Hey everyone,

 

I’ve now almost 700km on my iV and after some highway cruises, well, time’s come for a good wash. 
 

What do you think is the proper way to wash? What tools, products, and techniques do you guys use?

 

Although this seems silly, my question is genuine since I usually did wash my cars at auto-wash robots in gas stations, etc... and I’m really wondering what is the best option for protecting and caring the paint job. 
 

Thank you!

Have a look in this section. 👍

I mainly use Autoglym products. I wash the car with a soft brush after hosing down the car thoroughly, use a squeegee to remove the bigger drops, then dry the car with a leather. Every third wash, I use Aqua wax - spray it on the wet car, use one microfibre cloth to remove the water and another one to polish the car. Inside windows and the outside of the windscreen are cleaned with Invisible Glass and the exterior windows with Rain-X (it smears if used on the windscreen). Tyre dressing occasionally and super resin polish twice a year. Their scratch removal kit is excellent for minor scratches and Polytrol is good for reviving tired-looking trim. Scotchguard protects the cloth seats. I did use snowfoam for a while, but find that it's not needed if the car is cleaned thoroughly. I use a Karcher jet wash in winter to remove road salt from under the wheel arches and the bodywork. Gummi Pflege twice a year to keep the  door rubbers supple and a squirt of silicone spray in the window runners.

Edited 12 September, 20214 yr by Jim2015

What results are you looking for? This will really dictate what advice is given. If you just want it clean, the auto car wash or £5 hand wash is fine. 
 

if you’re looking to minimise scratches, swirling and that better attention to detail, then we’re into the realms of wash mits, microfibres, detail brushes. 
 

The key info is what your expectation is. For example, the reply above (brush, squeegee and leather) is - to me - a comprehensive list of what not to use. 

59 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

What results are you looking for? This will really dictate what advice is given. If you just want it clean, the auto car wash or £5 hand wash is fine. 
 

if you’re looking to minimise scratches, swirling and that better attention to detail, then we’re into the realms of wash mits, microfibres, detail brushes. 
 

The key info is what your expectation is. For example, the reply above (brush, squeegee and leather) is - to me - a comprehensive list of what not to use. 

Please explain! The brush has soft bristles and I hose it before use. It has a long handle so I can reach the top of the roof. The squegee is a soft silicone and the 'leather' is a very soft material, regularly wrung out. I don't detail the car, so my methods are basic, but I've been cleaning my own cars for years and they always look like new. Too many horror stories about car washes, if not correctly maintained and hand car washes are either useless (eg supermarket car washers as they don't hose the car down first) or manned by exploited poorly-paid people.

2 minutes ago, Jim2015 said:

Please explain! The brush has soft bristles and I hose it before use. It has a long handle so I can reach the top of the roof. The squegee is a soft silicone and the 'leather' is a very soft material, regularly wrung out. I don't detail the car, so my methods are basic, but I've been cleaning my own cars for years and they always look like new. Too many horror stories about car washes, if not correctly maintained and hand car washes are either useless (eg supermarket car washers as they don't hose the car down first) or manned by exploited poorly-paid people.

The brush is still going to be pretty abrasive on paint. Or the clear coat, to be more accurate. Those silicon blades do a great job of dragging any lingering dirt over the surface as well. Ditto for the leather. 
 

But like I said, if you’re happy with the results then great. My opinions don’t matter. Just like those who use £5 hand washes will tell you “the guys do a great job”. And to their standard yes, maybe they do.  But not to mine. 
 

Im no expert either. Some of my techniques, methods will be frowned upon by those with a better eye than me. The two bucket method for example. I don’t subscribe to that. A statement that will send a shiver down someone’s spine. 

Thanks SC03OTT. I'd be interested  if you could report your techniques - it could help me to be a better car cleaner! No lingering dirt after my powerful hosing down! I don't follow the two bucket method either. I just wash the wheels after everything else. (As an aside, the Octy iV has the easiest rims ever to wash, in part because the regen braking does most of the work, so there is no brake dust.

Why bother washing cars .....they just get dirty again.

Mine gets a wash and brush every year when it has a service .

1 hour ago, Jim2015 said:

 No lingering dirt after my powerful hosing down!

