The detailing and washing thread

[Moglet]

Just interested in everyone's techniques on here when washing their cars. I'm into car detailing so I spend about 4 hours washing my car each week to keep it looking as good as possible. How about everyone else?

Here's how my wash goes, things in bold are weekly but the rest are when required;

-Rinse car with hosepipe
-Rinse wheel arches with hosepipe
-Spray 'Valet Pro Bilberry' wheel cleaner onto the wheels (It's a very mild leaner diluted to about 1:50) and leave to settle for 5 minutes
-Agitate the cleaner with a detailing brush
-Spray off the wheels
-Wash the car using a sheepskin wash mitt, Dodo Juice Sour Power Ph neutral shampoo, and two buckets (one for clean water one for dirty)
-Give the car another rinse
-Dry the car using an Autoglym Chamois leather
-Fully dry by patting down paintwork with Meguairs Water Magnet
-Clean all door shuts and boot lid with wash mitt and clean water
-Dry the shuts and inside the fuel filler cap
-Dry wheels & tyres
-Polish the glass using CarPlan Eco Glass Cleaner
-Remove all road tar from wheels and car with Autoglym Tar Remover
-Slam all doors and boot to remove excess water, then dry
-Apply a single layer of Finish Kare 1000 P Hi Temp sealant to all bodywork and wheels
-Apply tyre shine product to tyres
-Buff off sealant after 15 minutes of curing
-Apply Autoglym Bumper Care to black plastics and window rubbers
-Vacuum interior carpets
-Clean seats and carpets with Autoglym Interior Shampoo
-Wipe down dashboard with G|Techniq Nanotech C3 Copolymer Carnauba Quick Detailer
-Apply sealant to dashboard 'body' strip and buff off
-Apply Gliptone Liquid Leather cleaner to steering wheel, agitate and remove
-Place 3-4 drops of LTT Leather Fragrance to cotton swab in center console

It's a lot of work but I enjoy it and it leaves the car looking awesome and it's very well protected. Anyone else obsess over their cars?

 

[hamstrings]

I use elbow grease and water on alloy wheels. I find that mechanical action takes care of the brake dust for cheap. Tire shine goes on.

Glass? Aerosol can of Bon Ami.
Wash solution? Turtle Wax Zip Wax car wash solution.
Wax? Turtle Wax Titanium or Super Hard Shell liquid.
Engine bay gets degreased.

The interior gets vacuumed and wiped down. Leather conditioner goes on every few months. Sticky door seals get rubber conditioner.

That's about it, really. My parents couldn't care less with their own cars, but I take extra time when I wash their vehicles.

 

[McLaren]

I usually just send mine through the wash. Tomorrow, though, I'll be doing a full detail on the TL & the 5 now that Honda has given me a detailing kit.

 

[Roo]

I hate washing cars. The only thing I hate more than the washing is the polishing.

The Volvo just gets pressure washed to remove the mud and dirt from the hard to see bits. The Mini gets sponged with a car shampoo - some sort of Auto Glym product - and the wheels cleaned with either the same or Wonder Wheels, then the whole thing gets rinsed. I don't have time to do it all on a weekly basis; the Volvo gets cleaned about once a month, the Mini about the same, although that only comes out every week or so at this time of year.

 

[Moglet]

I usually just send mine through the wash.

Makes me cringe when I see people putting their car through car washes The amount of scratches they put into the paintwork is terrible!

 

[Sage]

I hate washing cars. The only thing I hate more than the washing is the polishing.

Ditto. Additionally, I live in a condo, so I couldn’t wash it myself even if I wanted to (which I desperately don’t).

I just send mine through a local touch-free car wash. Six bucks and five minutes FTW.

 

[T-Squared]

Makes me cringe when I see people putting their car through car washes The amount of scratches they put into the paintwork is terrible!

My Dad owns 4 car washes and they've never scrached a car. His don't have the big rollers and mops though; those destroy paint!

 

[Moglet]

My Dad owns 4 car washes and they've never scrached a car. His don't have the big rollers and mops though; those destroy paint!

Those were the ones I meant, what are his like?

