Hi,

I know I should really wash my car myself to make sure it's done carefully, but does anybody know of a great place in Los Angeles (preferably Pasadena) to take it to? I know there are places that do hand washing, but I'd like it done in a covered area away from the sun.

Thanks!

 

New E

I'm around that area sometimes but i don't really think there are any good car wash place around there. I know in the glendale area there are a few.

 

JamE55,

I am going to try and do it myself, but if you wouldn't mind mentioning a few in Glendale that would be great! I read somewhere Joe's Car Wash in Downtown LA is pretty good, and it's close to my work.

Thanks...

 

If you do it yourself that's great. Don't really have any experience as far as car washes in the downtown area. There's a few in glendale but i forgot their names. I will check them out this week and let you know. Or even better maybe we can meet and then i'll show you where they are. Either way i'll let you know.

Thanks!

 

San Marino Auto Grooming on Huntington Dr in San Marino does a very good hand wash job.

 

Thank you M Brabus, I'll go by and check them out. I found 100% cotton towels seem to work better than the chamois, but it still took several hours last weekend. After going around and around the car trying to catch each last drip of moisture, I was tempted to just use a hair dryer (only kidding, at least for right now...)

 

New E

If you're still interested the car wash in glendale i was referring to is called "California Hand And Car Wash". I used them once and they were very good!

 

Royal Hand Wash on Arroyo is great. We take our cars there all the time. and they can do anything from a simple cleaning to detailing with clay wax and everything. I highly recommend them.

 

Thanks to everbody who has replied to this thread. I have quite a few now to check out. I've passed by Royal Hand Wash, had a standard car wash (on my prior car) at Royal Hand Wash, and have the manager's name at San Marino to ask him a couple of questions. In the interim I'm kind of getting used to a new routine of dedicating 3 hours a weekend to washing it, but I know one of these days I'm going to feel really lazy and want someone to wash it for me.

Adios!

 

I know the feeling...

 

@Streamliner Since you asked for recommendations on tire dressing, I'd strongly recommend . It's the first product I've used that restores the tire to that original deep black, adds just enough "satin" finish, and doesn't make the tires super shiny. Also very long lasting as it does "bond" somehow at the polymer level with the surface of the rubber. Good stuff.

As someone who spent years with buckets and hoses and all sorts of towels and wash mitts "like my dad taught me to wash a car," it was a huge revelation to discover how professional detailers do it. You can do a pretty good job with just the things around the house, but if you want to make this your preferred washing method, it's worth spending $75 or so on some good quality supplies. In order of importance (and with a disclaimer that I don't work for or hold any stock in Optimum, but after years of Meguiar's and other products it was amazing to finally find these Optimum products on some detailing videos):

1) The : The best way to ensure you aren't dragging surface dirt and dust across the panel when you wipe. It's sliced into 200 or so "fingers" that pick up the dirt and keep it off the surface of the sponge. Make one pass, turn over and make a parallel pass, then rinse before continuing.

2) : No suds, no soap, just a mild surfactant that loosens dirt and suspends it in an emulsion so you can wisk it away. Very environmentally friendly.

3) Any 3- or 4-gallon wash bucket with a grit screen in the bottom. Very important to have a screen so that when you wring out your Big Red Sponge, all released particles go to the bottom of the bucket where you can no longer pick them up on your sponge and scratch your paint.

4) Dry Me a River Waffle Towel: From The Rag Company, purveyors of amazing microfiber and waffle-weave towels for detailing. The 16x24 is a good size -- about four of them will be all you need to dry your SL, panel by panel.

From there it's pretty simple -- add Optimum No-Rinse to your wash bucket, one capful per gallon. Wet the Big Red Sponge and wring out until *just* stops dripping. Wipe across the panel in one direction only using NO pressure. Turn over, make a parallel pass. Rinse sponge in bucket and repeat until panel is done. Take a waffle towel folded in eighths and dry the panel with no pressure. Takes about 20 minutes for the whole car.

To really up your game, you can add the Optimum Clay Towel and Optimum Car Wax (spray) and then you can clay and wax in ONE step after the Sponge, then dry with the waffle towel. Adding the clay and wax step doubles the time for the whole process but the results are "better than factory." There's a great on exactly how to do this, and I'd never go back to any other method. (This is also how I found the sponge and towels and the Optimum products!) Of course after the first time, you don't really need to use the clay towel again for a while, so you can just apply the wax to the wet surface and wipe dry with the waffle towel. (I know "clay towel" sounds like heresy to clay bar aficionados, but it's stellar.)

And lastly, if you want to achieve the crazy water beading that @Utopia Texas showed in this thread, I'd recommend this product: There are no words for how good this product is. The result is so smooth, shiny, and slick that road oil, tire and brake dust, grime, etc., will barely leave a film. If you wash/clay/wax (one step!) and then go over with Bead Maker, you can go quite a while after that with just a quick "sponge down" and a wipe even after some pretty intense rain driving.

Of course, some Saturdays you just want to pay the detail guy, which is perfectly fine, too. :-)