Happy Birthday EastsideAutoSpa........

M

MJRLLK

New member
This is a great site for a Newbie and I've got a lot of insight into cleaners and polishes for my 325xi that will be coming at the end of December, but I live up here in Vermont where there may not be very many days above freezing to do a regular hand wash (although with global warming it's been disturbingly mild sometimes in the past decade). Anyway, what about the coin operated hand power sprays for cleaning? I'd like to be able to clean it well enough to put a coat of Klasse AOI on as soon as I take delivery. I have a heated garage so application would be OK, but it won't exactly work for a wash :) Opinions anyone? Thanks.
 
im so jealous....;) wash it quik in their driveway with some warm water...then put it in the garage...or if u go to the local spray place....try to just use their rinse water...not the brushes etc....those things will kill your paint....do a quiky search under winter washing and youll find lots of stuff.....as for cleaning it well enough to put Klasse....the AIO should clean it really good for you before you put the SG....
 
Sorry KEN I have to say it:



WHAT IS SNOW??



But seriously move south! LOL



Do not use brushes from coin operated car wash places! NEVER NEVER. Not even on wheels they will cause swirls in the clearcoat.



You might want to use the bucket in the wash bay so you can use a fine quality wash mitt to remove the grime and gunk on your paint.



Try washing it in front of the garage with a bucket of warm water and warm soap mix. And to rinse you could go to Home Depot and rig up something to connect to your washing machine water faucets so the you could mix the hot and cold water to get a temp you can tolerate with out freezing to death.
 
You can find a carwash that uses warm rinse water in the winter. Bring two buckets, mit, shampoo, and towels. Fill both buckets with the warm rinse water after putting in the minimum number of quarters, and rinse the car just before it stops (wand no closer than 2'). Then wash the car using the two bucket method right in the bay. When done you can rinse with the wand again no closer than 2'. Dry quickly, and you will have a pretty darn good and safe wash job. This is what I will soon have to do if it gets cold. I hate salt on my vehicles.
 
Thanks for the good suggestions. I like the idea of just bringing my buckets and using their water. What do you do about the undercarriage? Try to stray under or bite the bullet and take it to a "brushless" wash and let they spray underneath?
 
All the ones in my area have big signs saying:



"NO BUCKET WASHING"



They probably do not like it much as they are not making money. Maybe you can just talk to the owner and leave him some extra cash or some detailing supplies or somthing.
 
Most have signs which say it is prohibited (some of the signs say "prohibited when others are waiting"), but I have done it dozens of times without any problems. I don't think anyone really cares.
 
I've used power washes with good success. I use only the spray, and a mitt to actually touch the car. I rinse the mitt with the sprayer. which leads me to word of caution #1:



If you do this, be extremely c areful to spray the mitt and not your arm. I managed to graze the spray across my inner arm half way between mitt and elbow - and it instantly went under my skin. I was lucky - this can be a really, really serious injury - I got off with only a sore arm and a scar.



Also, go to a well-maintained wash place. I tried a new place closer to my house once - and i think they must not have been properly filtering /exchanging their water (all these places recycle the water.) I got terrible water spots, even though I dried the car on-site. SO - there IS some risk.



One of the best things is that they're great cleaning brake dust off of complex wheels...
 
the carwash I go to is owned by a very good friend (we were each other's best man at our weddings). He is actually annoyed that I don't go there anymore (at least most of the time I don't). He even gives me tokens so I'll go there more often, and I give them away most of the time.



As far as bucket washing goes, here they don't care here as long as there isn't a line. They would prefer that you pump plenty of quarters in, obviously. Use their vacuum if it that will soothe your conscience! :D



My friend's dad invented and holds (or used to anyway) the patent on "No-Spot Rinse" using dionizer technology. They even installed deionized water equipment in Hawaii at Dole Pineapple! His family has made quite a bit of money off car washes over the years. Both he and his dad are, shall I say, well off financially.
 
Happy Birthday Paul, hope it's a great one!:bday cake::happybday::bday cake::happybday::bday cake::happybday::bday cake::happybday:
 
Thanks everyone, started off rough with some really dirty cars then got better when an sl 65 amg v12 bi- turbo showed up unannounced.:clap: good customer great tipper
 
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