How To Wash Your Car

I use a leaf blower to dry all wheels and tires within 5-7 minutes. Can also be used on windows, grille crevices, door knobs, license plate, water trapped in rear reflectors, headlights, and rear lights. For paint I just use MF towels.

If I owned one, I'd probably use it at the end of hand drying to help get water out of all those hidden crevices. There's always a little bit of dribble that comes out from the pieces of the tailgate.
 
So I don't understand this no-rinse stuff. How does it work?

No rinse wash solution is really gaining traction in the automotive detailing world. It's been around for a while know but you rarely see it at local places like autozone or Walmart so to the causal car guy it's a bit of a mystery still. It basically works by entrapping the dirt particle in substantive polymer molecules, lifting them away from the surface and ensuring the dirt and debris doesn't scratch the paint finish. Think of it this way, if you draw a star and that star represents dirt with sharp points and then draw a circle all the way around the star, that is No rinse solution. It surrounds the dirt and lifts it off the car to be whisked away by your wash medium.

There's a bit of a debate on what the best wash medium is, grout sponge, chenille mitt, microfiber mitt, wool mitt and edgeless microfiber towels are the most popular. I prefer the use 5 edgeless towels that I fold into 4ths getting 8 "sides" per towel. Those 5 towels are enough for me to wash the CX-5. I use the Garry Dean wash method which is using only 1 bucket with wash solution and not re-introducing the dirty towels back into the bucket. I will get about 3-4 swipes per one side of the towel before folding to a different section of the towel. Front, middle, back, the idea is to not rub a dirt section of towel over the paint again.

Another good tip for doing rinseless washes is to pre soak the sections you are about to wash. I use a 1 gal garden sprayer. the kind you pump up. You can use the smaller hand held ones with the pump or a spray bottle as well put I find the 1 gallon enough do wash several times without mixing more solution.

Once you've washed one area, use a good drying towel to dry that section and then move on to the next section, washing and drying as you go. I do Roof and side windows/windshield, front hood and both fenders, drivers side, passenger side, rear with my 5 towels. I place the used towel on a small cart and don't put them back in the wash bucket. It really goes quite quickly once you get the hang of it and doesn't take any longer then a conventional 2 bucket wash with a garden hose.
 
No rinse wash solution is really gaining traction in the automotive detailing world. It's been around for a while know but you rarely see it at local places like autozone or Walmart so to the causal car guy it's a bit of a mystery still. It basically works by entrapping the dirt particle in substantive polymer molecules, lifting them away from the surface and ensuring the dirt and debris doesn't scratch the paint finish. Think of it this way, if you draw a star and that star represents dirt with sharp points and then draw a circle all the way around the star, that is No rinse solution. It surrounds the dirt and lifts it off the car to be whisked away by your wash medium.

There's a bit of a debate on what the best wash medium is, grout sponge, chenille mitt, microfiber mitt, wool mitt and edgeless microfiber towels are the most popular. I prefer the use 5 edgeless towels that I fold into 4ths getting 8 "sides" per towel. Those 5 towels are enough for me to wash the CX-5. I use the Garry Dean wash method which is using only 1 bucket with wash solution and not re-introducing the dirty towels back into the bucket. I will get about 3-4 swipes per one side of the towel before folding to a different section of the towel. Front, middle, back, the idea is to not rub a dirt section of towel over the paint again.

Another good tip for doing rinseless washes is to pre soak the sections you are about to wash. I use a 1 gal garden sprayer. the kind you pump up. You can use the smaller hand held ones with the pump or a spray bottle as well put I find the 1 gallon enough do wash several times without mixing more solution.

Once you've washed one area, use a good drying towel to dry that section and then move on to the next section, washing and drying as you go. I do Roof and side windows/windshield, front hood and both fenders, drivers side, passenger side, rear with my 5 towels. I place the used towel on a small cart and don't put them back in the wash bucket. It really goes quite quickly once you get the hang of it and doesn't take any longer then a conventional 2 bucket wash with a garden hose.

I used ONR first time on wifey's dirty car. It does 115 miles a day and was not washed since January. My mitt turned black. I dip it back into the bucket.
ONR really works well if you regularly wash the car. I have washed my car twice in 1 year. Probably once a month is perfect for ONR. I have the wash and wax and realized how smooth the surface was after washing. Hopefully the wax stays a few months. After wash n wax I might send the car to touchless for a quick wash and see if it holds up.
I dont want to damage my car - but dont have time to wash for more than once every 4 months.
 
