• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Car Detailing

tiecollector

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
6,790
Reaction score
25
I need to wash my new car but am not sure what I should do. Washing it myself would be best but the apartment complex I live at doesn't make this doable really. Should I fork out the cash for a pro job or is it super bad to put it through one of those gas station washes?

If I do wash it myself, what is best to use?
 
Last edited:

fredfred

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
1,108
Reaction score
2
Hand wash at a place with jet sprayers. If you go through one of those "mega-brusher" places that swirl and go over your car, you'll get swirls in the paint eventually. If they say "touchless" then it's safe for the car. Won't be as good/detailed as if you do it by hand, but won't hurt the car.

Use a chamois (sp?) to keep water spots from forming. And wax the car on occasion to keep it looking good.
 

indy116

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Messages
240
Reaction score
0
Definitely do not go to the tunnel washes with brushes, touchfree washes if you have to (depending on weather..). I don't even like the brushes in the quarter washes.

In an apartment complex, you can use a hoseless washing product and just wash in your parking spot. You won't want the car to be dripping mud, but some light grime isn't bad. I use Optimum No Rinse on my car. Takes some careful technique, but I feel perfectly safe with it. Only use two gallons of water.

Microfiber is where it's at for use on the car. I have a few waffle weave towels for drying (both with the No Rinse and when I borrow mom's driveway), and a ton of other smaller towels for other various tasks.

While not as expensive as buying nice clothes, you can sink a chunk of change in to car care products
smile.gif
 

audiophilia

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
3,251
Reaction score
78
Your location makes it easy.

Coin op.
Microfibre towels.
Stand back and admire.

By hand
Pro detailer
Touchless car wash

In that order.
 

Despos

Distinguished Member
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Mar 16, 2006
Messages
8,767
Reaction score
5,775
I get a hand wash in Chicago and pay between $8.00 and 15.00. Some are better than others but it beats going thru the tunnel.

If you want some good info on doing it yourself check out the advice section here.

http://www.autogeek.net/
 

Dmax

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
1,289
Reaction score
10
A lot of times to do a good job you have to do it yourself. If you don't have easy access to a water hose, some gas stations have car wash wands you can use for a few dollars.

You can go crazy with some car care products and there are forums of car care nuts where Artisan Fan must be a senior member.
What I do is first hose the car down to get loose dirt particles off, mix some car wash liquid (Mother's or Eagle One or another middle tier brand, not a laundry detergent) in a bucket, next use a wool mitt to lather the car up (a wool mitt will trap the dirt particles inside the fibers to prevent them from scratching the finish) and hose it down. Next I dry the car using a shammy (real or synthetic, your choice) and apply a paste or liquid wax if you like. I let the wax dry and buff it off using an old cotton towel.

Some people apply a polish instead or after a wax and use an orbital buffer instead of applying the wax by hand. There are also clay bars that are used to remove contaminants embedded in paint, though you probably don't have to worry about them for a few month since you have a new car.
 

lefty

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
10,764
Reaction score
4,567
Cool Hand Luke car wash FTW.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later. I AGREE

TIP: to embed Youtube clips, put only the encoded part of the Youtube URL, e.g. eBGIQ7ZuuiU between the tags.

lefty
 

brianja

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
180
Reaction score
9
I could go on for a quite a while on this but will keep it short...

If you really care about your car's finish don't go to a car wash of any sort. That includes the touchless high pressure places too. All they will do is make a mess of your finish.

If you can do a proper hand wash with the "two bucket method" I would certainly do that as my first choice. You have to read up on proper washing technique, though.

If that's not an option you still have better options than heading to a car wash.

I live in an apt. building and don't have a hose hookup in my garage. In the winter I wash in the garage using ONR (Optimum No-Rinse) and the two bucket method. Research it a bit on the various detailing boards (I strongly recommend detailingbliss.com). A lot of people are skeptical of the product (I was too), but they typically are those that haven't tried it. It gives great results.
 

brianja

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
180
Reaction score
9
Originally Posted by indy116
Definitely do not go to the tunnel washes with brushes, touchfree washes if you have to (depending on weather..). I don't even like the brushes in the quarter washes.

In an apartment complex, you can use a hoseless washing product and just wash in your parking spot. You won't want the car to be dripping mud, but some light grime isn't bad. I use Optimum No Rinse on my car. Takes some careful technique, but I feel perfectly safe with it. Only use two gallons of water.

