Quote:
Originally Posted by ErnieArt
What are you guys doing at the self serve car wash? If anyone uses these places. Please give some tips or procedures you do.
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I do the interior first at my Condo's parking garage.
Once I get to the self service car wash, I lay out two wash buckets. One for wheels, one for the paint. I pour in some shampoo. Meguiars Gold wash is great if you're not a fanatic about having only the best car wash products. I then spray on wheel cleaner.
Next, I pay at the pump to turn on the hose. I use the spotless rinse setting to fill the buckets with some water (not all the way). Use your wash mitt to cover some of the bucket so there is no splash back when inserting the hose in to the bucket. Make sure that once there is some water in there, you put the hose's opening into the water to avoid splashback altogether. The wash mitt I use is:
Amazon.com: Meguiar's X3002 Microfiber Wash Mitt – Super-Thick Reusable Wash Mitt for Ultimate Finish, 7 B(M) US , White : Automotive
It is an amazing mitt. Meguiars nailed this one. I use specialty products, but these mitts are a staple for me.
Next I change the setting to pressure rinse. I rinse the wheel chemical off the wheels. Then rinse the rest of the vehicle. Don't be afraid to rinse the wheels some more. After I am done, I use the remaining time I bought to fill the buckets with more water using the spotless rinse. The reason I do this back-and-forth I have just described is because I don't want to fill the buckets to my desired level, then do the rinse because by then the foamy-ness of the shampoo subsides. Spray more water in just after the rinse helps maintain a good mixture of shampoo and water. I also don't want to rinse first then do the buckets entirely because I don't want to leave the wheel cleaner on for very long. It also reduces the time between the car being rinsed and washed with a mitt if you do it this way.
I now use the mitt and bucket to wash the car. Once done, I use the same bucket I had used for the paint to brush the tire sidewalls (this is OK to do because you won't be using this bucket for paint anymore). Tires first because in case any dirt from the tire moves to the wheels, you can address it.
After the tire sidewalls, I use the other bucket and a second wash mitt to clean the wheels.
Buy more time with the pump and rinse everything off, including your buckets.
Get in your car and drive home as fast, but also as safe, as possible. This will blow like 90% of the water off your car. The drying process is the most dangerous and where most the swirls come from. Use Meguiars Ultimate Quik wax to dry the car and make it look great.
For the drying phase, I think you should be willing to fork out a little extra and go with this:
Adam's Double Soft Microfiber Towel | The Best Microfiber Towels, Rags & Cloths - Adam's Polishes
Drying is the most dangerous (for lack of a better word) step. So get those towels to apply Meguiars Ultimate Quick Wax with. A 4pack would do. You probably only need 2 though for the entirety of the 4Runner. A 3rd is nice if you want to use Quik Wax on the wheels (I recommend). And then you have a back up in case you drop a towel on the floor.
Now it's possible that after driving your car home that there is still some panels with a bunch of water on it. You will want a quality towel to gently drag across those panels to pick up most of the water. In that case, I would recommend:
Adam's Ultra Plush Towel | Best Absorbent Microfiber Car Drying Towel - Adam's Polishes
You only need 1. And this 1 towel will last a LONG time. Adam's has a 20% off sale right now with a Coupon code. So now is a good time.
I did this on my 9.5 year-old Honda since it was new. The paint was never even polished once in its lifetime. This is the result (
the images are very high res, so let them fully load to see what I'm talking about, may take a while):
For the 4Runner I am using different products. But the outline above is very cost effective and what I did on the Honda. It is also fairly quick. You won't be quick in the beginning, but will get faster as you do it. People would still ask me about the car. Good looking paint is always an attention-getter.