How many of you wash your own cars? The dealer said I should only hand wash the car, but a year + later I am TIRED of it, plus, I have soft water and I got spots all over the car, because the sun is ALWAYS out and I can't dry the car in time....whatever... but I just had the car detailed, spots are out... and I know I can have the carwash hand wash the car, but do I have to? I like the car CLEAN and I would probably spend $$$ getting it handwashed every ten days. Advise, please

 

Personally, I think my car looks much better when I wash it. I like being outside (winter excluded) doing something which doesn't require much concentration etc... With respect to hand wash car places-- over the winter I went to, what I consider the best place in town, drove home and parked my car for 2-3 days in my garage only to discover a nice scratch when I next drove my car.

As for your spotting problem, try washing your car at a different time of day-- early morning or late afternoon when the sun isn't its strongest. Zymol carwash and Maguires wheel cleaner works great.

 

hand wash is better when done right..... there are some places that do hand washes but they don't do as detailed a job as the owner would..... i think you just need the right equipment.... go to the detailing section... you'll find some useful tips to get your car looking super shiny... i use Zymol all the way... Zaino's good as well...

 

I think the reason lots of people do not get a black car is for the water spot problem, and swirl marks, black is a very tough color to maintain, but looks fantastic when well detailed

 

I have always had black cars and I wash my car either in the morning or in late afternoon. Hand washing is the best way to go. Car wash places usually use towels on cars which will leave swirl marks and scratches. I use an absorber which doesn't take long to dry the car at all. Also, if you can dry the car in a garage that would be best.

 

Although I love (therapy actually) to wash my own cars, find a service that will come out to your house or place of business. I have used several and find that if I supply the materials, they will happily use them. As for water and spots, I find hard water leaves more spots but some detail in a bottle (Griot's Speed Shine is my favorite) will usually take them off nicely.

 

lol... i handwash once every month now.... every 10 days i run through the "laser 4000" car wash... brushless so I wonder how much wax it takes off. I have done it 2 times in past month and the car comes out spectacularly clean...(no bugs on front end to eat through paint, etc)
And she shines great still..... so it can't be stripping wax too badly.
Any input as to whether this is a good idea?
BTW.....I tried the brush type carwashes too and it didn't work nearly as well.

 

i like washing my own car but sometimes i get tired and don't do the other side as well as the first. I usually take it to a place that is near my house and I know the owner. They do an excellent job for around 19.95 and i don't mind paying that every now and then. I had them do a complete detail (clay wax and leather polish) for about $199 and that was with two more washes included. I thought that it was an alright deal.

Just recently though, I have to clean my wheels almost everyday since i got the 18's. I need some Porterfield pads...anyone use these?

 

My tips for handwashing your car:

-NEVER EVER use a sponge- they can get dirt and sand imbedded in them and cause scratches. Use a nice soft wash mitt.

-NEVER wash in direct sunlight. This will dry the soap too fast and cause spotting.

-NEVER use dish washing soap- it's too harsh and will strip wax. Use a good name brand car wash soap.

-Wash and rinse one section of the car at a time so it doesnt dry in spots. Always start at the top so the dirt washes down the sides that are already dirty.

-Use a high quality rubber squeege to remove most of the water and then follow up with a clean chamois. (or do like I do -use a leaf blower to remove water- it works great)

-In between washes use a California duster to remove light dust.

-Always keep a nice coating of wax- when the water doesn't form tight beads right away it's time to get the buffer out. I use a 10" random orbital buffer and can do a car in less than 20 minutes.

-If this seems like too much work just take it to your local detailer- he'll be glad to clean your car and clean out your wallet!

 

Hand washing is a good thing if you value minimizing swirl marks off dark colored paint. However, ordinary car wash machine swirls, can be removed by a detailer.

In the end, it's pampering your car, therapy for yourself, minimizing the trips to the detailer, and keep your car with fewer swirls between waxes and detailings.

BUT... it does take time.

 

I only hand wash, never, ever a machine. If we had brutal winters here in Oregon, I might have a different view. I wash mine once per week minimum. My wheels get cleaned twice per week. It rains here from Oct - May and the road grime and brake dust looks like crap. I see a few other C coupe, mostly with the base wheels that are so black, you would think they came that way.

I have a fail proof process that takes only 30 minutes when not raining, 15 minutes in the rain. Get the entire car wey with good power from the hose, just a normal adjustable hose end. Use a high quality car soap, I use Zymol which smells great too. Use 2 mits, one for paint, and the other for wheels.

