How To Wash Your Car
- Thread starter GJ-Molestor
- Start date
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- 2017 Mazda CX-5 GT
For his exterior it took me 7 hours. Washed. Clay barred. Correcting polish. Sealant. No finish polish or a coating. Tack on another 3 hours for those 2 things. Polishing takes a ton of time when done correctly.
But I did spend 2 hours in the beginning on his interior.
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GJ-Molestor
Banned
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- 2011 BMW 528i, 2015 Mazda 6, 1995 Nissan Maxima Manual
For his exterior it took me 7 hours. Washed. Clay barred. Correcting polish. Sealant. No finish polish or a coating. Tack on another 3 hours for those 2 things. Polishing takes a ton of time when done correctly.
But I did spend 2 hours in the beginning on his interior.
A couple questions if you dont mind..
How did you remove the swirl marks from your paint
How did you clean the interior
How often would you recommend clay barring the paint? Is there any point in polishing the paint if its already covered in wax? Can I apply a spray polish with a rag, or is it best to polish your paint with paste and a swirl pad thing?
GJ-Molestor
Banned
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- 2011 BMW 528i, 2015 Mazda 6, 1995 Nissan Maxima Manual
Anyone know how to remove baked on brake dust from your rims? I used oven degreaser once in the past, but found out its not good for the finish of your rims. Is there any sort of rim cleaner or wax I can put onto the rims to prevent more brake dust from baking on? How often should I do this?
GJ-Molestor
Banned
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- 2011 BMW 528i, 2015 Mazda 6, 1995 Nissan Maxima Manual
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.
You mentioned to never clean a hot engine bay, why is this? I tried it once and found that the heat helped tremendously with drying the engine bay without leaving any marks.
How did you polish and clean the exhaust tips so well?
NelsonLewis
Banned
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- 16.5 CX-5 GT AWD w/Tech BRMica
Simple Green.
Yikes!
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- 2017 Mazda CX-5 GT
Mostly for the cleaners to not dry so fast and spot everything as you're cleaning. Think of it as a rain shower and then the sun immediately coming out and water spot damage is inflicted.
Wash and iron remover. Then I used a metal polish.
Use a quality wheel cleaner with iron remover in it to start. Try some steam afterwards. Then some good ole polishing.
Clean on a weekly basis. Wax at least twice a year.
The swirl marks were removed with Adam's Polishes correcting polish and pads. I used a Porter Cable DA Polisher along with Adam's Mini Swirl Killer DA Polisher. I'm looking to upgrade to Adam's Swirl Killer in time. The Porter can only do so much.
Just basic vacuuming along with Adam's glass cleaner and Ammo's Lather interior cleaner. Also used a carpet brush drill attachment from Chemical Guys with Adam's carpet cleaner.
I clay once a year in the spring because of the winters we have. Polishing will just remove the wax. And yes it's best to use a dual action polisher with polish. I did it by hand before and it's a waste of time. Apply sealant and waxes by hand since they don't have abrasives like polishes.
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- Denver, CO
Damn, any of you detailers in my neck of the woods?
Would cost you a pretty penny (wink)
GJ-Molestor
Banned
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- 2011 BMW 528i, 2015 Mazda 6, 1995 Nissan Maxima Manual
Thank you for your suggestions.
I tried pressure washing the engine bay when the engine was fully warmed up (without using soap or cleaners) and the engine bay dried really well. looked clean afterwards
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- 2017 Mazda CX-5 GT
you're welcome!
Get an iron dissolving cleaner! The most popular one is probably CarPro IronX. It attacks the iron from the brake dust and turns it a funky purple color. It's expensive but the best one out there that I've found. I only use IronX on really dirty wheels. Much more economical and similar in chemical make up is DUB wheel cleaner. I order from amazon. It eats iron as wheel and does a pretty good job at getting baked on brake dust to come off
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner is another one that works really well but is, again, more expensive then the DUB wheel cleaner:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
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.
How well does that Ryobi wand work? I've looked at them in the past
NelsonLewis
Banned
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- 16.5 CX-5 GT AWD w/Tech BRMica
Simple Green.
Non-toxic and biodegradable. Love the smell of it too for some reason. Lol
Non-toxic and biodegradable. Love the smell of it too for some reason. Lol
The guy who does maintenance in my community - I thought had an OCD cleaning his old Toyota pickup -realized that was his side gig. Every week he gets one or two vehicles - This time it was a grey Tundra with custom wheels on it wow. I bet its north of $200. Inside out - every god damn square inch. Its a miracle that he does not hoist it on a lift and clean the underbody. He literally cleans for hours and hours.
Swirl marks can b removed a few different ways. The first and most tedious is by hand. You need a lot of time, a lot of elbow grease and a decent polish. I don't recommend this way at all. Second way is with machine polishing. There are two types of machines, rotary or circular polishers and Dual Action polishers (DA's). Rotary Polishers can be tricky to use correctly and can damage the paint in a hurry is used incorrectly. They just spin on a single axis. If used improperly you can induce more swirls and holograms into the paint. These are holograms:
The preferred method is with a Dual Action polisher that both spins freely and orbits. It's almost impossible to burn the paint with a DA since too much pressure stops the pad from spinning and it just wiggles on the paint. One should always start with the least aggressive polish and pad combo and work their way up until a combination is found that will remove the defects and achieve the desired results. HD Speed is a great all in one polish that will remove most swirl marks and leave behind protection in one step. Meguiars M205 is also a very easy to use light finishing polish that will remove swirl marks. Deep scratches and other paint defect might need a stronger compound like M105 followed by M205 to clear up any haze left by M105. Any time you polish or compound you are remove a little of the clear coat so don't do it all to often. That's the reason that proper wash technique is important, so you don't induce swirls and have to keep polishing.
For interior, a good shop vac is a must. I like to meguiars APC (All Purpose Cleaner D101) dilute to 10:1. If the carpets are really dirty and vacuuming alone doesn't clean them up I will spray APC in the carpets, agitate with a carpet brush and use the shop vac sans filter to suck up the dirty cleaning solution. I use APC in seats, dash, steering wheel, pretty much anywhere. The trick is to do the least amount of work to get it clean. Don't use a high dilution like 4:1 when 10:1 will do the trick. Follow the APC cleaning with a decent protectant like 303 aerospace protectant. Be sure to have plenty of microfibers on hand. I've bought 3 different color microfibers for different uses on the car. One color only sees exterior paint, one for interiors and another cheaper quality for door jabs, wheels and engine cleaning.
As far as claying baring the car goes, there is no harm in claying the car too often other then wasting time. A good way to tell if the car needs to be clayed is to do the baggie swipe test. Put your hand in a sandwhich bag and run it along the paint, if it feels rough or gritty then it's time to clay bar. the Clay lifts those bonded contaminates off the surface. Another good thing to do is to decontaminate the car with something like IronX. Iron X will dissolve any iron that has bonded to the paint and remove it so your clay doesn't get as dirty and you'll have less chances of inducing scratches and swirls.
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- 2017 Mazda CX-5 GT
I liked it. It got the job done compared to angling your hose sprayer.
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- 2017 Mazda CX-5 GT
my man lol
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- 2017 Mazda CX-5 GT
I just started doing the Iron X on the paint. It makes so much sense since the clay bar cannot get below the surface. As Larry from AmmoNYC says paint is like skin. It needs to be breath so it has pores. Dirt will get in those pores and cause contamination, oxidation, etc.
