View Poll Results: How do you wash your car?
Voters: 36. You may not vote on this poll
How do you wash your car?
10-19-2005, 05:10 PM
#4
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 4,971
I never go to an auto wash. The manual wash in a bay is acceptable under the following conditions only:
1) You're far away from home, say, on vacation. I always carry a MF towel and detail spray, but sometimes that won't cut it.
2) It's really, really cold and you need to get the salt off your car.
And thats all I can think of. Even under these conditions, it is imperative that no Scion owner use the brush to clean their car. That's swirl-mark material.
And I use Mr. Clean and a MF sponge. Works very well for me.
1) You're far away from home, say, on vacation. I always carry a MF towel and detail spray, but sometimes that won't cut it.
2) It's really, really cold and you need to get the salt off your car.
And thats all I can think of. Even under these conditions, it is imperative that no Scion owner use the brush to clean their car. That's swirl-mark material.
And I use Mr. Clean and a MF sponge. Works very well for me.
10-19-2005, 06:30 PM
#7
Senior Member
SL Member
Scion Evolution
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: In the Hot Tub
Posts: 5,736
I do #2 & #3. i tkae my bucket and mitt to the spray carwash. I prefer the high pressure spray to the hose at home plus I'm usually washing it at night and don't want to cheese off the neighbors. Drop 2 bucks in, spray it down, suds up the bucket, hand wash it, drop in 2 more bucks and rinse. Drive it home and chamois it. Actually, it's The Absorber, but same concept...
10-19-2005, 09:52 PM
#8
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Orlando, FL (UCF)
Posts: 7,514
I'm just copying one of my posts that I made in another thread to tell you my method-
I'm an OCD car washer. It normally takes me anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours from making the buckets of soap water to the final dry to wash my car. A long time, I know, but I don't induce any marring (small, fine scratches commonly known as swirl marks) whatsoever in my clearcoat.
I start off with 5 clean buckets. Two are for car was solution, the others are for pure water. When I make the car wash solution buckets and the rinse water buckets, I make them using filtered and de-ionized water (our house has a purifying system that does this and has a spigot comming off of it) and have the car wash be at about double the concentration recommended by the manufacturer. I use Top of the Line's Bubble Bath car wash soap because it is very slick (in other words, good lubricity) and I've noticed that its not as harsh on my sealants and waxes that are on the car (allows them to have better durability). The only drawback to it though is that it doesn't have much bite. It has problems with really caked on, hard to remove dirt. But hey, my car never gets to that point so it's a perfect choice for me! If you do have some really stubborn dirt, NXT car wash is a great choice, just don't expect your waxes and sealants to last a long time because this wash is really harsh to them. One water bucket and one wash solution bucket goes on each side of the car. The fifth bucket is for used wash mitts.
I use meguiar's cotton chenille wash mitts exclusively. The chenille doesnt come out of the mitt like I've noticed with other brands. Its also very soft which helps to not create marring in the clearcoat. Right now I use 13 mitts per wash; enough mitts to use 1 mitt per panel and two per bumper.
I have a spigot splitter attached to the spigot on my water purifying system. This way I can run 2 hoses that supply filtered water. On one hose I have a gilmour brand foam gun and on the other I just have a quick connector with a water shutoff valve attached (so I don't have to run back to the spigot to turn the water off all the time).
So what I first do is have the foam gun shoot pure water at a high pressure. I go over the front clip of the car with this trying to get all the large dirt particles, bugs, etc off. Once I'm satisfied that I've gotten everything that I can off with just water, I turn the switch on the foam gun to start creating foam. I then drench the front clip with it. I let the foam sit on the paint for about a minute then rinse it off with straight water. This step removes even more than the water rinse because the foam actually attaches to the caked on dirt/dust particles and lifts them up. When you rinse the foam off, the dirt is taken with it. Ok, so now I switch the gun again, and spray one panel with foam. I take one cotton chenille mitt and soak it in the wash solution bucket. Once the solution has been absorbed, I take the mitt out of the bucket and put the foam gun into the mitt. I then turn the gun onto a low setting. This lets soapy water flow thru the mitt. With this I gently, as in barely touching the paint, wipe a part of the panel. After this wipe, I turn the mitt over and wipe another part of the panel with the other side of the mitt. After both sides of the mitt have been wiped against the paint once, I take the foam gun out of the mitt, switch it to water spray and completely spray the mitt out. I then dunk the mitt into the rinse water bucket and again agitate the mitt in it trying to get every particle of dirt out of it. I then take it out of the rinse bucket, wring it out, and let it soak in the wash solution bucket again. I keep repeating these steps for the entire car. I normally go front right fender, hood, front left fender, front bumper, right side door, right side rear quarter, hatch, left side rear quarter, rear bumper, left side door, left sideskirt, right sideskirt. After i've cleaned a panel, I completely clean out the wash mitt used on the panel then it goes into the used wash mitt bucket. As I move around the car I periodically respray the cleaned panels with pure water as to keep them wet. Waterspots aren't a huge issue with the water I use, but very faint ones do appear if the water drys on the paint. The thinking behind this wash method is that instead of having dirt and dust move across the panel with the wash mitt pushing down on them and thus causing marring, the mitt dislodges the dirt particles and then the stream of soapy water comming through the mitt flushes them away. For REALLY dirty areas (like behind the tires after a few days) I'll switch to a natural boars hair brush and gentlely wipe away the dirt. When I do this, I have the foam gun supply a constant stream of soapy water going through the brush. Again, dislodge and flush.
