Hi everyone,
I'm curious to know your car washing routines whether at home or at a car wash. For example, do you:
1) Wash your car
2) Dry it
3) Apply a specific product (eg. Spray Wax) OR simply dry your car and don't apply anything
Then, once every few months, do you:
1) Properly wash and dry your car
2) Use a clay bar
3) Apply specific products
If you do apply specific products, which ones?
I got a black car, so doesn't really work with mine. Lesson learned though, never buy a black car.
black car
That's where you went wrong.
I've got a silver car, also doesn't work :(
I have a grey car. Also, didn't work. :-(
Black cars are good if you have a garage and don't drive anywhere.
Lol
and a car bubble
.
I love black cars. So much easier to hide scratches and scuffs before reselling using a black marker.
Once you go black, you never go back.
It also doesn't work on [insert colour here] cars
Leave it dirty and filthy, less chance of getting hit on the road or carpark.
A true ozbargain, let the rain does it job!
Spray tyre cleaner
Spray foam
Pressure wash off
Spray foam
Mit wash
Pressure wash off
Microfiber towel
Some kind of spray sealant if I can be bothered (ie turtle wax spray and shine)
This is pretty much what I do, but I use foam to clean the tyre with the brush.
Yep. Using two bucket method for the mit wash
This is the way.
I also agitate the tyre cleaner with a brush and rinse it before applying the spray foam on the body panels.
How often you do you apply the spray sealant? Once every few months?
The next time you go to wash your car, would you just dry it and leave it as it is, and like no need to apply anything after drying? And then just apply sealant every few months?
depends on my effort/care levels at the time.
but yeah, would aim to be something in the order of 3-4 times a year. It doesnt really take long, maybe 15-20mins for the entire car with something like the turtle wax products
Thank you!
I wash with Meguires wash and wax, dry with a big green sucker. Apply Meguires ultimate wax every 3 months.
Bowden's Own After Glow with big softies. You'll never turn back.
After Glow is amazing stuff.
Drying your car with a wet microfibre cloth seems strange at first, but it works so well & reduces the chance of scratching.
The glow in the paint afterwards is great for not much extra effort to other drying techniques.
Keep in the garage every night and hose as soon as it is really dirty (like dirt roads, gravel etc) to avoid crap sticking to it.
Rarely do clay bar or similar.
Bowden's Own has got a pretty good system worked out - and a bonus is it's Aussie Made from scratch
https://www.bowdensown.com.au/guides/exterior-care
https://www.bowdensown.com.au/guides/how-to-use-our-car-care…
After washing and drying the car, I use Meguiar's ultimate fast finish sealant 3 times a year.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/156217448585
Colour of the car is 'midnight black metallic (examples below), so knew when purchasing that I would need to take additional care when cleaning it.
https://detailership.com/portfolio/2022/7/14/2022-toyota-rav…
Rinse
Wash in sections (no particular order but usually top first and wheels last)
Dry (again starting top first) with a chamois
Proper detail 1-2 times a year.
Been a long time since visited carwash, home routine below.
Metro - squirt, soapy hand or brush scrub, rinse.
Other cars - rinse, foam/suds, rinse, soapy brush, rinse, soapy hand wash spots as needed like those pesky yellow bird sh1ts, rinse, green sucker, tyre black spray. Some steps skipped dependant on which car, how many I'm washing, time left until dark and energy levels. Nufinish once a year
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"If you do apply specific products, which ones?"
Finish First. Apply as per directions and once removed park car in the sun for a few hours.
https://finishfirstpolish.com/
Got some from a guy in NZ last year which was cheaper than getting it from the U.S. ( https://www.ecosteam.co.nz/ Guy was very helpful)
I'm reasonably sure it's the same (or very close to) the original Liquid Glass product of days gone by. :)
Otherwise double-bucket wash using nanolicious and a wipe with Bowden's big green sucker. Car is just over 3 years old, no swirl marks that I've noticed.
just wash with hair conditioner mix with water in a ratio 1:3, with microfibre cloth, let it dry little and then rinse it with pressure wash and dry it with leather chamois.
you will get wax-like finish and shine and protect against raindrop as water will form beads.
Rinse with plain water, then apply bug and tar remover on bird poop, bugs etc
Spray foam, then have 2 buckets (1 with soap water and 1 with plain water for rinsing)
Go over the car with a sponge starting on the roof, then bonnet then working my way down to the doors, fenders and bumpers making sure to rinse the sponge in the bucket of water after finishing each panel.
Rinse with pressure washer
Dry with microfibre towel
Apply nu-finish with foam applicator pad twice per year.
