A little bit of an explanation here. 20 years ago I was an avid car washer. Loved it. Had both warm and cold soft water run to my garage. Washed the cars every few days.

Fast forward: 2 kids, multiple cars, new jobs, new house, 3 dogs, etc. Life has happened.

Tonight we got back from an outing with the kids and I'm looking at my wife's Lexus IS300 F Sport and had an urge to wash it. Can't say I've hand-washed it since we got it. Grabbed all my gear and started at it. No longer have the soft water. Or the heated water. But I have a hose, 2 buckets, a few sponges, and some Maguire's car wash. How old is that soap? Well... that's a good question. I was probably at the drying stage when I reached for my chamois (sp?) and my California Water Blade when I realized -- OMG, this gear is 20+ years old. What the hell am I doing dragging these dinosaur tools over this paint?

So, here's the question: what's changed in car wash tech in the past 20 years, and what should I be using? What are you washing with? I'm going to throw out everything I have and start again. Help?

 

For me not much though we have a whole house filter so I wash with good water, sponge, meguairs (sp?), then take a run to shake the water off, dry any residual spots with a damp microfibre towel. Once every few washes I spray a bit of polish angel wax on in the drying phase and wipe it off as I dry, really the whole exercise wouldnt take 10 minutes every month or two and the car looks brand new, and because there is no silicone and very little buffing, it doesnt attract dust so I get longer between washes. https://www.esotericcarcare.com/polishangel-rapidwaxx/

 

OMG.

It MIGHT be better for you to ask "What oil should I use?"

There are a LOT of opinions out there.

What, you didn't use Paint Cleaning Clay?

 

Way back in the 1980s, I had my car painted, and the paint shop recommended never using a hose when washing it. Just use a damp cloth, cleaned many times. More recently, the number of people advising never to hose down a car seems to be increasing, but it's your car, so...

 

Main change is to dump the chamois and switch to microfibre towels .....

 

One thing I discovered that works really well is using deionized water to rinse the car after a wash. No need to wipe the water spots off. I have access to a high capacity lab deionized water system so I fill up a few 5 gallon carboys with it and use ithem to rinse the car after a wash.

Amazon sells water treatment units for this purpose but they are sort of pricey and the cartridges don't have much capacity if you have really hard water.

 

I'll second the de-ionization suggestion. I got the CR Spotless DI-120 Deionized Water System a few years ago. Works great, but, as mentioned above, they're a bit pricey. I paid $199, and that might have been on special. Amazon currently lists it at $299.

 

I bought a cheap, low pressure, battery powered power washer. Tap water for the wash, and distilled water for the rinse. So far that seems to work well. Takes maybe two gallons per wash, so cheaper in the near term than de-ionization or a high quality filter.

 

Some people balk at the cost of nice detailing gear but I spend time correcting paint and going through numerous polish steps and finish with ceramics on the wheels, trim, and paint. I also use a long term treatment on the tires and wheel wells - tedious and time consuming but makes regular washes a breeze. I also went from synthetic chamois to high end drying towels and a filtered blower, and for washing - a foam cannon and portable pressure washer make cleaning easy. I also have softened hot and cold in the garage and a climate controlled garage so I can wash in the winter - really helps to keep the finish from getting build up and makes the spring detail easier. If you’re busy, you can’t afford not to get it cleaned, polished, and coated to start - the paint will stay cleaner longer and be easier to clean even when life, work, and kids keep you from washing.

Adams and griots garage sell nice polishers, towels, pads, and accessories. I have flex and rupes polishers which are great and a small detail polisher for small parts and hard to reach places. It might sound like a lot, but if you price a good paint correction and ceramic service, you can buy the gear and do it yourself - then have the right stuff to apply to the rest of your cars.

 

I have hot/cold softened water in the garage and with the spigot's location, easy to run a bit more hose to the outside for washing the car. I use Griot garage car soap

(and it's also available at local car parts stores).

Fill my wash bucket with warm soft water, add the soap, stir it in. Use a spray nozzle with variable patterns on the hose, "jet" on underside of car, "shower' to moisten surface and loosen and remove dirt/dust. Hose down the car, then I use a standard car wash sponge. .. get it sopping with the soap solution, wash a section, rinse sponge in second bucket of warm softened water, then back to soap bucket. Never wash in direct sun or when car surface is hot. Rinse car with warm softened water from hose. Use chamois ( I use the synthetics) to pull majority of water off, squeezing out frequently. The syn. chamois I use really dries the car well. Take well washed loop towel and finish drying drips. To note: I wash the syn. chamois in the house washing machine after every car wash use, roll it up and put it back in its plastic storage tube. I also IPAd (isopropyl alcohol-ed) my car to prep it for AvalonKing ceramic finish. Nothing much sticks to the car (bird-turds, bugs), so washes are fairly drama-free. Then I do a finish wipe down with 303 Graphene, using one clean, washed, no softener, loop towel to spread the 303, and a second clean washed loop towel to polish up the Graphene. I've found that different cars/car paints respond better to different 'finishing' sprays and that my 69 E type's single stage paint responds wonderfully to Turtle wax (green bottle) Express Shine Carnauba Spray Cleaner Wax.

