Hi there. I'm Ian, 38, from Lancashire in the UK.
Have to say thanks to you all. I've been reading all your various threads and it's been a real education about simply washing a car.
You see, I've just gone and bought a brand new RX-8 in Velocity Red. I've had it for three weeks now. It's the first car I've ever owned from new. As result of reading the guides and forums here at Autopia and DetailingWorld.co.uk, I've gone a bit mad (or is that sane?) regarding cleaning it (which I didn't do with my last car).
Anyway, I went crazy buying stuff. I bought:
- a Karcher K6.85M Pressure Washer from Amazon (very cheap at approx £210 delivered at the moment),
- a Karcher foam gun from Halfords (large chain of automotive retail outlet in the UK)
- a load of Zaino stuff from AdvancedCarProducts.co.uk
And from Autopia.CarCare.com I got all the following:
Having the various forums, I'd been really careful washing my new car until I received all this gear. I just took it down the local jetwash and washed it as carefully as I dare without using brushes and making sure I wasn't too harsh with the pressure washer. I didn't want to drive any dirt deep into the paint. So it always left a film which wasn't going to come off without physical agitation, which I wasn't prepared to attempt until I'd got all the right stuff.
Anyway, on Friday afternoon I was finally able to wash my car with all my newly acquired equipment. Previously, I had NO idea. But now, I was astonished with how effectively the job could be done without introducing any marring to the car.
Now the weather wasn't good enough to be able to Zaino the car yet. That particular treat is yet to come. Autopia had provided samples of their new car shampoo with my order, so I decided to use this to give my '8 it's first every "proper" wash. I used the Karcher foam gun to apply it (using some cunning math to work out a mix ratio (I didn't quite get it right, I need a slightly stronger mixture)) and then jet rinsed it to remove all the loose bonded dirt. Then, refoamed it and washed it with the chenille mitt (one panel at a time) using the two bucket method as recommended. I used the body brush for body work below the "waist" rinsing the brush frequently. I've hardly read anything about the body brush over here in the UK, but it does work just as well as the mitt. It's super soft and you just have to make sure you rinse it out just as often as you would a mitt. Finally I dried it all off using DAS Wonder Drying Towels. It brought up the bodywork nicely. It was surprising how mucky the water in the rinse bucket got. Even though my car wasn't that dirty I had to change the rinse water three times.
I then had a do at the wheels using Sonus Rim Bright, the
Meguiars wheel face brush and spoke brush. These worked fantastically. The Sonus Rim Bright is very mild, but it worked a treat with physical agitation from the specialized brushes. The spoke brush was excellent at cleaning the back of the wheel through the spokes without having to remove any of the wheels. The wheel face brush was brilliant at cleaning the front-most bits of the wheels. It brought them up superbly.
Inside the car, I whizzed round with the mini OXO Car Duster to pick up any loose dust and then wiped over the interior with a Sonus Ultimate Detailing Towel and Interior Detailer. Unfortunately it turned out that the bottle was split and I ended up with most of the Meguiar’s Quik Interior Detailer on the driver's seat. Good job I didn't spill it over any electronics. I usually wear black jeans which, even though they weren’t that new, had left a faint black residue on the coated red leather of the driver’s seat (after only three weeks!!). The Meguiars Quik Detailer brought it off nicely (although the spillage meant the driver’s seat got a much bigger dose than intended). Overall though, it cleaned up the interior nicely without leaving any undesirable sheen or gloss; just a nice matt finish.
Overall I was impressed at what could be done with the right products and the right methods. The right tool for the right job and all that. The car cleaned up a treat. I was particularly impressed with the wheel brushes. It seems crazy to buy all those brushes JUST for the wheels, but I’m glad I did. They work really well and the nice shiny wheels set the car off great.
I just wish I didn't have to wait for the weather to be right before I attempt to polish and seal it. But I don't have anywhere indoors to do it, so I'll just have to wait. I've examined the paint work as best I can for now and I can see that there are a very few, light dealer introduced swirls. I shall try to tackle these carefully with Z-PC and the Porter-Cable. I've decided to go for the Zaino system mainly for it's durability. I don't want to be waxing it every few weeks, so multiple layers of Z2pro with it's 6 month "life" should suit me very well. The car isn't a show car or a garage queen; it's just my daily driver. But still, with a car this new, I should be able to get it perfect and keep it that way. Pictures shall be forthcoming when I Zaino it, which hopefully won't be too long as the weather continues to improve.
Oh my God!! I hadn't a clue... before now!!! 
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