hand washers

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Old 03-07-2001, 01:12 AM
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Question hand washers

For all of those who have the time and energy to hand wash your car once a week, how long does it take you. Also what are your techniques. For example, what should I avoid doing and what should i do? Is spraying water too hard with a hose a bad idea? what brand soap do i use? thanks for your help. Just all the tips you have on car washing would help.
Old 03-07-2001, 01:28 AM
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good site--> http://www.autopia-carcare.com/

It takes me about 1 hour for wash and dry. Including squeegie of window. Another 1.5 hr for polish and wax. And dressing the tires.
Newspaper works well to buff foggy windows, it doesn't leave any lint. But only use it on glass.

I've heard that spraying too hard will wear you paint. But I never do that anyway, just let the water sheet off the car. Also washing on a slight incline like a driveway helps to make the water go away.

I like Meguiar's for wash, and wax. Lots of other ppl like Zymol. (sorry can't spell that well)

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Old 03-07-2001, 01:53 AM
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It usually takes me about 30 mins to wash my car. I heard that you shouldn't use wax on a new car because some waxes damage the clear coat on the car's paint. Also never use the outdate carwash at the gas station, they leave swirl marks. Only use the touch-less car wash.

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Old 03-07-2001, 01:57 AM
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just bring your TL to that touchless car wash place near Bancroft and Shattack. The one with the gas station.

Originally posted by KMcalTL:
For all of those who have the time and energy to hand wash your car once a week, how long does it take you. Also what are your techniques. For example, what should I avoid doing and what should i do? Is spraying water too hard with a hose a bad idea? what brand soap do i use? thanks for your help. Just all the tips you have on car washing would help.
Old 03-07-2001, 02:07 AM
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It depends on the weather. If its sunny out and warm, I usually do a sweet job cleaning my car and it takes me 2 hours. If its in the winter, and I am in my garage, I have the oil heater on and let it warm up for an hour and wedge myself in through the bottom so the little heat I have never gets out. I then have cool water with a clean mitt and do section at a time. I just wet it and get the dirt off and take a moist leather chamois and dry what I just cleaned. i constantly clean the mitt to make sure there is no dirt on it. It takes me about an hour. Then I clean the windows and dress the tires. Cleaning the rim takes another 20 minutes. I know this is not the best way to clean a car but when its 30 degrees out and my choice is take it to a car wash or do it this way, I choose doing it this way. It turns out very nice, sometimes I think better than spraying water all over it. Sorry for the long post, you asked, I answered.
Old 03-07-2001, 02:53 PM
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Originally posted by AznTL99:
It usually takes me about 30 mins to wash my car. I heard that you shouldn't use wax on a new car because some waxes damage the clear coat on the car's paint. Also never use the outdate carwash at the gas station, they leave swirl marks. Only use the touch-less car wash.

I agree. You have to be really lazy to don't care about your car to use the gas station car wash places..

Hey my folks are in Sacto, I go there every once in a while. How does it feel to be one of the very few TLs in Sactown?


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Old 03-07-2001, 03:07 PM
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Originally posted by AznTL99:
It usually takes me about 30 mins to wash my car. I heard that you shouldn't use wax on a new car because some waxes damage the clear coat on the car's paint. Also never use the outdate carwash at the gas station, they leave swirl marks. Only use the touch-less car wash.

Do you mean the ones with the foam strips leave swirl marks or are you going back further than that to those real brushes. I'm not sure if the place I go to is considered touchless. How does that work?

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Old 03-07-2001, 03:17 PM
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Originally posted by Black TL:
It depends on the weather. If its sunny out and warm, I usually do a sweet job cleaning my car and it takes me 2 hours. If its in the winter, and I am in my garage, I have the oil heater on and let it warm up for an hour and wedge myself in through the bottom so the little heat I have never gets out. I then have cool water with a clean mitt and do section at a time. I just wet it and get the dirt off and take a moist leather chamois and dry what I just cleaned. i constantly clean the mitt to make sure there is no dirt on it. It takes me about an hour. Then I clean the windows and dress the tires. Cleaning the rim takes another 20 minutes. I know this is not the best way to clean a car but when its 30 degrees out and my choice is take it to a car wash or do it this way, I choose doing it this way. It turns out very nice, sometimes I think better than spraying water all over it. Sorry for the long post, you asked, I answered.
Just wondering if this is your first car... I used to do such stupid things with my first car, but at this point, this is my 7th car, I care more about myself than the car... so far I haven't washed it for over 4 month and you know what... it still looks fine...

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Old 03-07-2001, 09:59 PM
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[quote]Originally posted by grishulia:
Just wondering if this is your first car... I used to do such stupid things with my first car, but at this point, this is my 7th car, I care more about myself than the car... so far I haven't washed it for over 4 month and you know what... it still looks fine...

Grishulia, this is my second car. I had a 94 Honda Accord EX for a year and then got the TL. I know you think I am crazy, as do my parents but if I find it to be too cold, I put it off. For example, if I know its going to be 45 degrees out, I will wash it then instead of when its 20. I am just one of those people who loves to keep the car clean.
Old 03-07-2001, 10:52 PM
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I usually take about 45 minutes to wash and dry the car. I try to use a up and down motion instead of circles to avoid swirl marks. Also, I use 100% made in the USA cotton towels. I opt not to use a spray nozel so the water just flows off the car with out water droplets sitting there.

I can go on but I dont think others want to hear it. I use zaino brothers car wash. It washes well as well as smells like fruit

hope this helps

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Old 03-07-2001, 11:22 PM
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It takes me 0.5h to wash and I do it weekly. The Monterey Blue I got, like Black gets dirty quickly. Silver is a great choice. It is easy to take care of. I had a silver Accord and it was very swirl and dirt resistant.

Here are some tips if you are hand washing:
* wash when the paint is cool to avoid swirls
* use a cloth for upper part of the car and another for the dirtier lower sections
* use lots of water
Old 03-08-2001, 08:02 AM
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If i want to do a really good job meaning wash, wax, interior, cleaning every little part on my rims approx. 3 hrs. but hey when im done and its all shiny i know it was worth it!

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Old 03-08-2001, 09:21 AM
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It usually takes me about 1 hour to wash, dry, and clean the wheels and tires. My technique for washing is as follows,
1. never wash your car in direct sunlight
2. always use car wash liquid, never dish detergent
3. start at the roof of the car and work your way down, doing one panel at a time
4. for drying, i use a synthetic chamey, called the absorber, works awsome(cotton towels leaves little lint balls behind!)
5. use cotten towels to dry off rims
6. drive the car around the block to get all the trapped water out from the crevaces, then dry where wet
7. apply tire shine gel
8. completed

tip- you should never wax your car for 90 days of getting it, or getting it from the shop where it has been repainted, and if you do wax no more than 3 to 4 times a year depending on if you are useing wax or polish, you can polish the car a couple of times more a year than waxing it!

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