now that could be embarrassing, appearing on motorway cops operating a sewing machine on the M6.
Just a thought for the polishers - many years ago we used to tie a piece of cloth to the back of the mirrors, this flapped around in the wind when on the move and kept the mirrors beautifully clean (it seems to be a lost art these days) So could a strategically placed cloth on the front of the tank keep it gleaming ?
Bluey Circles:
now that could be embarrassing, appearing on motorway cops operating a sewing machine on the M6.Just a thought for the polishers - many years ago we used to tie a piece of cloth to the back of the mirrors, this flapped around in the wind when on the move and kept the mirrors beautifully clean (it seems to be a lost art these days) So could a strategically placed cloth on the front of the tank keep it gleaming ?
Ha Ha I remember doing that,simple and as you say it worked
regards dave
dafdave:
Bluey Circles:
now that could be embarrassing, appearing on motorway cops operating a sewing machine on the M6.Just a thought for the polishers - many years ago we used to tie a piece of cloth to the back of the mirrors, this flapped around in the wind when on the move and kept the mirrors beautifully clean (it seems to be a lost art these days) So could a strategically placed cloth on the front of the tank keep it gleaming ?
Ha Ha I remember doing that,simple and as you say it worked
regards dave
Nowadays them idiots at the DVSA would view this little that as an obstruction to your mirrors… 
dafdave:
Bluey Circles:
now that could be embarrassing, appearing on motorway cops operating a sewing machine on the M6.Just a thought for the polishers - many years ago we used to tie a piece of cloth to the back of the mirrors, this flapped around in the wind when on the move and kept the mirrors beautifully clean (it seems to be a lost art these days) So could a strategically placed cloth on the front of the tank keep it gleaming ?
Ha Ha I remember doing that,simple and as you say it worked
regards dave
What? Operating a sowing machine on the M6■■
Evil8Beezle:
Bluey Circles:
What if Robroy whips out his sewing machine and knocks himself up a new set of tasseled curtains while on break?
Tassled curtains?? Very 80’s…some drivers seem to love these though and pull them half over the window playing hide and seek 
Re the piece of rag hanging from the mirrors, who remembers the can holders you could get which attached to the mirror to keep your drink cool? I used to have one as well as the obligatory Michelin man on top of the mirror 
AndrewG:
Evil8Beezle:
Bluey Circles:
What if Robroy whips out his sewing machine and knocks himself up a new set of tasseled curtains while on break?Tassled curtains?? Very 80’s…some drivers seem to love these though and pull them half over the window playing hide and seek
Re the piece of rag hanging from the mirrors, who remembers the can holders you could get which attached to the mirror to keep your drink cool? I used to have one as well as the obligatory Michelin man on top of the mirror
Love my peek a boo curtains, very handy when having a latte at the wheel ( shock horror …execute me immediately and think of the children) especially if you get one of those arse hole inhabited camera Police ‘road safety’ (yeh right 
) tractor units snouting alongside you. 
They normally only see a wrist with a middle finger sticking out behind the tassels the 2 times they have slowed down to gawp at me, and I did not get pulled either occasion.
Also they are handy in summer to keep the glare out paired up with the Raybans for the ‘Full poseur trucker’ look. 
Heated mirrors led to the demise of the rag strips, I too had the drinks holder, with my mullet blowing out of the open window, which got tangled up with them
I struggled to look through my windscreen for all the pennants and flags of countries stuck up (that I had never been to at that time ) in the early 80s, never could afford the Michelin man on each mirror.
Lurrrved 80s trucking…proper trucks that not any ■■■■ idiot could drive,(unlike now) and proper drivers that would not grass you up stab you in the back, and have your back in a situation and stick with you. (also unlike now) 
Why someone would spend their 24hrs weekly rest polishing their bosses truck i just don’t get, it’s not only their time they choose to donate for free,some spend silly amounts of money on the polishing tackle WTF why ? is it to keep the organ grinder happy, so you keep your job in that blinged up tractor unit ? why should you be paying to keep someone else’s vehicle shiny? And there are some out there who polish wheels tank’s and paintwork too
I have no objection on cleaning the unit/trailer regularly either at a truck wash or with a steam cleaner in the yard, but if the boss want’s it polishing then they had better get their hands in their pockets and supply the gear to polish,as well as paying me for my time spent doing it
What’s all this “polishing tackle” then? Over 2 years I’ll spend about £150 on polish and rags. It doesn’t keep my boss happy. I think he counts bank notes to get to sleep, not shiney tanks. He does, however, give me £500 when he sells the truck due to the higher price it demands. If a driver wants to spend his time and money polishing, what’s wrong with that? It’s no more nuts than spending money on ■■■■, booze or fishing
Each to there own really. My boss can’t even provide a brush or soap to wash the lorry’s and the fitters decided to take the brush I bought when I got a new lorry last year and was going to try and keep clean to wash lorry’s for mot and ruined it so it now gets a blast from the steam cleaner when I have five minutes but it explains why the lorry’s all look crap especially with all the pickle eater rent a wreckers they employ too.
great lion extreme metal polish, not cheap but its ■■■■ good
i supply what ever my drivers need, polish/rags/ everything
burnley-si:
great lion extreme metal polish, not cheap but its ■■■■ goodi supply what ever my drivers need, polish/rags/ everything
Exactly as it should be, the bloke responsible for our fleet maintenance does exactly the same for those of us who can be bothered, also it gets done in paid time when there’s a quiet day, or say i’m waiting somewhere to tip in a silo and i have the mojo.
