Alright well Im on here because my ole lady says I wash my car too often and Im too **** about it, I try and wash my car every friday. So how often do you guys wash your's and whats your routine?

My routine is hand washing with Meguiar's Gold class soap which is applied with a washing mitt, I spray the wheel's with Meguiar's Hot wheel's all wheel cleaner rinse car and wheel's off. For the waxing I use the Turtle wax "Wax as you dry" and dress up the tire's with Meguiar's Hot Shine tire spray. As you can see I prefer the meguiar's brand Ive used several and this is the one I like the most for the interior I use Meguiar's Supreme Shine protectant (smell's like banana's).

I was looking for some pic's but I dont have any on my laptop Ill post some once the lazy wife wake's up!

 

I wash mine every weekend weather permitting.

 

I wash mine pretty much every time there is a nice day here. That's not every day lately so about once a week, or every 2 weeks. My [white] camaro gets dirty really fast. Still have a lot of sand around my apartment complex from the winter.

I just go to one of those do it yourself wash places where you use the spray gun. I don't have anywhere to wash her by hand.

 

Wont washing it every day kill the paint job?

 

I imagine it would wear it down considerably, but I don't wash it everyday.

 

As soon as temperatures rise above 50°F I try to spray off with water at least once a week.

More extensive cleaning with soap, wax, at least for the windshields, and cleaning the engine bay at least once a month, and fully wax the car at least once every 2 months.

The most depressing part is that no one ever suspects the car was cleaned the next day. My garage is somewhat small, so I can´t close the garage door. Dust is then carried by the wind from the roof directly opposite my garage and covers the car right away. There for I generally try to schedule cleaning on the same day I take the car cruising or take it on car meets.

 

I kinda have the same problem I dont have a garage only a driveway and the day after I wash it i wake up to it covered in either mist or pollen

Really considering a nice car cover!

 

I rinse mine off throughout the week....I usually hand-wash/and use a UDM to polish my vehicles twice a year, and the most I have to do is rinse them and wipe them down with Meg's Quick Detailer in between times.....

 

Since I´m planning a repaint, replacing the hood and windshield and have just replaced my front blinkerlights I have not really considered a car cover yet.

As soon as I have my hood built and painted and the windshield replaced, a sturdy weatherproof car cover is one of the first items on my shopping list as well.

 

Back in high school when I used to have time to drive a lot, I would wash it every Friday so it was clean for cruising on the weekend.

Although I have had little time to drive it the last few years, whenever I do (still only on weekend nights) I still make sure to wash it. I never, ever take it out unless it's been freshly washed. If I wash it Friday, cruise all Friday night, then by Saturday the car feels dirty to me, and I won't take it out Saturday night. At most I might go out for a couple hours on Saturday morning but I will never take it out at night unless it's spotless and just washed. That also means inside and out.

I Armor-All all plastics (12 years later the original dashpad is mint) in the cabin and rear compartment, and vaccuum seats/carpet/floormats. I also keep nothing in the car whatsoever at any time, so there's never any junk to be cleaned out. I finish the inside in about a half hour since it's pretty easy to keep clean.

I wash with Meguiar's Gold Class as well, but I may get a little more serious this fall when the car starts seeing regular duty and step up to some of Meguiars' better products. Tires get Armor-All and Bleche-White for the letters. Nothing special for the wheels, again they never get subjected to severe dirt since the car isn't driven much. Then again, they aren't a set of billets. All weatherstripping gets Armor-Alled too with each wash. I also Armor-All the inner fender liners in the front, you'd be surprised at the difference that little detail makes in how clean your car comes across.

Wax happens 3-4 times between April and October. No half-assing this one, oldskool Meguiar's hand wax. I currently use the three-step system, with a cleaner wax to strip all the old wax off so there's no buildup, an oil replenisher that penetrates the clearcoat, and then two coats of carnauba on top, so 4 coats total each time I wax, jambs and everything. Takes 1.5-2 hours per coat to put it on and buff it off by hand, and the last coat always takes the longest because that coat gets all the massive fine detailing to make sure every last hint of wax is removed (like running a cloth covered toothpick along the door trim). Wax days are usually close to ten hours, including the wash prior.

Again the wax I use is alright and has certainly done it's job over the last 12 years, but I'm hoping to step up to some better Meguiar's stuff this year...I've always heard Meguiar's 26 is one of the best waxes they make, so I may give that a shot. I also used to use their Quik Detailer but stopped, not sure why. Probably because the car still felt dirty since the weatherstripping/tires would need to be Armor-Alled again, I guess.

 

Wow that's a lot of time...Im not gonna fully wax it until I paint it because the clear coat just started flacking off

 

It is, and the older I get the more of a chore it feels like, but it's completely worth it in the end, and it's how a paint job lasts 20-30 years. I'm a firm believer that if taken care of from day 1, a car should never, ever need to be buffed.