If that's so then your car is already clean and nothing further needs doing! 😉

It doesn't take much to cause the swirls......

@Jim2015
 

Wheels & Arches

- spray wheels and arches with a 4% solution of Bilt Hamber Auto Foam. Allow to dwell for 2/3 minutes and power hose off.

 

- spray wheels wheels with CarPro Reset (5ml Reset to 700ml water). Coat liberally. Agitate with a suitable wheel or large detail brush, including tyre faces. Power hose off. 
 

Bodywork - Wash

- coat car with Bilt Hamber Auto Foam using foam lance. Allow this to dwell. Depending on the ambient temperature, this dwell time can be used to clean window shuts, grill sections etc with a suitable detailing brush. Power hose off.

 

- clean window shuts, grill sections etc with suitable detailing brush (ignore if done above) and power hose off. 

 

- wash the bodywork using a dedicated microfibre mitt from top to bottom, one panel at a time until complete, remembering door shuts. Wash in straight likes as much as you can. Don’t swirl about. 
 

- wash the wheels using a dedicated microfibre mitt, tyre faces and mud flaps. 
 

- fully rinse the car down from top to bottom. 
 

Drying

- using a dedicated microfibre cloth, dry the bodywork from top to bottom one panel at a time. 
 

- using a dedicated microfibre cloth, dry the door shuts

 

- using a dedicated microfibre cloth, dry the wheels and tyre faces. 
 

 

I do that every 2 weeks. In a March and October I’ll do a big wash, stripping all protection off the bodywork, decontaminating using a fallout remover, tar remover all that good stuff. I don’t clay bar as I don’t have a machine polisher to correct afterwards. After it’s decontaminated, it’s the above wash, protect, seal and that’s it.  I’d probably top the protection up every 2 months in between that. 
 

Like I said. This is my routine that gives me results I’m happy with. I know there are issues with it, but I’m not willing to go the extra mile to get the extra results. It would stop being enjoyable for me if I did. 

Thanks SC03OTT. I'll look for a microfibre mitt. I agree with your final comment - it's a pleasure to wash and polish a car properly.

3 hours ago, Jim2015 said:

Thanks SC03OTT. I'll look for a microfibre mitt. I agree with your final comment - it's a pleasure to wash and polish a car properly.

Not with the winter weather approaching.

21 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

 

The key info is what your expectation is. For example, the reply above (brush, squeegee and leather) is - to me - a comprehensive list of what not to use. 

And to me, as well.

 

My regular method, if anyone’s interested, is hose on spray (not power wash) to soften the dirt, then two bucket method with cheapo shampoo (as it’s only to get the muck off) using several microfibre mitts, open hose off.

 

Depending on what I did the last couple of times it was washed, I either use Meguiars’ Last Touch as a drying aid, or AG Aqua Wax.  I have several soft microfibre towels for drying.

The door and boot shuts are obviously done as well, as are under the bonnet ‘shuts’ etc.

 

 My favourite paste wax is G3 super paste, which I use several times a year.

 

On the glass, it’s either AG Fast Glass or RainX,  and AG custom wheel cleaner on the alloys, with AG instant tyre dressing on the tyre walls.  I used to use Megs’ Endurance on the tyres, but the AG stuff is easier, and doesn’t splatter as much (maybe I was putting too much on?)

 

I don’t have a dedicated wheel wax, but use the G3 occasionally (not spray on, because of the discs!)

 

With this regime, my previous car won best in class at the VOC virtual show last year, which is good enough for me...

17 hours ago, Llwyngwernog said:

Why bother washing cars .....they just get dirty again.

 

 

You have a point, so why shave, your beard will grow back, why mow the lawn, it’ll only grow again.  Why vacuum the carpets in the house, they’ll only need doing again soon.  You get the drift.

 

(mind you, my bachelor neighbour doesn’t do any of these...)

Edited 13 September, 20214 yr by Baxlin

My barber shaves my beard , the gardener mows the lawn ( or perhaps he presses the buttons on the robot ) and the daily hoovers the carpet .

In my dreams .

 

6 hours ago, Baxlin said:

 You have a point, so why shave, your beard will grow back, why mow the lawn, it’ll only grow again.  Why vacuum the carpets in the house, they’ll only need doing again soon.  You get the drift.