Microfiber is where it's at for use on the car. I have a few waffle weave towels for drying (both with the No Rinse and when I borrow mom's driveway), and a ton of other smaller towels for other various tasks.

While not as expensive as buying nice clothes, you can sink a chunk of change in to car care products
smile.gif


I just saw your post and it would have saved me some typing if I had. Spot on advice.
 

Artisan Fan

Suitsupply-sider
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
32,196
Reaction score
377
Optimum is a good product but it doesn't clean as good as a regular hand wash in my experience. Indy's other advice is good. No modern auto wash does a good job as all leave swirls in the paint.

I like P21S, Meguiars or Zaino Z-7 for car soap and I highly recommend a sheepskin mitt ($5 WalMart, Eurow brand-pick the softest) and waffle weave microfiber towels for drying the car to prevent water spotting. For interior work, I recommend 303 Aerospace for the dash and plastic parts, doors, etc. I also recommend a weekly or biweekly vacuuming which works wonders.
 

brianja

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
180
Reaction score
9
Originally Posted by Artisan Fan
Optimum is a good product but it doesn't clean as good as a regular hand wash in my experience. Indy's other advice is good. No modern auto wash does a good job as all leave swirls in the paint.

I like P21S, Meguiars or Zaino Z-7 for car soap and I highly recommend a sheepskin mitt ($5 WalMart, Eurow brand-pick the softest) and waffle weave microfiber towels for drying the car to prevent water spotting. For interior work, I recommend 303 Aerospace for the dash and plastic parts, doors, etc. I also recommend a weekly or biweekly vacuuming which works wonders.


As I had said... Optimum is clearly a second choice to a regular wash, but it is def. a good option for those of us who don't have easy access to a hose or who live in a cold winter climate.

I agree that Zaino Z7 is a great wash. It's what I use 75% of the time (I use Adams wash in a foam gun the rest of the time). In my experience P21s TAW is a bit too strong for an everyday wash and tends to strip off my LSP.

Picking up some MF towels (waffle weave) for drying is a great idea. If you really want to get crazy I have the CR Spotless and I was surprised at how good of a job it does.

For the interior I used 303 Aerospace for a number of years and really like it, but if you prefer something that leaves NO residue and a completely matte surface you can't beat Einzett Cockpit Premium.
 

Roikins

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
1,962
Reaction score
54
Originally Posted by Artisan Fan
Optimum is a good product but it doesn't clean as good as a regular hand wash in my experience. Indy's other advice is good. No modern auto wash does a good job as all leave swirls in the paint.

I like P21S, Meguiars or Zaino Z-7 for car soap and I highly recommend a sheepskin mitt ($5 WalMart, Eurow brand-pick the softest) and waffle weave microfiber towels for drying the car to prevent water spotting. For interior work, I recommend 303 Aerospace for the dash and plastic parts, doors, etc. I also recommend a weekly or biweekly vacuuming which works wonders.



Yeah, the 303 is great for the dash -- good protection and really shines things up. I used to use Zaino, but have switched to Einszett. If you really want your car to look good, it's almost a 1-2 day process, which is going to be really difficult in an apartment. I'd either ask a friend with a home if you can borrow their driveway and some water, or just do the basic wash in your space using the multiple bucket method and microfibre towels. Just remember to not wash using a circular motion because that causes swirl marks and to dab dry, not wipe. There's also the use of a Porter random orbital polisher if you're really detail crazy and want to take out swirl marks. Of course these days, now that the car has managed to get a few dings/chips and has seen a lot more track days, my need to get a mirror polish on the car is gone... I'll save it for the shoes.
smile.gif
 

jet

Persian Bro
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
22,391
Reaction score
11,133
Let me see if I can find the writeup I did several years ago on a detailing board about my washing process though you might get scared away TC.
 

audiophilia

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
3,251
Reaction score
78
Originally Posted by tiecollector
I need to wash my new car but am not sure what I should do. Washing it myself would be best but the apartment complex I live at doesn't make this doable really. Should I fork out the cash for a pro job or is it super bad to put it through one of those gas station washes?

If I do wash it myself, what is best to use? I might head over to grannys to do it.


All the info you'll ever need. An amazing place.

www.autopia.org/
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 36.2%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 59 38.8%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.2%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 26 17.1%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 26 17.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,158
Messages
10,578,898
Members
223,882
Latest member
anykadaimeni
Top