ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

OK, I just got a new paintjob, so I'm gonna be buggin the hell out of you guys. My question is, what do you use to wash your cars? A brush, mit, sponge? Because I tried the microfiber mit, and sponge, and I already have swirl marks! And I just got the car home on saturday . So what would you guys reccomend?

TunedPort 335

I recommend trying to not wash it at all... but if you have to

Microfiber mit, Meguiars NXT car wash, California water blade, and Microfiber towels to dry the hard to get spots.

Seems to work good for me. Although i've only "washed" my car probably about 4 times in the past year I prefer Meguiars NXT detail spray and microfibers more

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

Between the rain and the construction around here, I have to wash the car, or it just looks downright skanky.

TunedPort 335

I hear ya, rain & dirtroads = washing my car

stalin05

one big thing to do to prevent more work when washing your car is to not to wash it in direct sunlight. find a shady spot and do it, and whatever you do, deat go*d dont speed around the streets to get it dry lol

Gr89RS

iTrader: (5)

OK, first we have to know if you ahve done anything besides washing, did you wax, polish it etc?? And how did you dry it, what did you dry it with? Also try to only wash in straight motions, not circular ones.

f355bird

iTrader: (2)

i use meguiars soft wash gel and a sponge. Works great

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah I wait for the sun to go down before I wash it. And I think the swirl marks may be from both taking it to my uncle to get the car painted and buffed (big mistake) and my dad wiping it all the time ( ). I need to get a car cover just to keep him from messin with the car while it's in the garage.

92RS3.1L

how long ago did you get it painted?

astoria18

I get this guy to do most of the work when I wash my car...

stalin05

86LG4T56

Dishsoap. Not exciting, but effective.

miamivice

agreed, bought and used it the other day.....works great.

Lumberjack

DON'T USE DISH SOAP!!!

Also I am wondering if you should be washing your car so soon since it has been painted.

Here is a good website for some info and products on washing a car to start you off with.

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/index.html

JungleMan

Not a good idea if you wax your car.

86LG4T56

What's wrong with dishsoap? Cheap dish soap and cheap Nu Finish makes my old paint shine like this:

JungleMan

Dish soap strips the wax off your car, simple as that. There is no good reason to use dish soap over even a cheap bottle of car wash. They make it for a reason.

Cadillac

If you want to strip off the old wax prior to a new coat... there you have it.

~shrug~

Personally, I never use soap. Water, sponge, rinse, chamois. Wax and/or polish every other quarter.

82firebird

Why no soap?

BulliTooth

i havnt washed my car in years...i dont drive it in the rain, it just gets dusty here and there

JungleMan

Well, I suppose if you wax your car every single time you wash it, go right ahead and use dish soap...

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

I painted the car a few weeks ago, and I know I probably should have waited to wash it. But I have to get the bugs, water spots, and tree sap off the fresh paint. Usually it's in the garage, but stuff happens...

And I've adopted a new method. Meguiar's Gold Class car wash "shampoo and conditioner", premium cut chenellie mit, and the California water blade. I should probably try Mr.Clean to dry it though. But then the car just sits there wet, collecting more dirt...

On the brightside though, I need to get the car buffed again. Because my uncle missed some spots (like half of the driver's side). So that should take out the swirls.

redraif

I would say you might have washed it too quick. Just the effort of rubbing to remove bug carcasses will scratch regaurdless of the cloth used. The bug guts as you rub accross are scratching the paint!

I've only used microfiber on mine since day one... was painted in Aug 2002. Swirls still down to a minimum. You are going to get some no matter what you do. Its usually not the mircofiber that does the scratching, but the dirt that gets trapped in it. I have lloked at teh mircofiber they sell at the stores adn my biggest complaint is the weave. When washing a car the clingy weave on the common styles, esp wash mits... catch and hold dirt and particles horribly. Just drop one one and you will see what I mean. you can't pick all the crap out. I ahve been using a microfiber cloth made by 3M that I got from my paint guy. Its called a 3m microfiber detailing cloth. it does not have the open weave that is common in most microfiber. It does not trap near the contaminants. Lets most spray off with the hose or rince to the bottom of the bucket in the wash water.

I now wash, dry, wax, wipe, and detail with microfiber only!

Has kept the paint show worth all this time even with the car being a daily driver!

