I will be doing a 4-5x part series on taking care of your special vehicle. Rather than have my processes spread throughout multiple threads, I am writing one thread for each part. I will be going over General Cleaning, Protecting your Special Vehicle, Paint Corrections, Specialty Corrections, etc. When speaking to protection I will go over each type of protectant (sealants, waxes, coatings) explaining what they are and why they are used. Then I will go over application of each and how to do that properly. Same for all other steps. Here is the first long read. If you have questions, please ask, if you have additions then please post those. The point is to help owners prevent ruining their cars without even knowing they are doing it. Plus, hopefully allowing owners to become more involved with their car and enjoy doing these processes.




Special Vehicle Care 101: General Cleaning

Car Cleaning Process:
The below information explains how to appropriately clean your special vehicle without causing any unintended marring or scratches. 25% of the swirls and scratches come from the washing process. 65% of the scratches and swirls come from the drying process. And 10% of the scratches come from people’s hands, fingernails, and/or road debris. We are going to try and mitigate those scratches and swirls as much as humanly possible. Follow the below process and you will consistently see your car remain in pristine condition. NEVER ever allow anyone to clean your car other than yourself. Especially dealers or car washes or even detailers, unless you specifically approve of the materials they use, and their process in doing the work. The majority of Car Guys who think they are taking the best possible care of their car are in actuality damaging their paint without knowing it. This will help correct bad mistakes or prevent owners from causing them.

Equipment:
1. At least 2x buckets, possibly 3x. One dedicated with Grit Guard for rinsing and cleaning wash mitts. One dedicated for the wheels and wheel wells. And one for your car wash soap.
2. Dedicated wash mitts (micro fiber, sheepskin, or MF wash towels). One for washing upper body panels, one for lower panels and bumper areas. One specifically for wheels.
3. Proper car soap (Chemical Guys, AMMO Brute/Foam, many other etc.…)
4. If needed; All Purpose Cleaner Citrus (APC) for tires underbody
5. Wheel woolies brush/MF glove for wheels
6. Grit guard for one bucket
7. Dedicated MF Drying Towel used only with AMMO Hydrate
8. Master Blaster Sidekick or larger air blower. Compressed air is okay, but unless you have a filter to filter the oils and moisture out of the air it is not good to use. Same for leaf blowers. They just don’t have the focused air pressure you need and will leave water spots, which you have to use a towel to fully, dry. Defeats the purpose.
9. Water based Tire dressing
10. Horse hair small brushes for small areas (engine, door jambs, badges)
11. Specific car window cleaning solution
12. MF glass cleaning towels (specific ones)
13. Interior cleaner (Meguire’s, AMMO Lather etc.…) NOT window cleaner
14. Iron X or similar iron particle remover (not used every time)
15. Regular MF towels intended for wipe down (Costco Kirkwood yellow)

Optional tools: foam gun, pressure washer

Process:
Engine: Place plastic bag wrap around alternator and electronics. (New cars have so much plastic covering the engine; you may not be able to reach them. In that case just don’t run pressured water into those areas) Remove debris and leaves from surrounding edges near windows and drains; blowers are nice for this. Minimal pressure rinse off under hood (hood could be last so water doesn’t drip on you while cleaning the engine, and engine area. Use wide minimal water pressure over engine. Use soap and water and dedicated MF towel to wash paint under hood and around engine, then wash all surface areas. If an APC is needed, apply to the horsehair brush (paint brushes work nicely) and apply to the hoses, plastic parts, lower areas as needed. Rinse with low pressure, then remove plastic bag and if you have a blower then dry off the underside areas before closing hood. Terry towels are fine in this area except for the painted areas. Terry towels scratch badly and honestly should almost never be used.

Wheels: Work one wheel at a time ONLY. Use ONLY a dedicated wash bucket for your wheels and underbody cleaning. Never use this bucket for washing the paint, even after rinsing the bucket out. Rinse wheel and wheel well areas removing any loose dirt, brake dust, sand etc.… before you start washing them. If you have previously ceramic or glass coated your wheels you only need to use soap and water to remove the dirt. If you have not, the first time washing your wheels you should spray some type of Iron remover on them. Iron X, Ammo PLUM, and others are great iron removers. NEVER spray any type of cleaners onto ceramic or carbon brakes or rotors. Then use your soap and water with a hand MF mitt or MF towel and wheel woolies to get the barrel and outside of the wheel clean. Brushes are needed to agitate the dirt around the lug nuts and valve stem areas. Make sure whatever you are using for a cleaner never dries on the wheel. For washing the barrel, make sure you start at 12 o’clock and work your way down both sides. That way you are not transferring iron brake particles and scratching your wheels. Wash the wheel well last. Again, if you have coated your wheel well liner then you only need a wheel woolies and soap and water. If not, then sometimes an APC needs to be used. Tires are the same. I usually use a tire cleaner once a month only for a daily driver. Rinse all areas off and move to the next wheel. Exhaust tips are good to get clean during this step.

