Loads of hand wash car washes have been springing up around where I live over the past few years. I would never put my car through an automated car wash again. For £3 I get the car rinsed, hand foam wash and rinsed again and the wheels cleaned.

These are not back street operations with a guy with a sponge and a pressure hose. They are well setup and licensed car washes.

 

I would love some advice on the car product line recommended. My ride is an '82 XLs and it's in midnight blue. There is a need for some old wax to be stripped and my husband is itching to do it! (Personally I am not so sure...) Should I take it to a professional or let my husband have a go? What product advice?

 

What do you mean by old wax? Is it stuff that has gathered in a crevice in which case a soft brush (toothbrush) would help to get it out. Or do you mean the paint surface is dull and needs lifting? In which case you are looking at something like t-cut, a clay bar and polish.

You will get lots of advice in the car detailing stick asking Innovative Detailing.

 

I wash my XK8 weekly no matter what. I just tried the Blue Coral brand cleaner and it seems to have longer lasting suds than what I'd been using. I use Meguairs cleaner wax for any problem areas followed by Liquid Glass (great stuff).

 

Meguairs FTW!

 

I wash mine once a week and then detail spray it after I dry it with Lucas spray mist. Once a month I wash it, then clay bar it, wash it again, put 2 coats of Zaino one each of Z-5 and Z-2, detail spray Lucas detail spray between coats, and then wax the chrome with a Mothers power ball with some chrome polish. Here is what she looks like after my once a month treatment.

 

I generally handwash whenever I feel like it. In warmer weather I do it more often just because its nicer to be outside. I tend to use Maguires car soap with a soft-bristled wash brush. I use a mit on the wheels. I shammy then spray wax. However, what I very often do (almost daily and after washes) is use the spray wax whether the car has been washed or not. What I use is called 'Ice' by (I think) Turtle Wax. Its great stuff and can be used on the painted surfaces as well as windows, without streaking. As far as wax, I have yet to come across anything I love, so I often switch it up. I'm currently using NuFinish, which is a decent all-round wax for amateur detailers. I also have a California duster and I go through my massive stack of microfibre towels like crazy!

 

Wow you beat me by a mile! And I thought I was crazy, but it looks great. Keep up the work.

I just ordered a Griot's Garage 6" D/A so I'll be working on my paint a lot in the next few days!

 

I dont have very many hobbies so when its nice outside its nice to spend some quality time with the car. Plus I was going so long without my car the last 2 summers I have to make up for lost time.

 

Oh haha that makes sense. Yes, I have to agree with you. On a nice day, I love to take the car out of the garage and give it a nice rinse followed with a few layers of wax!

 

Am I a bad person for getting my Jag machine washed at least once a week?

I live in an urban area and there is salt everywhere!!!!!!

 

oh man! machine washing is the worst thing you can do! I guess it's better than the salt though

 

It doesn't necessarily mean your a bad person, but your just not giving your fine vehicle the proper cleaning technique that it deserves. If you are washing it by machine weekly, how often are you waxing or detailing it? I would hope a wash n wax at least bi monthly and a true polish/wax at least bi annually. Lack of either will be evident by the large amount of swirls or cob webbing
induced by these machines.

 

Just had it detailed a couple weeks ago. I just bought ONR and I will probably have the car detailed again and then start using ONR instead of a machine wash.

 

I'm bummed because the "sponge" car wash a couple of miles from my office is closed for renovations. Their wash does a great job, and I took my 97 VDP there weekly for just $12.50. I haven't been able to try out the 07 Xk convertible in it, and of course I'm wondering how it will/would hold up in an automatic car wash. (My Alfa was hand-wash only, my S2000 would only leak in the window corners.)

My building has two car wash bays but one is closed for the winter now and I don't know how much longer the other one will remain open. It's still tough to hand wash when it's getting near to freezing!

 

I haven't tried it yet, but you might want to try ONR (Optimum No Rinse). I've been reading reviews online and it looks great for people in urban areas!

 

Great news, that will help a bit, but many more scratches will be induced if the car wash is your method of choice.

