thank you for the pics! Helps me a lot in terms of seeing how well it fits in the rear seat.

Cute kid!

 

I don't have much going on this weekend. All I had was Open WOD 11.2 this morning (fellow Crossfitters will get that one), so I decided to chronicle my slightly **** car washing procedure. Oh, and I suckered my wife into taking most of the photos as I was having trouble keeping the camera from getting wet.

I've taken some professional detailing seminars/classes, spent thousands on trying different products, and frequent several detailing forums. This is my current step-by-step and specific products I use. I will only do my own cars. No one would pay me the hourly rate I would have to charge, so I don't mess with other cars. Heck, I don't even wash my wife's Explorer Sport. Dare I say it's a lease, and I send her to the car wash.

I'm already off to a bad start. I've put 650 miles on my 911 in two weeks of ownership and have washed it six times! That of course was after a 26 hour new car paint correction/detail. I think my wife finally get it though, so I think I'm safe.

Products
You can certainly Google the name of all of this stuff, but I buy most everything from Detailer's Domain. Just make a reply or shoot me a PM if there is anything you can't find.

Grit Guard Dual Bucket System
Adam's Car Shampoo
Adam's Large Wash Pad
Kranzle 1122TST Electric Pressure Washer
Eley Quick Connection for the hose bib
Gillmour Quick Connection for pressure wash inlet
Pressure washer direct quick connects for Kranzle wand/foam cannon
Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner
Adam's All Purpose Cleaner
Adam's bottle filling funnel
Griot's Finest Sprayer Bottles
MTM Foam Cannon
Eley Rapid Reel hose reel
Adam's 3/4" Goodyear Kink-free hose
Eley Pistol Grip Spray Nozzle
Adam's Firehose Spray Nozzle
Adam's shut-off valve
Largest Wheel Whoolie
Griot's Tire Scrubbing Brush
Lake Country Lambskin Mitt
EZ Detail Brush
Daytona large detail brush
Swissvax Wheel detail brush
Stihl BG55 leaf blower
Craftsman rolling seat
Adam's, Uber, Griot's microfiber towels
Hydes Rustopper
Autogeek Grit Guard Bucket for wheel brushes

I think that is it. Obviously there are other products I use for an actual detail. This is just for a wash.

The Process

I raid the microfiber vault. I usually grab the white Adam's waffle for drying with Adam's detail spray, yellow Griot's for door jams, wheels, final clean-up, blue Uber Ultimate for final touch-ups.







Pull Out Buckets





In my opinion, Adam's Shampoo is the absolute best. It's PH Balanced, so it won't harm the paint if it dries on it. Also, it foams like crazy.



Running low.



Kranzle Pressure washers are super expensive, but this thing is build like a tank. It's no good for washing a deck or house, but it is perfect for my car. It's pretty quiet, so I don't wake the neighbors when I'm out washing a 6 AM.



Quick connects are a must. I never leave my pressure washer out, so I don't want to spend all day getting our and breaking down my system.















This bad boy is going to shock some of you. I think I have about $500 into this combo. The hose alone will scare off most. Since I use it so often I searched far and wide for the best hose and the best reel. Check out Rapid Reel by Eley. You will have it for the rest of you life.



I keep my brushed in a knock-off Grit Guard bucket. It keeps them from getting moldy. The guard at the bottom acts like a natural separator.



I love this thing. It's also build like a tank.



Griot's bottles filled with other stuff. I'm sorry Richard. Sonax for the wheels and Adam's APC for the tires.





This is probably my favorite car washing device, MTM Foam Cannon. I basically bought the pressure washer just for this. You'll see it's awesomeness in a minute. Quick connect is a must. I usually fill it up before getting all wet. Add about 2-4 ounces of soap and fill slowly with water to avoid bubbling up. There is some water at the bottom in the photo. That would be too much soap.















I always add soap to the pad. It help create more suds when you fill the bucket. It also helps you avoid spraying half you soap out of the bucket accidentally with too much water pressure.







I have my wheels Opti-Coated, so 90% of the brake dust comes off. I then hit with Sonax and move on to spray off the next wheel. By the time I get back around to the first wheel, the Sonax is turning purple. This means it's time to agitate and rinse. After the wheel is clean, I usually hit the wheel wells quickly. Then, I'll spray the tires with Adam's APC, brush a bit, and spray off. Repeat on each wheel. The Sonax will look more impressive if your wheel is really dirty. You can see the beading from the Opti-Coat.



Dirty wheel (not too bad opti-coat...)







Handy seat.



