Thread: How to properly wash/wax your car.

Most people dont really know how to go about really washing there car the right way. They think you just take some soap and water and go to town. Infact idk how many people i see cleaning there car with dish soap(NO GOOD), it strips your wax that helps protect the car from the environment. So here is a quick and easy writeup on how i wash my car to give it that perfect shine.

Things ull need:


2x buckets
wash mit or sponge
Microfiber towels
polishing pads
Shammy
Car wash (non harmful to wax)
polish
wax


Step 1) Fill one bucket with water, Put a little car wash in other bucket and spray into it with hose to get that soap nice and foamy.
Step 2)Rinse car fully and try to get any dirt and debris off of it.
Step 3) Wash the car. Now the reason why you have 2 buckets is so you can get your wash mit Soapy to wash the car and the other bucket is to rinse off the dirt befor you go back for more soap so you dont get all that dirt in your clean bucket and risk putty that **** back on your car. (NEVER PUT ANYTHING YOUR USING ON THE GROUND) Also try to do small sections at a time from top to bottom so the soap goes down and rinses off the dirt on the bottom so by the time you get there its mostly gone to reduce risk of scratching.
Step 4) Take your Shammy or a soft towel and try to dry it as much as possible
Step 5) Move your car to a cool shady area pref inside.
Extra step) You could take the time to take any misperfections out of your paint here threw sanding and buffing but im not going to get to much into detail here cus im not going to be at risk of you screwing your paint. But basicly all you would do it wet sand with 2k grit paper on the scratch without going threw your clear coat. Then you would use a buffing agent, water and a Orbital buffer to buff out the fade.
Step 6) Time to polish. Ull need your polish a pad and a microfiber towel. Do small sections at a time. Apply a few dabs of polish on the section your doing and spread with pad in a up/down/left/right motion (not circular ,leaves swirls) untill you have a thin layer in the area. Allow to dry a minute or so untill it start to haze then take the other side of your pad or a microfiber towel and wipe it to shine. Repeat if neccesary. Do this over entire car on paint only.
Step 7) Now that your entire car is polished and looking all shiny its time to protect the shine and paint. Apply wax just how you applied the polish. But Its best to do several thin coats as if you were painting the car rather than thick coats so that 1 it stays on better and 2 gives it more of a shine.
Step 8) Clean and shine those Tires, Rims and plastics. Use any high grade tire cleaner to really eat off that grease and brake dust. Let it sit for 5-10 mins then rinse off with water (be careful not to get it on that nice paint you just did) Next take a Tire shine and just spray it on entire wheel and let it sit till it dries. Then apply another coat or two in the same manner so it really sticks and stays there. I use the same tire shine for my bumper plastics then just wipe it down after to help protect it and give it a nice new look.
Step 9) Now you done except to clean the windows and interior. For windows if there bad and not tinted i like to use windex and take a razor blade, get the window nice and wet with the windex and carefully use and up and down motion on the window with the razor blade to take off anything. But be careful not to scrape them with the edges. For tinted DO NOT USE ANYTHING WITH AMONIA (alot of common window cleaners have it)this will fade and cause your tint to peel and bubble. I use amonia to remove tint, and it works great for that.I know what people are going to say, why dont you clean wheels and windows ect first. Go ahead this guide was to show how to properly wash and wax the car. But on another note i did get some polish and wax on my windows a bit just from accidently touching it and what not so i prefer to do it this way.

Anyway heres my results


Hope you liked my guide gl and keep it clean.

Decent write up but your products aren't what I'd use and I don't even care about my car that much. Autogeek.net has vids etc of the best ways. Also they have the wookie mitt which is simply amazing. As for the buckets..if you get two of the grit guard buckets..with the inserts, your dirt will go to the bottom of your rinse bucket.

I was a porter for years and generally same idea just more involved in detail. I break out toothbrushes and ear swabs lol

Not a bad write-up but the reason you may have seen comments made on using Dawn dish soap to wash the car is because most people have it in the house, it is cheaper than most car wash bottles, and it is not abrasive or harmful to the paint or clear coat but will take off the dirt, grime, and wax. Yes, I said it takes off the wax. After all, we are going to polish the clear coat, try and remove scratches and then apply wax back to the car, why not get rid of all the old stuff in the way so you can polish the clear coat and really get down to the good stuff for that deep clean look.

If you just want to wash and quick detail, then yea I use the RainX car wash with the waxy balls in it and then shammy it down.

But if I am prepping for the awesomeness I want that top layer of wax gone so I can polish the clear and get rid of the deep scratches and then I re-apply the coats (plural) of wax to keep it protected for another 6 months to a year lol.

Otherwise, great write-up and thanks for sharing.

PS: VVV see the pretty silver, shes now going on 14 yrs old and the paint is still mostly flawless (some scratches but paint and clear coat are perfect) and very shine and reflective. Good scrub downs like I suggested help keep that.

you got any cluose ups on the black paint op. wanna ses if theres any swirl marks.

Originally Posted by Doug 97 gtp

you got any cluose ups on the black paint op. wanna ses if theres any swirl marks.

Def no swirl marks, i dont go in a circular motion to create them

Originally Posted by matt5112

Forgot clay bar?

ya ive used clay bar but meh they arnt what there cracked up to be imo i find buffing or polishing takes stuff off better

Originally Posted by Coleslaw

ya ive used clay bar but meh they arnt what there cracked up to be imo i find buffing or polishing takes stuff off better

the purpose of claybar isn't to remove scratches and swirls. it is meant to remove contaminants in your paint that you don't want on the surface when you begin the polishing stage. otherwise, you run the risk of polishing them right into the paint and being left off worse than you were (especially if you use a machine).

Originally Posted by JigSaw

Nice write up, although not my chemical choice. I have been detailing for the past 5 years. I will either use my chemical from my supplier or ill use meguairs.

I used the nufinish stuff in the orange bottle this last time and it worked pretty well. After i finish this bottle off ima try the dodo stuff.

Originally Posted by Kilroy

How warm should it be in order to use a clay bar?

I they to do mine when its in the 55-65 degree range. To hot and it'll dry the liquid stuff u spray on up to fast