Anyone know the best way to wash,polish,wax the car in order to get the best shine as well as protection...seems to me this is the way

1. prewash,Then soap and rinse
2. Dry Thoroughly
3. Polish
4. Wax

Is this the proper way?? just wondering if there is something i could be doing differently

it isn't necessary to polish each time you wax.....it can cause those swirls everyone talks so badly about

make sure you wash your car when its cloudy and /or in good shade. or soap or wax will bake on and damage your paint. sucks for me because i have no shade over hear. gotta wait till summer nights to do that stuff. off to the self car wash for me :p

-Prewash Tips-

-Always wash in the shade.
-Clean your bucket and cloths before using them!
-Don't skimp on the car wash liquid. Put in a good amount for suds since they help lubricate and prevent scratching your car.
-Spray your car before washing to get out loose dirt and contaminants.
-Stand a few feet away for your car when using a strong hose.

-While Washing-

-Start at the top first, then work your way to the bottom.
-Wash the wheels and tires using a seperate tool and bucket.
-When spraying off the wash, use the sleeting effect of water to cut your drying time in half. Just take off the nozzle and let the water run on your car.

-While Drying-

-Use a clean chamois or absorber to dry it off.
-Use this time to take note of stubborn areas that might need more cleaning i.e. clay/polish
-Do not drop your dryer! If you do wash it thoroughly to prevent scratches.

-While Waxing-

-Work on small areas at a time.
-Use a minimal amount of wax since you'll be rubbing off much of it.
-a good cotton towel or t-shirt work great in removing and polishing the wax
-Multiple coats is good!
-Curing time for most waxes is thirty minutes. You can use this time to do some detail work like tire/plastic dressing, cleaning door jambs, etc.
-when your done waxing, you can use the towel to polish the windows to a streak free shine.
-wax also works wonders on headlights, windows, and tailights!

Time used - around 2-3 hours. Hope that helps!

You should dust your car before a water rinse. You want to make sure all the sand is gone before you start rubbing the sand into your paint. A water rinse doesn't get out all the sand.

i start with my hood/dog house for some reason, and work my way around

and dry it all off i start with the absorber to get the bulk of the water and finish it up with mirco fiber towels

i dry all the places i can reach buy opening the doors and under the hood now that ones fun to dry :roll:

i'm sure you know to keep the wax off the raw plastic's it doesn't come off very well :roll:

i'm sure you know to keep the wax off the raw plastic's it doesn't come off very well :roll:

now thats the truth!

You should dust your car before a water rinse. You want to make sure all the sand is gone before you start rubbing the sand into your paint. A water rinse doesn't get out all the sand.
Dusting your car will create fine scratches and micro swirls very easily if you don't know what you're doing. A good water rinsing will get most of the larger particles out leaving the finer ones to be lifted by the wash.

If you use a good quality car wash and plenty of it, it's much safer than dusting it off with a dry towel or duster.

To get a great shine without waxing...

(Buy mr. clean autodry wash)
Be sure you are in the shade too!

1. Pre-rinse
2. Wash in sections... drivers side, then rear, then front, then passenger side, whatever..)
3. Rinse per section.. once you wash the drivers side, rinse excess soap and dirt off.
4. Once you are completely done, give it just one more final rinse..
5. Pull out a towl and dry the windows
6. While car is still damp, go over the whole car with a towl. This will "buff" the clean look, and leave it looking great.

This works for me anyway... Keep the box cleannnnn! :clap:

heres my detailing agenda...
early morn or late night ..lots of shade.

-wash vehicle thuroughly with MEGUIRS soap (lots of it) and clean wool sponges.
- clean wheels and tires with seperate sponges
- rinse thoughly
-take car for spin around block to remove excess water
-pull in garage and blow lightly with blow gun and air compressor
-dry with clean ABSORBER
-dry all jam and rockers with seperate ABSORBER.
- apply wax MEGUIRS gold class paste to 2 panels at a time
-clean interior,dash,doorpanels while waiting for wax to dry
- polish off wax with clean MICROFIBER towels
- apply tire wet
-clean wheels with MEGUIRS quick detailer AFTER appling tire wet.

we use the same tire techniques..