I also hit the exhaust with Sonax Full Effect.



Wheel Whoolie





Swissvax Brush

 

Clean-up the calipers.



EZ Detail Brush on the fender liners.



Lake Country Lambskin Mitt. My favorite wheel cleaning tool.







Spray it off with Pistol Hose Nozzle. I keep that nozzle on as it's easy to operate with one had. I don't use a bucket for the wheels. I just spray off the various tools every-so-often.



Griot's Wheel Brush



Daytona Speed Brush for exhaust.







Rear wheels at another angle. This is where I negotiated to get the wife to help out. She get's to go out to dinner with her friends tonight. I'm sure I'll end up paying.

























Adam's shut-off valve with Gillmour brass quick connect



After doing wheels, I switch over to the Adam's Firehose nozzle. There really isn't any need to do this, but I spent $65 on it, so I have to use for something.



Rinse bucket/soap bucket







Pressure wash dirt off the car.





Foam time! The foam falls off the car pretty quickly due to the Sonax Polymer Net Shield on the paint and Wolf's Glass Nano Sealant on the glass. That's the hope is that most of the dirt is off the car before touching it.









I swear to you I train my legs twice as much as upper body...sigh. It's genetics.









Gentile wash. This takes two minutes as the car is already pretty clean.

 

I'm clearly confused with that ///M hat on.



Maybe I can sell my 911 to get calf-implants.



I always wash the buckets with the soap on the car. I know that sounds stupid, but I'd rather have soapy water dry on the paint than plain water. Adam's soap will wash right off if dry due to its PH balance. Another plus is that I don't accidentally spray water on a completed car.



Power rinse the car.





Water sheeting method. This makes it easier to blow off the car. Just control the water flow by kinking the hose and make a solid sheet of water to take most of the excess of the car. Man does Sonax Polymer Net Shield bead water. Water almost shoots off the paint.








By the way, this is all done in the shade. I have an awesome car washing spot right in front of my main entrance.



This stuff works really well. Spray the rotors to prevent rusting over. I spray it on just before blowing off the car to ensure not of it sits on the wheels.





I bought and sold a master blaster and have stuck with my trusty Stihl leaf blower. I don't have to worry about running extension cords all over the place.









The car is now 99% dry, and I have touched it yet. I now finish drying it by spraying Adam's detail spray on the paint and windows a couple of panels at a time. Then gentile wipe with Adam's Great White towel. If you've followed the previous steps, you shouldn't have to worry about scratching your paint. Just don't do any crazy aggressive wiping.













Detail spray the wheels and wipe any excess water with Griot's towels. These towels only get used on wheels, tires, and door jams.





Get rid of that nasty silicone based crap. Adam's super VRT is a nice matte finish for your tires. Shinny tires are a no go in my book. That went out with Chrome in the 80s.



These are foam blocks from Adam's. I buy a dozen at a time. I just flip every couple of application and then throw away.





Clean up and dry off all of the jams. This take five minutes if you do it every time.















When I met my wife she had a 2003 Honda Accord EX Coupe. A nice car for a 23 year-old. Well near the gas cap there were a ton of scratches. I came to realize was from her leaving the cap flopping on the safety cable used to keep the cap attached. The first mod I do on every car is to cut that cable off.





Done!

 

Wow I love that foam attachment!!!!

 

Not much more to say....you've said it all!

Well done........

 

Wow! Great walkthrough.

 

When do you have time to work out! Kudos to you for taking such great care of your car! I finally got too lazy and turned mine over to the detail guys. Sigh...
J

 

Nice work mate... It is a labor of love!!!

 

This thread is MONEY.

 

Awesome posts..thanks!

 

Great stuff. I'm off to order a foam attachment now

By the way, love the shelving. I just bought a house and wouldn't mind doing something similar in my garage.

 

You might want to try P21s Polishing Soap for the exhaust pipes - works great on both the interior & exterior. And a couple times per year, I take either a spray wax or sealant (love the blackfire crystal seal) and treat the sills & jams. Underneath side of the frunk I also treat the same way. Nice job - glad I'm not alone in the detailing department.

 

I can't figure out what's sexier...you or the car.

 

I've never used any of P21s products. I'll check out the Polishing Soap for the exhaust.

I uses Wolf's Nano Trim Coat on all of the black plastic and rubber. I used Meguiar's engine detail spray diluted 5:1 on the plastic in the frunk. I just use the same LSP on the jams, so I have Sonax Polymer net shield on them.

Pay attention liitle Chuckie, you might learn something.