This will probably sound dumb... but how do you wash the car? I mean, what is the process? Living in Upstate NY having a clean car is important, with all the salt, dirt, cold, etc. I used to go to a carwash... until they scratched my dh's tC all the way from the front bumper to the rear bumper. $1500 worth of damage. To say the least, we DON'T go to that carwash anymore. I now have pinstrips on my xB and was told to even avoid "touch free" power wash carwashes. (The shop said that in the winter time, the vinyl stripes will get brittle and could come off.)

I want my box to stay looking nice. So how do I care for it? One of the things I liked about the automatic car washes was the fact that they cleaned the undercarrage of the car. It also can get to the roof. (I'm short) So how do you clean those areas?
What's the best products to use? How do you dry it without scratching it? You know, all those kinds of questions.

 

moved...

 

here in md we have the car washes where you can get out of the car and spray it your self. what i do because i live in an apartment and dont have a hose is i take a bucket there and wash it as if it were my own hose.or go to wal mart or similar store and the have a car care aisle get the mr. clean auto dry kit and you use this to wash the car and itgoes right on to the hose you spray the cleaner on wash it and then spray it off and it dries eithout water marks everytime. and for the roof while your at wal mart they have brushes that extend and the have really soft brissels so it wont scratch the roof. hope this helps you if you cant understand any of this its b/c im rushing

 

I'm compulsive when it comes to washing my car.


Depending on the temp outside, if it's warm then i will spray the car down very gently for a few minutes until the surfaces of the car are nice and cold. A hot surface will dry water + carwash soap leaving streaks, etc, very quickly.

THE ONLY THING THAT SHOULD EVER TOUCH YOUR CAR IS MICROFIBER CLOTH!!! Otherwise swirls will build up on your clear coat. (VERY FINE scratches smaller than a human hair that look somewhat like millions of circles around direct sunlight on a car.)

Most people then wash one whole side at a time, but i, i only wash 1 section at a time. For example: I'll wash the fender, rinse, wash the front door, rinse, was the back door, rinse, etc. This really helps you focus on what ur doing.

Now at the same time, after i finish a whole side, i will circle the car a few times sparyign EVERYTHING down to keep everything wet to fight off water spots!

After everything is nice and clean, i will pretty much SQUIGIE the entire car with my hand!!!!!!!!! I do this because drying is where most people get swirls from! Believe it or not but this eliminates about 50% of the water on the car!

Then to dry the car i use a 100% microfiber towel. Drapping it over the car running is down the car, VERY GENTLY!! Opening and slamming each door a few times getting all the water out of the door handles and whatnot. After all that's said and done i wipe out the door jam's, and clean under the hood.




Now........vaccuming and waxing is a WHOLE different story, haha.

 

I'm with Prototype, only I use the Mr. Clean. It's really great with the spot free rinse. I am paranoid about anything touching my car and causing swirls, so I have a microfiber wrapped sponge for the washing, and nothing touches it for the drying since Mr. Clean does that for me. I figure that even with microfiber, there are bound to be swirls eventually, so having nothing touch the car during drying is a bonus.

Of course for waxing, polishing, etc, I also use a microfiber applicator pad for application. and microfiber towels for cleanup.

 

When I wash, I use the two bucket method. Have soapy water in one bucket and clean water in the other. I use my wash mitt, dunk it in the soapy water and gently brush it over my car, never pressing down with any force. Then rinse the mitt in the clean water and repeat.

Once I am done, I use a hose without a sprayer on it and hose down my car. Having an un-nozzled(sp?) hose helps the water to "sheet" off of the car and makes it easer to dry.

Then, I dry the whole car with microfiber.

One thing that I like to do because it helps to get everything dry is I remove the license plates when washing. I hate when I get everything dried, then water streams down from behind the plates. Just something I do I guess.

Happy washing!

 

Mr Clean SUCKS here! I live in a VERY windy desert. The Mr Clean must have the opposite charge as dust particles around here. As soon as I am done washing the car and it is dry BOOM dust magnet!

Water behind the license plate? What about from the mirrors? AAAHHHH I hate the water it traps there!

 

I give it a spray with the Mr. Clean and the water remains, but it does not leave water spots when it spills out.

 

So the Mr Clean dry wash really works??? Ive seen it in walmart and always wonderd but dont you have to have a hose for that as well??

 

Yes, you need a hose, and it works very well for me.

 

go either mr. clean or go to autopia.org
Best site.

 

i have the luxury of having soft water where i live, which i guess is rare in fresno CA, but i use the maquires car wash soap, and some real soft wash mits, i wash my car in my garage, so no water spots or crap falling when i was my car, i get alot of people making fun of me washing my car in my garage, but its not full of crap, so its nice and clean place to wash it. i start on the roof, and work down.

