Anyone recommend a simple car wash method and material system without a foam canon?
Thinking of purchasing Meguiars ultimate wash wax and then finish off with their hybrid ceramic spray?
Optimum no rinse
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2 bucket method with grit guard. You don’t need a foam cannon. Just get a good pressure washer.
Don’t use the wash wax. It will prevent the ceramic spray from sticking on the car. Use a soap without wax additives.
2 bucket wash, iron decon, clay, and then apply your protection.
Waterless wash → ONR.
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Make sure to clay bar, it will really help out. I work as a detailer, let me know if you have any more questions.
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What’s it help out with?
Removing embedded contaminants that car soap will not wash out.
To elaborate, it removes the gunk and stuff a normal wash will not take it, but a nice gentle rubbing with a clay bar will. Just make sure to fold over the clay to hide contaminants once in a while. I watch too much Ammo NYC.
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What they said is what I was going to say. If your car is white or silver or lighter, it can have something called rail dust which is these small little orange spots all over the car, usually near the front wheels and on the tailgate/trunk. when you clay bar you want to make sure you go side to side or up and down never in circular motions, and press hard but not too hard to make sure you don’t mar up the paint. the goal of clay barring is to make sure the paint is free of contaminants, so to test the paint, what you can do is spray the car off clay and then feel the paint with your hand, and it shouldn’t feel bumpy or feel grainy, it should feel buttery smooth.
This post triggered my periodic lamentation for the long discontinued Mr Clean Autodry car wash system. It definitely wasn’t a full detail but it was great for what it was: a simple, cheap and easy car wash. You didn’t even need to dry the car since the rinse water was filtered. I found one of the starter kits dirt cheap on clearance years ago. If I had known that they would be going for 80 bucks a pop now I would have cleared the shelves of them when I saw them!
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What if you got ceramic pro 9h done to it?
Just like someone said above, the 2 bucket method with grit guard. However, I do actually think that you really need a good a foam cannon, in case you really want to get it nice and shiny. Surely the most important what you really need is a really good pressure washer. In case you are having a good foam cannon, and a trash pressure washer, there is nothing good about it, the result will not be that good. However, mostly I prefer to get my cars to the best detailing center. Once a month I am sending them to SPAM as they are probably the best in this domain in the area.
Check out Chicago Auto Pros’ YouTube channel (Pan the Organizer is good too). They have a ton of great videos about washing. They also recommend certain products which will be a lot better than Meguiars.
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In addition to using a clay bar, def use an iron decontaminate like Iron X . It removes all the rail rust embedded in the paint which clay can’t remove.
Youd be surprised what comes off the paint, even on a fairly new car. Follow that up with clay then your favorite sealant.
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If your car is ceramic coated, you should use products that are safe for ceramic coats. Gtechniq makes products that are safe for ceramic and work really well. But the general idea is to use some type of ceramic safe chemical to decontaminate the surface since something like a clay bar could damage/remove the coating.
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Is it possible to get rid of swirls on black paint without going through a lot of effort and/or expense?
Every time I start to research this I get sucked into a hole and eventually just stop reading/watching videos on the topic.
I’d settle for a partial but noticeable improvement for modest cost/effort.
Also:
Reviews look good, but can anyone here recommend a brake dust repellent better than this, based on firsthand experience?
I’m finding myself taking the car to get washed when the wheels look awful, rather than when the painted metal surfaces are dirty.
I’m not looking for a cleaner, I’m looking for something that will reduce the hassle of dragging the car to be washed when the wheels start looking nasty.
Literally any brand would be better than AA
Stuff you can find OTC at a local store: Chemical Guys, Griots Garage, Meguiars, Duragloss, etc.
Ofc there are more obscure brands that can typically be found only online.
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OTC, where? At an auto parts store, or, say, Target?
For swirls marks and small scratches, it isn’t difficult but time consuming if you do it properly. You need to wash the car, clay bar, one step compound, and then sealant. Will probably take you 3-4 hours to do and $100-$300 depending on what tools you already have.
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Unfortunately I don’t have the patience to spend 3-4 hours on it.
Could I half-ass something in, say, an hour, for somewhere between marginal and moderate improvement (for the swirls).
There’s a high school kid in my neighborhood who posts on Nextdoor about his detailing business, and everyone raves about the work he does. Maybe that’s an option.
(On the other hand, I have no way of knowing if the swooning is coming from soccer moms who are just glad he got the dog puke out of the back seat of their Jeep Compass, or from the dads who show the posts to their sons as a “motivation” to get out and do something useful.)