My Washing/waxing regimen!
 

**FEEL FREE TO REP ME IF YOU'D LIKE,PLEASE***

So I was asked a question about a detailing product that I use, and it brought this post up in my head. I'm going to go over a few how to's and things I have learned along the way, and some products that I have come to love, in reference to washing/waxing/detailing my cars.. I am by no means saying that these are the best ways, however they are tried and true and work best for me... So here goes nothing!

Lets start by a few of the most important things that I have learned in life.. if you value your car, and want it to look nice, for a long time.

-NEVER TAKE YOUR CAR TO A CAR WASH!
-Hand washing your car will always give you the best results, and who will
care for your car better than you will?

So When I set out to wash my car, I have the essentials, along with a few favorites with me. My current lineup of products is as follows

-Turtle Wax ICE Car Wash
- Turtle Wax ICE Liquid Clay Bar
- Meguiar's NXT Techwax 2.0
- Eagle One Wipe & Shine Quick Detailing Spray
- essentials: lots of Terry cloth towels and micro fiber towels, bucket, small detailing brush ( Small basting brushes from the supermarket are cheap and effective as well)

It is important to note that you should not wash/wax your car in direct sunlight, or high heat days if you can avoid it (sounds odd but cloudy / overcast days are best). Early AM in any available shadows, or PM at sundown / dusk is optimum as well.

1. I start by thoroughly spraying my car to release any heavy dirt and buildup, to reduce swirling when washing.

2. I fill a 2 gallon bucket about 3/4 way with water then use about 4 oz or whatever car wash I currently use

3. Wash car thoroughly, don't forget those hard to reach places under the front, sides and rear of the car. Around the exhaust body molding etc. wheel wells, splash guards and all the goodies. Ensure that you do not let any soap stay on the car too long, or dry. I generally do a quarter of the car at a time before I give it a quick spray with the hose.

4. I then wash my wheels and tires, yes I said it... I wash my tires lol. If my soapy water is too dirty from the car wash, Ill sometimes clean out the bucket and use a fresh batch, so as not to damage or add any dirt from the wash back onto the wheels. *TIP* if any sponge, towel, pad etc. touches the ground accidentally, it is now DEAD lol... do not pick it up, brush it off, and continue to wash, rub, buff, dry your car

5. Once the entire car is washed and rinsed, I use a little technique with the hose to make drying the car, a little easier. I take off any nozzle or tip that I am currently using, turn the water pressure down low so that the water is still a steady single stream, and doesn’t splash when it hits the car. Take the hose and keep it about 4 - 5 inches from the car and about a 25 - 30 degree angle and allow the water to create a sheet effect. What this does is actually pulls the bulk of the water drops left on the car right off, with the moving sheet of water. Something so simple, effective! Start from the top of the car down, and use gravity to your advantage. Make sure to not hit the car with the metal end of the hose for obvious reasons lol.

6. Terrycloth towel time! I'll generally go through two full sized towels when drying the car, Ill start with the glass, as it is the most visible surface for water stains, then I move to the body, ensuring that all crevices, holes, ports, etc are completely free of water. I then open each door, and dry around the entire door, then the entire frame where the door meets the body; I then move on to the hood (bonnet) and dry all areas where water has been, is laying. Then on to the trunk / hatch, same drill. Essentially you want to rid the entire car of as much water / moisture as possible. Dust and dirt stick better to damp / wet surfaces... something we are trying to avoid, and get the longevity out of our wash! And finally over to the wheels, all accessible surfaces of your tires / car should be dry!

7. If I am using the Liquid Clay bar I actually apply it after step 5... Using this stuff yields obvious results (link to my previous car after a full wash/clay/wax/detail - it was an almost 10 year old car (2002 Maxima GLE with 127K miles)... And the paint looks almost brand new!) Think of it as a super detergent/ paint restoring marvel! So I basically follow the instructions on the back of the product. I apply it with a wax pad (circular pad we all know so well) and make sure I cover the area I’m working on completely. I'll generally do two sections at a time so by the time I’m done section two (door), section one (rear fender) is dry and ready to rinse(no buffing with this product at all); move on to section 3 (front fender), then rinse 2 (door)... etc etc. Once the entire car has been coated and rinsed, you MUST WAX the car, as this stuff really strips all contaminants and any previous wax completely off of the paint. (Side note: as you are rinsing, don't be alarmed if you see any faint cloudy residue left behind by the liquid clay bar; this is normal and will be removed when you wax and buff). *Whichever way I choose, I always dry after rinsing the claybar off.