I've tried the "dry by highway driving" method and I'm not impressed. You pick up a lot of dust over those 5-10 miles, which ends up accumulating on any remaining water on the surface leaving a lot of spot cleaning left to be done.

I'll spend the extra 10 minutes drying with microfiber towels.

This. Plus if you just clayed....

Bingo. Once you start driving dust will cling itself to the water. Why introduce more dust/dirt that you just cleaned off?
The only thing I do is drive it in and out of my driveway to get any good size puddles to leave their crevices. I'm looking to get Adam's Polishes hand-held blow vac to get into the tighter areas. I'm tired of firing up my compressor every time.
 
The washing part should be just that - plenty of water and suds to act is a medium to remove the dirts without scratching the finish. Snowfoam is good as a prewash

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.....and for those who think car washing is a waste of life and polishing is a crime, they miss this....

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Tried polishing with little to no result. Guess I just need to learn how to do it right.
 
Has anyone tried power washing/detailing their engine bay? Mine got pretty dirty with 50k miles on the clock, all the dust came off easily with no problems. You just have to make sure the plastic engine cover is protecting your ignition coils or you will get a misfire and try not to spray for too long on areas like the fusebox, ABS module, alternator and battery but I didnt run into any issues. So refreshing to look at my engine now, reminds me of when I first got the car!
 
Has anyone tried power washing/detailing their engine bay? Mine got pretty dirty with 50k miles on the clock, all the dust came off easily with no problems. You just have to make sure the plastic engine cover is protecting your ignition coils or you will get a misfire and try not to spray for too long on areas like the fusebox, ABS module, alternator and battery but I didn’t run into any issues. So refreshing to look at my engine now, reminds me of when I first got the car!

Pretty sure the owners manual says not to power wash the engine bay.
 
Has anyone tried power washing/detailing their engine bay? Mine got pretty dirty with 50k miles on the clock, all the dust came off easily with no problems. You just have to make sure the plastic engine cover is protecting your ignition coils or you will get a misfire and try not to spray for too long on areas like the fusebox, ABS module, alternator and battery but I didn’t run into any issues. So refreshing to look at my engine now, reminds me of when I first got the car!
I do mine every couple of months. Mine was new in July and has done getting up towards 3000 miles so the engine was ready for a wash. A quick spray with TFR then blast it off.....

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I don't cover anything up except the air intake. It's no big deal forgetting but you then have to whip the air filter out and mop out any water from the housing.
 
I don't cover anything up except the air intake. It's no big deal forgetting but you then have to whip the air filter out and mop out any water from the housing.

If worse comes to worse, you can just disassemble the engine and let all the parts dry in the sun :p
 
I do mine every couple of months. Mine was new in July and has done getting up towards 3000 miles so the engine was ready for a wash. A quick spray with TFR then blast it off.....

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I don't cover anything up except the air intake. It's no big deal forgetting but you then have to whip the air filter out and mop out any water from the housing.

damn, that looks awesome!

I had about 50k miles until i cleaned my engine bay for the first time, and it was pretty damn dirty. Mine is clean now, but not that clean!

so you cover only the air intake? you havent had any problems pressure washing the parts I mentioned, like battery, ABS module, etc?
 
You need to buy some quality microfiber cloths for this method not to cause damage to the paint. I got mine from the Rag Company. Eagle Edgeless. Soak them in the bucket with the water and rinseless wash. Take one out, wring it out and fold into quarters. Make one or 2 passes with each quarter. The goal is to use on a fresh side for each pass. I used 5 the last time I did a wash. You also need a decent drying towel to dry off the panel.

The whole point is to use a "new" rag each time you clean a section. The 2 bucket method where you rinse the wash mitt off after each pass can leave debris in the mitt that can damage the car paint. The rinseless wash is way faster and you essentially dry the car as you go. Previously, I would take a leaf blower to dry it off and that left lots of waterspots and made a tremendous racket. I think for people living in tighter confines, rinseless wash is the way to go! It's also really fast!

this isnt going to end well for your clear-coat if your paint is dirty and covered in grit.
 
damn, that looks awesome!

I had about 50k miles until i cleaned my engine bay for the first time, and it was pretty damn dirty. Mine is clean now, but not that clean!

so you cover only the air intake? you havent had any problems pressure washing the parts I mentioned, like battery, ABS module, etc?

