Sue Esponte

I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve.

1. As for "foaming," just use the right mix of water and cleaning agent in the bucket. Hitting the car with a pressure washer won't clean your car nearly as well as using your mitt and if you're already planning on using a bucket then I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish by adding another step. You also run the risk of destroying any thin paint or helping any paint chips grow if you use too much pressure. Nothing good can come from this.

2. As for the blower, it's going to blow crap all over the car you just cleaned. When you aim it at the rockers or lower portions of the doors or bumpers, you're going to start blowing around dust and crap that's on the ground or underneath the car. This is a very small car. It just doesn't take that long to dry. Besides, now you've just dirtied up the car you just spent all that time washing. Just hand dry it with a good chamois or blade. Open the doors, trunk and engine cover and let all of the excess water drain out. Then use a separate dedicated drying towel to dry out the door jambs and all of those often forgotten areas.

My $.02,

-Eric

Topaz330ci

Thanks for the $0.2 cents. As I mentioned in my last post of this thread, I do not like pressure washers and never use them. I just wanted one for the foaming ease/application that it comes with.

Foaming a car link:

Foaming a car is used to loosen dirt particles before a wash. So my goal, which will now be done through a regular garden hose with an adapter for the foaming solution will be to foam the car properly and let it sit for a good 5 minutes in the shade of course. Then I would rinse it off with the hose/water and continue washing as usual (double bucket/wash mitt). I always do the rims and tires last, as I clean them with a cloth.

Now to drying... it looks like a few people are for blow drying it, and a few people are not for it... I might try it out as the leaf blower is not that expensive, and it wouldn’t hurt having one for actual leaf blowing... If it doesn’t work out well, then I’ll continue my usual process of with the California Blade and chamois/towels for the jams and other sections as you pointed out as well. But hopefully it will work out well, as my car paint is corrected and detailed by a pro once a year, it water pretty much just glides off it with ease. Hence, just blowing it off.

I want to find some rollers for the buckets as well.... I noticed some pro’s have them instead of picking them up all the time. Also they have rubber around the top edge all around so just in case if they hit the car, it should be ok...

Thanks for all the input folks! And I’ll keep you guys posted on what works for me.

Topaz330ci

I currently use this car shampoo: Meguiars
http://www.carcarenut.co.uk/images/LgProd/G17748.jpg

And I use this wash mitt:
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...ch&um=1&itbs=1

Regular sponges or cheap wash mitts leave streaks. Also I clean the California blade after every swipe.

Topaz330ci

I need to find one of these adapters, but for a regular garden hose:

j-mann

I wash mine with gutter water and dry it sandpapaer

Marc Gelefsky

I guess im old school.... bucket, water, hose..etc. works pretty well!

Capt. Obvious

If you want to blow-dry the car, pick up something like this made for motorcylces:

frisbee91

I really like this technique for final rinse and drying:

After washing, I rinse with a quick light spray from the hose nozzle. Then, I remove the nozzle, and give a very quick rinse with the slow, unrestricted flow from the hose. Most of the water sheets off of the car, leaving only a few large droplets behind.

Then, I complete the drying process with microfiber drying towel. There is so little water left on the car, one towel dries the entire car with no wringing.

SSST

Every time my wife says I obsess over my cars too much, I show her one of these threads.

A good soft mitt, a good car wash like Maguires, and clean soft cotton or microfider towels. That's all you need and you won't damage your finish.

Regular waxing and a clay bar teatment once or twice a year and it will look great forever.

dotframe

Why do you need to use water? Paper towels work fine.

SSST

Don't forget the soft scrub.

DreamCarrera

Do you find the saliva strips the wax?

function12

I have never had good luck with the leaf blower (130 mph so they say on the one I bought). Gets all the tight spots, rims, engine compartment, but not so good on the large surface areas. Seems to take me longer to dry my car with the leaf blower compaired to the micro fiber towels.

Sue Esponte

Bah, unless your car is covered with caked on dirt, I'm not sure I see the value of letting soap sit on your car for 5 minutes before washing it off. If you've ever left a dirty car outside in a heavy downpour you know that when you come back to it it's still dirty. Letting it sit for 5 minutes is going to waste 5 minutes of your day when you could just start cleaning off the dirt with your mitt...which you're planning on doing anyway. After 5 minutes, it's also possible that it's going to start drying up and leaving spots.

-Eric

jdog

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...ortby=ourPicks

I just ordered this the other day. I will let you all know how it works when I get to cleaning. Which at this rate with amount of work I have may never come....