My car washing agenda

[F3LIX]

I've been curious about my process of car washing lately. After doing a lot of research on these forums it appears that I can use a lot of improvement. I'm going to post up my steps of washing the car and I would appreciate it if anyone can provide tips for my procedures and recommend new products to use (I get most of my products from Kragen's or Target). Thanks!

1) If possible, park car on a flat surface and in the shade.
2) Spray car down.
3) Open solution of TurtleWax ZIP in a bucket. Apply on vehicle using a microfiber sponge.
4) Rinse car off.
5) Dry windows using microfiber towels.
6) Dry the body panels, lights, etc. using microfiber towels.
7) Clean rims using Meguiar's All Wheel (spray on, hose off, agitate, rinse). Dry using terry towels.
8) Clean windows and mirrors using Stoner Invisible Glass Cleaner with microfiber towels.
9) Apply Armor All Tire Shine using the included sponge applicator.
10) If applicable, use TurtleWax Bug&Tar Remover with microfiber towel.
11) If applicable, apply Stoner Trim Shine (this is for the Volvo XC70 only).
12) Admire.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/spirit_z/Picture5.jpg

:)

[tjmonsen5]

i dont know if those steps are in the exact order that you use when you wash your car, but to me they seems a little bit mixed up.

heres what i do, and you should too.

clean your wheels first, because you wont need to worry about the car drying while you are working on your wheels. i hope you arent using the same soapy water to clean your wheels as you use on the paint. I just use some wheel cleaner and a brush, no soap. rinse off. im done

then load up your bucket after you clean the wheels, do this because your bubbles might go away while you are busy cleaning the wheels. This way your soap will be nice and sudsy to use on the paint.
Wash car with soapy wash mitt and use bug sponge, and your bug remover if necessary.
Rinse off entire car, dry with your towells.

Do whatever you want once your car is dry.

[WolfStrong]

What do you use for polish and wax? Do you take care of this at all?

[Greglatta]

Heres what I do:
1. Rinse car and wheels
2. Wash wheels with assorted brushes and a generic brand wheel cleaner.
3. Fill 2 buckets with warm water, add desired soap to one bucket
4. 100% wool sponge ftw
5. 100% genuine leather chamois (spelling?)
6. Some good tire shine and you are ready for the streets :P

The reason I find my method above the rest, is because the use of two buckets really cuts down on the grit/grime that is normally added to the soap water and basically just sits in your sponge, just give my method a shot and you will see what I mean, your rinse bucket will be pitch black with all kind of bad things that you would NOT want in your clean/sudsy bucket
:redspot

[tjmonsen5]

yes i polish and wax all the time! Well, polish maybe once every other month or so. and i wax every two weeks. My car stays very clean, because i wash it every friday. I also dont drive very far and rarely drive in the rain. My car never has seen winter, and never will.

For polishing and swirl removal i use a Porter Cable buffer with an assortment of pads. I use Pinnacle XMT polishes, and Pinnacle Souveran wax. its the best wax. period.

polishing and waxing techniques are a whole differnt discussion though.

About drying the car, i find that i love my "Absorber" much better than a traditional chamois.
look for it at walmart, its called "The Absorber" and its under 15 bucks.

[racer m]

Heres what I do:
1. Rinse car and wheels
2. Wash wheels with assorted brushes and a generic brand wheel cleaner.
3. Fill 2 buckets with warm water, add desired soap to one bucket
4. 100% wool sponge ftw
5. 100% genuine leather chamois (spelling?)
6. Some good tire shine and you are ready for the streets :P

The reason I find my method above the rest, is because the use of two buckets really cuts down on the grit/grime that is normally added to the soap water and basically just sits in your sponge, just give my method a shot and you will see what I mean, your rinse bucket will be pitch black with all kind of bad things that you would NOT want in your clean/sudsy bucket

+ 1 for using 2 buckets. I like to put a lite base coat of Zymol wax and then some new tech wax

[MJFX328]

I've always heard of the Absorber scratching the paint. Also it gets dirty and is hard to clean.

p.s. Fill bucket with water THEN add soap. ftw.

[raceboy614]

I've never had a problem with the absorber scratching the paint. Just don't rub it hard on the paint.



I've always heard of the Absorber scratching the paint. Also it gets dirty and is hard to clean.

p.s. Fill bucket with water THEN add soap. ftw.

[Steve530]

Yes, do the wheels first. I use a dedicated bucket for this, but the same car wash detergent I use on the body. I have style 42 wheels, so I use a combination of brushes.

