Tomorrow will be a bit warmer with 47°F High, and 33°F Low and Sunny Afternoon.
Nice… I may have a frozen driveway tonight, but it’ll melt tomorrow morning, and by the afternoon, it’ll be nice and dry…
Since my little fun ride on last Saturday in snow, it was bothering me so much that my car is completely covered in salt. However with freezing temp, I couldn’t do anything but passing by my car feeling guilt, and worry of this salt slowly eating through her body…
So with my wife not at home (she’s in school), and it’s being barely above freezing temp (with the knowledge that tomorrow will be better), I decided to push my car out from the garage (you know why if you own a rotary…)
Anyways, here’s my step by step how to wash my car.
- Soak: If it’s a summer day, I spray water using garden hose, then spray watered down Simple Green
on entire car, then leave it while get other things ready (take a pressure washer out, get a bucket and wash it nice and clean, find several Microfiber Cloths
, and grab a bottle of beer!). (today, I just skipped this step as it was not so warm and nice out side…)
- Pressure Wash: If you have a pressure washer, use it to get all the grime off the car, starting from the top, and spray down, then, spray under carriage and the wheel wells, and wheels.
- Wash: I usually put a little bit of Simple Green (or any kind of car wash detergent is fine) to a 5 gallon bucket, and then add water to about a half full, and that’s usually enough to wash both my RX-8 and wife’s Highlander (SUV). Using a Microfiber Cloth, starting agin from the roof, and work your way down. Wash by sections, and after each area, spray off with water (if outside), or wipe off with another Microfiber Cloth rinsed in a clean water (if in garage, like I did this time, I use two buckets and two Microfiber Cloths, one with soapy water and the other clean water).
- Rinse: Use Pressure Washer and rinse off the entire car (or use a bucket of clean water and Clean Microfiber Cloth).
- Clay Bar: This is a step I only do once or twice a year. And should not be done too often. Spray Quick Detailer on the car, and wash entire car with a clay bar. (I use Mother’s Clay Bar
with Meguire Quick Detailer
) This will remove any grimes built up on the paint over time, and bring your paint nice and smooth, and bring the shine back. After finished whole car, repeat Wash and Rince.
- Wax: I do this only when I do Clay Bar, and I like using Solid Wax
, instead of liquid one. Make sure car is cool, and apply wax using applicator, and then let it haze. Once hazed, use fluffy far looking thing to remove the haze. Use Q-tip to clean off the small hard to reach area.
- Detailer: spray the detailer after wash (if not doing Clay Bar), or wax. then wipe off with clean Microfiber Cloth.
Usually this whole process takes 3 to 4 hours. and it is important you do it in shade. It will keep it from the water spot, and make the car wash much easier. Without Clay Bar and Wax, it only takes an hour or so, and it will bring much better result than automatic carwash, and also it will not harm the paint.
Today, I needed to stop after finishing the clay bar step, so I will start with waxing tomorrow… washing 2 cars (of course, I washed my wife’s car as well!!) in garage is not an easy task….
My camera battery was pretty much dead, and only let me take a couple pictures, and also the focus did not work well neither…
this is the very first one, and with flash… not the bet quality picture….
By the way, this Meguire Quick Detailer