ONR or rinseless is a great option, lately I have shifted 40% of my business to rinseless or eco friendly washes. In regards to ONR, let me share my experience with you.

I purchased ONR gen 1 for the first time last Christmas....I then tested the product out on some of my monthly maintenance customers that I see weekly. All of them were black vehicles, and after the third week of cleaning I started noticed lots of scratches that were induced by this method and product. I immediately disposed of the product and proceeded to correct the paint on these cars and go back to my normal soaping routine. Then around Feb 2010 I heard ONR came out with their gen 2 reformulated version...better scent (gen 1 smelled like crap) slicker finish and nicer gloss. Well after using 1/2 of the gallon, honestley other than the smell being better and a little better slickness I was not impressed.

So moving forward 8 months, I attended this years SEMA 2010 were I was a guest speaker at the "Detailing for Success" seminar. Like myself there was other guest speakers, one of which was the mfg of Poly's Clear Tech Detailing Fluid. I was little skeptical at first, being that so many of these new rinseless products are hitting the mainstream and riding the eco friendly bandwagon.

So as we all gathered from this seminar outside to try a couple different products, Poly's was one of them......And after doing some testing on rental cars and on my own, I am now a believer of Poly's Detailing Fluid.

So no more soap, no more ONR, Poly's is the newest product in my arsenal for cleaning vehicles, and results are incredible!


Just look at how well the water beaded off this Aston Martin Vanquish after a thorough bath with Poly's

 

Is Poly's applied similarly to ONR? I don't have my heart set on ONR (I bought a small 8 oz bottle), but I do want something that is rinseless.

Also, I don't mind if small scratches appear after a few uses. As long as it's less harmful than a machine wash and can hold me over for the tri-monthly details, I will be happy.

 

Yes, Poly's is applied like ONR....

Poly’s is an easier way of washing your car. Use Poly’s like a normal car wash by adding one or two caps to every gallon of water, (1:420 dilution). You may also dry wash, spot clean, interior clean and spray-shine by adding only one cap of Poly’s to a quart of water, (1:120 dilution). Just spray on and wipe off. NO RINSE. This same multi-purpose detail spray dilution is perfect for use as a clay glide, color sanding and buffing lubricant and chrome polish. For windows, add no more than a 1/2 cap of Poly’s to a quart of water, which equals a 1:240 dilution.

Here is a video of how well Poly's works...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be_SUdmmlsA

In this video the product is being applied using a Detailing Caddy, this unit allows you to contain the Detailing Fluid premix (7oz Poly's & 5gal of R/O or distilled water) in a 5 gal cube for multiple vehicle cleanings. The Detailing Caddy allows me to pre mist the entire vehicle so that the fluid will emulsify the dirt on the vehicle. Then by adding 1gal of water (R/O or Distilled works the best, spotless) to 1 cap of Poly's in a bucket, you then start wiping from top to bottom using the bucket solution as your rinse out for the towel. Always flip the towel to a clean side for each panel and rinse out the towel as well in the bucket solution after each panel. Follow up on each panel as you go with a dry fluffy MF for the final shine, and your done!....

Always leave lowers, rockers, wheel well lips and wheel for last.....since they are dirtier..

 

Hmmm, well I tried ONR on my car without any pre-rinse or anything. The car was covered with caked on salt.

As far as I can tell in the sunlight, ONR prevented any scratching of the paint even with no pre-rinse. This, in and of itself, is pretty amazing given that if I tried that with a traditional wash soap, I'd probably have scratches out the wazoo!

However, ONR (and Poly's, I assume) requires a lot of good microfiber towels to wipe off/dry each panel as you finish wiping them down with your wash mitt. Unfortunately, I did not wipe off the liquid sufficiently, and there were some brown water spots all over the car.

(Ironically, this morning I ended up getting a machine wash anyway.) :P

This is definitely a product that can work for people who have no access to a hose. However, I feel like it is best used as a traditional carwash fluid, but that would kinda defeat the purpose!