So after I've cleaned each panel, I make a final high pressure rinse with straight water with the foam gun. after this, I turn the foam gun off and switch over to the second hose. With the manual shutoff, I open the valve just enough to let a very light stream of water come out of the hose. Using this I go over the entire car, starting at the top. This low pressure water rinse will promote sheeting. This will take off 90% of the water from the car. It leaves only drops here or there on the paint. After the water has sheeted off the car, I take an electric 200 mph leafblower that I have and get all the water out of the cracks in the car. Places that I've noticed that water accumulates are the front grills, the front side vents, the mirrors, the doors, behind the gas cap, and the hatch. I also pop the hood and the hatch and blow the water out of there. After blowdrying there's a few drops here or there left on the paint. I get these up with my Pakshak 25"x36" waffle weave microfiber towels. Instead of wiping them up, I blot at them. After getting the last drops of water off the car, I switch over to a pakshak ultra plush microfiber towel QD the entire car. This gets up any dirt that I may have missed in the wash and removes any waterspots that may have formed as I blowdried the cracks. Once this step is done, I throw the wash mitts in the washing machine and then let them air dry on the line.
This method was not something that I thought up. A member on autopia named Accumulator developed this method, so all props go to him, I just use it.
I'm an OCD car washer. It normally takes me anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours from making the buckets of soap water to the final dry to wash my car. A long time, I know, but I don't induce any marring (small, fine scratches commonly known as swirl marks) whatsoever in my clearcoat.
I start off with 5 clean buckets. Two are for car was solution, the others are for pure water. When I make the car wash solution buckets and the rinse water buckets, I make them using filtered and de-ionized water (our house has a purifying system that does this and has a spigot comming off of it) and have the car wash be at about double the concentration recommended by the manufacturer. I use Top of the Line's Bubble Bath car wash soap because it is very slick (in other words, good lubricity) and I've noticed that its not as harsh on my sealants and waxes that are on the car (allows them to have better durability). The only drawback to it though is that it doesn't have much bite. It has problems with really caked on, hard to remove dirt. But hey, my car never gets to that point so it's a perfect choice for me! If you do have some really stubborn dirt, NXT car wash is a great choice, just don't expect your waxes and sealants to last a long time because this wash is really harsh to them. One water bucket and one wash solution bucket goes on each side of the car. The fifth bucket is for used wash mitts.
I use meguiar's cotton chenille wash mitts exclusively. The chenille doesnt come out of the mitt like I've noticed with other brands. Its also very soft which helps to not create marring in the clearcoat. Right now I use 13 mitts per wash; enough mitts to use 1 mitt per panel and two per bumper.
I have a spigot splitter attached to the spigot on my water purifying system. This way I can run 2 hoses that supply filtered water. On one hose I have a gilmour brand foam gun and on the other I just have a quick connector with a water shutoff valve attached (so I don't have to run back to the spigot to turn the water off all the time).
So what I first do is have the foam gun shoot pure water at a high pressure. I go over the front clip of the car with this trying to get all the large dirt particles, bugs, etc off. Once I'm satisfied that I've gotten everything that I can off with just water, I turn the switch on the foam gun to start creating foam. I then drench the front clip with it. I let the foam sit on the paint for about a minute then rinse it off with straight water. This step removes even more than the water rinse because the foam actually attaches to the caked on dirt/dust particles and lifts them up. When you rinse the foam off, the dirt is taken with it. Ok, so now I switch the gun again, and spray one panel with foam. I take one cotton chenille mitt and soak it in the wash solution bucket. Once the solution has been absorbed, I take the mitt out of the bucket and put the foam gun into the mitt. I then turn the gun onto a low setting. This lets soapy water flow thru the mitt. With this I gently, as in barely touching the paint, wipe a part of the panel. After this wipe, I turn the mitt over and wipe another part of the panel with the other side of the mitt. After both sides of the mitt have been wiped against the paint once, I take the foam gun out of the mitt, switch it to water spray and completely spray the mitt out. I then dunk the mitt into the rinse water bucket and again agitate the mitt in it trying to get every particle of dirt out of it. I then take it out of the rinse bucket, wring it out, and let it soak in the wash solution bucket again. I keep repeating these steps for the entire car. I normally go front right fender, hood, front left fender, front bumper, right side door, right side rear quarter, hatch, left side rear quarter, rear bumper, left side door, left sideskirt, right sideskirt. After i've cleaned a panel, I completely clean out the wash mitt used on the panel then it goes into the used wash mitt bucket. As I move around the car I periodically respray the cleaned panels with pure water as to keep them wet. Waterspots aren't a huge issue with the water I use, but very faint ones do appear if the water drys on the paint. The thinking behind this wash method is that instead of having dirt and dust move across the panel with the wash mitt pushing down on them and thus causing marring, the mitt dislodges the dirt particles and then the stream of soapy water comming through the mitt flushes them away. For REALLY dirty areas (like behind the tires after a few days) I'll switch to a natural boars hair brush and gentlely wipe away the dirt. When I do this, I have the foam gun supply a constant stream of soapy water going through the brush. Again, dislodge and flush.