Wash the top (roof) first, side glass, and windshield, two fresh mit dips one left, one right. Take another dip and hit the back glass. Rinse all soap off and get the rest of the car wet again. Dip twice and get the hood, then 2 more dips from the rear, rince again. Hit one of the sides with 3 dips or more, shaded side first, rinse and repeat on the other side. Dip 2 or 3 times and get the front real well, make sure all road debris and bugs are off. rinse the whole car again. Rinse out the first mit and get the wheel mit and clean each wheel. Rinse one more time. Move the car to a shady area, if not an option when washing. Use a synthetic or real chamois, I perfer synthetic as the real ones tend to leave little tiny yellow fibers behind. Start at the roof and all glass, just remove the large amount of water, don't worry about little streaks, wring out the chamois and get all the streaks, do this for all the other body panels. Use a towel or another chamois for the wheels, never use anything on the wheels that you would use on the paint. Now that all the water is off the paint, there is still water in the molding seams that must be dealt with, esp on a black car. I really like the credit card trick, place the credit card (I actually use an old Starbucks coffee card) and fold the chamois around it. Run it along the moldings once or twice and the water is gone. You frequently need to move the card position to a drier spot. This is a great tip from some other member 6 months ago, I forget who it was now. If the hard water is still leaving some spotting, just use a good spray wax to remove them. It only takes another 10 minutes or less to hit the panels on a pano'd coupe.

Oh, yeah, never ever use a leaf blower to remove water from your Mercedes. It might work well on a 1986 Dodge Colt or a Yugo. Unless you have a good filter or if you want to entertain your neighbors just say no. It will indescriminately pound your car with whatever crap gets picked up in the air intake.

I hope that helps. The more you wash by hand, the fast it becomes.

 

Ha! I was so bad this winter. I think I washed the car all but three of four times, less then once a month.

But always, always handwash the thing or pay to have it done. With all the road salt I rinsed it down a few times before I hit the paint with the rags to avoid scratching it.

I still use old cotton t-shirts to wash and old soft worn-out cotton towels to dry. Works well enough without getting too fancy. I do use an air compressor to blow the water out of the moldings. Works well but the air is well filtered.

 

Never, nerver, never use a chamois on paint. Because it doesn't have the nap that towels, microfiber or cotton, have, any littlle bits of debris will be dragged along the suface of the paint as you dry the car. Unless you live in a perfectly dust free area and the wind never blows, you will get dust, small leaf debris etc deposited on the car between the final rinse and when you dry the last few panels.

 

This is very good advice. It's even more important if, like Margo, you live where it's hot and the sun always shines. Putting a wash solution onto hot paint heats up the water. Not only does it dry quickly, but the heated water removes the wax more quickly and the droplets left on the paint after rinsing form little lenses that focus the sun's radiation. Wash in the early morning or at sunset when the paint is cool to the touch, and use a microfiber towel to dry. This topic is discussed extensively in the Detailing forum.

 

I hand wash and quick wax my car once a week. Then once a month I use paint cleaner, polish, then wax. I have never used one of those gas station machine wash's before.

 

hand wash my car's exterior/interior once a week. I have never used one of those gas station machine wash coz I don't trust them. The car's interior is most improtant to me as I spent most of the time inside my car than outside! Every nook and corner inside the car gets a wipe every week....inside the glovebox, centre console, sunglass holder,door seals...you name it I wipe it.

I think I will try some '3m handglaze' on the exteior over the Easter holidays.

 

Ok, this is starting to sound like it needs to go to the detailing and auto car forum but....

How do you guys "wipe" or "clean" inside the armrest or in the glovebox where it is that velour like material? I have a build up of dust and lint that I find hard to get out and it just makes it look dirty. If I try to wipe it out with a cloth it just adds more little white lint ***** in there. Any ideas?

 

Lint? That's easy! Get yourself a lint roller that is normally used for clothing! If you can't find one, go buy the widest roll of masking tape you can and fold the tape in half so the adhesive is on the outside. The roller is fast but the tape works just as well. Vacuum the area first to remove the dust and other stuff.

 

good call, i should have thought about that. Thanks

 

Sometime when I hand wash my car, I will find a little scratch or rock chips. mannn.... so sad.

 

In reply to DaBeze, you may try Blu-Tack (the stuff which you use to stick posters on to walls). Just roll a strip (approx 2cm) of that stuff into a ball and start picking up the dust inside your glovebox. If the ball gets dirty, just stretch it and re-roll again so that it has another clean surface. Works wonder for all felt surfaces including the linings around your side windows.

No doubt a static roller may work faster but you will not be able to reach into nooks and corners.

 

Anyone know how dealers wash the car?
I always let dealer wash my car (for free) since I am too lazy..

 

which dealerships give out free car washes in s. cali? i only know of house of imports... but then i got my car there..

 

my method is to just go in and complain about something... they'll take your car for a day, but it comes back clean...:p

 

Very poorly

They will most likely swirl and marr your car to bits.