Xuser_xb

OK, let me admit it, all my prior cars have been pieces of ... junk and when I ever did wash them I would spray the hose on them and get a dirty rag and rub some dirt into the paint. Who cared if it was bad for the paint or the finish?

What is the best way to take care of my xB so it doesn't end up oxidized and scratched up after a year or two? Do you take yours to the car wash or do it yourself? Best practices advice, please!

quiksilver24r

DONT LET ANYONE WASH YOUR CAR!!! Wash it with a good soap and a wash mit. Dry only with a chamois or a microfiber cloth. I personally use microfibers to dry, buff, clean the interiors and clean the windows. They're the best. NEVER use a regular towel to dry. This will cause the ugliest swirl marks in the paint. Once a month I use a clay bar to remove the imperfections. This stuff is the best. Then throw on a nice coat of wax and your done. I wax my car twice a month, once after the clay bar.

hotbox05

wash with a microfiber towel , dry with microfiber or shammy's

littleblackbox

If you really want to do the job right, you first need the right tools. Go to your local Lowes, Home Depot, whatever one you like, and grab 2(yes 2) 5 gallon buckets. You can use one for you wash mix of your soap and water, and the other to rinse your mit, with this method all the dirt that you just wiped off the car should be rinsed in the Rinse bucket, taking any dirt off of the mit so that it does not have a chance to marr your paint. You will als need a good car wash soap, no not the stuff you use to wash your dishes at home, and a good wash mitt. Target has some really nice sheep skin mitt'sand they are really fairly priced, for the price I would grab two, one for the car, one for your wheels. With the car wash soap, get something from your local auto parts store, you will find most of your cleaning products there. Meg's NXT car wash seems to be a good choice for a over the counter type wash, my personal fav would have to be Groit's car soap which could be found on the web. As Quiksilver24r said, microfiber is going to be the BEST way to go about waxing, and drying your car. Check ok Exceldetail.com for great prices on mf's and there waffle weave drying towel are the best that I have ever used. You can dry a whole car, and not be able to wring any water out of these towels
As far as washing your car, start from the top of the car first, wroking your way down to the bottom. This will lessen the chance of dirt scratching your paint and help make your drying time faster. Now when rinse the car, use a low pressure water stream, what I normal do is just unscrew your nozzle so that you have just the nose, and gently trun on the water . Rinse starting at the top so the water just flows down acrros the surface. This will also shorten your drying time, and the car will be less likely to have those nasty little water spots.
I could go on anon about this but I think you get the idea. If you need anymore info, check out autopia.org, this is an entire website based on just car care, and will have tons of information for you to learn. Hope I helped alittle and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me

UBOW

This was gone over thoroughly in another thread and you should do a search on the topic, but I'll summarize the lot here for you.

Experienced car buffs don't do DIY car washes or automatic car wash joints. Everything is done by hand. Let's face it, the Box is not that big! I wash my xB head to toe in less than and hour and I do the wheels, the jams, the windows, mirrors, wipers and grill by hand. I even wipe down the engine compartment to get rid of all the road dust! I use a car wash mit.

For vacuuming I have a portable 3M job I carry for work. When you vacuum the trick is to go slow and don't press down hard on the nozzle. No sense grinding the dirt in, wearing the fabric out and tiring yourself out!

After you vacuum, wipe down all the interior surfaces. Use a mirco-fiber tacky cloth. No residue and it gets the dust. If you have dirt or spills to clean, do that first before the tacky cloth - and dry the surface.

Now for chemicals. Don't use dish detergents to wash your car! Go to the auto parts store or WalMart and buy auto wash soap - Mequiars, Turtle, etc. They are specially formulated to protect wax, paint and remove road dirt and bugs.

For windows use a good glass cleaner. For wheels use a wheel cleaner. If you have alloys it is very important to keep them clean. If they get rusty (alumiinum rust) or pitted they will crack and fail. If they are chrome, if you let them go it will be a huge chore to clean them (ask my brother!) For the tires, use ArmorAll tire cleaner.

Inside - you need to ScotchGard the fabric every 90 days. It wears away. I don't recommend any treatment for plastic. Anything you apply will change the reflectivity of the surface. All you should have to do is keep it clean and wipe it down. If you use soap keep it really diluted. That textured dash and doors will show soap build-up. If you have skin oils on the plastic use a mild degreaser and rinse thoroughly.

I always put steering wheel covers on all my cars immediately. When they get old and worn I replace them. I try to match them to the car. Since my RS 2 has CF on the dash I found a CF and black mesh cover at WalMart that matches the dash perfectly - even the texture of the black part of the dash! It only cost $11.

HTH -

Travst

Everything you need to know is here:

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/how-to.html

Lonely_Raven

To make this even easier, here are VIDEOS on how to wash
and detail your car!!

http://www.adamspolishes.com/videos/

You DON"T have to stick with this products, but please
don't go with any of the cheap stuff you find at Walmart.

That said, I do find the "Detailers Best" Microfiber Cloth
as Sam's club/Walmart are the best bang for the buck.

UBOW

Why does WalMart equate with Cheap? The store carries Meguiar's, Turtle and other top brand stuff. They just buy in such huge quantities and their markup is so low they sell for less. You can find cheap stuff in any store.

johncal

I've always washed mine with washcloths and dried them with Bath Towels. I've never had any issues. In fact, I like the towels because if there is any dirt you pick up it can go down into the fibers and not sit on top like with the microfiber cloths. In fact, I've had worse luck with micro fiber towels and chamois.

The secret is keeping the washcloth clean with the hose and using your towels top to bottom of the car. SECRET....Use them only once befroe washing. Also keep different ones for the top, sides and bottom sides& wheels. Cheap and available. Just don't use the good ones or the worst damage you get will be from the old lady.

JC

Romanova

Buy the Meguires Gold carwash at Costco. You get a gallon for like $7 bux. I use a seperate mitt for doing wheel wells and the underside of the body kit. I always keep bug remover in my car so I can keep up on the bugs. You can fit a lot of detail supplies in the tray next to the spare tire. I've got a roll of paper towels, tire cleaner, glass cleaner, bug remover, and some insta shine spray stuff.
A good wax job will help with drying the car. Water should just bead right off.

OldYeller

I have use the Mr. Clean car wash system with good results. Put on a good wax every once in awhile.

pixelgod

I second the Mr. Clean stuff with a good wash mit and wheel brush. I got one as a present and thought it was kinda gimmicky, but darned if it doesn't work for a good, quick wash with few or no water spots. Now I still do the Mequires Gold wash, california squeegee and buff with microfiber followed by Mother's wax every couple of months but the Mr. Clean system works great for the quick weekend wash.

codycat

Here's how I wash mine.

First off I have a power washer. I spray the entire vehicle so it's totally wet.
Then I use only high quality car wash in a bucket with a wash mitt. I soap the entire car down. Then I respray the entire vehicle.

I dry the vehicle using a chamos.

The entire process takes less than a half hour and the vehicle looks awesome.

I use "WET" on the tires.

Hope this helps.

Sciond

speaking of cheap,,,
Meaguiars Gold Class liquid wax and spray detailer 2pk. is $9.99 at Costco..now that is a deal

hotbox05

bath towels scratch scions garbage paint.

ChiTowntC

i take my tc to the hand was joint across the street

1epoXyBox

Mine is: Spray car down, using sheepskin mit LIGHTLY remove (with costco gold wash) top dirt. Spray down again. Use new bucket of wash and scrub down again to get the rest of the dirt. If its between waxes, I use Meguires quik detailer. Spray on wet car and dry and buff with microfiber towel. Seems to work well.