Paint:
1. Start with specific wash soap and wash mitt or MF towels in one bucket.
2. Optional only if using MF towels: have second bucket with clean fresh water and grit guard. For MF towels you don’t need this.
3. Rinse the vehicle off, using pressure along areas between the wheels and lower bumper areas to get sand and loose debris off.
4. Pre-make the soap bucket using one squirt of soap in the bucket, one on the outside of the wash mitt, and one inside the wash mitt. If using MF towels, then one squirt in the bucket, and then haphazardly run a bead of soap over the MF towels (8-10x of them). Using MF towels, and one per panel, is the absolute best way to prevent any type of marring.
5. Start with the roof, then glass, then top of trunk/hood, then the sides. After each panel, dip the mitt into the fresh water bucket and scrub the grit guard on the bottom. Common sense says you don’t need to get a fresh towel or dip the mitt after each window (except the back on SUVs; I would do that window at the end of the wash) then dip into soapy water and start the next panel. Again, this is only needed when using a wash mitt. If using MF towels, then just grab a new towel from the soap bucket. Never reuse an MF towel. Always grab a new clean one. You can flip the MF towel as needed to further reduce chances of scratching the paint on the same panel. Repeat as needed. You are attempting to prevent a sand particle being dragged from one panel to another, or even across the same panel thus causing micro scratches in the paint. Side panels—best to wash in sections. Wash top areas first, then after washing the whole car except the lower rocket panels and bumpers, use a clean MF towel or wash mitt, and wash the lower sections separately along with front bumper and rear bumper lower areas (this is what a dedicated second wash mitt can be used for). This prevents as much as possible the moving of dirt particles across the paint and scratching it.

Drying:
1. The best possibly way to prevent scratches and marring during the drying phase is to use air. Metro makes dedicated blowers ranging from $85 (Sidekick) to the 30’ hose Master Blaster ($375). These blowers will get all water out of seals, cracks, etc.… without damaging your paint. This is the number one recommended tool to use for your car other than specific car wash soap and using MF towels to wash your car. A leaf blower does not work. You will still have to wipe the car with an MF towel thus reducing the point of using air in the first place. Secondly some leaf blowers actually input a mist of oil and exhaust into the air stream, thus blowing this on your car. Same for compressed air. Unless you have a dedicated air filter on your compressor, there is a high chance you are blowing oil mist onto your paint. Not a good idea and defeats the purpose. Spend $85 and do it right. See below if you decide you don’t want to do things perfectly correct. ☺
2. Use only a dedicated MF towel specifically made for drying paint. Many types out there. From time to time I use the waffle weave ones.
3. Chamois and Water Blades are the absolute worst product you can put on your paint, first only to any type of towel that is not MF. If your drying your car with a bathroom towel or chamois, your not just wrong; your way wrong and damaging your paint.
4. Slightly dampen the MF drying towel so it well attract water, rather than repel water. IF USING an MF towel the ultimate way to use it would be to buy AMMO Hydrate to use as a lubricant on the towel to prevent even minor marring, which is still possible. Use only light pressure when wiping. If Hydrate streaks a bit, that is good, just re-wipe lightly that area to remove. This product does not protect, it just lubricates the towel to prevent any type of marring.
5. Try and use straight line strokes when drying. This will again help minimize a scratch if a dirt particle did get into the towel. Straight-line scratches are much easier to remove from the car and wont show up as easily as swirls.
6. Use dedicated towels for doorjambs, under rockers, lower bumpers etc.… I just use regular MF towels that are already slightly dirty from other washes. I throw them away after 4-5 washes. Yes those are laundered after rinsing them. (The one I use for my wheels is not laundered, just rinsed and used for 1-3 times depending on how bad it is)