 

Totally agree.......You can definitely tell that you work hard at keeping your Camaro looking sweet..........I kept my Silverado SS pristine, because I was basically the first owner...The Z28 on the other hand, had been neglected from previous owners...But clay-barring/polishing the paint gets rid of contaminants and micro-swirls/light scratches that get caused from improper washing/drying techniques....I've seen many paint jobs marred up from simply using the wrong type of towels to dry the vehicle etc.....A good paint detail usually takes me a solid weekend depending on how much correction is needed....

 

Thanks

 

What hand wax do you guy's use Ive been using the turtle wax wax as you dry but I would like to try the regular waxes

 

I wash mine good in the spring when i get it out of storage. Then i give it a good coat of wax and clean the interior and engine bay. Then i keep it under a car cover in my garage in between drives and shows. It usually gets a good once over when i get to a cruise or show, but mostly just a california car duster. As long as i dont drive it in the rain (which it hasnt seen rain in years) or anything like that usually all i have to do it wipe it off every once and a while until i put it back in storage for the winter.

 

I detailed for a job for about 5 years to get through college.

I don't believe in "Armor-All" it's total garbage. I'm not really even sure I'd say it's better than nothing at all.

I dirve a black car and the main concern with washing a car is swirls. You're smoking crack if you think, "washing too much will wear your paint down." Catalyzed clear coat paints are much harder than your wash mit or brush etc. lol. That being said if you are washing your car often, in the wrong fashion, then you will develop swirls. Then you will want to level those swirls by buffing the paint back out. So in that sense yes you can wear the paint faster. However if you follow the right steps you can wash your car as much as you want w/o causing this.

For my car, TRY TO ALWAYS WASH INDOORS, OR IN SHADE, OR WHEN CLOUDY, OR AT SUNSET! I will wash it at least once a week, with a quality mit that has a very thick knap, not a cheap mit like you get at autozone, don't use them!! Make sure the mit is very clean and rinsed before you ever touch the car with it. Use two industrial sized buckets, one with clean water, one with soapy water. Spray degreaser in the wheelwells/tires, then spray wheel cleaner, then rinse entire car thouroughly. Start with the roof, wash about a 4 sq. ft section with one side of the mit, then flip it, then wash another 4 sq. ft, then dunk in the clean water and agitate with your hand to remove any dirt particles, then dunk in the soapy water, start over on the next section, quartering the hood, etc. Do the low areas where the tires fling up extra dirt last, or with a different mit, it's all about keeping dirt from being drug across the car with the mit.

Rinse the car with high pressure water. DO NOT DRY THE CAR! Don't squeegy the car. Do not shamois the car!

What you need to do is: turn off the hose, take off the spray nozzle, turn it back on about half way and use the stream of water to sheet the water dropletts off the car, again starting with the roof. Then make sure the ground or floor etc. isn't full of stones or anything that can fly up at the car. Break out the leaf blower, or air compressor, and get to work on all the places that hide water.

Then hit the trim with a silicone arisol product. I use a product that I have for my motorcycle called "Maxima SC-1" this is much better on the trim than messy armor-all type products. Wipe the it back off and get the overspray with a high quality microfiber towel. Then wax if it's necessary. I do that usally once every month or so in the summer and when I drive the car less, every two months or so. Clay bar as you feel it needs it. Literally feel the car, I do it pretty religiously though every 6 months weather it feels like anthing bonded to the car or not, but usally there is something there by then.

Interior you should be using a quality "milky" vinyl product, that soaks in, not Aromor-All grease crap! Please don't do it.

Thats all for now..

 

i clay bar, wash ,polish and glaze in the spring. as well as waxing the chrome wheels. and it stays in the garage so i usually just use detail spray on her after every drive and one a week i vacuum the interior and use the mequiars interior quick detail on the plastics. looks showroom fresh all the time!!!

 

Hand wash top to bottom, rinsing between each panel, dry, use a cleaner wax on the paint and glass, apply a thin coat of tire shine with a rag and if it needs it any of the polished aluminum under my hood gets a go over as well. Interior wise I just vaccume and dust.

 

well there is a difference in a daily car and a garage car. mine sits in the garage 90% of the time. i wash it once a month. then use my california duster once a week.

 

Mines a DD so I wash it about every two weeks with Meguiars Gold Class shampoo and conditioner and then dry with the "Absorber"drying chamois I picked up at Kragens Auto.Works great.A little Meguiars "Hot Shine" on the tires. I also use a California duster in between washes, also works great. My paint has never seen wax because Ive been using a polish/sealant called Race glaze.Gently hand buff on with a damp micro fiber pad, let dry, and gently buff off with a micro fiber towel. Its good for up to six months but I use it about every other wash.