 

I use an essentially waterless car wash, no running water. I don't get swirl marks either. I use a 2 bucket method, 1 filled with about 1-2 gallons of water, the other filled with about 1 gallon of water/1/2-1oz of meg's car wash/1 capful of this stuff called quick and easy wash(a water lubricator). I also have a 32oz spray bottle filled with water some car soap and QEW. I use 3 chenille mitts to wash the car, 1 for all panels above the middle of the car, 1 for all panels under the middle of the car, and 1 for wheel wells and really grimey areas. I spray the panel I'm washing with the spray bottle to ensure a wet surface, then wet the chenille mitt in the soap bucket and wash the panel. I then put the mitt in the water bucket and dry the panel with my waffle weave microfiber panel. I go back rinse the mitt out and ensure any dirt is off the mitt put it in the soapy solution and move to the next panel. I do this to all the top panels first, then move on to the side panels above the middle of the car, and finally on down to the lower half and wheel wells/rims. I do this so as not to track dirt back to the top of the vehicle. I don't have a dripping problem because I don't saturate the vehicle. If a vehicle is extremely dirty I will use a spare 32oz water bottle on stream to knock off the excess dirt.

Once I'm done I use a quick detailer and wipe the door jambs, and coat the tire's and trim with one of my various dressings to make it look new again. Although I normally start a wash by cleaning the interior first so as not to track dirt back into the vehicle. I actually prefer not using running water on my cars anymore, less to dry and you're not walking in streams of water. But this method is not for everyone so proceed at your own risk, being cautious is the key to a flawless finish.

I also live in an apartment complex and I can wash my car here without any problems.

 

Yes, Mr Clean is great for that final rinse.

 

ok well i have the problem then
i use meguires soft soap crap
that in a warm bucket of water.
step 1-get car all wet....(power washer)
step 2-use sponge and soap bucket all over car.
step 3- rinse all soap off
step 4- chammios(other wise called shammy) off all the water.
step 5-go over car one last time with microfiber towel to get rid of streaks and smudges.

now the problem
somewhere in that i get those swirls all over
i hate em!!!
first...what am i doing wrong.
second how can i get rid of all that now.??
thanks!!

 

You are not doing anything wrong. My paint had swirls even before I bought it. This paint seems really prone to swirling and scratching. To get rid of those swirls, you will need to polish the paint.

The BEST place to go for paint maintenance advice is WWW.AUTOPIA.ORG

They have great tutorials and pictures to follow. Their forums are really helpful as well. I'm sure you will find your answers there. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the info...

Other questions...

1. How do you wash it in the winter months when the hose is frozen?

2. How do you wash the undercarrage?

 

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.

To answer your questions,
QEW is the way that most northern state autopia members wash during the winter time. Seeing as I live in florida, I've never had to deal with freezing hoses, so I've never used QEW. I just stick to accumulator's non-marring wash technique.

But about the undercarriage cleaning... With all the road construction and crap like that going on in my area, combined with florida's rain, the underside of my car is always a mess. What I do is first jack the front of the car up and put it on jack stands (don't want it falling down on top of me!). This makes it really easy to lay down and, using a hose nozzle, spray off the majority of the crap thats on the undercarriage. Once the majority of the dirt is off, I use a spray bottle of 1:1 diluted poorboys world APC and spray all that I can reach. Let it sit for a minute, then rinse it off. What's left is a really clean undercarriage! Once I'm done with the front, i unjack it, then repeat the process with the back of the car jacked up. When I do this, I also do the wheel wells. I do an undercarriage cleaning about once a month, but with road salts, you might want to think about doing it a little more often. Maybe 2x a month? Maybe more? I've never seen what road salts do to a car, I can't make an educated suggestion.

EDIT:
Eppoppie, just saw your post. You have a few problems with your technique. For one your using a sponge instead of a mitt. Sponges lack a quality called nap. This can also be called plushness. The more nap something has, the more distance dirt particles can travel into it. If something (like all sponges) has no nap, dirt has nowhere to go when you wipe across a panel. This is what will cause swirl marks. I suggest you switch from a sponge to either a natural sheepskin or cotton chenille wash mitt. These have a decent nap and help lift the dirt off the paint when you wipe vs having the dirt slide across it. Another thing that I noticed is that you use a chamois to dry. Chamois, like sponges, have no nap. When you wipe a chamois across the paint to dry the panel, if there is any dirt leftover on that panel, it will be wiped across the paint and this will cause more swirls. I suggest you switch to a high quality microfiber waffleweave towel for drying. This has some nap to it if you missed some dirt in the wash and the way the microfiber is woven in a WW towel gives it an even better drying capacity than a normal microfiber towel. I've used WW towels from both pakshak and exceldetail and both are extremely soft, have great absorbancy, and won't scratch the clearcoat.
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Neothin: Wow.

Nice work with the writeup. I thought I was fanatical.

 

I'm with whoever said they used the two bucket method, only I use Grit Gaurds inside my buckets. Esentially, the grit gaurds catch any dirt/grit/grim and trap it in the bottom on the buckets so it cannot be picked up by your washing utensils.

I use all Meguiar's products and highly recommend the nxt line and the professional line.