Just wondering what type of stuff you use to wash and wax your car. Do you use terry cloths, or cotton cloths, or what to wash. Do you use towels to dry, let it dry it's self, or something else. -Kevin

I don't go for the gimmic stuff. You know the stuff that cost twice as much as the regular.
Anyways I use Turtle Wax Car Wash with a sponge, and to dry the car, get this I use my 5 HP Wet/Dry Genie Vacuum to blow the water off. It works great because it will get the water out of those crevices and specially the side view mirrors, emblems, and around the lights. You don't have to wait until the wheels dry either or get a shammy all messed up. Less chances to get your paint scratched too.
I use the vacuum's removable head off the container and tape the ball so it doesn't plug the suction (I keep it like this). Then I attach the hose with a tube section and the narrow attachment to get higher velocity. The motor head has a handle so holding it is very convenient.
This is my own version like those in some car wash places where the whole car gets blown dry as you drive out.
For wax I use Mothers, and for the tires I use Meguiars Tire Protectant Gel which outlast Armor All any day.

yea, i second OZZY about the meguiars tire gel,


cept i use TWO GEL on the outside face, and spray on the inside...


hmm............. nozzle X4 each cleverly placed in tire well, resevoir of tire Spray gloss..... come out of car wash. drive slow and hit it...


doobie doobie...



HEY QUESTION what kind of towel is best for drying? i dont care for cost, i am getting the towel, and i have someone who will do the 'graphics' right on it.

For washing it, last season I used Tutle Wax Car Wash. For glass, I used Invisible Glass which I really liked. For the interior pieces, I used Black Magic, but wasn't that happy with it and this season I will be using armor all. I didn't use any tire stuff cause my tires were crap, but I have some STP Son of A Gun tire spray for this season. I used Meguires Carnauba (sp?) for polishing it. To dry it, I used the California Water Blade, and I like it a lot. Works well.

I can't wait for some good weather. I'm gonna Zaino my car, polish the rims, detail the interior and engine bay, and POR-15 the underbody and wheel wells. Then cruise

I use turtle wax car wash every time I wash my car, which is like 3 times a week, and I really like it. I use Eagle One Wet Tire Shine on the tires, it works okay but I'm gonna go back to Armor All once this bottle runs out. To dry I use the California Water Blade and some terry cloth rag things then a California Car Duster when I'm done to get any lint or dust off. I love the Blade and the Duster but the terry cloth just kinda pushed the water around so now I use some nice soft towels I got at Wal-mart for like 10 bucks.

MetalliCamaroRS: I can't wait for nice weather either. I plan on using a Mothers kit I saw in a recent issue of Super Chevy that has a clay bar, trigger wash, and Carnauba cleaner wax as well as Zaino then go cruise.

Well, I'll add my 1 penny.

I only use Meguiars products.
They've made a true believer out of me, I've used hundreds of products in my last 20 years of owning/cleaning my own cars and Meguiars is the best I've found to date, and I'm still experimenting.

One thing I've found to be key elements are as follows.

#1 use 2 buckets when you wash your car no matter what products you use. 1 bucket holds your sudzy water and the other bucket is your rinse water.
This way you wash off the dirt and do not add dirt to your soapy water which can be a major factor in swirl marks. Also use a good Chenile mitt, sponges/towels only scatter the dirt where you are washing, again causing swirl marks and fine scratches in your paint.

#2 Remove the spray nozzle from your hose after you do your initial hose down to remove loose dirt. Using a spray nozzle to rinse is only inviting water spots to come in and set up residence on/in your paint. I just turn on the hose and let the water sheet off the car. This also helps save you time in the drying process.

#3 Wash and dry the car in sections starting from the top. After your done washing and rinsing the hood, go over it with a dry towel before the water spot creapies move in on you. same applies for the rest of the car.

#4 No matter what you use to dry your car, rub lightly from left to right and up and down rather than in circular motions. This helps in reducing swirl marks as well.

#5 Apply polish/wax the same way as mentioned in #4. Yes, you do get a build up, but that's what wax is for. Then twice a year you remove the build up using a clear coat cleaner.

Look at the sig below. This is the results I get from using these steps. I'll be the first to tell ya the car has been repainted, but the paint job was over 6 months old at the time this pic was taken. And now it's been over a year and it looks just as good.

Ok, maybe that was 5 pennies worth, so I'll shut up now.

Here is my reciepe for a sweet car

1) The cheapest car wash at Kmart or Auto Zone
2) Eagle 1 Rim Cleaner
3) A SOS pad for the really dirty spots on the rims
4) A 30 mile an hour driver around the block to get off the water
5) A chami (?) of some sort
6) A cotton towel to get off the little bit of Chami fuzz
7) Lately Z2 + Z3
8) Black magic on the tires, front fog light girll, taillights and parking lights
9) Armor all inside
10) Windex

** Mix all together in the driveway, then drive around and prepare to turn heads**


Look at my cig, tel me if it works

Some long strories there about washing and waxing. Well hey thats good you have to take pride in you car when your driving a third gen. I have a few rock chips and the paint is not new so I dont spend to much.....

1.standard car wash and dry with a leather shamie(dont think thats spelled right)
2.Carnuba wax by mothers
3.Black magic wet tire
4.Black magic interior something
>take the t-tops off and drive away:rockon:

I'm hooked on the Meguiar's Cleaner Wax, the best I've used for $5, easiest to take off and the best shine. That is until I can afford some Zaino. Also I use the California Water blade to dry the car, and the Cal. Duster in between.

