i saw a detailed thread on here that showed how the exact instructions on washing my car

i'm looking for exact products that i need and the exact brand of a towel and I saw it on here once i just can't find it...

 

Did you check this thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/wash-wax-23/acurazine-car-care-faqs-293029/

I don't know if that is the one you are referring to, but thought it might help.

 

Washing & Drying Cars
Washing


What I'll do is give you a run down of a weekend wash on my own cars.

1)I spray the tires down with Awsome APC and let it sit to do its job. <-- available at the Dollar Tree stores
2) I give the interior a wipe down with the Woolite solution to pick up light dust etc. Instead of me explaining look here ..The Wonders Of Woolite Vacuum if needed. I have a central vac outlet by the garage door and I use it.
3) I mist the tires with water and scrub with a stiff brush, rinse .... no sense dressing dirty tires .. they look like hell.
4) Using a decent car wash soap, Turtle Wax soap will do .. or Meguiars Gold Class I wash the car using a sheepskin mitt and a wash bucket that has a grit guard in the bottom. The sheepskin mitt is used because it easily releases any grit picked up and it won't marr the paint. I have an old dedictaed mitt I use for the wheels. Wash a panel or 2 and rinse.


5) Once done washing I rinse the car using a gentle stream of water from the hose with NO nozzle. A gentle stream will rinse away grit where a blact can just blow it around and also dislodge grit from cracks and door jams etc.. The gentle stream will also pull about 85% of the water off a well waxed car.
6) I break out the leaf blower and blow off a lot of the remaining water but more to blow water out from all those places it hides. Just make sure the area around the car is wetted down so you don't blow crap up on the car.
7) I use Waffle Weave drying towels to dry the remainder. I fold the towel in 1/4 and wipe the windows first then hood/roof/trunk then the sides. Always dry in straight lines as the air flows over the car not in circles. Reason being is if micro marring does occure its optically harder to see then circular swirls. I use this motion for everything I do in the process of detailing with the exception of applying wax/sealants.
8)Dry the door/trunk/hood edges and under the gass filler lid. I have a separate old m/f drying towel for this. I also give the engine bay area a wipe while I have the hood up.
9) Dry the wheels/tires. I have a dedicated soft bath towel for this.
10) Apply dressing to the tires.

Wala .. done .. If I don't do the interior or use APC on the tires its 40 minutes.. The TL seldom needs those steps cuz its not driven a lot .. The Civic needs it more often ... add 15 min more.

Drying

Here is a couple of hints to make your drying easier , I use 2 WW towels 24 x 36"

1) After you have washed/rinsed the last panel of your car ... remove the nozzle frome the hose and starting at the top use a gentle stream of water to rinse the car.. this will not only flood out any remaining particulate that can mar but it will pull about 85% of the remaining water off a waxed car.

2) Fold one towel in 1/2 so its 12 x 36" and holding it by the fold corners start at the hood and lay it across 1/2 the hood and pull it towards the windshield.. then over the windshield, roof, rear window, across the trunk, over the other 1/2 of the rear window and back to the hood etc.

3) Take the same towel and go down the sides , around the back , down the other side and around the front. This will remove a lot of the water.

4) Take the second towel and fold it in 1/4 and holding it flat dry the windows then hood, roof, trunk and lastly the doors, fenders and bumpers. Flip & refold the towel as needed.


All in all this takes less than 10 min.

Thing is with WW towels you need to use slower strokes in the final drying so you don't leave moisture trails and never use then scrunched up.


Others have suggested patting the car dry so not to swirl it .. WW towels will NOT swirl anything if they are clean and the car is clean. They also then suggest using a QD spray for final touch up ... thats because the patting doesn't do a good job of drying and in some cases where you have hard water you will get water spots. Not only that the QD will clog up the towels.

To wash your drying towels don't wash then with anything else as they pick up lint ... don't use fabric softener.

I wash them in the washing machine using Blue Dawn dish soap. Then hang to dry or dry in the dryer. If you have a HE front load washer then wash them with a non-perfumed soap etc.

