For Those 'complaining' about the cold south ....

[budman3]

.... at least you don't have to deal with salty roads for 4-5 months!

Hey all. Hope everyone is doing just fine. I've been busy with life so I haven't been detailing, posting or purchasing much lately but I do lurk regularly. Back in May I picked up my 2010 Ford Fusion and 11,000 miles later I am 100% satisfied with my purchase still. It's a great car and I couldn't be happier with it. I bought some steelies and Michelin X-Ice tires for the winter months and put the 18's in a shed for the summer months. When the temperature gets above freezing I usually pull out the pressure washer and AG foamer to get the majority of the salt and grime off, however the next day it gets messy again.

Yesterday I did that, and then did an ONR wash in the garage to get it perfectly clean again (for a few minutes at least ). Also, I wanted to test out my new Canon 50D camera as well, hence this post :bigups

As usual, onto the pics! Oh yeah, I have 2 coats of Collinite as a base and a few coats of OCW on top of that.

This is about a week and a half without a spray down:

Foamer- Optimum Car Wash, Water and some Poorboy's Bug Squash:

After I brought it into the garage, I dried it with a Metro Master Blaster and began the ONR wash.

This picture shows what is actually left behind after a foam down (100% touchless)

And the afters:

Thanks for looking!

 

[Pockets]

Hey Kevin nice to see ya again :howdy I like the fusion as well my friend got it as a rental car while his was in the shop the v6 it was ballsy we had lots of fun lol im sure yours is even faster and better!! :dnaughty

 

[Ronkh]

Looks good.

Nuttin like the feeling of gettin all that crap off the car mid winter.

 

[Mr. Clean]

I'm still complainin' It's too danged cold down here!

Yep, I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with salt or even having a set of winter wheels/tires.

Interesting wash combo. So you foam it and then use a rinseless wash to remove the foam? Is that your SOP for the rinseless wash year round or just in Winter? Sounds like a plan and evidently you like it.

Sharp looking little vehicle, btw.

 

[rabbi]

Looks nice. Good job.
Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the low 40's. If so I will be doing a wash and wax job hopefully on both cars.My cars are salt covered. I too will be using a foam gun.
Ronkh you're right about getting all the crud off one's car.assout:

 

[Bunky]

Nice..I like that blue.

 

[budman3]

Hey Kevin nice to see ya again :howdy I like the fusion as well my friend got it as a rental car while his was in the shop the v6 it was ballsy we had lots of fun lol im sure yours is even faster and better!! :dnaughty

Thanks Pockets. Its got the 3.5L V6... plenty of fun

Looks good.

Nuttin like the feeling of gettin all that crap off the car mid winter.

It sure does feel good. Now its all dusty from the dried salt and dirt in the roads... can't wait until the next wash.

I'm still complainin' It's too danged cold down here!

Yep, I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with salt or even having a set of winter wheels/tires.

Interesting wash combo. So you foam it and then use a rinseless wash to remove the foam? Is that your SOP for the rinseless wash year round or just in Winter? Sounds like a plan and evidently you like it.

Sharp looking little vehicle, btw.

First I rinse it off with the pressure washer to get the big stuff off. Then I use the foamer and let that sit for a few minutes. Next is to spray it off again with the pressure washer and bring it into the garage so it won't freeze up. Then onto the ONR rinseless wash and drying. Before the ONR I pre-spray the panels with a concoction of ONR QD strength, Spray & Wipe, and Spray & Gloss.

Looks nice. Good job.
Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the low 40's. If so I will be doing a wash and wax job hopefully on both cars.My cars are salt covered. I too will be using a foam gun.
Ronkh you're right about getting all the crud off one's car.assout:

Yeah, this weekend looks good here too. I didn't have the chance for wax this time around ... the Collinite is holding up fairly well considering the abuse it gets put through.

Nice..I like that blue.

Thanks Bunky; Sport Blue metallic. The flakes are a mile deep and depending on the lighting condition it can be light blue or a dark gray blue ... I love it :bigups

 

[Mr. Clean]

...

First I rinse it off with the pressure washer to get the big stuff off. Then I use the foamer and let that sit for a few minutes. Next is to spray it off again with the pressure washer and bring it into the garage so it won't freeze up. Then onto the ONR rinseless wash and drying. Before the ONR I pre-spray the panels with a concoction of ONR QD strength, Spray & Wipe, and Spray & Gloss.

...

That sounds like a very thorough process, very similar in a sense to using a DIY wash bay and then following with a rinseless wash or S&W.

Do tell us a bit more about the pre-spray concoction (anything worthy of the title concoction is worth at least a few more words of description )

 

[budman3]

Yeah, just like the DIY wash but no drive and no quarters needed. If it were a bit warmer I could just do a 2 bucket wash with the foamer but days above the freezing mark are few and far between.

As for the concoction, it's really not much. I didn't care for ONR QD strenght (didn't evaporate quick enough, smeared around) so I added the S&W for a little more cleaning and S&G for a little more gloss. I figured both of those with lesser amonts of ONR couldn't hurt. In the end the formulaton probably was 1/3-1/2 oz ONR, 3-4 oz of S&G and S&W each and maybe 10 oz of water. I haven't used it by itself like a waterless wash or QD though. It worked fine for the purpose I was looking for- a little lubrication during the ONR wash and maybe a bonus of additional gloss

 

[Mr. Clean]

Yeah, just like the DIY wash but no drive and no quarters needed. If it were a bit warmer I could just do a 2 bucket wash with the foamer but days above the freezing mark are few and far between.

As for the concoction, it's really not much. I didn't care for ONR QD strenght (didn't evaporate quick enough, smeared around) so I added the S&W for a little more cleaning and S&G for a little more gloss. I figured both of those with lesser amonts of ONR couldn't hurt. In the end the formulaton probably was 1/3-1/2 oz ONR, 3-4 oz of S&G and S&W each and maybe 10 oz of water. I haven't used it by itself like a waterless wash or QD though. It worked fine for the purpose I was looking for- a little lubrication during the ONR wash and maybe a bonus of additional gloss

You read my mind and answered my question.

 

[OCDinPDX]

Looks great, man! I'm very impressed with how far Ford has come in the past 12 months and their current product line.

It's been raining here for pretty much the past month and we finally got to the point where the roads almost dried out. I was able to take advantage of the dry spell (no sunshine, though) and wash my car, clay it and throw on two coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond. It looks stellar but we've been pounded by half an inch of rain in the last twelve hours so the car hasn't left the garage. I will savor its current state tonight because the rain is supposed to continue and I have to drive up to Seattle come next weekend.

 

[Mr. Clean]

Yes, temps here have been moving up, in the mid to upper 40s with a couple of lower 50s. Then there was Tuesday when it was sunny and mid 50s, but I was in Houston where it was sunny and the mid 70s . Unfortunately, with the warmer temps has come the precip.

OCD, by your description of being "pounded" by 1/2" in of rain over a 12 hour period I would have thought you were in AZ not The Evergreen State.

 

[OCDinPDX]

OCD, by your description of being "pounded" by 1/2" in of rain over a 12 hour period I would have thought you were in AZ not The Evergreen State.

Usually we don't get pounded by heavy amounts of rain through the day...it just drizzles lightly almost non-stop.

I really enjoyed Thursday because it was dry, warm, and NOT windy! :yay Usually if it's not raining, it's because the strong east winds keeping the offshore flow away.