Interior:
1. (I do this before even washing the car) I actually use my blower to blow dust off dash, seats, headliner etc.… Just a quick pass with all doors open.
2. Remove floor matts and vacuum those and the interior carpet getting into all crevices with a crevice tool (I use Metro Master Blaster Vacs with tiny crevice tools; about $200-300)(this is separate from my blower; I prefer to NOT use the vac’n blow functions; while possibly, I wont take a chance of particles getting into the air stream when switching from vac to blow)
3. Wipe down all interior panels, fixtures, leather etc.… using a dedicated interior cleaner. I spray directly on the MF towel then wipe the areas. Never spray on the material itself. I use AMMO Lather for this. Other manufacturers such as Meguire’s make this also. If there is a stain, use a scrub pad or brush, spray the cleaner on it, then use till the area lathers up, then wipe lightly the lather up so you don’t re-imbed the dirt.
4. For carpet and cloth areas use a carpet cleaner (I use AMMO ****), spray directly on the surface, then use brush or scrub pad to agitate, then blot dry with MF towel.

Glass:
Try and use separate MF towels for the interior and exterior glass. The best would be to use 2x towels per window. But that would get tiresome. I separate mine to front and one side, rear and the other side for the outside. For inside, the front only gets used on the front. The sides and rear are just two other towels. Use Nitrile gloves when doing glass so oils do not transfer from your skin, to the MF towel to the glass and cause streaks. Deep cleaning glass will be covered in a separate thread.

Interior Glass: Use a dedicated glass car window cleaner and proper window cleaning towels. Most detail shops sell the specific glass cleaning MF towels. You want to make sure you prevent spraying cleaner on interior parts of the car. Use a dedicated bottle sprayer mix of 50/50 isopropyl alcohol for interior front window. Spray on a scrub pad to degrease the window (scrub pad is the best). Then take a towel and just use it to pick up all that contamination. Use several towels for this process. Then use a regular MF towel and liberally spray cleaner on towel, then wipe in straight lines your glass. Then take your good window waffle weave window towel, spray lightly, then wipe in cross-hatch pattern making sure you leave a clean streak free window. The purpose for this is to prevent transferring oils and other contaminants from the towel to other areas of the window. This should drastically improve your glass clarity.

Exterior:
Use 2x towels for this process. Use a regular MF towel, spray directly on it, then wipe quickly the window loosening any debris. Then take your good dedicated window towel and polish the glass to a streak free shine. The front window is the same; however there are other processes that can be done to improve the clarity over regular cleaning.

Dressing the tires, interior:
Tires: Use a water based tire dressing. This will help prevent your tires from accumulating a build up. This also makes it where a good strong soap will clean the tire, rather than using expensive degreasers that could mar the surface of your wheels. Use a foam pad and apply the dressing onto the tire really scrubbing it into the tire. Once done you can let dry for a bit and then work the same foam pad with no additional dressing on it over the tire. If more of a matte black look is desired, then use a throw away MF towel to run over the tire, removing the sheen. Depending on the brand of dressing, second applications can increase the shine. This process should emliminate any dreaded tire sling that we all hate. Once practice this should become a non issue. For the interior; Meguire’s makes a non shine protectant that can sprayed on a mf towel then wiped over all the surfaces. I do this only once every 2-3 weeks.

Conclusion: Wrap-Up: At this point you should have a very clean vehicle and non of this process when done regularly should take you any longer than what it took you before. But now you are preventing any possible damage that you were unknowingly causing before. There are additional possible steps that can be taken to minimize the possibility of scratching your car; however this is the best current process. As new products and tools come online this process may change.

 

Excellent.Thank you

 

Can this be put as a sticky? Thanks Sheriff

 

I will be making 3x other long threads for this too. One separate thread for each topic. That way things cannot get confusing for people when they read through the threads in the future.

ONE BULK thread then with each of these threads inside it would be best if that is what people want.


I will be in DC Metro area starting in Jan. I will be personally available to help any members if they want. Sometimes it helps people to learn this by doing it, so happy to help.

 

Thanks for a great thread. Most people dont have the time or knowledge to properly clean the car. Depending on family situation it is sometimes hard to spend two hours to wash a car without the wife going berserk.

My only suggestions are if you are really interested in doing this on your own is to invest in the CR rinseless water system. This way you do not have to worry about water spots.

I also do a preclean with a foam cannon. Foam the car, let it soak for 5 mins, then rinse off. This way hopefully dirts gets trap in the foam soap and falls off the car before going to the mitts. Adds another step and 10 mins but I think its worth it.

 

+1 for the above. I do not have, nor run into water spotting where I have lived. I also never allow water to dry on the paint. However, where this is an issue there are water filters that go inline to the hose, producing spot few water.