Having the most uncared for lorry that looks 5 years old at 6 months isn’t a badge of honour, but one could be forgiven for thinking it is the way some talk.
Juddian:
Having the most uncared for lorry that looks 5 years old at 6 months isn’t a badge of honour, but one could be forgiven for thinking it is the way some talk.
And I can handle that, as I don’t try and poke fun at them for it, but it’s annoying when they have a pop at a tank polisher. Like I always say, each to their own. We had a bloke at my old firm who loved to dig everyone out in the drivers room or the yard, but one day admitted he’d love his tank to look like it, but he genuinely couldn’t be bothered. I always think there’s politics of envy at work
Moving this away from tanks and onto wheel polishing, my wheels are alloy but not staybrite, i’ve kept them clean and reasonably (far from perfectly) polished from new, not just for aesthetics but i can’t abide seeing wheels caked in brake dust, there is no reason for it because most vehicles if driven properly utilising the exhaust or other in ‘‘appropriate gear’’ retarders only need the brakes to steady progress unless on steep downhill sections ending at junctions or in villages.
Once that brake dust gets ingrained, especially in unpolished alloys that get scabby with salt corrosion they look bloody awful, within a couple of winter months if driven by on-the-brakes-man they will have reached almost irretrievable condition, maybe its an OCD but i can’t stand to see it.
This all started back in the 70’s when i got me first artic tractor, a good old Mickey Mouse Foden…these had a huge brass screw on radiator cap and an even bigger flip/click type fuel filler cap…a quick brasso of these brought them up to see your ugly reflection in them, a good clean up of the never before washed blue livery had her looking good again too, a bloody good steam cleaning of the wheels and she looked 2 years old again instead of 5…what i discovered over the years since then is that if your vehicle looks cared for, all the lights work etc, and as it was in those days roped and sheeted load was neat and tidy, then you got minimal interest from law enforcement people who have easier and possibly more deserving customers to look at…
This was one of the things my mentor of the day, a chap called Dennis Cowell, long gone sad to say, taught me.
This has never changed, you know very well if you use someone’s lorry and/or trailer/equipment to this day who takes a pride in it, then its always a pleasure to use because everything works and everything that needs a bit of lube etc has seen some, you won’t find punctured or scabby tyres cracked mirrors or blown bulbs and you won’t have to kick a Scania door open because the regular driver is scared of an oil can, and you’ll be able to see out the windows.
Just a pity that the uncaring (unknowing?) seem unable to leave things in the same condition they receive them, but some things never change…that is partly down to, as Ovlov Jay mentions, envy.
Bluey Circles:
now that could be embarrassing, appearing on motorway cops operating a sewing machine on the M6.Just a thought for the polishers - many years ago we used to tie a piece of cloth to the back of the mirrors, this flapped around in the wind when on the move and kept the mirrors beautifully clean (it seems to be a lost art these days) So could a strategically placed cloth on the front of the tank keep it gleaming ?
That’s excellent.
That great lion stuff is way too expensive!
Anyone favour peek over autosol? Or they just about the same?
merc0447:
Anyone favour peek over autosol? Or they just about the same?
Never heard of Peek, but I prefer Germoloids over…oh hang on, sorry , AUTOSOL, I thought you said ANUSOL. 
Juddian:
Just a pity that the uncaring (unknowing?) seem unable to leave things in the same condition they receive them, but some things never change…that is partly down to, as Ovlov Jay mentions, envy.
Thing is if I drive a truck that the regular driver spends say 2 hours a day cleaning, does that mean I should? My idea of clean may not be to someone else.
About the only difference i found between Autosol and Peek is the colour, Peek usually cheaper but not by much.
Juddian:
Once that brake dust gets ingrained, especially in unpolished alloys that get scabby with salt corrosion they look bloody awful, within a couple of winter months if driven by on-the-brakes-man they will have reached almost irretrievable condition, maybe its an OCD but i can’t stand to see it.
Autosmart have a new product which is ideal for cleaning wheels & especially brake dust, it’s called Red 7 autosmart.co.uk/New%20Produc … d%207.html
youtu.be/BRgYU1-cW8Q
peirre:
Juddian:
Once that brake dust gets ingrained, especially in unpolished alloys that get scabby with salt corrosion they look bloody awful, within a couple of winter months if driven by on-the-brakes-man they will have reached almost irretrievable condition, maybe its an OCD but i can’t stand to see it.Autosmart have a new product which is ideal for cleaning wheels & especially brake dust, it’s called Red 7 autosmart.co.uk/New%20Produc … d%207.html
youtu.be/BRgYU1-cW8Q
Bilt Hamber, who i get rustproofing products from for my cars, make a product that does the same job.
Would be interesting to see how it would cope with the state some of the lorry wheels are in you see every day, now that would be a Youtube worth seeing…