Then wash the car. I use a fleece mitt. I like to wash from the top down because the bottom is generally dirtier. I rinse as I go. When it's clean and rinsed, I take the nozzle off the hose and flood the surface with water. The water will sheet off the car leaving a few drops behind. This makes drying with a waffle weave MF towel easy. Then I dry the wheels with a cotton towel.

[ajnavo61490]

the only thing i dont like is the armor all tire shine... use meg's Endurance Tire Gel or Hot Shine Tire Gel...

make sure to apply with MF or foam applicator then wait 15 min and remove excess with terry cloth towel

[F3LIX]

What do you use for polish and wax? Do you take care of this at all?

I'm still a beginner in car cleaning so I refrain from using any intermediate procedures for now. I'll order a porter cable by the end of this month, I have a 330Ci that has a water spot issue. I don't wax but I clay bar (Mother's set) the car once every 2-3 weeks.



the only thing i dont like is the armor all tire shine... use meg's Endurance Tire Gel or Hot Shine Tire Gel...

make sure to apply with MF or foam applicator then wait 15 min and remove excess with terry cloth towel

What's wrong with the Armor All Tire Shine?

[ajnavo61490]

it doesnt last as long and tends to have a greasy look to it... it also slings a good bit

armor all interior products also seem to have a greasy look/feeling to it and tends to dry surfaces out and attract dust/debris

i personally just dont like armor all products

[ajnavo61490]

[quote=F3LIX;10790138]I'm still a beginner in car cleaning so I refrain from using any intermediate procedures for now. I'll order a porter cable by the end of this month, I have a 330Ci that has a water spot issue. I don't wax but I clay bar (Mother's set) the car once every 2-3 weeks.

clay really isnt necessary 2-3 weeks... to save a little $ i would do about every 3 month intervals and also buy megs clay kit it comes with 2 clay bars and it easily does 2 cars plus u can clay ur windows to remove water spots/calcium deposits

[simracer]

I've always heard of the Absorber scratching the paint. Also it gets dirty and is hard to clean.

p.s. Fill bucket with water THEN add soap. ftw.

Absorbers can be bad if they're draped across a panel and then pulled across. If there is any residual dirt on the panel, it can get pulled across the paint. A better method is to use it to blot up the water and then follow up with a microfiber to clean up the rest.

Ideally it's better to blot no matter what you use, but I'm lazy and still wipe with my inexpensive waffle weave microfibers from wal-mart (kitchen section).

But the filling with water and then adding soap, that's a new one on me. Care to elaborate?

[MJFX328]

Fill the bucket with water... and then add soap to the bucket. This way youll have no suds until you start scrubbing the car.

I gotta check out that walmart stuff... 99% of MF sucks for drying IMHO

[simracer]

Fill the bucket with water... and then add soap to the bucket. This way youll have no suds until you start scrubbing the car.

I gotta check out that walmart stuff... 99% of MF sucks for drying IMHO

Hrm. Interesting. Might have to try that next time I do a Z7 wash. Don't really have to worry about it with ONR since that doesn't really suds up anyway.

I've had good success with both the WalMart WWMF and the Vroom drying towel from Target. Typically takes a couple of the WalMart towels to dry the 328i. I usually keep the Vroom towel for the Grand Caravan. Plus I'll sometimes fire up the compressor and use it to blow water out of the body seams and emblems.

[ajnavo61490]

waffle weave towels only way to go when drying a car

[Team BM]

i always 2 bucket wash, wheels last, rinse, dry with microfiber towels, quick detail who car, then tire shine the wheels and tires, wipe of tire shine (makes it much easier to get brake dust off next time)

[gmblack3]

Foam entire car using a Foam Lance with the pressure washer, 2oz of Z7 in a 32oz fillled with water :

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5862/img5560wn1.jpg

Do wheels, tires and wells.
Rinse all foam off of car with PW at a safe distance.
Re-foam car.
Do a 2 bucket wash with sheepskin mitt.
Rinse again with PW at safe distance.
Let water run at low pressure out of hose, this will get 70% of the water off of the car.
Dry with quality WW.

[Bimmerguy5]

I armor-alled the inside of my car once and it was the greasiest looking and greasiest feeling thing ever. I threw the armor-all away after that.

[MJFX328]

Armor-all is a joke. Buy some Megs interior detail for a satisfactory OTC product

[nickdeck]

Armor-All (sp?) is worse than a joke. A joke makes you smile. Armor-All will f@ck up anything you put it on.

[ajnavo61490]

i must say... invisible glass is pretty much a gift from god