Step One have a kid
Step Two wait 12 years
Step Three have him/her wash the car
Step Four Grab a cold one and sit back and relax

i bought a wide brush with a looong handle. I use it for the windshield, roof, and back windshield (all glass). It gets great results in a fraction of the time. this is usually where i start when i wash my car.

You should dust your car before a water rinse. You want to make sure all the sand is gone before you start rubbing the sand into your paint. A water rinse doesn't get out all the sand.

:no: :no: :no: :no: I dissagree, If you have heavy dirt on your car dusting it will only scratch the clearcoat. Rinse, then lots of soapy water, the soap will lubricate the paint while taking off the dirt. Dusting your car (dry) with it being dusty for more than 2-3 days will harshly scratch your clear coat, its like rubbing sandpaper across your clear coat. Dry friction, its like driving with no oil in your car. He's correct a water rinse doesnt get off all the dirt, but at least its lubricated for removing the dirt.

As far as your question goes:
If your car has some scratchs or minor scratchs.

1) wash
2) hand glaze
3) polish
4) wax

These dont need to be repeated weekly, Just a wash once a week to keep your baby looking good... I wax my tC bi-monthly, not because its nessasary, usually because I'm bored, a good wax 1-2 mo. apart will keep it shining great. However you can wait longer. I just really enjoy keeping my car sparkling clean.

Remember, too much hand glazing or polishing, you will get swirl marks. Its only nessasary to bring the gloss back out. If you stay on top of waxing it 3-4 months, you should very rarely need to do it.

Hey everyone has there own methods.. Just my .02, thats how I do my customers vehicles have yet to have any complaints.

everybody forgot about claybar!

after you wash and dry off your car, use if before you start your polish/wax job, your car will look better and feel better than ever. i also heard that if you throw a little baby powder on at the end, it makes it super smooth.

one of the things I do is after I wax I mist the car with water and dry it thoroughly to make sure all the wax comes off it really makes the car shine

one of the things I do is after I wax I mist the car with water and dry it thoroughly to make sure all the wax comes off it really makes the car shine

That's a good idea, but I've got a better one that's easier. Instead of using water use Meguiar's Quick Detail or their Pro Final Inspection. You can also try their new NXT Quick Detailer too. I love it!


Here's the steps I take each time I wash and wax each month.

Products used:
-Meguiar's NXT Car Wash
-Clay Magic clay bar
-Classic Motoring Accessories Microfiber UltraMitt
-PakShak small Microfiber towel
-PakShak Waffle Weave drying towel
-PakShak Ultra Micro Fiber Towel
-PakShak Ultra Fine Micro Fiber Towel
-3 Buckets
-Meguiar's # 83 (Cleaner)
-Meguiar's #9 (Polish)
-Meguiar's NXT Wax
-Meguiar's Final Inspection
-Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action (orbital) Buffer


First off I start with the wheels and tires. Since they take longer to do. You don't want to wash your car then your wheels and just let the rest of the car sit there and dry while you're washing your wheels. I clean my tires and wheels first with Meguiar's NXT Car Wash with a "tire and wheel" bucket. Since you do have more dirt from your wheels you don't want to use that same bucket for washing the "paint" areas of your car. Anyway I clean my wheels and fender wells.

Then I move on to the "paint" areas of my car. I take the 2nd bucket and fill it full of clean water. Then I take the 3rd bucket and mix my Meguiar's NXT Car Wash with water in it. I use two buckets because while I'm washing dirt and other deposits get into or on your wash mitt. After each sectioned is washed, I rinse my mitt out in the clean water bucket so I won't have any lose dirt or debris in my mitt causing scratches on my paint. I start with the front bumper and hood cause again this section takes longer to do than the rest of the car since it has bugs and what-not on the front of it and you don't want to let the rest of the car dry while washing it. I wash each section throughly 2 times each. Once each section is done I take my wash mitt with lots of soap on it and soap down a section that's alreadly been washed and then I take my clay bar and clay that section. The soap acts as a lubricant for the clay. One way to tell you need to clay is after you wash your car take a plastic bag (thin) and place your hand inside it. Rub a section of your paint. If it feels like sandpaper, then you need to clay your car!
Once I'm done washing and claying each section it's time to dry it off. I use PakShak's Waffle Weave drying towel for drying. In my years of detailing cars and trucks I've used many different products for drying and other stuff. And I've found that Terry Cloth Towels and regular chamois like the Absorber for an example will cause scratches in paint. I've seen this many times over. Why do I use Microfiber instead of Terry Cloth?