In reality if your car is clean and you don't wipe down dirty stuff you won't need to wash them very often.

I have 2 cars and they are washed a total of about 3-5 times a week and I wash my towels a couple times a summer. I also don't use them on the wheels/tires .. I have a dedicated cotton plush towel I use for that.

 

http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...-pearl-part-1/

 

I have that saved in my favorites. I do a very similar process, but don't use any of those products.

When drying with a leaf blower as mentioned above, you want to ensure your blower is either electric or has exhaust that vents out the rear, not the front.

I've heard way too many stories about peoples blowers venting out the front and spraying all sorts of fumes/dust/dirt and sometimes even oils onto their paint and then having to re-wash and prep.

Again, Detailersdomain is a good place to pickup soaps/towels/brushes anything and everything.

They have good prices and are more than friendly and helpful when asked.

I've heard nothing but good things about them!

 

The key is that anything that touches your paint should be clean. You can have most expensive MF towels but if it is dirty, your paint will scratch. Inspect your wash media often and if need be, change to a fresh clean one.

Electric leaf blower comes in pretty handy. Open up all doors and windows and use the leaf blower on the interior and trunk followed by a wipe down. Lot faster than vaccum alone. It wouldn't hurt to use it on your engine bay. If you are doing a rinseless wash, use the blower on your exterior to blow away any loose dirt, twigs, leaves and whatnot prior to your wash media touching the paint. Specially twigs and leafs, if those catches on your wash media and you wipe your paint with it... it will scratch.

The less you touch the paint, less likely you will scratch it.

Remember to remove all the tags off your MF towels and I would recommend to wash it first before use. I found that they become softer after a wash and don't mix other materials in the wash machine. MF stuff should be washed by themselves as they are a lint magnet.

Hope this helps

 

I'm not a fan of blowing anything around inside the car, you blow stuff off the floor onto the seats and into places it would never go. The turn on the defrosters come fall and blow all the crud back out. The less you have on or to wipe off your seats the better , same with the headliner.

 

exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

Yeah not sure if I will be using these same products. What type of towels do you guys use for drying?

I wana get a foam gun

 

Most Waffle Weave towels are great .. best ones I have I only paid $8 each for ... so you pick ..

As for the foam gun .. don't waste your $$ outside of a selling gimmick they are no benefit.

 

Thanks for the link. Very helpful tips from him.

 

i saw one at home depot for like 20 bucks. Why shouldn't I get it?

What is a foam gun supposed to do anyway, am I still supposed to wash my car with the wash mitt and use the two bucket system, or just foam it up, and rinse with water and apply wax?

 

Think about it Zubi.
what is the main job of car shampoo? to lubricate!
suds provide a layer of lubrication between the metal and your washing mitt.

the foam gun provides bubbles for lubrication so you dont scratch your paint!

this concept seems ideal, as you just spray the bubbles on!
but it doesnt really work well in real life. the bubbles just seem to leave the car. this is why its a waste of money to buy one.

 

how do i dry the side of my car..the sliding of the towel method will work on the trunk and hood, but what about like the doors and sides of the car

 

Think about it Zubi.
you're a smart person.

 

I need confirmation

 

You hold the towel by 2 corners and make a pass down the side of the car .. that gets 85% .. or maybe 86% of the water off then use a dry towel folded in 1/4s to do a quick wipe to remove the rest.

 

Of?

 

While a foam gun/cannon is not required to wash your car, it certainly has its advantages. Using one prior to washing reduces the chance of swirls caused by dirt particles trapped in your wash media. From personal experience, most dirt is removed off the car after before I begin washing it when I use a foam gun. A simple rinse before washing will not remove some dirt but not thoroughly as a foam gun will.

 

I set that up perfectly.