 

[hamstrings]

I don't have any touch-free car washes nearby that do a good enough job most of the year. Usually even the premium wash leaves a fair amount of grit on the bottom half of the car. I'd probably get a membership for a local car detailing place if I didn't have a sunny parking spot outside.

 

[T-Squared]

Those were the ones I meant, what are his like?

You drive in and park on a pressure pad and the tower (thing with spiners that shoot the water) spins around the car on a track mounted to the ceiling, washing the car. The dryers are on the exit. Heated water! And its completely touch free.

 

[Duke]

Makes me cringe when I see people putting their car through car washes The amount of scratches they put into the paintwork is terrible!

Agreed. But many most of us don't have 4 hours a week to spend washing their cars. Hell, I doubt I have 4 hours a month to dedicate to the task, and I have at least 3 and more like 4 cars that need care.

 

[Blake]

Indeed. Mine goes down to a local hand wash place whenever I feel like it. Which admittedly is not as often as I should.

A few weeks ago I spent $60 getting my car waxed, etc., then the next day a dust storm came through and of course it all stuck nicely to my car. I haven’t had it washed since.

 

[wrcsti]

I take my car like a take my women, dirty.




Nah I like it clean, its just to beat up to have the work done. Once I replace the fender, bumper and paint I'll wash it 1-2 times a week.
My dad is crazy though, he washed his STI every 2 days and waxed it afterwards, even washed it under 35F degrees with a bucket of warm water.

 

[homeforsummer]

Moglet, your 500 in years to come will probably be the cleanest in existance. Would make a great second-hand buy!

My Fiesta on the other hand... probably hasn't been washed since about last August? I#ve developed a sort of contempt for it in that respect, mechanically I treat it very well indeed but I've lost interest in keeping it looking nice, given that a) it's a base model so looks pants anyway, b) it's already got little spots of rust dotted about and c) it's not special enough for me.

My next car, whatever it may be, will be looked after much better.

 

[Nicksfix]

I pretty much do the same thing as Moglet does when I am cleaning my vehicles.I'll spend a good 4-5 hrs. detailng each one,inside and out,under the hood,in the trunk,door jams.

 

[YSSMAN]

Depends on what I have going on, to be honest.

At the very least, I'll take a bucket of water to the car (with a sponge) to get dust and dirt off when it starts to look a little dirty. The problem with a full wash at both of my houses is that 1) I don't have an outdoor tap at my Townhouse, 2) well water is too dirty at my Dad's.

Generally speaking, I'll run mine through the No-Touch every three or so weeks (depending on weather). Although this winter, I haven't done any major cleans other than what I've gotten for free by getting my oil changed or having the car fixed. Its so muddy out here now that we're "against" using salt that my car just becomes a brownish whitish thing on wheels.

Come summer, it needs a good wax and polish. I'll probably pay my brother $20 to do it, he has the tools, and has training to be a detailer.

 

[Tornado]

About 10 minutes with a hose.

 

[Jondot]

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to keeping stuff clean, so generally I try to avoid washing our car now, simply because I'm out there for about 7 hours doing the damn thing. I mean it always looks great, but I'm always exhausted afterwards and it's often not worth it. Particularly at this time of year, when realistically it needs to be cleaned once a week and the cold temperature prevents me from doing just that.

When I do actually do it, though, it does like this:

1. Quick blast from the hosepipe
2. Shampoo (some generic carplan stuff) the whole car once
3. Rinse off with the hose
4. Shampoo a second time
5. Rinse off with the hose
6. Dry immediately with the chamois
7. Apply turtle wax panel by panel, then buff off
8. Spray wheels with anti-brake dust stuff that doesn't really work
9. Clean every window with windolene (seems to work the best)
10. Clean the chrome chevrons at the front with windolene
11. Vacuum interior if it needs it
12. Give the dashboard, centre console etc a dust
    

So yeah, it's taken to Arc at the moment (to my dismay) until the weather isn't hypothermia inducing.



Also, @ Moglet: Your 500 is probably the cleanest about by the sounds of it. There's a guy in my class with an identical one to you, and I noticed yesterday when he overtook me that his was in a horrific state. Bought it in september, and I don't think it's seen a sponge since then. I mean yeesh, if I'd spent £8,000 on my first car you wouldn't be able to stop be cleaning the damn thing.

