller car washes either).                                                                                                The car owner has a duty of care, to me power washes go beyond being careful unless you are VERY careful when doing it your self.                         

[RobertR]

If you are using a gentle nozzle with proper distance then no need to worry about a pressure washer.

But, I bought this profile that I'm planning to double taped into that 5-8mm gap on the bottom of the car sill, to ensure the door will hold all the dirt outside. Cross has good doors skirts but they don't cover all, you will still get your trousers dirty.

[Hybrid21]

2 hours ago, RobertR said:

If you are using a gentle nozzle with proper distance then no need to worry about a pressure washer.

But, I bought this profile that I'm planning to double taped into that 5-8mm gap on the bottom of the car sill, to ensure the door will hold all the dirt outside. Cross has good doors skirts but they don't cover all, you will still get your trousers dirty.

Hi Robert, you'll need to make sure that you don't block the path of water leaving the inside of the doors, etc 👍

[TonyHSD]

29 minutes ago, Hybrid21 said:

Hi Robert, you'll need to make sure that you don't block the path of water leaving the inside of the doors, etc 👍

But I see the plugs on last picture still in. There is an argument that these should be left or removed but imo removed is the way to go. Even if they are designed to let water out originally they seems not to and better without them. The doors on Yaris cross look like they have these rubber seal but dirt still gets trapped in. 

[Stivino]

If you run your fingers along the bottom of the doors, just where the rubber seal is, you should be able to feel slots to allow any water out. They would be useless an inch up the door.

[flash22]

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[anchorman]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:39 AM, Catlover said:

Just be careful with a pressure washer, they can be much too powerful for what we do with it sometimes. Blasting dirt of paving slabs is one thing, blasting a high pressure at car paint work could cause you an headache which I wouldn't class as a car manufacturers problem (no matter the manufacturer of the car).                      Thats one reason why I dont use car washes that use power washes (and I dont use roller car washes either).                                                                                                The car owner has a duty of care, to me power washes go beyond being careful unless you are VERY careful when doing it your self.                         

I’ve forgotten more about cleaning cars than you appear to know.  If you don’t want to clean your car, it’s up to you.  Don’t worry about me and I won’t suggest anything that would risk someone’s car.  

[anchorman]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:26 AM, bathtub tom said:

I've found that directing a jet washer at the gap below the door can result in getting water inside the car (think electric components). It would seem the rubber door seal isn't designed to resist the pressure.

I don’t aim under he door I aim at it.  What happens when it rains, you keep the car under cover do you?

[Catlover]

43 minutes ago, anchorman said:

I’ve forgotten more about cleaning cars than you appear to know.  If you don’t want to clean your car, it’s up to you.  Don’t worry about me and I won’t suggest anything that would risk someone’s car.  

But I do want to clean my car, and I really enjoy cleaning my car, and when I have finished it looks really good, and not a pressure washer in sight. It seems you like cleaning your car too. 

[Cyker]

I hate car cleaning, just feels like a waste of time! A week later and it's just as dirty again!  

What happened to Nissan's magic coating that meant you wouldn't have to clean the car ever again??

 

 

[anchorman]

2 hours ago, Catlover said:

But I do want to clean my car, and I really enjoy cleaning my car, and when I have finished it looks really good, and not a pressure washer in sight. It seems you like cleaning your car too. 

Aye well I promise I’ve been detailing for years and I’ve never damaged paint with a pressure washer.  I think the only time you might is following some repainting and that would be down to the standard of work.  Keep up the good work and ignore my little outburst 👍

[anchorman]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

I hate car cleaning, just feels like a waste of time! A week later and it's just as dirty again!  

What happened to Nissan's magic coating that meant you wouldn't have to clean the car ever again??

 

 

It didn’t work.  

[RobertR]

On 3/13/2023 at 3:07 PM, TonyHSD said:

But I see the plugs on last picture still in. There is an argument that these should be left or removed but imo removed is the way to go. Even if they are designed to let water out originally they seems not to and better without them. The doors on Yaris cross look like they have these rubber seal but dirt still gets trapped in. 