9. Waxing! My favorite part! LOL... Oddly enough this is the most time consuming and tedious of all steps on the exterior, and by this time I'm almost spent lol.. Make sure to shake the product well, to mix any separated parts equally. I also follow the instructions on the back of the product.. no direct sunlight etc etc, section at a time, don’t apply if the paint is hot etc. Make sure that you do not let any section sit dry for too long before buffing; this could result in damaged paint and a waste of time and effort! As tired as I might be I still make sure to wax all painted parts from the top to the bottom, mirrors and spoiler included. Once the entire car is

10. Interior.. Nothing too dramatic here; clean all parts, clear out all dust buildup (brush is key here for getting any dust out of tiny creva$$es), wash windows, install favorite Tree air freshener to top it all off~! !

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...leanMaxima.jpg

:happydance:

Nice :tup: just cleaned the Z from the rain it endured the last couple of days, used a couple of the same steps, the sheet watering idea is a good one.

My suggestion would be to use two 5 gallon buckets for your wash and use the 2 gallon bucket for the wheels. To wash your car, fill one of the 5 gallon buckets with about 3 gallons of water and 2-3 ounces of your car shampoo...and then fill the other 5 gallon bucket with plain water. The reason for this is so that you can wash a panel and then clean out your sponge in the rinse bucket...this way you're not transferring dirty water back to the car.

Also, never use anything but microfiber towels on your car. Any other towels will swirl and scratch it. Our cars have very thin clear coats and they are relatively soft (which means easier to scratch). You can actually clay the car before you dry it if you want.

You have a great setup going...just a few tweaks here and there and you can wash like a pro! :D

Thanks for the pointers Josh, I do claybar before shes dry.. "7. If I am using the Liquid Clay bar I actually apply it after step 5" . . But I didnt know that about the clearcoat on the Z ... Im going to have to change it up a bit and go with Microfiber drying towels from now on!

Woops...my fault there..must have over looked that. How do you like that liquid claybar? Have you tried any other clay products?

Love it!
 

I have never tried any other clay products however, the Liquid Claybar is absolutely amazing! I have used it on built up brake dust stanes that nothing would take out, with minimal effort and perfect results; Water stains, and just the regular full out 4 hour wash wax etc. Its extremely easy to use, and works perfectly! I actually just ordered the ICE Clay KIT, which comes with the liquid clay bar which now they call a detergent or something of the sort along with the actual clay bar thinger... SO we will see how that works out. I would highly recommend it to anyone though~!

Agree with Josh. Use three buckets. I do the same thing, only because you don't want any leftover brake dust and grime mixing in with any soap you apply to the paint. Also, wash your wheels/tires/wheel wells before you work on the body. This way, water doesn't dry up on the paint as your scrubbing away at the wheels. If you haven't used Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner, give that a try and you'll swear by it. A bit expensive, but works great at areas you can't reach easily. Especially effective if your wheels are super dirty. I use it every two to three washes and just use less expensive wheel cleaners in between.

On drying, stay away from terry towels. They will put swirls on cars with better paint than ours, so try this instead.

Drying Towels
or
Adam's Great white drying towel

You can also use and electric leaf blower or MetroVac. No rubbing=no swirls

Mike and Josh
 

:iagree:I definitely agree with both points as far as the wheels and multiple buckets howeve, I didnt want to overwhelm, or be more long winded than I was LOL... Also I didnt disclose this but I typically never go too long between wash & waxing the car, so its never terribly dirty. I do recommend using different buckets between body and wheels, however unless needed I don't use 2 buckets on the body alone based on the amount of dirt on the car or lack there of. I'm surprised at the responses I've gotten, and so much good info to share between us all! Props to everyone for all of the tips and input!! :werd:

Also, so far I haven't treated my actual tires yet with any kind of glossing product i.e. (tire shine, tire wet, etc.) as in the past I have experienced, overspray, and it seems like a magnet that attracts more dirt to your wheels; no matter how hard I try to balance the amount I apply to the wheels. So far I've decided to just remove that step all together... thoughts?? How is everyone else using these products, if at all?

Sonax is absolutely amazing! I will take that over P21s any day of the week. It smells like complete a$$, but works so great. Plus you get to see it change colors. :)

They make tire gel applicators (Eagle 1 sells them) specifically for this purpose. The best OTC tire shine is made by Armor-All. You can get cheaper stuff that performs better from online though. Just make sure you get something that is water based as a silicone based product will deteriorate your tires over time and is a mess to clean off your car when it slings everywhere.

Shine?
 

So should I give Sonax a whirl? Autogeek has a 17oz bottle for $17. seems like a good deal. And I've had my fair share of silicon based products ($hi+) hitting the wheel (fan) and covering my car in the goo! NO FUN at all!

For sure! Optimum Opti-Bond is a great tire gel. You can even dilute it 1:1 and it still looks great. A 32oz. bottle is only like $15 at AG. If you shop with them, use the code AUT9580L; should get you like 10 of 15% off.

Thanks man!
 

Good stuff, I just ordered the Sonax from AG! Thanks for the coupon! 10% off... repped! :werd:

Be careful now...that website can be very addicting...