I've heard some nasty things about ArmorAll......So I use anything BUT that on my car, Westley's car wash, Black Magic Tire Wet, Finish 2001 on the inside, 3M Perfect-It Glaze/wax etc.

go to target or walmart and get the "water blade" It is a soft squgee that wipes most water off reallt fast to you dont get water spots. Than you can dry water that is left over.

Here's my question: I have hard water spots on my back window that were on there when I got the car, Any idea how to get them off. I was thinking clay bar.

I've been using Zymol Auto Wash and Zymol Cleaner Wax for about 2years and I like it pretty well.

I have two completely different methods that I use depending on which car I'm washing and how its been prepped.

For my non-zaino'd cars I have one sponge, a 5 gallon bucket, a generic carwash soap, and a spray nozzle. Spray off the big chunks, use the sponge to scrub, use a bug scrubber for bugs, road tar, etc.. Use simple green or Castrol super clean cut 3 parts water 1 part solvent on the wheels... I dry with an Absorber, do the windows with a squeegee, then Bleachwhite for cleaning the tires, and follow up with armorall for shine. For wax I typically use autofom paste wax.

For my Zaino'd cars I have two sponges, one for the top surfaces and one for the bottom surfaces. The door edge guards are the dividers. I use the same 5 gallon bucket, with Zaino carwash liquid. Spray off, then use the top sponge to do the roof, hood, spoiler, and top of the nose. Rinse, then use a bug scrubber on the nose, and behind the wheels, followed by the bottom surface sponge. I scrub everything with that sponge including the wheel wells and wheels, then rinse everything. I dry the car with a different absorber and squeegee the windows. I use the same bleach white followed by armorall for the wheels and wheel wells, RainX on all the glass, Zaino plastic polish on the taillights, signal lights, etc. For shine about once a year I clay and then follow with the full compliment of Zaino products.

Under the hood gets detailed, interior gets vaccuumed and detailed, etc.

I've got a black car and when I wax I use the Black Turtle Wax. I LOVE it Last summer I bought several different waxes & it was my favorite. Nothing is worse than spotting little spots of white wax out of little nooks & crannies.

this past week I became a confident user in Mr Clean autodry....it works great

Meguiars products are the best!

I've got a black car & tried the Mr. Clean & had water spots. I didn't like it & returned it.

If it doesn't say Meguiar's on it, I probably don't use it, with the exception of Eagle One A2Z wheel cleaner and tire shine, Metal Armor metal polish for the shiny bits, and Metal Armor Paint and Hard Surface Polish and Final Polish and Sealant for my wheels.

I use Gold Class car wash. with two Deep Pile Chenille Wash Mitts, one for the upeer, and one for the lower, and a grit guard in my rinse bucket to keep it from getting gritty.

Various cleaners/polishes/waxes, depending on the need. my LSP is currently Meguiar's #21

I use Quik Interior detailer, and Gold Class Leather wipes. Ammonia free glass cleaner.

I use a water blade on the glass, and a blower for the paint, followed by an absorber to finish the drying.

in between washes I use Meguiar's quik detailer.

The only towels that ever touch my paint are Microfiber.

I like my results.

I used to like it until the filter only laster about 2 washes before it didn't really work anymore, and I had to buy soap for it about every 3 weeks. Both of them are $5 each and considering how much I wash my car, that really adds up. I'd rather buy a good chamois and put some elbow grease into it.

Meguiar's products are the best, especially the tire gel and and Crystal car wash!

What about the black headlight buckets, is there anyway to shine those up without painting them? The car is going to go to the body shop before too long, but I want them shiny now.

well, if you really want to get the car in mint condition, go out and buy a buffing wheel. I only use 3M products on my car when it comes to detailing. you should be alright with a fine buffing compound by 3M, and then 3M Perfect-It pads will do wonders on your car. I'll have to agree that maguires wax and clearcoat are up there with the best products i use in my shop. If you have an ardex shop in your area use them for the interior cleaner, and brightner. Ardex is one of the best interior products i use. Eagle one tire/rim cleaner is by far one of the most potent products on the market, it'll take years off your rims. I would be weary about a brillo pad with any chrome, or metallic alloys on your rims though. Aluminum alloy, or dulled rims shouldn't have too many issues with the brillo pads, just be careful. If you're weary about using a buffing wheel then just buy the compound and use a damp cloth to work the compound into a 1 1/2 area. Get a very soft dry cloth to rub out once dry, and that should work well. well hope that helped.

forgot to add, buffing a car is a once a year type thing, or if you scratch the sufrace clearcoat, by no means should you be buffing the car every time you clean it. for regular washes any of the above stated products should keep your car in nice looking condition. the last thing you'd want to do is continually remove the clearcoat by using compound.

Yes. Mother's Back to Black. This is arguabley the single most effective detailing product I use. I use it everytime I show, which is a little more often than suggested, but it works!


http://www.mothers.com/products/ It's listed under special products. Got for about $5 bucks at AutoZone.

Wash- Meguiar's (in the pink bottle) I use a terry mit to wash, and THE ABSORBER to dry.

Wax- Meguiars gold. I found the regular meguiars worked great but left swirls that were a pain to get off.

Wheels-Soap and water for wash, Mother's Billet for polish.

Tires- Black Magic.

Interior- Formula 2000.

Glass- Any aerosol can glass cleaner. It seems to evaporate a LOT quicker, and helps to not leave streaks.

...and Simple Green for everything else!!!!!

Coolness, I will go pick some up for the Holiday weekend ahead.