Brad4rdHay

Washing

Purpose: Wash off dirt and grime that build up over time.
Pro: Provides the most noticeable improvement in appearance of any of the steps.
Con: If done improperly, can cause swirl marks.
Frequency: weekly / bi-weekly, or when car becomes dirty

Products Needed:
2-buckets (1 with suds, one with clean water)
1-coton chenille wash mitt
2-100% cotton “rim rags”
1- Bug Scrub sponge (the yellow sponge with the white mesh around it)
2- 100% coton or microfiber drying towels ( I like the Big Blue Towel properautocare.com)
Wash Solution (Mothers, Meguiars Gold Class, Sonax, P21S, Auto Int)

Procedure:
Fill both buckets with at least two gallons of water.* Pour in proper amount of solution in one of the buckets and mix to get nice suds.** Spray down entire car with strong stream of water at an angle to get off loose dirt. Working in sections, from top to bottom, dip mitt in the solution, gently and thoroughly wipe down the section, saving the very dirty parts for the “rim rags”. If mitt becomes soiled use other side. Clean off the mitt in the bucket of clean water. Rinse section with hose and repeat for entire car.*** Save the rocker panels and wheels for last, being the dirtiest, and use the rim rags. Don’t forget wheel wells and door jams (keep those kick panels nice and purty). The key is to keep the mitt clean and full of suds. If the wash bucket becomes dirty, pour it out and fill again. Remember to was all the windows and wipers and to get into the front airdam. If there are stubborn bugs or sap, usually on the front of the car, gently use the bug scrub brush. Gently dry entire car, remembering the door jams and such.

* Try to find marked buckets, if not, you can measure and mark it yourself.
** A good way to get suds s to fill just below the mark, pour in the solution then spray with a strong stream of water up to the line.
*** After washing and rinsing the entire car, pinch the hose and use the gentle stream of water to sheet most of the beads off, this will save drying time.

Next: Wheels and Tires

RP-350Z

Thanks for the writeup Brad4rdHay,

The only thing I would change is the part where you say to "Spray down entire car with strong stream of water to get off loose dirt"
I would only use the water pressure from the hose to wash off loose dirt, using a stream could grind the dirt into the car.

Brad4rdHay

fixed (work in progress)

Brad4rdHay

BTW the products listed in () are my personal recomendations. Also, I will name all of them "Detailing Session..." making future searching much easier. Any questions just ask. They will be getting much longer

fatZo

I was told by the detailing guy at my dealership not to use a wash mitt, as the cotton tends to hold the dirt on to itself. As a result, the dirt trapped in the mitt scratches the paint.

The detailing guy suggested that I rather use a broom with a very soft brush, and clean it priodically in the clean water bucket to remove the residual dirt trapped in the broom. He also said use a different broom for the wheels/rims.

This may be more prevalent in Canada, where there is a lot of dirt and salt on the road surface which eventually get attached to the car.

WashUJon

I've had that kind of experience with wash mitts. They're so hard to keep clean. The fibers just lock in the dirt.

What about the actual scrubbing motion? No circular patterns, right? That would create swirl marks, right?