 

[Slicks]

My technique and process varies in time by the car, amount of time I've got, the outside temperature, and the weather conditions/time of year.

I typically do the best job on my (black) Talon, a bit less thorough on other cars (family/others that I'm not being paid for), and I'm always a perfectionist when I'm doing customer cars. I'm not a detailer by profession, but I have gotten good enough that I feel I'm justified in charging $20/hour to the odd client that I get (I did five vehicles in December, one in January... We'll see how Feburary is) in my spare time.

Here's a typical process on my Talon, when I've got time to spare and it's not freezing:

Fill wash bucket with warm/hot water
Spray wheels with Meguiars wheel cleaner, agitate within 2-3 minutes
Spray tires & Exhaust tip with Castrol Super Clean, agitate immediately
Wash and degrease underhood, wash rear hatch sills
Wash door sills
Use seperate brush or mitt (I've got one of each dedicated) to wash wheel wells and lower 8-12" of body
Wash body/glass [Edit - I go from top to bottom, and never the opposite.]
Squeegee glass dry
Dry body using a synthetic chamois (I've found that leather ones leave bits and peices that rub off)
Pat-dry tires using a rag
Claybar paint
Perform any paint corrections needed using a rotary buffer, foam pad, and Meguiars cutting compounds as needed (Machine Glaze, Fine Cut, and Medium cut if neccessary)
Apply Meguiars wax 2-3 panels at a time and remove/buff by hand
Remove floor mats and vacuum carpet/plastics/mats
Clean interior glass using microfibre cloth (typically dry) with Invisible Glass when needed
Dress dash and plastics using 303 Aerospace, or Meguiars Natural Shine
Use stain-spot cleaner on carpets as required
Apply Meguiars Leather Conditioner to all leather surfaces (except steering wheel!)
Apply Meguiars Hot Shine to tires
Apply Hot Shine to fenderwells
Start engine/drive car to dry any water underhood, and apply dressing as required.


As with Moglet, bolded things happen every time.
My process varies slightly depending on which set of wheels I've got on the car - If I've got my Azenis on, I don't use any cleaners on the wheels and tires - Just shampoo and elbow grease, as they are polished aluminum.
I've recently acquired a second wash bucket... I'll likely make the switch to the 2-bucket method, especially on clients' cars.
Depending on how dirty the vehicle is, I'll use a wash mitt or a soft brush. Never a foam sponge or rag.
I typically clean the car once a week - A 'quick' clean takes ~2 hours, and I've spent up to two days on my Talon doing a full detail (interior, and five steps of paintwork).

I'm slightly envious of you Brits, as you're got AutoGlym, Dodo Juice, Zymol, and many other brands readily available to you that are hard to find or not available at all in Canada.

 

[hamstrings]

Zymol has an online store in Canada.

 

[JacoJa]

Well, I spent about a year doing a job for a mobile car detailing service. Most of the products used cannot actually be purchased off the shelf... but you can still buy similar items. I'll try and write down everything I remembered, in order:

Before starting, Grab a bucket and fill it halfway with water. Apply a fair dose of ‘Wash and Wax’ soap.

Spray ‘Bust up’ degreaser around wheel arches, and inside the door hinges. Be sure to avoid dripping marks on alloy wheels, as they may permanently leave behind marks (it’s not a good look).
If the wheels are terrifyingly dirty (like heavy brake dust), we used a chemical called ‘AB-10’ which consists of 1% Acid. Very nasty stuff… so wear a face mask, gloves and protective glasses. It was never great fun doing this on a windy day, because small amounts of acid always flew its way into my eyes.

Spray doors hinges and wheels with a ‘high pressure’ hose. , removing all chemicals.

Spray the rest of the car with the high pressure hose… taking away all loose dirt, Huntsmen spiders, and twigs.

Start cleaning the car with 'wash and wax' compound… starting from the bottom, up. If you start from the top, drip marks down the side of the car could possibly stain the car permanently, or perhaps from the chemicals used earlier.