1: Get bucket
2: Get soap
3: Get cloth
4: Get hose
5: Get wife
6: Sit on arse and watch others do it.
Its a good routine
By wife, you mean left hand or right hand?
You might well be able to multitask in that way but its not normal.
Daniel son you still have much to learn, wax on wank of.
I just drive to a do it yourself car wash and spend $7 and go through all the sequential buttons and drive off.
Have stopped using the broom attachment as heard if can scratch the car.
I’ve gotten it down to $5
Pressure wash loose dirt
Fill bucket with 8L water + 2L boiling water + capful of Gold Class
Drop 10 wool wash mitts into bucket
Use one wash mitt per panel starting from the roof, bonnet, then horizontal wipes downwards. Put used mitt into a bag
Pressure wash off the detergent
Towel dry
do you wash mitts after every wash?
yep
Anyone got tips on importance and regularity of washing a 4wd where I live on a farm? When its dry, the car gets covered in dust. When it's wet, mud. I drive through a creek every day, rusty underbelly. Parked outside in full sun. At least it is white. The ozbargain payoff is very low rent for the area.
I kind of figure it's an unavoidable cost of living on a farm that the car takes a beating… so cleaning wise my solution has generally been "don't bother". When it's really bad, every 6 months or so, I do the full auto carwash in town including the wax. But within a week it's just as dirty again.
I've heard that the wax helps reduce the damage from grime and mud - would a more regular 1-3 monthly wash and wax be a good idea?
Car wash is $25 (when I tried to do it myself it took 40 minutes and cost nearly as much). Is $200-300 per year for a regular wash going to help preserve the car's value and durability?
And is a home wax cheaper and easy to do?
I'd do a monthly wash and wax - dirt should stick to the paint less (making future washes easier), and it'll help protect the clearcoat. Now sure how much paint peel would impact the resale on a farm vehicle, but I'm sure people would appreciate something that's been (visibly) maintained.
Home waxes are usually spray wax - just spray on, buff off with a cloth.
Never understood the point in washing a car. Ill clean off the windscreen for free at a petrol station and wipe the license plate if its not readable…..
Usually people who love their car will wash it.
I have 2 car, I only wash my performance car. Where else my Nissan X-Trail, I let the rain do it.
Because if you don't wash and wax your car regularly, your clearcoat will fail - which can't be fixed without a respray.
It doesn't take long for cars to get paint fade here - 5-10 years, from the cars I see in traffic.
Mmm. Ive seen a few cars with faded paint but surely not representative of the % of the population that dont wash.
Some cars would have faded paint because of age, but neglecting the paint would absolutely speed up the process - somebody in my street owns an AU Falcon that's almost down to the bare metal, because it lives it's life outside parked under a tree.
Number one cause of clear coat failing is being left outside, has nothing to do with washing unless it’s bug tar etc
Wax/Sealant helps keep the Clearcoat in better condition though, compared to no protection
Never waxed my car and the paint still seems perfect 11 years later (6 of which it was parked outside getting pooped on by birds & trees, 15min from the beach).
I think it's for people who fall for marketing or maybe Toyota paint is just too good.
Mr Miyagi method - wax on, wax off.
Car wash method:
Being a black car, you'll also want to avoid swirl marks as much as possible because this will dull the black over time and will end up looking grey because of them.
This is my process for washing the cars to avoid swirls and keeping the shine.. my car's have ceramic coating to help with that and helps reduce the dirt collecting on it when driving in the rain.
Ideally wash the car every couple of weeks
Ceramic coats are great for removing the dirt stuck to the clear coat but the process creates swirls. So you should only be doing this when you also plan on polishing and sealing the car. With a good ceramic coat this would be every 2-3 years.
I went thru a car wash about 10 years ago
Did you duck the head or go limbo style?
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Go through the OTR car wash whenever the car is extra dirty.
Put in $1 - cover car with tyre and engine cleaner
let it sink in and/or agitate with brush
Put in $1 - rinse with high pressure wax
wipe down with a chamois or microfibre cloth
Cleaning the whole car with tyre and engine cleaner sounds like it'll damage the paint pretty quickly…
Very efficient, well done.
I wash at the carwash in Golden Grove in Adelaide. The soap spray and ceramic spray are at 50 degrees.
Plus they give you 1:30 per $1.
Bowden's Wheely Clean
$1 of pre wash sometimes $2 if the car needs it.
$1 of soap spray
$1 of ceramic spray
$1 of high pressure rinse
Choose overcast day and engine cool
Exclude the wheel.
Is a lot of work so I kind of just do it once a year when I am super bored.