Yeah, but for those tools we have electric shavers, lawn mowers, robot vacuums and we also have automatic car washes for cars. So you can just use that.

Don’t bother trying to argue with people who don’t take care of their cars paintwork, they always seem weirdly proud their car looks like crap. Being lazy and not caring for such an expensive purchase isn’t a positive in my book. 

8 hours ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

Don’t bother trying to argue with people who don’t take care of their cars paintwork, they always seem weirdly proud their car looks like crap. Being lazy and not caring for such an expensive purchase isn’t a positive in my book. 

 

But then the thread title refers to ‘our beauties’.  And it appears that some aren’t, I guess.

10 hours ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

Don’t bother trying to argue with people who don’t take care of their cars paintwork, they always seem weirdly proud their car looks like crap. Being lazy and not caring for such an expensive purchase isn’t a positive in my book. 

Or some people simply don't want to add another chore to their life and I know I personally have never thought "man this cars clearcoat has swirls from a car wash".

16 minutes ago, zetzet said:

Or some people simply don't want to add another chore to their life and I know I personally have never thought "man this cars clearcoat has swirls from a car wash".

But they have time to pointlessly wade into a topic where someone is looking for help to brag about their attitude to their own scummy cars?

 

There is one positive I suppose, it marks these people and I know never to buy a car from them, so it does help a little. 😂😂

1 minute ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

But they have time to pointlessly wade into a topic where someone is looking for help to brag about their attitude to their own scummy cars?

 

. 😂

Which I think is what I was alluding to about some not being ‘beauties’

9 minutes ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

But they have time to pointlessly wade into a topic where someone is looking for help to brag about their attitude to their own scummy cars?

 

 

But they didn't brag they simply asked a question that you in future years will understand and almost certainly agree with, what followed was judgemental and very impolite personal comments.

Anyway to help the OP, there are several things you can do to make your car look and feel fantastic without spending the days some people seem to spend on their cars. 
I don’t spend a lot of time on my cars but they always look great and they don’t have any paint defects. It’s easiest to start with a new car of course, it takes a lot of effort to restore a badly looked after car for sure, but not impossible. When I have returned my work lease cars after 4 years they always look as good as new bar a few stone chips. 
 

If you have a drive, a decent hosepipe and a pressure washer it’s going to make things a lot easier. To be fair doing on the road without a hosepipe is very difficult so you may want to adjust expectations of what you can achieve. 
 

There are some simple rules I follow all the time. 
1) Never use an automated car wash, drive through hand car wash or similar. They will wreck your cars paint finish and especially the hand car washes, any diamond cut alloys you have. They are better than they used to be but still aren’t great. 
2) Always rinse before washing, if you have a pressure washer you can get a snow foam attachment for prewash and main wash which actually saves a load of time. But its not essential. 
3) Always use the 2 bucket method with a nice wash mitt and don’t drip it on the floor. I spent some money on a nice Meguairs bucket with a grit trap and that only gets used for the car and also stores my washing stuff so it’s handy. 
4) Polish and Wax are different things, look it up, it may surprise you. 
5) Always use a clay bar before polishing and waxing. The first time you use one it will be a chore but it cuts down on waxing time MASSIVELY and the finish is MILES better. You’ll find waxing is so easy when the paintwork is glass smooth. The clay bar process is hard the first time but very quick if you do it again later on.

6) Do the interior first and take time on the details like door shuts, carpets, getting all the cack out of the nooks and crannies. 
7) Cheap products aren’t necessarily bad, and expensive ones are necessarily good! I use a selection of Meguirs, Auto Glym, Turtle Wax depending on the product. Good value is best for me! If you want to know exactly what I use let me know. 
8. Don’t get too obsessed with it. 
 

I can’t wait to get my first Skoda as it will be a new Octavia and the first thing I’m going to do is clay bar it and treat it to some nice wax to keep it nice from new. It won’t take long to do and it will be easy to keep up. 
 

