Autopia Guide to Detailing: How To Wash Your Car

Autopia Detailing Guide
How To Wash Your Car- Detailing 101



You`ve spent plenty of money on the purchase of your car or truck, now the question arises, “How do I take care of it?” Proper washing is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood areas of auto care, and sadly improper washing damages and dulls your vehicle`s finish over time.

If you take a second and look at the cars around you in a parking lot, or even at a car show, in the direct sunlight you will notice many of the cars have a scratched surface. These microscopic scratches seem to radiate outward in a “cob-web” effect from a central light source like the reflection of the sun. Many of the swirl marks are the result of improper washing and drying techniques. They are caused when grit is abraded against the paint`s surface.

Much has been written on how to properly maintain a vehicles appearance and while most of the tips in this article certainly aren’t new, perhaps they may help you think about things in a different light.

Vehicle enthusiasts range from those who religiously wash or quick detail their vehicles daily, to those who love caring for their vehicle but only get the chance to wash them weekly or bi-weekly. Both categories of enthusiasts cringe at the very thought of taking their car or truck to a car wash, otherwise known as “automatic swirl factories”. In this article we hope to give you some ideas and tips that will help you maintain your vehicles appearance and teach you ways to avoid, or at least minimize creating swirl marks.


Car Wash Shampoo

Car wash shampoos have come a long way since their introduction to the automotive detailing market. There was a time when we all just grabbed dish soap and went to work but those days are long gone. Dish soap is designed to eat away grease and food and while it works great for dishes but we need to keep it in the kitchen! The same attributes that break down the grease on dishes will strip your car wax and dry out your plastic moldings and rubber seals!

Some of the factors that establish a great car wash shampoo like BLACKFIRE Wet Diamond Conditioning Shampoo are foaming ability, lubricity, pH balance, concentration, gentleness and even gloss enhancers. High quality car wash shampoos will clean a car’s surface, enhance the gloss and leave the car wax, paint protectant or paint sealant intact to protect your paint. Generic car wash shampoos that you could purchase in bulk at a clearance or discount stores lack many of the attributes of the higher quality car wash shampoos. You will also find that the cost of the bottle of car wash shampoo does not necessarily mean it is less expensive. The high end car wash shampoos like the P21S Bodywork Conditioning Shampoo or Ultima Paint Guard Wash tend to cost more per ounce but they are also more concentrated so if you do the math, you may find that you are actually getting a better deal with a premium car wash shampoo.

All car wash shampoo`s carried by Autopia are tested and of the highest quality. If you are not sure which shampoo will work best for you it is often advisable to stick with the same brand that your car wax or sealant is. If your paint is protected with BLACKFIRE Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection then use BLACKFIRE Wet Diamond Conditioning Shampoo, if your paint is protected with a fine coat of P21S Concours Carnuaba Wax than P21S Bodywork Conditioning Shampoo is a great choice. If you still cannot decided give Autopia Car Care a call at 1-877-855-3125 and let our experts choose for you!


Car Wash Mitts

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Ask a group of car enthusiasts which company makes better car or truck? Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche or Audi? You will get a variety of different answers; everyone has his or her opinion! To say that everyone has a favorite is an understatement yet there are some basic fundamentals that make an item one of the best for its intended purpose.

Wash mitts can be microfiber style (both short nap and the longer fuzzy monster looking type), sponges, synthetic and genuine sheepskin. The Sheepskin Wash Mitt is a great choice: They are soft, hold lots of water and car wash shampoo and they rinse cleanly. Natural Sea Sponges are some of the softest material known to man and hold a large volume of water and soap solution. The Lake Country ULTI-MITT is made from a super soft foam that is gentle to your paint and rinses easily. You want to avoid shop rags, old t-shirts, and beach towels as the nap, or thickness of these items is so small that you can easily exert too much force onto the wash surface and inadvertently push surface dirt around instilling “washing swirls.” Also, these wash “rags” do not release trapped dirt as easily. The thicker mitts offer room for dirt to hide that is away from your car until your mitt is rinsed.

If you are washing a larger vehicle such as an RV or boat, or prefer using a brush instead of a wash mitt, then stay clear of nylon bristled brushes that will quickly damage, dull, and scratch paint! Montana Brand Boar`s Hair Brushes features hand selected and feathered boar`s hair. Once soaked in your wash solution for several minutes these hairs become amazingly soft. The Montana Boar`s Hair Brushes hold an incredible volume of soap solution and make cleaning larger areas easy.

