The Official Car Cleaning Thread

[meteorachick]

So I spent the last two days getting my car cleaned, washed, waxed, claybared, etc etc etc...


all together took about 8 solid hours of cleaning to get it to showroom clean.

I only use maguires Gold, except today I also used maguires claybar which i highly recommend, it got out every little spot on my car (even spots that i would have never seen if it wasn't for that)

So with this thread....


-how many hours do you spend cleaning your car?
-what products do you use?
-anything that you would recommend/recommend against?

that way this thread can be used as a reference for what is good for what, and what to avoid (as soon as i get a detailed list of stuff that i used i'll post it on here)

[Zim]

lol when i read this i was like "OH I CLEANED MY HOUSE TODAY TOO!"

My roomates are pigs, and I was sick of living in filth... my house is spotless now. (Well, almost)

[meteorachick]

damn u zim....i'll change the title of the thread

[Thomas91169]

Ah a fun one.

It all depends on what time of year. I can spend 8 hours or so doing the whole porter-cable orange/white/black pad routine with compounds, polishes, sealer than wax, but with that kind of system i really only have to do that about once every few months, the rest of the time a simple wash and dry and a coat of natty's will keep it looking shiny and deep. if thats the case i spend around two hours cleaning, drying, vacuuming and going over the tires with NXT tire shine and the plastics with Back2Black.

[SpectorV]

I generally dust my car every time before I drive it and when I park it so twice every time I drive it (which isnt every day just when I want to)

I clean it once a month with waterless car wash all over and also do the entire inside with meguiars interior detailer (non greesy) and meguiars leather wipes (the paste gets everywhere and you cant get it out)

I dont let bugs sit on it for more than the day. Inbetween cleaning the car with waterless car wash I use meguiars quick detailer mist to clean it up good. I also clean the rims and tires every time I clean it. I have been using armoral extreme tire gel (orange bottle) and it works really good. I will use that or meguiars purple koolaid tire gel.

When I clean the car I also clean all door jams and the trunk jam along with the engine bay and the underside of the hood. When I clean the car with the waterless car wash I will clean the inside of my rims, brake caliper really good, and inside of the fender well.

I try every now and again to jack the car up and get under it to clean up everything as well (which it is due for...) but since I dont drive it in the rain anymore its not quite as important.

So I really dont use that many products, dont need them. I love meguiars clay bar it does really good but it doesnt help my car as its to smooth to get anything out but if you know your paint is in need its GREAT. Also I keep 3M clear coat safe rubbing compound for tuff stuff and what not (mainly for other cars I clean or what not) its good to clay bar then compound it once a year.

Once a year I like to take it and wash it good with water and dawn detergent then go over it with a clay bar (even if it doesnt really do much) then all of that stuff to get it back protected with my car wash.

I clean the black chrome and black painted parts on the exterior with the waterless car wash so they look just like the day it rolled off the assembly line (minus the damn wiper blades... looked like crap when I got it and im soon to replace them)

I have a good buffer but I dont need it, I really dont have swirl marks so its really not needed since I dont wax it but its handy for other peoples vehicles.

I use a micro fiber towel to buff my waterless car wash with (great at cleaning off the black chrome) and 100% cotton towels (not the ones you buy at autozone either those are not 100% cotton (the edges are not cotton)) and all towels are terry towels of course.

I also take out the headlights to clean under them as well from time to time, same with the tail lights (maybe once a year) and i try to clean the engine really good and keep it that way but you got to break down now and again and get a tooth brush out and go at it in all the little grooves and such. Meguiars interior detailer works good on all the black stuff and for the painted parts or metal I use the waterless car wash.

As far as time I spend cleaning when I used to drive my car nearly every day I probably spent 3 hours a week maybe cleaning it no matter what season it is. Now that I dont drive it in any bad weather its much easier to clean as its not really ever dirty.

My old black car I really cleaned it (black...) it was generally cleaned twice a week really good by hand (no just washing drying and thats it)

For tips... clean your damn black chrome and trim with something that will protect it...so many people neglect it and it looks like trash...

[Zim]

Wanna send/lend me that buffer you've got Brandon? Ill pay shipping... I need to get some swirls out and do a complete detail day. That and I need one to buff my boats gel-coat out.

[SpectorV]

you can buy one for the shipping costs I bet, its not an amazing one or anything. It probably wont be strong enough to do heavy duty buffing.

[timpryor]

Wow, if its my 2wices a year cleaning it goes something like this

Dawn the whole car using the 2 bucket method

Clay entire car, anywhere that has paint gets clayed

wash with car soap using 2 bucket method

Dry using california water blades and a waffle weave microfiber

use Porter cable 7424 with an orange pad, with med-heavy compound(optumum compound)

followed by white with poorboys SSR1

Blue with clearkote caranumba glaze

followed by clearkote carumba moose wax

for the wheels i wax them since they are a painted finish, and use megs tire wet for tires black trim, mirrows and black shit in the engine bay as well as the gas tank cover

in between those details i may slap on a coat of clearkote wax and use the clearkote quick shiine

[1LOBOSS]

1800 miles and 57 hand coats of Meguires polish/wax/paint cleaner, enough said Rims, under hood, under trunk and door jambs included Meguires inside for the leather and Armour-all for the plastics. It's called OCD

[Thomas91169]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpectorV you can buy one for the shipping costs I bet, its not an amazing one or anything. It probably wont be strong enough to do heavy duty buffing.

yeah you can get the crap autozone ones for 30 bucks, but they do nothing. they (nor your arms) can work the material enough to break it down and do what its supposed to.