As my job involves going to excavations in road and inspecting sewers the outside of my car doesn’t look great all the time and through winter it won’t get washed too often BUT I do keep the interior immaculate as I can stand a dirty interior, I do manage to do this with a weekly hoover and wipe over with Meguairs All Purpose cleaner which seems to work on everything. 
 

Happy cleaning!!

10 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

But they didn't brag they simply asked a question that you in future years will understand and almost certainly agree with, what followed was judgemental and very impolite personal comments.

In future years? What does that mean?

Oh, and welcome to the internet. 😂😂😂

12 minutes ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

Anyway to help the OP, there are several things you can do to make your car look and feel fantastic without spending the days some people seem to spend on their cars. 
I don’t spend a lot of time on my cars but they always look great and they don’t have any paint defects. It’s easiest to start with a new car of course, it takes a lot of effort to restore a badly looked after car for sure, but not impossible. When I have returned my work lease cars after 4 years they always look as good as new bar a few stone chips. 
 

If you have a drive, a decent hosepipe and a pressure washer it’s going to make things a lot easier. To be fair doing on the road without a hosepipe is very difficult so you may want to adjust expectations of what you can achieve. 
 

There are some simple rules I follow all the time. 
1) Never use an automated car wash, drive through hand car wash or similar. They will wreck your cars paint finish and especially the hand car washes, any diamond cut alloys you have. They are better than they used to be but still aren’t great. 
2) Always rinse before washing, if you have a pressure washer you can get a snow foam attachment for prewash and main wash which actually saves a load of time. But its not essential. 
3) Always use the 2 bucket method with a nice wash mitt and don’t drip it on the floor. I spent some money on a nice Meguairs bucket with a grit trap and that only gets used for the car and also stores my washing stuff so it’s handy. 
4) Polish and Wax are different things, look it up, it may surprise you. 
5) Always use a clay bar before polishing and waxing. The first time you use one it will be a chore but it cuts down on waxing time MASSIVELY and the finish is MILES better. You’ll find waxing is so easy when the paintwork is glass smooth. The clay bar process is hard the first time but very quick if you do it again later on.

6) Do the interior first and take time on the details like door shuts, carpets, getting all the cack out of the nooks and crannies. 
7) Cheap products aren’t necessarily bad, and expensive ones are necessarily good! I use a selection of Meguirs, Auto Glym, Turtle Wax depending on the product. Good value is best for me! If you want to know exactly what I use let me know. 
8. Don’t get too obsessed with it. 
 

I can’t wait to get my first Skoda as it will be a new Octavia and the first thing I’m going to do is clay bar it and treat it to some nice wax to keep it nice from new. It won’t take long to do and it will be easy to keep up. 
 

As my job involves going to excavations in road and inspecting sewers the outside of my car doesn’t look great all the time and through winter it won’t get washed too often BUT I do keep the interior immaculate as I can stand a dirty interior, I do manage to do this with a weekly hoover and wipe over with Meguairs All Purpose cleaner which seems to work on everything. 
 

Happy cleaning!!

Thats a bold claim, “no defects”. No swirling, hologramming (if that’s even a word 😂). Every car has defects. I’d say the clay bar part of your process is the biggest risk here. No contactless decontamination first? Do you then machine polish afterwards?

 

No criticism implied here. I’ll state again, my process has flaws. I’m just picking up on that “no defects” comment. 

9 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

Thats a bold claim, “no defects”. No swirling, hologramming (if that’s even a word 😂). Every car has defects. I’d say the clay bar part of your process is the biggest risk here. No contactless decontamination first? Do you then machine polish afterwards?

 

No criticism implied here. I’ll state again, my process has flaws. I’m just picking up on that “no defects” comment. 

Fair point. Defects that a normal person would notice I suppose, rather than what a professional detailer/painter would notice. 
 

I do have a DA polisher but for most people that is going a bit too far. 
 

Start with the basics and you’ll get so much better results. If you like the process and the results you may want to take it step further but walk before you can run - make it too complex and people will be put off with the time/expense needed for the ultimate finish. Which isn’t what most people really want, they just want to keep that “as new” look and feel to their car. 
 

I do think some people make it look very complex and hard work and put people off. 
 

I reckon with a basic cleaning set consisting of decent products and tools you’ll save money fairly soon rather than paying for a drive through place.