Car Wash Buckets

In choosing a bucket you generally have two choices, 5 gallon or 3.5 gallon. Usually the 3.5 gallon is just too small to get the job done with plenty of fresh car wash solution but with water weighing 8.35 pounds per gallon it is difficult to lug the 5 gallon bucket around your car. The solution is the BLACKFIRE 5 Gallon Wash Bucket System with Dolly! This bucket will make it much easier to quickly wash your entire car. It even comes with a lid so you can store your car wash shampoo, mitt and brushes right inside the bucket to keep them handy for the next wash.

When it comes to swirl free washing, one of the greatest ideas to come along is the two bucket method of car washing. As the name implies you use two separate buckets to wash your car. One bucket holds the soapy car wash solution and the other holds clean, clear rinse water so you can rinse your mitt after each pass over your car. This keeps those dirt particles you just picked up on the surface from going back into the clean car wash solution and being picked up again by the wash mitt.

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This brings us to the next topic….Grit Guard® Inserts. If you aren’t using them…you should be!!! The Grit Guard® Inserts is a round plastic insert grate that sits on the bottom of your bucket suspended from the bottom by four lateral fins. Dirt from your wash mitt drops to the bottom of the bucket and is kept at the bottom of the bucket, ensuring that your wash mitt doesn’t pick up the dirt you just washed off of the car. When you finish washing your car and lift the Grit Guard® Insert up and you will see how well it works. The Grit Guard® Insert should be used in both the wash and rinse buckets for optimum protection against instilling swirl marks. The Grit Guard® Insert comes with the handy Sonus Professional Car Wash Bucket on Wheels and the BLACKFIRE 5 Gallon Wash Bucket System With Dolly.


Hose Nozzles

Yes, even your hose nozzle is an important part of your car wash procedure. There is nothing like trying to wash your car with an inadequate or leaky hose nozzle. The Fire Hose Nozzle and it`s big brother The Industrial High Flow Fireman`s Nozzle offer a wide range of spray patterns as well as the very important open flow and no leaks! The open flow option is especially important when rinsing your car to get the water to sheet off instead of beading up which will cut down on drying time and the possibility of water spots. It is also designed so you can set it down quickly without breaking or accidentally hitting a handle and giving yourself an unexpected shower.


Optional Foam Guns and Foam Cannons

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Dirt and grit as most abrasive when it is laying in a fine dust over your paint. Even when pre-rinsing your car with water some of the grit can scratch. Both the BLACKFIRE Foam Gun and the BLACKFIRE Foam Cannon allow you to lather your car in a blanket of clingy suds that encapsulate the grime and reduce its abrasiveness. The BLACKFIRE Foam Gun attaches to your hose with a special trigger nozzle. The BLACKFIRE Foam Cannon attaches to a pressure washer. Mix in your favorite car soap or use a special blended car soap such as Detailer`s Pro Series Xtreme Foam Formula Auto Shampoo and spray on. Allow the soap to dwell for several minutes then rinse off.

If you paint only has a light coating of dust or road pitch you can even use the BLACKFIRE Foam Gun or BLACKFIRE Foam Cannon as a substitute for regular washing. Layer your car in a blanket of foam, lightly wipe with your favorite wash mitt, rinsing frequently in a rinse bucket, and hose off.


Drying Towels

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Two of the most popular options for drying your vehicle are waffle weave microfiber towels and synthetic PVA towels. The PVA synthetic chamois are the small rubbery towels used by divers and swimmers at the Olympics. They are generally smaller and rubber-like in feel. They hold a large amount of water, wring out easily, and last a very long time. The drawback is that they are not quite as soft and gentle as the microfiber drying towels.

Microfiber waffle weave drying towels like the Cobra Guzzler Waffle Weave Drying Towel are very soft, safe and effective. The waffle weave act like little pockets and absorb tons of water and when used properly used are extremely gentle on your vehicles surface. It generally takes only two towels to dry vehicle to ensure a spot and streak free finish. The first towel picks up the majority of water and the second towel picks up any residual moisture ensuring a streak free finish. Another benefit to the Cobra Guzzler Waffle Weave Drying Towel is that you just wash them with my other microfiber detailing towels so that each time you go to wash your car your microfiber drying towel is clean and fresh with no chance of dirt from the last car wash. Keep in mind that just like other products, there is a difference in quality when it comes to microfiber drying towels, they are not all the same so be sure to use only high quality towels like the Sonus Der Wunder Microfiber Drying Towel or Cobra Guzzler Waffle Weave Drying Towels, available in three sizes

Now that we’ve discussed the tools for the job, lets just give you a rundown of how to wash your car in a manner that gets it clean and reduces the chances of your putting swirls into the paint.

• Always wash your car in the shade! This will keep your car wash shampoo solution from drying on the car before it is rinsed off. If at all possible, it is best to wash your car on a relatively calm day as even a slight breeze can put particles of dirt in the air. These dust particles are attracted to the wash/rinse water on your vehicle and act like sandpaper when rubbed between the drying towel and vehicle surface. The breeze will also tend to dry your car for you and this can cause streaks and water spots.
  