 

i'm trying to find a sheep skin wash mitt..they have it on detailers domain for 35 bucks but it is sold out. Also, do grit gaurds fit on all buckets? I don't want to pay 145 for the 2 bucket system when I can just buy the grit gaurd for 10 and buy two regular sized buckets..BTW no stores have grit gaurd for some reason I checked at Pepboys Autozone and Murrays Auto Parts and no body even knew what it was

 

You can find Sheepskin mitts at Walmart and a lot of the auto part stores .. just feel them to make sure there is no glue or seams in the palm etc .


As for grit guards .. make your own .. All I did was go to Lowes etc and get a 2' x 4' Egg Crate fluorescent light lense and cut it to the size of the bottom of your pail. You can even double it up if you want .. cheap lol Cut it with side cutters.

Here is a pix of mine

 

this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Carrand-40...Mitt/16767991?

 

I like using my foam gun when I am removing wax or sealant for prep, you can go over spots only once and remove all of the wax or sealant. Whereas the traditional way you may have to go over spots a few times.

 

So I was excitedly washing my car yesterday after receiving all of my supplies from detailers domain. Everything was going good and I was using the two bucket system with grit gaurd. I would wash one section at a time and it took my quite a while, approximately 1.5 hours for the whole car. I noticed that after I washed one part of the car, lets say the front part, by the time I was at the back part the front part would kind of dry up, so I would soak it water and make sure it didn't dry. By the time I got done with the washing I came to the drying part where I was having problems. I busted out my 24 *36 waffle weaver and it wasn't working that good for some reason. I had to fold it in half and do the hood and then work my way up. I only had one so it was kind of a hassle. By the time I got done, the car looked pretty good. I noticed that with the waffle weaver wouldn't completely dry the car for some reason and I thought it was supposed to be that way, I'm not sure? I used the blotting and dragging the towel method. I checked on the car after two hours, and it looked good!

But then..I woke up in the morning, and I noticed that there were spots everywhere!!! I was so pissed idk why the spots where there.. I didn't wax the car but still. It looks like shit now and I probably need to re-wash and maybe order another waffle weave towel? I took three pictures this morning...

http://imgur.com/A2fJ5sw,NcNkPWW,DVY8FQ9#2

 

did you wring out the waffle weave towel?

its a towel.
it will soak up water.
if too much water is in the towel, it wont dry correctly.

wring out the towel once it starts getting soaked.

 

If it takes 1.5 hours your going way to slow .. Total time for me including drying & door edges etc is less than 40 min
The WW towels work best once slightly damp and they need a couple of car dryings to break in. I 1/4 fold my towel and dry in one direction , it was explained in my post above. That pix looks like pollen in dew mist not water spots.

 

Fully detailed my Kia the other weekend.

 

Yeah it might be pollen because I park my car outside (no space in garage .

I tried to ring it out, but it hadn't absorbed enough water so when I tried to ring out the water, nothing was coming out...

 

Keep practicing, Zubi!

 

So should i wet the towel before drying? is one waffle weaver enough..BTW the sides of my car look really good...

 

i let the towel soak up the water from the car. thats how i get mine damp.
Keep practicing.

you'll find out what works and what doesnt work.

 

well whatever i did didn't work, and I don't know what I did wrong lol.

Should I buy another waffle weave towel..there pretty expensive... or is one enough?

 

like jesstzn said, it looks more like pollen that dried in the morning dew.
and plus, it takes SEVERAL washes to figure out what you did wrong.

Follow the steps that jesstzn laid out.

 

Fuking pollen

 

if i waxed after washing would it reduce pollen or whatever thats causing the spots on my car

 

pollen is from the trees and flowers.

you can wash it all you want, but if you leave it outside, it'll get pollen on it again

 

You know I really don't think it was pollen.. I looked at my other car parked right next to my car in the morning and it wasn't "clean" but it didn't have those spots on their like my car. I think its from the car wash that I did and I didn't go a good job drying...

 

practice practice practice practice practice.

is the only way you'll get good at something.


you have the general guide lines. you know what to do.
practice!

 

Pollen or dust, either you didn't get the car dry or you had a lot of dew or some light rain overnight. Not much you can do about it if you park outside.

 

actually i think we did have some light rain.. but my other car didnt look as nasty as mine in the morning..