PorterCable on Ebay

or you can buy this whole kit

Optimum Porter Cable 7424 Kit Remove swirl marks and paint flaws

and

Poorboy's Natty’s Paste Wax BLUE

[meteorachick]

i'm gonna sticky this thread so people can use it for a reference for cleaning supplies for their car

[carlosc]

i use meguiers NXT tech wax and nxt speed detailer, for the wheels some wax called WAXWHEEL, and fot the tires nxt insane shine(spray) but im looking for something in gel maybe i will try endurace high gloss

[MonteCitan]

So who wants to detail my Buick for me? it's looking a little salty

[SpectorV]

yea, I didnt need a really good buffer as my car doesnt develop swirl marks that need that kind of attention, but it would be nice to do it once every now and again.

[Thomas91169]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpectorV yea, I didnt need a really good buffer as my car doesnt develop swirl marks that need that kind of attention, but it would be nice to do it once every now and again.

youd be suprised of what they can do. hell, even with my shit paint job in spots, it was able to take off some of the orange peel on the passenger hood and drivers side door after a few passes with the compound. i had micro-marring in the black stripes that it took out, as well as a few other spots where i had to wetsand their fingerprints out of, it was able to get rid of those fine scratches as well.

i will be detailing my old cobra whenever the new owner comes down to modesto.

[meteorachick]

so its been what 2 days since i cleaned my car? and already its been pooped on by multiple birds and it rained yesterday and now the backend is all muddy GRRRRR

[lowflyn]

Nicole, you should see down here. I had a neon yellow mustang and a neon blue ranger until a few hours ago. It's so bad you can see the pollen floating in the water running off the car.

[meteorachick]

Quote: Originally Posted by lowflyn Nicole, you should see down here. I had a neon yellow mustang and a neon blue ranger until a few hours ago. It's so bad you can see the pollen floating in the water running off the car.

NOICE! i bet i would be sick from that much pollen lol

[lowflyn]

I"ll get a picture either tomorrow or monday, should be nice and built back up again lol. All the cars around here are yellow tinted, and it's driving my sinuses up the wall.

[Ken Cheema]

This is a very intresting thread. some of the products i never even heard of.
As of now i dont wash my car myself anymore. i take it to a VERY good car wash-hand wash and it looks great.

however when i had the time for 2 years this is how i did it
Total time 8 hours

2 bucks of mothers car wash.

Dry off with microfiber towels

Mothers pure carnuba wax-i hand waxed it every other week

buff out the whole car

armoral the tires, wax the rims as well.

leather restore (mothers) for the car seats

general dusting in the inside

AND every 2 weeks cleaning of the engine bay.

its just very time consuming and in NY time is money unfortnetly.

[SpectorV]

I use waterless car wash from envirotech, no washing with water which saves me time and energy, no water spots, I can do it in the garage out of the cold or heat etc etc and it goes on the paint, windows, rims, etc and does an amazing job. I dont think ive washed my car in forever. Plus this protects like a was, doesnt turn black trim yellow or any negative side effects... protect better than any wax ive used and shines better and feels better etc etc~ 100% cotton towel (terry style) for application and microfiber for buffing.

[PureVenom]

Hey spec, do you use that stuff on your black moulding around the convertible top as well? The metal stuff down by the body I'm talking about. if not, what do you use there?

[powersof12]

I hope this fits in with this thread. I assume there are people in the world that drive their convertibles every day and I was wondering how do you keep the soft top clean and nice. Do you seal it with some kind of water repelant before its first rain? Does your top still look good after a year of weather? This car was meant to be driven not covered in my garage.

[lowflyn]

Quote: Originally Posted by powersof12 I hope this fits in with this thread. I assume there are people in the world that drive their convertibles every day and I was wondering how do you keep the soft top clean and nice. Do you seal it with some kind of water repelant before its first rain? Does your top still look good after a year of weather? This car was meant to be driven not covered in my garage.

If you have 03/04 cobra I would highly recommend looking at Raggtopp products. They are top notch and you can get the cleaner and then the sealer to keep the top in perfect shape.

Luckily I don't have to DD either of my verts, but there's nothing wrong with doing it either.

[MarkuzLS1]

Somebody needs to clean mine, so I can put it in AutoTrader.

[powersof12]

Thanks, for the Raggtopp product idea and it is an 03 Cobra. I didn't realize there are different types of convertible top material.

[SpectorV]

yea you need the cloth stuff, it is expensive but lasts a long time, I am on the same bottle 3 years and going now

[jimbullit]

I'm checking out the Envirotech waterless stuff. Wow-the water is REALLY hard-where I live. `Maybe this will get me back in my driveway-handling it. I'm gonna claybar this badboy too..!

[SpectorV]

dawn detergent it, hand dry fully, claybar, then rubbing compound, then dawn it again, then waterless carwash (or wany protectant/wax you want) and your good to go.