Ok, so detailing and upkeep

[nvikram]

What do you guys do? I'm a college student, so I try to wash my accent every couple of weeks, but now that I'm home for winter break, I wanna do some serious cleaning, inside and out, so what do you guys do for detailing? what products do you use/do you take it anywhere to get it detailed?

[2012bostonredse]

Depends on how much time youre willing to put into it. To keep your car's finish looking like the day you drove off the lot, takes time and attention to detail. There are NO shortcuts, except in the form of money, to pay someone else to do a good job washing/cleaning it. And I mean a professional detailer, not some kids doing a fund raiser.

The most effective, yet time consuming way, is to use the two bucket system, with a leaf blower to dry. One bucket for the soapy water, the other bucket to soak and ring out your sponge. If you use only one bucket for rinsing off your sponge AND cleaning, then I guarantee you have swirl marks on your car. To dry your car, use running water from a hose, with no attachment, and let the water run down your car from top to bottom. Then blow it dry. If you need to dry off any remaining water beads, use a CLEAN, lint free microfiber cloth. <<<All this takes time.

For the wash, use something mild and basic. No need for expensive fancy stuff.

If you wax, (not gonna go into too much detail here, lots of stuff to consider), but if you wax, the best way is to get a good smooth foundation to work with. Use a clay bar first to remove any deposits/contaminants. Then wax.

If you want that deep, wet, showroom shine, use carnauba wax. Its a softer wax, and will give you that deep shine, but it will last only about a week.

If you want a longer lasting wax, use a synthetic polish. Synthetic polishes are made of a "harder" material, will last longer, but won't look as "wet" as a carnauba wax.

Things to absolutely avoid at all costs:
-Foaming brushes in the car wash bay. These are dirty, and people use these to clean their wheels/rims. These will scratch your paint 100% of the time.

-Letting people dry your car with crappy, dirty towels after driving your car through an automatic car wash. This will scratch your paint 100% of the time. If you see a group of people as your exit the wash, just politely decline the drying, and if you want, tip them. They don't make crap for money, and they don't really care about your car like you do. But before you drive away, look at the towels. Notice they are cheap bath towels, dirty, and used. Not good. Find an open stretch of road, and let the wind dry your car.

-Drying your car with ANY type of towel, even the good microfiber ones, after a NO TOUCH car wash. This will scratch your paint 100% of the time. I prefer NO TOUCH car washes, because its a quick way to blast most of the dirt off your car, and there are no ill maintained, dirty rotating brushes scraping against your paint. However, there will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be a thin layer of dust/dirt on your paint after a No Touch car wash. If you use anything to dry it, you will just scrape those contaminants back into your paint, 100% of the time.

What I do is, once every fill up of gas, I purchase the cheapest NO TOUCH car wash, its 7 Bucks. And I save 10 cents a gallon of gas. I drive through the wash, and let it blast most of the salt, dirt, grime off my car. I then drive down the road at above 50mph to dry it. <<<At no point do I ever touch my car. The less opportunity you have to touch your car, the less opportunity you have to scratch it. Then, once a month, I use the "two bucket" system I described earlier, to give it a proper clean.

[rattlecanned]

take it to a detailer, we like money.

[John_Madison CT]

If you're car is waxed, do NOT use dish washing detergent like DAWN. It is a very basic pH and it will strip off all the wax.

Car wash detergents have a neutral pH and will not do that.

[cobraflem 6]

Originally Posted by 2012bostonredse

Depends on how much time youre willing to put into it. To keep your car's finish looking like the day you drove off the lot, takes time and attention to detail. There are NO shortcuts, except in the form of money, to pay someone else to do a good job washing/cleaning it. And I mean a professional detailer, not some kids doing a fund raiser.

The most effective, yet time consuming way, is to use the two bucket system, with a leaf blower to dry. One bucket for the soapy water, the other bucket to soak and ring out your sponge. If you use only one bucket for rinsing off your sponge AND cleaning, then I guarantee you have swirl marks on your car. To dry your car, use running water from a hose, with no attachment, and let the water run down your car from top to bottom. Then blow it dry. If you need to dry off any remaining water beads, use a CLEAN, lint free microfiber cloth. <<<All this takes time.

For the wash, use something mild and basic. No need for expensive fancy stuff.

If you wax, (not gonna go into too much detail here, lots of stuff to consider), but if you wax, the best way is to get a good smooth foundation to work with. Use a clay bar first to remove any deposits/contaminants. Then wax.

If you want that deep, wet, showroom shine, use carnauba wax. Its a softer wax, and will give you that deep shine, but it will last only about a week.

If you want a longer lasting wax, use a synthetic polish. Synthetic polishes are made of a "harder" material, will last longer, but won't look as "wet" as a carnauba wax.

Things to absolutely avoid at all costs:
-Foaming brushes in the car wash bay. These are dirty, and people use these to clean their wheels/rims. These will scratch your paint 100% of the time.

-Letting people dry your car with crappy, dirty towels after driving your car through an automatic car wash. This will scratch your paint 100% of the time. If you see a group of people as your exit the wash, just politely decline the drying, and if you want, tip them. They don't make crap for money, and they don't really care about your car like you do. But before you drive away, look at the towels. Notice they are cheap bath towels, dirty, and used. Not good. Find an open stretch of road, and let the wind dry your car.

-Drying your car with ANY type of towel, even the good microfiber ones, after a NO TOUCH car wash. This will scratch your paint 100% of the time. I prefer NO TOUCH car washes, because its a quick way to blast most of the dirt off your car, and there are no ill maintained, dirty rotating brushes scraping against your paint. However, there will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be a thin layer of dust/dirt on your paint after a No Touch car wash. If you use anything to dry it, you will just scrape those contaminants back into your paint, 100% of the time.

What I do is, once every fill up of gas, I purchase the cheapest NO TOUCH car wash, its 7 Bucks. And I save 10 cents a gallon of gas. I drive through the wash, and let it blast most of the salt, dirt, grime off my car. I then drive down the road at above 50mph to dry it. <<<At no point do I ever touch my car. The less opportunity you have to touch your car, the less opportunity you have to scratch it. Then, once a month, I use the "two bucket" system I described earlier, to give it a proper clean.

Basically solid advice here, with the exception of touching the car. If you live in a dry climate with little vegetation then fine. But like me in a wetter climate and lots of trees this just does not work. After any type of cleaning/drying you want to put your hands on the finish to see and feel what additional steps to be applied are. Around here, bugs and small particles of tree sap accumulate over time. Clay bar systems are great for this. As far as towels go, they are making some pretty descent quality microfiber towels now that when used in conjunction with a spray quick detailing spray or during a polish/wax process will cause NO harm to the cars surface. I also absolutely 100% avoid automated car washes of any kind, even touchless because they do not clean well and then spray polymers/wax that harden after drying and actually seal in things you do not want on your car's surface. Try to keep it simple. There are at least a couple other threads on this site with helpful tips so basically do what works for you and stick with it.

[mrmr256]

It also depends on your color....

I have a black Accent. It always looks nice after I wash it, but after driving it just once it looks dirty again.

Scratches are more apparent on a black car but I've learned to live with it. And our paint job is not as robust as other makers.

I do have one tip... replace your cleaning sponges, etc. every 4-5 washes. No matter how good you rinse them in the rinse bucket, sand/dirt always builds up in them.

[isd.jwendell]

I've been using Adam's VRT for the black plastic (trim) and Adam's In and Out Spray on the black plastic grill. My first car using this product, seems OK. What are others using on the black plastic?