Touchless car wash (monthly):
Trying to make it a habit to clay the paint and use sealant (Turtle Wax Ice Seal N Shine) every six months.
I think I last washed the car 2 years ago.
I vacuum inside once in a blue moon as well. Who cares?
Is your car is a 1993 Toyota Corolla ? Then no one wouldn't care :)
No, I have a 2016 and a 2023 car. No one cares.
As someone who does budget car detailing, I can recommend some products and general steps that I use. My car has a PPF on it so i cant really ceramic coat it but what i do is
1)Clean tires and rims first with a brake buster, I let this sit for 2-3 mins
2) Whilst waiting for the brake buster I pre foam my car (I use use Giyeon Foam, love this stuff and it smells great) I also let this sit for 2-3 mins, but definitely dont let this dry in the sun
3)Once its been 2-3 mins I do a proper wash of the tires and rim and use a brush
4)Wash off the pre foam.
5)Foam again, but immediately then wash my car (I use Giyeon Bathe +, it applies some hydrophobic coating onto your car as you wash it)
6) I have a spray thats called Giyeon Wet Coat, that also applies a hydrophobic coating on my car, but I noticed this lasted longer and had better effects. Spray this off with a hose as you spray the bottle, you also dont want this to dry on your car
7)Dry with a good microfibre, no lint, towel. Again im recommending Giyeon here.
8) I'll then buff out everything with another more fluffly towel if im noticing some random water stains or wiping streaks.
General tips, wash your car in the shade, water drying in the sun stains your car more.
Definitely dry your car manually, again cos of water spots.
If youre gonna vacuum and clean your car interior, 100% do that first, you dont want dirt and dust flying back onto a freshly cleaned car.
In general, clean your tires first, but after that i wash my car from top to bottom.
Hope this helps!
Appreciate it, assuming Giyeon Wet Coat is a sealant. Is that something you apply everytime after you wash your car? My question was let’s suppose, you apply it and hopefully should last a few months. If I wash my car after applying the sealant (let’s say after 2 weeks) would I just simply dry it for the next few washes and apply nothing and then just reapply the wet coat after a few months again. Or would you recommend applying the sealant after every wash.
It is a sealant and i tend to use it every time i wash my car, but admittedly i only wash my car like once every two months. Mostly my car has to be pretty visibly dirty and the weather conditions to be about right for me to do it.
But I would say you shouldnt need to apply it every time, but just gauge it by how the water is beading. So lets say you spray your car and the droplets on the car are still quite round and relatively uniform, then dont worry about it, the spray is still doing its job. But if its been like 4 months and now the water droplets are more oval and theres a ton of really big ones and small ones, id consider spraying it again then.
Appreciate it! Thank you
Buy another car in faded gold.
Mine looked the same after 4 years being outside and never washed.
Here's my 45min car wash routine with 2 bucket method with grit guards, to minimise dragging dirt across panel.
1.Rinse car with garden hose.
2.Pre-rinse with snow foam (I use the bowden's own product) and wait 3-5mins for it to dwell but not dry onto the paint.
3.Prepare 1 clean bucket with water, 1 bucket with car detergent(I use meguiars gold class or whatever is on sale) and use wash mitts (I use the bowdens own wash mitts).
4. Rinse snow foam from car.
5. Dip mitts in clean dettergent bucket and clean 1 panel at a time.
6. Agitate the dirty mitts into plain water bucket against the grit guards.
7. Rinse off the car panel.
8. Repeat steps 5,6,7 for each panel.
9. Lightly drag drying towel across panel with big green sucker.
10. Spray on wheely cleaner, let it sit for a few mins and agitate with brush.
11. Rinse off wheels.
I do the 3 dollar wash at self wash car washes
1. $1 high pressure water spay
2. $1 foam brush
3. $1 high pressure water spay
Never got the whole washing car thing. Never once been walking around and though wow that cars nice and clean
My routine is wait until the wife gets fed up with it (usually around 3 months) she will then drive it to local servo let the spinney brush things do there thing drive home.
To be honest i was the same, but after buying a new car I wanted to take care of it more. And honestly, its super satisfying and relaxing. I wash my parents car usually when im washing my own, and the common comment I get is that their cars look as if they were just bought. I know its my parents being cute, but honestly its a relaxing moment. Its literally you being on your own for an hour or so and being productive. I usually have a bluetooth speaker and listen to podcasts as i do it.
Never owned a car worth washing properly. Profit
I bought a white Stanza in the 90s. Seller was proud to state he hadn't washed it in the 7 years he owned it. 1200 wet & dry solved that
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1) Park it outside when it rains.
2) Profit.