Foam gun--- I have one, honestly never use it. Once or twice after driving on sandy roads or sand parking lots I have used it to make sure all sandy particles are taken off by the foam. It does help, but I have not evaluated whether the extra time is honestly necessary. What tends to happen is an owner foam baths the car, then rinses that off. Then finishes the bottle off again on the car and uses that foam to wash it. Thus not following the process. But its nots a bad step by any means.


My washes take no more than 1hr to get done. If I skip the vacuuming phase and window phase, the longest time is the drying off with the blower. That takes maybe 20min to get it done right. The washing maybe 15 min. The above I wrote was a thorough, once a month type cleaning. IF you keep the vehicle fairly clean, then it doesn't take long.


Also, Even after driving home in the rain, I will typically try and wash it before it goes in the garage. I dry it there. Then no dirt sits on the car. But I am **** as hell about my cars.

 

Great write up and thank you!

However, I have to take issue with your all encompassing comment that a leaf blower "does not work" (I think we've been here before LOL). I have been using my electric Black&Decker blower for YEARS without any issues. It emits no "oil mist" and certainly no exhaust, being electric. It also is a damn sight better at clearing water than some specialty detailing air blasters (I have one of those, too, and hardly ever use it).

Yes, sample size of one, I admit, but I have to believe my B&D blower is not unique.

 

Excellent !
Is AMMO Lather ok to use on black leather with red color stitching or any other suggestions ?

 

Great write up SherriffDep! Like you I am extremely **** about detailing my cars and have quite the arsenal of equipment and products. I have even toyed with opening a Detail Garage in my area to sell detailing products and teach others how to properly detail their cars. I'm sure your input is appreciated by all.

 

Usually wheels take the longest for me. During the wheel portion of the wash, I also do inside the wheels wells either the largest wooly or wheel/tire mitt depending the car. I also wash off the muffler with the soapy mitt and clean the inside the exhaust with a large wooly shaken of excess soapy water.


The air dryer is the most fun part IMO. I use an 8 hp Master Blaster that is worth the investment. Using a regular air compressor is 15% as good...

 

Absolutely. For most general wipe downs, spray mist onto mf towel and then wipe the set down. For anything specific, then spray onto horsehair brush liberally, then start brushing that area. When it lathers up, wipe off with mf towel. The MOUSE leather conditioner works great also. I am actually a fan of all the products. While some can get expensive due to use, like PLUM, I use Iron X instead. Same for soap, but I do have Brute, Foam, and the winter blend which is specifically made to help remove the salt spray. Regular washes I use Chemical guys Mr. Pink, Honeydew gallon size soaps.

 

Coating your wheels and even wheel well liners will drastically reduce your work and time. While the one time for application does take an afternoon of your time, washes from then on will be soap and water with a mf towel. Barrels and liners I also use a wheel woolly and a throwaway mf towel. BUT, as I write more, this will be a hot topic I cover. I hands down approve of this coating for these areas. Its pretty much a MUST>

 

When using your electric leaf blower--- does it get ALL the water off the paint and crevices? Or does it get the vast majority off and then you have to wipe areas with a mf towel. I have never seen a leaf blower that is capable of completely focusing air enough to systematically remove enough water, especially in crevices. Also, do any areas of the car DRY before you can get that air onto it and move the water off? My point is that if you ever have to touch the car with a towel to dry it, your wasting the effort of the blower. The point is to never touch the car unless you have too.

Not saying your process doesn't work for you, but I have seen these used several times and it surprised me how bad they were. One was electric and one was a Stihl backpack blower (the largest one).

 

It gets water off all panels that are visible from the outside i.e. those that would show swirl marks visible to my eye. Believe it or not, I do indeed get the point about not touching the paint unless absolutely needed; not sure why else you think I would use a blower. And yes, it gets the water off before it dries, but then again, I always clean my car in the shade, and I always rinse with my CR Spotless.

It does not get water off the door jambs, off the engine or off the inside hatch gutters, but then, no blower of any sort is going to do that when used from the outside. I do not bother to blow those areas off after opening the doors/hood/trunk, as I find that a microfibre towel and quick detailer spray do a good enough job for me (if I am making swirl marks in those locations, I can't see them!)

 

That CR spotless likely makes all the difference in the world then. BUT, not arguing and very happy you take the time to do things correctly. I guess I am just spoiled with the 8hp Master Blaster with the 30' hose.

I will be working up more of these so you can now tackle the swirls on your paint too Next will be Protection of the paint, and the kinds and explanations to apply them all. Then the Paint Correction will be next. Feel free to PM me with any specific questions and I will help you, like I have other members.