Once the car has been fully washed, spay it off again with the high pressure cleaner, and use a chamois cloth to dry it off, with minimum streak marks.

Start polishing the car with either normal, or cut compound (depending on how bad the paint is). Older cars with 2-pac look great after their paint has been cut back. Do the usual small circular motion to polish the car all over. To remove the polish, use an old cloth. Err, one which doesn’t scratch the paint.

Vacuum/shampoo the inside, and wash down the interior materials with damp chamois cloth. If the plastics/leather is real bad, add some ‘Rip off’ chemical to the sponge.

Gloss the interior with any good gloss product.

Wipe the windows clean. It is the most painful thing in the world to clean dirty glass to a streak-free shine. One of the best methods is to use window cleaner and newspaper. Scrunch the newspaper up into a ball, and it works just as well as a micro-fibre cloth for cleaning windows.
Simply using water and a micro-fibre cloth is the best method for windows which are already reasonably clean.

And to finish up, gloss the wheels with ‘tyre shine’, and brush any exterior chrome with water and a micro-fibre cloth.


👍

 

[Perfect Balance]

1. Go to carwash
2. Spray with high pressure soap and water.
3. Rinse with high pressure wax.
4. Rinse with high pressure water.
5. Dry car by driving around.



Unless I'm bored and have a lot of time on my hands to do it all by hand and wax the entire car.

 

[Casio]

Do you guys have any tips/products for keeping brake dust from building up on the wheels? I only cleaned my wheels yesterday and they're caked already, especially the fronts.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Don't use your brakes it the only thing I can think of.

 

[YSSMAN]

There are some products that will act like Teflon for your wheels, preventing some levels of brake dust to stick to your wheels, but I've heard both good and bad things about it. I think that, more or less, you're just going to have to get down there and scrub it off every week or two.

Although, how bad could it be on those dishplate wheels you have?

 

[Casio]

Although, how bad could it be on those dishplate wheels you have?

Pretty bad. Maybe it makes it worse I dunno. The Front brakes on the thing are monstrous.

 

[Keef]

My routine consists of this:

1. Fill the bucket with soap and water.
2. Spray the car down with the hose, top and bottom.
3. Scrub the car with clean rags, soap, and water, rinsing every now and then.
4. Scrub the wheels, inside the fender wells, inside the gas door. Thorough, you know.
5. Dry the car with clean towels, inside the door seals, trunk, gas door, wheels, etc.
6. Pull the car in the shady garage and give it a spray of quick detailer to bring back the waxy shine.

And that's washing the car. I don't have enough time to talk about a thorough interior detail. That job takes an entire day for me. Mainly a vacuum and wipe down with some mildly shiny interior protectant.

EDIT: Casio, be a man. My Hawk pads turn the black rims to brown in less than a week. And I mean brown, buddy.

 

[McLaren]

Do you guys have any tips/products for keeping brake dust from building up on the wheels? I only cleaned my wheels yesterday and they're caked already, especially the fronts.

There really is no simple solution. Braking will cause dust to build up, no matter what.

 

[BayConRong]

I pretty much do the same except with Armor-all in the interior and i use Mother's on the rims. But i don't do the fragrance thingy. My mother puts these blasted "Evergreen" scented doohickeys in my car and I throw them out as fast as a I can before my car begins to smell like a lumber mill.

As for the rims braking dust I can suggest when you clean them ensure that they are completely dry otherwise when you drive it the brake dust will collect on the droplets and are truly 🤬 to clean afterwards

 

[Sniffs]

of course, you guys have vehicles that are worthy of getting a wash. mine are usually so old that touching them with a sponge will cause putty flaking I've been told numerous times "Why are you wasting water on that thing?"

with the 4Runner, however, I had to give the whole thing a once over with wax. it was covered in Pine Tar. bout killed myself trying to get the crap on the roof. I used up an old can of Mothers for that.

the only thing I do on a semi-regular basis is give it a good sized blast down. my job has me slogging through heavy stirred-up mud on a regular basis just getting my crews through their parking lots. a lot of that accumulates quickly, and I'm trying to knock some weight off.

btw, anybody got any tips for mud splash on plastic trim inside?