 

Soft water, and a two bucket wash. My Jag and my wife's summer car CLK 320 Cabrio are both ceramic coated with G Techniq's Crystal Serum Ultra, the water lietrally falls off the finish so a blower and minimal toweling and the car is dry.
If the car is just dusty I'll soak it and then hit it with a foam cannon, then wipe, rinse, blow, towel.
My DD and P/U truck go through a cloth car wash and get detailed twice a year.

I love my Sun Joe pressure washer, it's a lot quieter than my Honda and it only runs when the trigger is pulled.

Two bucket wash:

 

Definitely agree. Those leatherette chamois were great at dragging contaminants across and scratching the paint. Some of these drying microfibre towels are incredible - Liquid Elements Black Hole drying towel is mind boggling.

Contactless air drying is something I do too. I use the bigboi pro. On a ceramic coated car, its very entertaining and quick.

Also pH neutral car soap seems a major selling point.

The car washing tech has moved on a lot.

 

I'm a fan of Chemical Guys products. For years I've used waterless on the Jag and a foam gun with "black" wash on the maserati. I hurt my wrist so I'm using the foam gun on the Jag too.I have a Metrovac to dry and a final quick wipe with a microfiber towel.

 

Costs money but saves washing time and car generally looks better when not washed. Paint correction and then clear paint film. Some newer film products that shed water are available. Ceramic coat the wheels and parts that don't have film. Easily clean with foam soap spray bottle and microfiber mitt. I don't use two bucket; just foam gun connect to hose with quick release connection so I can spray just water. Dry car (very quick to do now) with microfiber drying towel. Apply a quality quick detailing spray (no wax). Use Gliptone heavy duty glass cleaner (or other quality product). Done. Make sure you get brake dust out of wheels using wheel brush or other tool as applicable.

 

I have not seen any mention whether people are using grit guards in their buckets. I use the two bucket method with grit guards in both buckets and blow the car dry with a Blaster Sidekick.

 

One other long term benefit - value. Where I live automatic car washes are very popular and I rarely see any of my neighbors hand washing car. Not knocking anyone's approach to car care, but I see quite a few high end exotics with terrible paint; the darer colors show it much more prominently. I will concede that working from home and having the kids out of the house means I drive less, but my VW is a teenager and the paint looks like you can reach inside of it. Maintenance is important but interior and exterior care is equally as impactful when considering resale etc. Perhaps it comes from being cheap, but I don't think you can afford not to take care of things; especially big items like cars and houses. I have been able to get the high book value and usually more without having to negotiate simply due to the condition and how the car presents to a buyer. I have never tried to sell one that wasnt pretty tight so cant say for sure if it would have reduced the sell price, but not taking any chances.

 

I follow the method Obsessed Garage recommends for the most part. Three bucket method (Wash, Rinse, & Wheels) w/ Grit traps. I like the Adams products and the Chemical Guys stuff.

 

I got the grit guard

Im lucky, my '15 R Coupe has PPF over ~80% of the paint. Whole front bumper, whole hood, whole front fenders, whole side skirts, whole side mirrors, rear diffusor, and the A pillar up to the start of the glass roof. That leaves only the rest of the trim by the glass roof, doors, and rear fenders/bumper.

Due to that I only use single bucket cold hard water with grit guard. Rinse car, microfiber tassle sponge from Chemical Guys with their blue soap, and rinse the car after i soap each quarter of the car. Rinse after and regular towel dry the PPF areas, microfiber drying towel the non-PPF areas. Microfibre glass towel for glass, and assorted application tools for interior leather, plastics, etc.

Also have their whole wheel brush and applicator setup for the rims/tire side walls.

May be blasphemy to the rest of you, but I work from home and drove it 3,000 miles for the last 12 months in SoCal, never in the rain (not that it rains here much). Microfiber garage car cover each time. I can wash every ~3 months and it still looks clean at that time.

 

If you wanna go Uber modern ( and a bit over the top, IMHO) you can watch the many how to videos from AMMONYC on YouTube. It is a good place to start on a more modern approach.

 

1, 2, 3 buckets...doesn't ANYONE just wring out & rinse their sponge/wash mitts anymore?

I AM getting rid of my 25-year-old synthetic chamois and buying a drying towel after reading this Topic.