Yes, well, they work when they are clean(new), but over the years, they accumulate dirt on the inside and this dirt is pretty hard because of cycling wet to dry cycles many times. On my old Civic, these ports were blocked completely, and I heard water splashing inside after heavy rain, so I just removed them. Don't know if they are only for cosmetic purposes, but it seems to be.

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, RobertR said:

Yes, well, they work when they are clean(new), but over the years, they accumulate dirt on the inside and this dirt is pretty hard because of cycling wet to dry cycles many times. On my old Civic, these ports were blocked completely, and I heard water splashing inside after heavy rain, so I just removed them. Don't know if they are only for cosmetic purposes, but it seems to be.

I believe these should be removed before new car been delivered.
All plugs that have like little handle on top to allow easy pull out. 

[Guest]

Whether people choose to use a pressure washer on their car is up to them.

Personally I prefer not to use one with a high pressure nozzle, 110bar anyone? You know, that one which will strip the top layer off paving slabs! The only time I use one is in conjunction with a dedicated angled underbody lance, lower pressure, which I used only last week to wash off any remaining salt/grit clinging stubbornly underneath. And quite regularly throughout winter months. I do use that same lower pressure lance to wash off muck and salt from upper bodywork too.

[Stivino]

18 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

I believe these should be removed before new car been delivered.
All plugs that have like little handle on top to allow easy pull out. 

Do you really think they they have forgotten to remove these plugs from every car that is built?

They are there to fill access holes in bodywork and panels.  Some are used during assembly, and some are for options not fitted to the car.

 

[IT Troll]

This car is the first I have owned which has rear doors! I was surprised to find how much of a dirt trap these are in this compact design in which the door integrates into the wheel arch. It is easy to get a build up of dirt and grit behind the curved rubber door seal.

[TonyHSD]

All season and winter tyres accumulates as much as twice more dirt than standard summer tyres., they grab the dirt from the road at send it airborne much more, mud flaps are must have. 

About the plugs, 
Not from every car but from last few years mostly.
There are discussions about these and explained in the cars manual as dust protector plugs. On older cars they had been removed and no water issues, on most recent Toyotas these are left there and some Toyotas has water seating inside their doors. These plugs are fitted in factories after door bottoms been treated with wax as corrosion preventative measure, because the doors are actually gutters.
The wax needs some time to cure and the plugs stops that wax becomes liquid and pouring out during storage while in transit, particularly in hot weather. The plugs should be removed completely or if you want them on as dust protectors then once a month in uk at least take them out, drain the water and replace. There was a member who’s door lock got frozen, you can imagine how much water is inside. Then are the central locking and electric windows not working etc. 

 

[anchorman]

Beam me up Scottie.

To allay any fears of needing bilge pumps, let me assure anybody (especially Tony) that he plugs showing should be there and as Stivino has pointed out, they are access plugs that cover the bolts to the window runners (right above Henry’s eye).  Furthermore, Toyota who haven’t got a clue about building cars (sarcasm) have come up trumps because not only have they provided anti drowning drain holes but they have added little purpose made anti block covers to stop the very dirt that I wash off routinely because I don’t like the sight of it.  Breaking news, even if your door bottoms get filthy, they will still drain.  Instead of trawling youtube for absolutely pointless videos, I went to my car to photograph the drains that we're so fortunate that Toyota remembered.  You’ll see that one is open on each door and two have the specially designed anti-block cover.  I turned one upside down just to show the cavity they have created.  Zoom in and it has an arrow showing that it should be positioned up.

[Cyker]

17 hours ago, anchorman said:

It didn’t work.  

Curse you reality!!!

.... sooo would anyone like to wash my car for meeeee...?   

 

7 hours ago, Stivino said:

Do you really think they they have forgotten to remove these plugs from every car that is built?

They are there to fill access holes in bodywork and panels.  Some are used during assembly, and some are for options not fitted to the car.

 

You'd hope not, but I seem to recall someone posting a TSBs for some cars telling dealers to remove specific door plugs if the customer complains of sloshing sounds in the door!   

[Trewithy]

I can recall that this has been discussed before and the consensus was to remove the forward plugs on the front doors and the rearmost plugs on the rear doors.  I think this suggestion came from the Car Care Nut on Youtube.  

[Stivino]

2 minutes ago, Trewithy said:

Car Care Nut

The clue is in the name.