86LG4T56

How much for the one in the red dress?

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

What the hell are you talkin about?


Anyway, I was looking at the swirls again under my flourescent light that shows every little imperfection and noticed that half of the swirls are in circular motions. Like from a buffer. So I can only assume that they're from my uncle's **** poor job. The other half of the swirls is just from the wetsanding...

86LG4T56

What do you mean, what am I talking about?? I'm talking about the one in the middle of course!

>>

Brisk

iTrader: (25)

lol.. I'll take one of each, including the one in the red dress

seriously though... looks like the washing thing is pretty similar.. how about wax and polishing?

which one comes first... wax the car, then polish it?? or

polish the car, then wax it??

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

Polish first to smooth and clean the paint. Then wax it as a final touch. While we're on the subject... what do you all use for waxing and whatnot. I presume most of you use microfiber. But I was on the Zaino site a while ago and they said to use only 100% cotton.

redraif

I wax and wipe off with Microfiber! All the supposed 100% cotton towels I ahve used have scratched!

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

Well the Zaino site said that some towels aren't really 100% cotton, only certain parts. But I think he may just be trying to get more money out of me...

Metalhead

microfiber towels are great for almost any project on a car. Wipe off dust, remove the wax, water spots, and just about any thing else you can think of. They are lent free too I use them everyday at work to detail the cars. Terry cloth towels do leave scratches and lent afterwards.

DanTheMan_smlk

you are only supposed to rinse the car with water for a few weeks after paint. Maybe use a wet wash cloth. Oh well, i can already see its too late.....do u have pics of the new paint?

xlwhellraiser

iTrader: (1)

water?!?!

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

I know I know... but I couldn't just leave the crap on my new paint! And I don't have a digital camera so I don't have any recent pics. But here's one in the booth.

Gr89RS

iTrader: (5)

That looks gorgeous!
What plans do you have for it besides fixing the current blunder?

Brisk

iTrader: (25)

looks awesome!

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

Thank you. I put a lot of work into it.

Right now I'm just trying to restore it. Pretty much all I have left is a new dash pad, and I can start taking it to shows. Then I'll probably start working on the suspension until the 305 quits. After that, the sky's the limit.

But yeah, the swirls are definitely from when the car was buffed. They're in very tight circular patterns so they definitely aren't from me. I need to quit looking at it under that damn fluorescent light. I need a new buff job...

stalin05

Lets say my car got done being painted tomorrow. How long should i wait before washing it?

Brisk

iTrader: (25)

I'm no expert but I've been told to let the paint cure/set for at least 30 days before doing anything to it (including washing) ...

..perhaps someone has some better advice.

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, in hindsight wait at least a week or two. Maybe leave the car out in the sun to help speed up the drying process.

shotgun

When I got my car painted, on the receipt it said not to wax the car for 18 days or my warranty would be void and to refrain from washing the car too often or within 5 days. I'd say that's a fairly good rule to go by, luckily I was allowed to garage my car the first 18 days and I didn't wax it until it was 32 days later.

a mack6

iTrader: (1)

i use megiuars gold class car wash shampoo and conditioner. Works good, even though its hard to say how good a car wash is.

I do have 2 questions about washing cars though...#1...today i made a small bucket of dish soap water/wash to remove the wax on one of my fender flares so i could do some touchup. I squeezed the sponge out very thoroughly after washing but still some suds would come out of it. I know it seems trivial but is the small amount of dish soap that might still be left in the sponge strip some of my wax off the next time i go to wash my car [with my meguiars stuff]? (id hate to have to re-wax my car again just because of a very small amount of dish soap)

and also, how do you guys wash your car...i been doin it so ill go over the entire car with the sponge thing and get it soapy, and then wash it off (sometimes spots are already dry when i come back to rinse off). Should i do a section and then rinse, then do another section and rinse, etc...or is what im doing fine?

Gr89RS

iTrader: (5)

I would wash out the rag after you use dish soap just to be sure. I always wash then rinse in sections especially if the sun is out, if it is overcast you can usually get away with scrubbing the whole car then rinsing all at once.

ScottyRS

iTrader: (2)

You should wash the car one area at a time, then rinse it one area at a time. Start at the top and work your way down.

And I too am satisfied with the Meguiars shampoo and conditioner stuff.