banana13

Hi I'm just wondering if I wash the car then put detailer then put wax, do I need to clay bar, and compound, and polish ?

Jesstzn

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 blas t 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.


As far as the rest there is lots of good info in the stickies above.

you wash, dry, clay if necessary, polish if necessary and only if you have a PC with proper pads and polishes, by hand is a waste of time and will correct nothing. then an IPA/Water wipe then last is wax/sealant. Detailer isn't used in these steps.

banana13

Wow thanks Jesstzn again.
A few questions what is APC?

You mentioned when drying, to go towards the windshield, is that because of the wind flow, what if you are using quick detailer when drying , do you still go straight or do you use circular motions?

Also what is woo lite?

Thanks

banana13

Also do you know where to buy gold class for cheaper, they are so expensive at canadian tire?

Jesstzn

Not because of wind flow .. your using the towel to pre-dry by just pulling it over the surface as you walk around the car.

I don't use a Quick Detailer. And don't recommend using them in drying .. they will clog up your drying towels.

Woolite is a clothes detergent and is marketed under the Zero branding in Canada.

Jesstzn

I don't know .. I don't use it. If your cheaping out on washing supplies your going have issues..

banana13

Haha aight .
Well it's not that I'm cheating out, it's just that I don't want to buy things that are not on sale, unless I really, I know what you mean, like if I was driving a Lamborghini or something, you wouldn't expect that person to complain about the price, because they are driving a nice car.

I just bought a bunch of stuff from crappy tire , hope this works out.

Jesstzn

And the TL isn't a nice car?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

if you buy cheap products, your wash job will be a wash.
friends dont let friends buy cheap products to wash their cars with

banana13

Haha the TL is a nice car, whatever ,I don't know if you guys consider meguairs as expensive, lol probably pinnacle, poor boys,zaino .

banana13

Also has anybody tried meguairs white wax on a black car? I just bought some because they were on sale and all of the black wax was gone, ?

C8N

Only difference between Meg's White Wax and Black Wax is in the amount of polish and cleaners.

Jesstzn

I'd like to see what the polish portion is... Wanna bet its fillers.

C8N

Anything with oil has the potential to fill so it would be tough to say one way or the other.

banana13

Have you used the white wax ?

C8N

Nope... but I have used it's predecessor... ColorX
My preference is to use designated items for each task. Not a big fan of AIO when it comes to my personal car. I used it only twice on my car but a bunch of times on friend's cars.

Now that I think about it, my wife will be using ColorX to clean and wax the shower glass sometimes this week