  
• Use two buckets with a Grit Guard® Insert in each bucket. One is for your shampoo solution and the other is clean rinse water for your wash mitt.
  
  
• Fill a 5-gallon bucket 2/3 full with cool water. Add recommended amount of shampoo to the water. Using a stiff jet of water, fill the bucket to fully activate suds. Fill the second bucket with clean, water for rinsing your wash mitt.
  
  
• Thoroughly rinse the vehicle’s surface to remove the loose dirt and grime before you begin your car wash procedure. If the paint is excessively dirty or you wish to add more protection, use a foam cannon to pre-soak the vehicle prior to rinsing.
  
  
• Only use high quality car shampoos and wash mitts.
  
  
• When washing your vehicle remember to always go from high to low, never the opposite. Generally the dirtiest parts of your vehicle are those parts closest to the ground. Wheel wells, rocker panels and bumpers tend to have the largest accumulation of grime and you don’t want to bring that junk back onto the paint surface and risk scratching it.
  
  
• Load up your wash mitt with your car wash solution and wring it out over the wash surface. This acts like a “pre-soak” and helps loosen surface gunk. It also adds more sudsy water to the surface more lubricity to help safely wash the grime away without scratching.
  
  
• Keep your wash areas small and rinse your wash mitt frequently in the second bucket.
  
  
• Wash in straight, overlapping lines as opposed to circles and remember to be gentle with the wash mitt on the first pass. This first pass will pick up the majority of the dirt, and loosens the remaining dirt for pick up on the second pass.
  
  
• Rinse your vehicle by opening up your Fire Hose Nozzle to the open flow setting or by removing the nozzle if you don’t have an open flow option on your nozzle and let the water run or sheet over the surface instead of spraying. This helps in two ways. First, generally when water has “sheeted” off of a surface it tends to leave less residual droplets behind. This means less to drying time. Second, since there is less water to pick up, there is less chance of your leaving water behind to “spot” the vehicle.
  
  
• When you dry your car, use only high quality microfiber waffle weave drying towels and wring out often. Gently dry the surface without much pressure. You don’t need to rub the surface…you’re just picking up the bulk of the water! Once you have picked up the bulk of the water, and the first towel is saturated, use the second towel to lightly pick up any remaining streaks or droplets.
  
  
• Lastly, if your wax or sealant is still in good shape, go over the vehicle with a quick detail spray like or Sonus Acrylic Spritz Detail Spray or BLACKFIRE Midnight Sun Instant Detail Spray and a plush Deluxe Jr. 600 Microfiber Buffing Towel to restore a radiance and slickness to the paint. This last step will give your vehicle that “just detailed” look by enhancing gloss and will also remove any missed drips, water spots or streaks that showed up when you weren’t looking.

So washing my car with Ajax, and Dawn mixed with bleach is a bad thing? I thought it would be ok because I was using an SOS pad as a spounge.
Great read Todd!

A good write up Todd!

I tend to rinse less and not worry about soap drying on the paint. Although I do not wash in the sun, I do not have an issue with rinsing with most soaps. Ultima, DDJ Born to Be Mild, and Blackfire seem to be some of the best with easy rinsing.

I just use GoJo or Lava hand soap, works great.

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Originally Posted by Jsmooth

So washing my car with Ajax, and Dawn mixed with bleach is a bad thing? I thought it would be ok because I was using an SOS pad as a spounge.
Great read Todd!

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Yes this is a bad thing. We don`t recommend Comet either!

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Originally Posted by Bunky

A good write up Todd!

I tend to rinse less and not worry about soap drying on the paint. Although I do not wash in the sun, I do not have an issue with rinsing with most soaps. Ultima, DDJ Born to Be Mild, and Blackfire seem to be some of the best with easy rinsing.

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Agree with your easy rinsing soap selection Al. I would also add that Duragloss and 1Z Perls are extremely easy to rinse as well!

Hey Todd, what`s your spin on BHB on a stick as the wash media compared to a shmitt or mf wash mitt?

Great How To Todd!:bigups

Washing is probably the single most important step in maintaining your vehicles finish and knowing how to do it correctly makes all the sense in the world.

We spend an inordinate amount of hard earned cash on our cars and trucks. Doesn`t taking care of it the right way make the most sense? :bigups

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Originally Posted by BobbyG

Great How To Todd!:bigups

Washing is probably the single most important step in maintaining your vehicles finish and knowing how to do it correctly makes all the sense in the world.

We spend an inordinate amount of hard earned cash on our cars and trucks. Doesn`t taking care of it the right way make the most sense? :bigups

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I would say it is the MOST IMPORTANT step!!!!