Bill1975 said:
I did my first full detail today, took me 7 hours, and yes, I'm sore.
I live in an apartment so I do it at a local coin op hose and brush joint, though I only use the hose and bring with me two buckets, lots of towels, mitts and cleaning products. Since I did a much longer session today, and I didnt want to leave the car there, I went straight through without a break, not fun. So what Im wondering is, would it be ok for me to wash and clay, and then, drive home to where I have a covered parking spot (it takes about 5 minutes) and do the polish and waxing? What concerns me is getting dirt on my car on the ride home. Assuming its not raining or muddy I would think I could just lightly towel off any dust that accumulates during the ride home, and maybe a little bit of QD if neccesary. Think this would work?
I have a similar situation. I live an apartment too and I have to park my car outside 24/7.
I live in New England where the weather can get really bad, and your car gets dirty quickly. Several counties use sand to 'salt' the roads so people visiting me wonder if there's a beach around. The sand kicks up and isn't good for your clear coat at 80MPH, so waxing is quite important.
You simply won't be able to detail your car as well as the people on this group. However there are things you can do...
The biggest thing is, you'll want to detail your car off peak hours, way off peak hours, say after like 10pm, when no one is around. My coin op places are lit and operable 24/7. So you might have to find a place that does. Use Google. this way you can detail your car without feeling guilty, or rushed, nor will you have to drive it to a temorary location.
Another thing I see at my coin op wash place, is drivers park their cars just off to the side and detail their cars there, so there's not much chance of dirt build up. Again, you might have to find a new place to do all this. I had too.
People here will hang me for this, but I don't find it necessary to bring a bucket and wash mitts. I use the brush found at the coin op place. However, I blast it for about a minute with the presurrized water. Now, the place I go, the soap suds come out pretty darn fast. I mean, if I keep the brush in one place for 30 seconds, a mound of suds about 1 foot tall will pile up underneath it. So, I can't imagine dirt from a previously washed car on the brush. Nor, do I think the dirt I brush of my car will stay very long when the soap suds just streams smoothly out of the brush. Anyways, I haven't had a problem with scratches. Use the brush lightly and just be careful.
Wax just once a season, and use quick detail sprays as wax booster. This will cut down the amount of time you spend detailing. Collinite Insulator Wax is really the only wax that is easy to apply, and lasts long. In my opinion, Zaino is just too impractical for apartment dwellers.
As you become more practiced at it, you'll be able to do a decent detail in less than 45 minutes.
In the winter, and spring, where the road conditions are the worse for your car, I'll put a coat of collinite 476 on the hood and front 1/4 of the car. It lasts just a bit longer than Collinite insulator wax. I'm gonna experiment with optimum car wax spray. People here say it lasts for 5-10 weeks, which will be perfect protection in the winter, where I'll probably just quick detail maybe every other weekend.
Hope that helps.
