Wild Weasel

The tip about the spoiler amuses me as I feel like washing the car is literally the only reason that button exists.

As for brake dust… I’ve long since given up and just have all my cars with brake dust coloured wheels. Platinum Satin FTW!

MrFunk

I love Ammo products too. Except I have 3 vehicles I hand wash year round and the fact that you can't buy any of it in gallon sizes makes it a no go for me. Been using Larry's ceramic coatings though. For regular regime ive mostly been using Adam's products but feel I'd like to try some of these other brands if they sell in bulk sizes too.

Le Petit Garage

Awesome thread, I have some probably novice questions that are probably easily answered.


My standard wash routine is
- rinse car
- foam car (let this sit to “lift” the dirt)
- rinse car (remove the “lifted” dirt)
- foam car (starting the actual wash process)
- 2 bucket mit wash the car
- rinse the car
- dry with a detailer


What am I doing? And what products are people using? Should I be using a different soap for my “lifting” stage vs my washing stage?

Any recommendations are appreciated.

MrFunk

I suggest scraping the 2 bucket approach.

Instead - use 4 or 5 high pile soft microfiber wash towels that you can fold over as you use them. After you've used a wash towel on one or two panels and have used all the sides to the towel, set it aside and grab a FRESH wash towel and continue. This way you are not re-using a dirty wash mitt being dunked into dirty water... even if you're using a 2 bucket system your wash mitt will still be dirty... you will also save water this way as you won't need 2 buckets anymore - you'll be able to do it with a single half bucket of soapy water to dunk the fresh wash towel in.

...and yes of course have a separate bucket for wheels cleaning.

UncleDude

Related - the Dr. Colorchip system is great for chips and scratches. Not even close to comparable to the crappy pens the dealers sell. You can fix the chip flush - no paint bubble dabs.

Le Petit Garage

Thank you, makes total sense. Honestly saving the water / bucket is a selling point. Washing in NYC is a special situation and this does cut things down hassle wise.

RoadrunnerGTS

2 bucket is less effective than hosing out wash mitt with pressure washer. I don't believe dunking mitt in a 2nd bucket removes the dirt as well, plus you are really dunking in dirty water after the first go.
Wash top down: Start with hood, roof, then going around the car, do the middle section, then finally the lower sections. Rinse the mitt every 2-3 panels.
Do wheels first, and wheels have own dedicated brushes and mitts.

Le Petit Garage

Very stupid question, is there a reason to do wheels first or last? Obv using seperate materials etc

MrFunk

The general idea is to wash the dirtiest part of the car first. You dont want overspray and crap getting all over a clean car. Also once you finish washing the body you want to dry as swiftly as possible. U don't want to be messing with wheels at that time.

Le Petit Garage

I appreciate you guys answering questions like these.

Are you using a different soap to lift in the first stage or the same for both… ?

UncleDude

I use the foam then let it drip, then rinse, then wash with a bucket of soapy water. Looks like some people foam again and wash on the car with that “soap”… that would be faster as long as the foam doesn’t start to dry.

RoadrunnerGTS

Most shampoos (Gyeon, P&S, CarPro) can be used in bucket or cannon. You will use a lot more product in a snow cannon.
Unless the car is really dirty, snow foam isnt necessary IMO. I rarely snow foam my cars, but for example if I went on a road trip and car was covered with bugs and dirt, I would foam. Thing is, Ph neutral shampoos don't do much as a foam in terms of removing dirt, they require agitation with a mitt.

Typically I will use a pressure washer (green 25 deg) as pre wash, then straight to bucket.

MrFunk

I use same soap.
But unless the car is very dirty I don't do two soaps. I just do a pressure washer rinse then a foam canon and then wash towels and soapy water bucket. If the car is very dirty I'll do the foam and rinse then second foam.

BoxKing

In brief, yes, you would use a different soap, or combination of soap/solution if your car is heavily contaminated prior to the hand wash process.
An example of each:
CarPro Lift - this is all in one soap.
GSF, or CarPro Reset in a foam cannon with 30ML of GreenStar - this would be a combination.

One should have an idea of what they want to achieve before every wash, then setup accordingly.
RoadRunner and I seem to have very similar styles so I wont repeat much other than doing a decontamination wash 2-3 times a year to reset your cars coating, or when applying a new sacrificial layer of protection - this process is a GAME CHANGER!! A simple way to achieve doing this is by using a product like CarPro Descale out of a foam canon.

I have full PPF, and you’d think my car was coated with ceramic by the water beading properties it has. My top layer is Polish Angel Cosmic Spitz (no ceramic).

For wheels… Tuga is the beeeezzzz-neeeeezzz. Far better then PnS. Another note about wheel cleaners, you can dilute them 1:1, and they will all perform just as well. Also, these products will last you 2-3 times longer if you use a proper sprayer. The ones these products come in are garbage, and use up an entire bottle with just about one wash.

RoadrunnerGTS

CarPro Descale is a great wash to reset. It is fine for ceramics, but will strip off sealants etc. For example, my SUV (ceramic coated) just went in for a service and the shop chose to ignore my request not to wash, so now I have some crappy shampoo/sealant over my ceramic coating, but CP Descale will strip that off. So I'll wash with Descale and then use WetCoat or FlowX as a topper.