What do you guys use to clean up your engine bay? How about polishing aluminum ie CAI,intake manifold,etc. how about your rubber items like hoses etc. thanks
I used to use a high power degreaser for cleaning. However, in the most recent years I have stopped this due to the fact I didn't always need it, and I felt it was too harsh for some of the rubber/softer materials in the bay.
For the last several years I have used Simple Green for cleaning. As long as its not terribly greasy, it works pretty well and I've found it to not be as harsh.
I've never done any polishing under the hood. But, back in my motorcycle days, I used Blue Magic polish to shine up the aluminum cases. It always seemed to work pretty well.
As far as rubber items, I prefer to use any product that actually puts natural oils, etc. back into them instead of anything loaded with heavy silicon. I've found that those particular products only attract more dust and dirt!
I'm not sure I've helped much, but maybe a little.
So along with detail, shine etc, ...I just used Mequiar's black can tire foam/shine on my wheels and I'm pretty happy how long this is lasting. I'm gonna try it on my black items in my engine bay