I figure it's a good idea to create a thread that focuses only on detailing the exterior of your car.

Yesterday I went to wash/claybar/wax my car when I realized there just wasn't enough time for me to finish the job. I opted to just wash my ride with Meguire's car wash (not dish soap). I made a huge mistake: I dried the entire car after washing the WHOLE thing. Can you say, "ugly watermarks"? Horrible. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was over 100 degrees yesterday and I was done for the day. So I ask you fellow fanatics to help me out with some detailing tips. I have some questions :

1) Watermarks. How do you prevent this? Just wash a section of the car, then dry it, then move onto another panel of the car? I hate my results right now. I couldn't even remove the watermarks from the windows with windex.

2) Bug residue on front bumper. How do you remove this? Any products designed for this circumstance? I washed my entire car with Meguires Car wash and a microfiber towel. Couldn't get some of the stuff off.

3) Shiny Tires. I used Armor All Tire foam to shine my tires. I did not wash the tires before applying the foam, and the results weren't very good. Do you wash your whitewalls before applying this foam? I didn't want to use my microfiber towel to wash tires.

4) Microfiber towels. Are they reusable? I guess you could wash them in washer/dryer and use again.

5) Dried my car with some suede like shammy I bought from walmart. I can't say whether this worked well or not because I dried the whole darn car at the end. Any recommendations?

6) The special car wash (not dawn) is safe to use and then NOT wax your car right? I don't plan on making a habit of this, but yesterday I just ran out of time, and next time will allow more time to at least wash and wax. I know dawn will strip your wax. So is my paint relatively safe right now?

7) Car wash and a microfiber towel work great for cleaning up the stock rims. They shine bright once again.

8) Tail pipes. Do you guys wash this? There is some black grime from my exhaust in the inner edges of the tube. Wash it or no?

9) Wax. I have the silver paint. Synthetic wax or Carnuba wax? Please recommend brands that can be picked up online or at local auto store.

Thanks a lot for helping with this.

 

First off my car owns me so this may be a little long. For waterspots the best thing is to wash the car when it cool, like early in the morning or late at night(depending on where u live and humidity). Keep the car wet. I normally wash the car in sections from top to bottom and I jsut spray it down every few minutes. When I dry the car I use a california silicone squeegee that u can get a pepboys for flat surfaces where there are big water spots like on the hood, front and back windows, roof and trunk. Then I come back and dry it completely off with a Chamois and/or microfiber towel. For the tires I use Meguires tire cleaner to clean them then come back with formula 303 protect to give it a nice shine. I used to use armor all, but it stains the concrete where i wash it (a blueish/grey color). I would stay away from silicone based tire cleaners, after a while the tire will start to turn green. For tail pipes nothing beat simple green and a good wash rag to get the black stuff off then i sometimes use chrome polish to get them nice and shinny. For waxing I normally pull the car in the garage. I turn on about 5 differebt fans to keep it cool and ventalited. I also suggest you use light that doesnt hit the car directly. We have 3 lights on the ceiling that work real good. This really helps on seeing where u missed putting on or taking off wax. I use meguires 3 step process for waxing, I tried Zanio and its great dont get my wrong, but meguires does a great job, and if you ever run out you just run to the store instead of placing an order and waiting, but Zanio does the best, but for the price and on the work its not worth it if you can get almost the same result with meguires for half the price and half the wait. But I normally start about 6 in the morning on saturday and finish 9 or 10. Take breaks and get somthing to drink, you want get as tired. This may sound strange, but I always turn on the sound system in our garage. It normally make the time go faster and three hours goes by and I felt like I just started. Then finally maybe once or twice a week I come back with some quick detaling spray from meguires and wipe down the car if i have any time open. Im a slave to my car, but when it come time to sell it always gets better value then most ppl cuz i take care of it.

 

Like the last post said keep the car wet while you wash it and it will help not getting water spots. But to dry the car, before you do the final buffing with a chamois try using a leaf blower to get most of the water off the car,in the door wells,and all other places that collect water. Try it and you will like it. It's really a time saver and nothing touches the finish to scratch it like those stupid Calif. water blades.(worthless)

 

I've been using the water blade since '99 and it hasn't put a single scratch on my vehicles...and they've all been dark colors (current car is black).

 

I used the blower for a while, but it always kicked up dust and scratched the paint. It does work good, but i found that the silicone squeegee doesnt leave scratches like normal ones but it a matter of opinion.

 

for drying i use the absorber or you can use a micro fiber towel....same thing pretty much ...they recommend that you dab the water spots n not wipe ...... and to get most of the water off b4 you go to dry ......take the nozzel off the hose and let the water run like a stream working your way across your car to draw the water off .....work it from the top to the bottom and this should remove most of the water and save you alot of time.

as far as bug n road tar removal.......i use WD-40 or simple green

and as far as waxes are concerned ...... nothing last longer then polymer's

the answers for all your questioned could have been found with a search or you might wanna try the faq section of this forum