Even after years of safe, beneficial use, there are still microfiber critics. Staunch supporters of 100% made-in-America terry cloth cotton toweling claim that cotton is the only safe toweling material. Possibly these people have not seen the magnified results of cotton vs. microfiber toweling.
http://img178.exs.cx/img178/3791/imageview9ib.jpg
I found these pictures showing a lab test of 100% cotton terry toweling (right) and a terry weave microfiber towel (left) and a freshly painted test panel.

Once I'm done drying my car off I can start waxing. I take my Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action (orbital) Buffer and some Meguiar's # 83 (Cleaner) and start waxing, doing a section at a time. Once a section is done I take my PakShak Ultra Micro Fiber Towel and take the cleaner off by hand. Once the whole car is done I repeat this process for the Meguiar's #9 (Polish) doing it the same way. Once I have my cleaner and polish done I use my Buffer with some Meguiar's NXT Wax. This time I do the whole car instead of a section at a time. Once the whole car is waxed I let it set for 1 hour and then I take my PakShak Ultra Micro Fiber Towel and take the wax off. Once that's done I use some Meguiar's Final Inspection and mist a section at a time wiping it off with a PakShak Ultra Fine Micro Fiber Towel. And that's it!
Now you don't need to do this every time you want to wash your car. I'll usually Polish every 4 or 5 months and use Cleaner Wax about once a month along with the NXT. Becasue NXT is only "Wax". It does have some cleaning agents in it but it's main purpose is to "protect" your paint not clean it. It's all about the prep work.

Also here's some links from a few place I buy my products from:
http://pakshak.com/ Microfiber Towels.
http://properautocare.com/index.html Classic Motoring Accessories.

For a better place to learn way more go here:
http://autopia.org/
Be sure to click on "Learn" at the top of the page for tons of how-to's and facts about car detailing!

nice..thanks guys u didnt expect this many repsonses, cant wait till all this stupid snow is over

1.rinse car first to remove all loose dirt
2.In the shade only!!! use bucket of carwash soap and water with a soft brush with a handle. Do roof and windows first and rinse, then do rest of car and rinse, then use left over soap and water with a wheel brush and do wheels and tires and rinse
3.Use Cali. Blade to remove excess water off all flat sections then use premoistened then rung out microfiber towel to get the rest. Use different stained towels to dry the jams and wheels
4.Dress tires and use jam towel to remove dressing of the wheels afterward
5. Wax as nessary... usually every month of so but you'll know by how the paint feels as you dry it off

Step One have a kid
Step Two wait 12 years
Step Three have him/her wash the car
Step Four Grab a cold one and sit back and relax

thats a good idea but there a down side too it

kids do a half ___ job at washing cars and they won't do a caring job either and your car will still be dirty :no: :no: :no:

Step One have a kid
Step Two wait 12 years
Step Three have him/her wash the car
Step Four Grab a cold one and sit back and relax

thats a good idea but there a down side too it

kids do a half ___ job at washing cars and they won't do a caring job either and your car will still be dirty :no: :no: :no:
And all scratched to ____ :rofl:

Step One have a kid
Step Two wait 12 years
Step Three have him/her wash the car
Step Four Grab a cold one and sit back and relax

thats a good idea but there a down side too it

kids do a half ___ job at washing cars and they won't do a caring job either and your car will still be dirty :no: :no: :no:
And all scratched to ____ :rofl:

Plus: You've got to pay to feed and clothe them for those 12 non-productive years!!

When usin cleaner wax, do you have to let the wax sit on the paint for a certain time before polishing it off? How about for regular synthetics?

microfish..(sp).. i just waxed my xb today.. so far everything looks good.