 

Yeah, everyone and their dog says this, but I've got 12 years of use with not a crack in my dashpad or any other plastics (dash pad is still soft/supple) and my weatherstripping still seals and is very soft, and even my 12 year old tires don't have a dry rot crack to be found, even after the car had sat for two years when I went home and pulled it out last summer, so...*shrug*

Is there a better product? Probably, but like I said...12 years of constant use and so far so good.

 

It is always parked outside and it has a peeling clearcoat but even with that said I wash it atleast once a week or when it gets dirty (after inclement weather). I just use this plain joe car wash and it works pretty good for what it is and I do the car in sections. After that I wash the wheels and give the tires a nice shine. I normally use meguiars hot shine but I recently got a lot of turtle wax shine for cheap so I have used that and lets just say it doesnt work to well. I am now considering the switch to eagle 1 because a friend sprayed it on my tires after I washed it and they looked wet for weeks! In fact they were still wet a few days after he sprayed it on. I also try to wax it every now and then. I normally use meguiars but I got turtle wax on clearance and tried it. Again it isnt great because I spent almost 2 hours waxing it and about 5 days later it rained and the car had spots on it! I will have to wash it again soon but Oreillys has a sweet deal on Eagle 1 so they will be the next brand to go on the car!

 

Same here, it seems like just about on every automotive board there is a discussion on Armor All. Ive also been using it for 15+ years on everything that i have ever owned. Nothing that i use it on is faded or cracked. Ive been cleaning this camaro for 14 years. There is other stuff out there, but i have yet to find one that looks like armor all when you put it on. What i do with armor all so your dashboard doesnt look like a oil slick is first use the cleaning wipes, this gets all the dust and dirt and grime off whatever surface. Then i use the armor all wipes and i wipe it on and give it a couple minutes, as i use the wipe and it starts to dry out, i will go back over the same areas and let the wipe pick up the extra armor all that is on the surface. This keeps it from looking like you just sprayed it on and left it, but still leaves it clean and shiny.

On the wheels i use the regular Armor All Tire foam cleaner not the hot shine, but i dont use it for cleaning. i clean the tires prior. With a clean dry tire, i spray the foam on with a liberal coat then use a rag and wipe it around untill all the foam is gone and the tire is just damp from the foam, the rest will dry. This leaves the tires looking clean, new, shiny, and just a hint wet. But unlike other tire dressings it doesnt fling off the tire and doesnt look like you smeared that gel all over it. I also use that tire foam for any black exterior, engine compartment, and wheel well plastic, using the same method as above. It works really well.

For the chrome under the hood i use some metal or chrome polish whichever i happen to have, or just a little bit of wax.

For car shows i alway take with me a bottle of water and a little scrub sponge to scrub the bugs off the front of my bright white car. The armor all tire foam, Meguires quick detailer, and a good aerosol glass cleaner. Aerosol seems to dry well and streak free, i like the Napa brand the says "made by MACs" under it. The water and sponge also work well if you happen to drive through some water on the road, or a breif rain shower, ive had to completely sponge down and dry my car a couple times when i got to a show.

 

How about some pic's of those tedious washing routine's.

 

 

Well, I am a real neat freak with my Camaros. Always vacuumed, and I use ArmorAll on almost everything, I have most of my life, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I use Turtle Wax Express Shine spray wax ALL the time. It leaves a good durable wax with out rubbing the paint off. I use various brands of tire cleaner/foam on the tires, and wheels. It really seams to loosen break dust and road grime. I enjoy spending time detailing my Camaros no matter how old I feel.

 

ive heard the same thing i used armor all for 5 years and never had an issue, i dont use it anymore cause im trying to get away from the greasy dash look. but regaurdless, never an issue

 

if its chilly, or its going to rain i'll at least rinse it every couple weeks. when its nice weather i'll wash it every week.

 

In the nicer months when the non-DD cars are being driven, I routinely wash with Optimum No-Rinse and a microfiber mitt (I did a quick write-up you can search for on this forum) and dry with only waffle-weave microfibers. About once a month or so I wax with Eagle One Gel Wax (this stuff is amazing- easy to apply and puts a nice protective coating on the finish). In between washings I use a California Car Duster and spray quick detailer as needed to remove dust and contaminants. For the wheels, I wash with the Optimum No-Rinse and a microfiber towel. For tires, I clean periodically with whatever tire cleaner I have lying around and weekly use Maguiar's Hot Shine Tire Spray. If the wheels and chrome/stainless need polished, I use Blue Magic all metal polish. For the interior and trim, either Maguiar's Interior Foam or NXT Tech Shine depending on just how shiny I want the plastics and trim to be. The carpets are vacuumed regularly and any stains are removed immediately with Blue Coral Dry Clean. I never use anything but high-quality microfibers to wash/dry/polish. Of all the detailing products I've ever used, by far the best is the Optimum No Rinse. This is the key to keeping clean paint.