No but I don't dwell long on anything and the secret is little and often. In heavy rain, water gets thrown about in there anyway and all of the connections are IP rated. It's more of a dusting down really. I usuallly do it on a sunny day and although I didn't take the cover off this time I often do. On gas engines I've never had problems with misfiring if the coils get wet. I sometimes get a bit of a squeal off the serpentine belt. My mate is a professional valeter and he nearly always washes the engine.
 
No but I don't dwell long on anything and the secret is little and often. In heavy rain, water gets thrown about in there anyway and all of the connections are IP rated. It's more of a dusting down really. I usuallly do it on a sunny day and although I didn't take the cover off this time I often do. On gas engines I've never had problems with misfiring if the coils get wet. I sometimes get a bit of a squeal off the serpentine belt. My mate is a professional valeter and he nearly always washes the engine.

I heard on BMW forums that someone washed their engine bay with the cover removed and got a misfire immediately after - fried the ignition coil. The coil design and shape of the plastic engine cover (which is there to protect the coils is similar on both cars, so I dont want to risk removing the cover.

I assume its better to wash the engine bay when the engine is cool? I power washed it after driving and just closed the hood to clean the rest of the car and it dried well.

Finally managed to swipe the keys today and give the poor neglected 6 a wash, Ive built up tons of wax on the paint. Clear coat looks the same as when we first got it 50k miles ago. Im really quite in love with the liquid silver paint which they unfortunately omitted for the newer models. It has this expensive looking sparkle that hides scratches really well, love it.

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Ive already blacked out some chrome here and there - this here is the end-goal. Have my dad rolling around in what looks like a coke dealers car:

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Maybe you could have problems on an older car but if you unplug the coil on a recent car you will see some quite good sealing and like I said, I wouldn’t dwell on anything really. I’m not telling people to wash their engines, only that I do and I’ve never had any problems. I probably wouldn’t wash a hot engine but warm does help dry it quicker and I do sometimes go round with the compressed air blow gun and knock the standing water off any little reservoirs. As an example of what can be done, I bought this 9 year old Yaris for my daughter and it had been used like most people use a car - as a means of getting from A to B. We started by washing the outside (BTW, thats my immaculate 2016.5 that got stolen in the background).;

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The rear bumper went to the paint shop for a small repair and that is a good opportunity to clean behind;

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With the front seats out, you can see the grubby carpets;

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The carpets are backed with plastic and moulded to shape. You can get them out but everything including the console and rear seats have to come first so best is to leave them in and get them wet;

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There was a time when the trim would fall off a door card but these modern door liners are so well made, they can stand a good wetting;

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The seats too only come really clean when water and suds become the medium to carry the dirt out so again, bath time!;

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Then a powerful vacuum to pull the bulk of the moisture out;

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and then after the carpet gets the same treatment, things start to look much better;

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......and with the seats back in, it starts to look somewhat better;

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The engine was absolutely black with dust and spilled oil. It will never come perfect as the aluminium has oxidised a bit but again, with no protection what ever, a soak with TFR the pressure washed;

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At the end, it was quite presentable for my daughter.

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I heard on BMW forums that someone washed their engine bay with the cover removed and got a misfire immediately after - fried the ignition coil. The coil design and shape of the plastic engine cover (which is there to protect the coils is similar on both cars, so I don’t want to risk removing the cover.

I would hand clean that section near the coil packs. I usually bust out my leaf blower to completely dust that area (or could use can of air too). Then wipe with a damp MF towel.

A technique to use with the rest of the engine bay electrical connections is to saran wrap electrical connections and alternator then covered with foil. Ensure engine is cool though. I don't use a pressure washer...just a hose.

Just found a very good cleaning product. Will create a write up about it in the future.
 
Just detailed my buddy's 3 hatchback this past weekend. Modern cars' engine bays are engineered to be water resistant to not have such issues as misfiring, throwing codes, etc. I still cover the coil pack and air filter, if necessary. Other than that just lightly mist the hood underside and bay with water, spray a liberal amount of all-purpose cleaner, use a few different size brushes, mist with water again and turn on the engine to dry. Compressed air helps to get into the crevices. But never, ever clean a hot engine. It must be cool to the touch. Finish it off with a matte dressing. I use Chemical Guys Silk Shine spray. I also removed some swirl marks from his 3 as well.

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