So after I've cleaned each panel, I make a final high pressure rinse with straight water with the foam gun. after this, I turn the foam gun off and switch over to the second hose. With the manual shutoff, I open the valve just enough to let a very light stream of water come out of the hose. Using this I go over the entire car, starting at the top. This low pressure water rinse will promote sheeting. This will take off 90% of the water from the car. It leaves only drops here or there on the paint. After the water has sheeted off the car, I take an electric 200 mph leafblower that I have and get all the water out of the cracks in the car. Places that I've noticed that water accumulates are the front grills, the front side vents, the mirrors, the doors, behind the gas cap, and the hatch. I also pop the hood and the hatch and blow the water out of there. After blowdrying there's a few drops here or there left on the paint. I get these up with my Pakshak 25"x36" waffle weave microfiber towels. Instead of wiping them up, I blot at them. After getting the last drops of water off the car, I switch over to a pakshak ultra plush microfiber towel QD the entire car. This gets up any dirt that I may have missed in the wash and removes any waterspots that may have formed as I blowdried the cracks. Once this step is done, I throw the wash mitts in the washing machine and then let them air dry on the line.
This method was not something that I thought up. A member on autopia named Accumulator developed this method, so all props go to him, I just use it.
10-20-2005, 03:21 PM
#10
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: West Des Moines, IA
Posts: 2,757
Neothin, I just wanted to tell you that you must REALLY love your car. I like keeping my car clean but....WOW!!! I don't know if I will use your whole system for washing my car, but I might use parts of it to modify how I currently wash my car. Amazing write up.
10-20-2005, 03:35 PM
#11
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Queens, Ny
Posts: 645
A couple of beers
Rain-x HIgh Foam Car Wash Solution and water in a Bucket
The Absorber
2 MF Cloths
Rain-x For winders
F-1 Rim Cleaner
Armor All Wheel Shine
Nu Polish Full Wax
The sad part about washing your car yourself is when you notice a new scratch , ding or paint chip EVERYTIME. Sucks
Rain-x HIgh Foam Car Wash Solution and water in a Bucket
The Absorber
2 MF Cloths
Rain-x For winders
F-1 Rim Cleaner
Armor All Wheel Shine
Nu Polish Full Wax
The sad part about washing your car yourself is when you notice a new scratch , ding or paint chip EVERYTIME. Sucks
10-20-2005, 03:59 PM
#13
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: I'm da BOOM King!!!
Posts: 5,103
Do you really wash your car with beer? 
j/k Since time is $$$, I just go to good 'ol Texaco and use the Auto wash. The bristles are rubber and have yet to damage my tC. Then I dry it off with microfiber clothes. Windex Wipe the inside. (NO ARMOR-ALL!!) Use some Meguiar's Gold car wax. Then use some Stoner's Invisible Glass on the windows. And finish it off by spraying Turtle Wax Wet'n'Black on the tires. Call me cheap, but it works.
j/k Since time is $$$, I just go to good 'ol Texaco and use the Auto wash. The bristles are rubber and have yet to damage my tC. Then I dry it off with microfiber clothes. Windex Wipe the inside. (NO ARMOR-ALL!!) Use some Meguiar's Gold car wax. Then use some Stoner's Invisible Glass on the windows. And finish it off by spraying Turtle Wax Wet'n'Black on the tires. Call me cheap, but it works.
got a problem with that? talk to me.
10-20-2005, 07:32 PM
#16
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Bellingham, WA
Posts: 246
Mr. Clean AutoDry, followed up with Maguiar's Speed Detailer
If it still looks ugly, Maguiar's 3-step cleaner & polish, finished up with Tech Wax.
Oh yeah, foamy goo for shiny tires (I'm not brand-picky there) and Armor-all for all the exposed plastics.
If it still looks ugly, Maguiar's 3-step cleaner & polish, finished up with Tech Wax.
Oh yeah, foamy goo for shiny tires (I'm not brand-picky there) and Armor-all for all the exposed plastics.
10-21-2005, 04:17 AM
#17
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 496
Wash Mitt
Garden Hose
Mophead like sponge for the rims and tires
Cali Water blade (rinse this off first and make sure your car is spotless before using this)
Chamie(to dry off the left overs , make sure you wet the chamie before you start drying)
And I let it sit in the hot florida sun for about an hour or so , so I dont get any water trails from teh mirrors and handles when I drive down the road (MAN I HATE THOSE WATER TRAILS)
Garden Hose
Mophead like sponge for the rims and tires
Cali Water blade (rinse this off first and make sure your car is spotless before using this)
Chamie(to dry off the left overs , make sure you wet the chamie before you start drying)
And I let it sit in the hot florida sun for about an hour or so , so I dont get any water trails from teh mirrors and handles when I drive down the road (MAN I HATE THOSE WATER TRAILS)
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