All right! Since summer is coming, it's fine to make our car clean and fresh. How often do you guys/girls wash your car? What do you use? What's your technique? Do you wax or use sealant?

Well, I usually wash my car every Sunday and wax every month unless I know that it's going to ran the following day. Sometime I even do it when I'm just extremely bored and have nothing else to do since Sundays are boring as hell. I use Meguiar's Gold Class for washing it, but first I rinse it completely. When I start washing it, I usually start from the wheels, muffler, then the actual car. I clean one panel at a time while rinsing it. I do this for the whole car until it's completely clean. Finally, I sheet the car with running water. Drying is a freakin pain, but sheeting helps a lot. I might consider an Air Wand to dry it at an insane rate compared to toweling drive, which can cause more swirls. For waxing, I use Meguiar's Gold Class paste. As usually, I do one panel at a time then let it slowly dry.

I'm only using Meguiar's because I'm too lazy to order Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax plus that is expensive! I'll probably try it out this summer once I get my HRE's on and some Rotora 8-Piston, 380x34mm 2-Piece Rotor; Rear, 4-Piston 380x34mm.

Damn, that's a long post.

just once per month, if it get washed at all.

the car is in remarkable condition though.

I try to wash it whenever I can...which is to say it isn't a lot.
So I'll wax my car whenever I wash it.
I use primarily Black Magic products.

Wash once every week or two (power wash, foaming brush if it gets bad), microfiber towel dry, windows get cleaned with stoner, and car is vacuumed out.

So.
Rinse
Soap
Rinse
Foaming brush if needed
Rinse
Spot free rinse
Dry
Wax car, if possible
Wax wheels, if possible
Clean windows
Vacuum and clean interior

I use Meguiar's Carnuba wax for the car, Mother's mag polish for the wheels or anything metal/aluminum, Armor All for interior detailing, and Stoner for the windows.

i used to wash my car every 2-3 weeks... water, soap, rinse, wax (2 coats), some quick detailer, vaccum interior, leather care and so on and so on. i use mostly off the shelf meguires stuff. as for detailing, havent done it myself and probably never will. too much work involved and would rather have someone else do that.

i wash my car every week cuz i work at a car dealership sundays are the slowest days where there nuttin to do at all so thats when i bust out all the products and wax once a month. lets see before i start i use bug off on the front bumepr, side mirrors, and wheels, spray down the car, soap, and rinse. dry the car off do windows, interior and usually clay the whole car to get that really smooth surface.

I wash my car at work practically every week, sometimes even twice a week since there's nothing to do. I vacuum and clean the interior once a month and when I do, I always start with the interior first, then I work to the outside, usually from top to bottom. Hose down the car, start scrubbing, spray the wheel cleaner on, and then hose off all the soap on the car, as well as spraying the cleaner off the wheels. Afterwards, I'll take the shammy down the car, then I'll spray some tire shine on.

I'll be investing in a PC 7424 soon enough so once I get that I'll do a full detail on my car.

we're in a drought so washing the car is "illegal" here.. XP
you have to pay a fine if your caught.... but i slipped by XD

my boyfriend wash 2/3 times a month i think?
i helped him wax his car once!

Dont get me started on detailing. Im too into it. Also to jamesymobilio dont get a PC that is pure crap. Just go and get a rotary. Dewalt, makita, metabo, etc.. I use a dewalt personally and using the PC just once pissed me off enough to not use it ever again. Its slow, weak, and has very little correction capabilities. I was a full time detailer before and an now just a part timer/ mobile.

I wash my car every week. Saturday or Sunday is the day for me. Full detailing comes every 4-6 months including claying, chemical cleaning, interior shampooing, polishing, glazing, sealing and wax.

The products I have are;

3m Extra cut
3m Swirl Remover
3m Machine Glaze
3m Ultrafina SE
3m Finishing Glaze
Klasse AIO
Klasse Sealant Glaze
Meguiars GC Shampoo
Meguiars APC
Meguiars Wheel Brightener
Meguiars Last touch
Meguiars Degreaser
Meguiars PlastX
4Star Claybar
P21s tire gel
Meguiars NXT 2.0 wax
Duragloss #951
Duragloss TPP
Duragloss PBA
Duragloss #521
Danese wet glaze
Poorboys Natty Blue
DP 4-in-1
Pinnicale Liquid Souveran
Pinniacle black onyx
Collinite 845
Collinite 915
Lexol Leather cleaner
Lexol Leather conditioner
Optimum poli-seal
Clearkote RMG
3m wool compounding pads
3m foam compound/polishing/glaze/ultrafina pads
LakeCountry CCS foam polishing,glaze/wax pads



and a bunch of others I cant remember off the top of my head. But yea... Rotary is the way to go.. And dont waste your time with the Souveran paste wax. Imo its a waste of money. The durability of that wax is absolute crap but if you like the looks if it than fine. Many say the looks are exactly the same between souveran paste and DP Max Wax and Nattys blue. Gold Class wax is also crap. Shitty durability and it loses its glow in a matter of days. Im all for sealants and a wax topper.

I also notice that you dont polish your car at all. Im getting some menzerna soon after a finish off some of my supplies. BTW Menzerna is the best polishes around.. period, you should look into them and also into getting a rotary.

Here is some pics of one car I did back in November.

I thought about Natty's blue too, but considering the price, it thought that it would be shit. I'm fairly new to detailing and just barely know what to do. I have a 6" random orbiter right now. I've never applied a sealant before, so I don't know anything about it.

For sealant, a lot of people on the mb forum told me FMJ.

Let's say I want to do a complete detail of my car using sealant then wax. What are the step that I should take? A few told me that I should use dawn soup to take of the current wax/sealant.

Nice Eclipse. Very clean.

I never do it and I don't plan on doing mine myself, I had to do it all the time in the detailing bay at Honda, so I decided I'll just leave it to a company to do instead cause its such a pain in the ass to clean the floor mats, vaccuum interior, do the dashboards, trunk, and wash the window than scrape it with a razor blade. hell the only quick part hosing it down. man its aggrivating, I dont know how the guys could stand to do it every day. It only costs about $60 to get all that done or $100 if you want waxing and engine bay wash.

If the orbital buffer you are talking about looks anything remotely like this, its garbage and only good for applying waxes/sealants.


I have no personal experience with FMJ but from what I have read about it was mixed reviews of it being good and it being crap, then I hear it has great durability then some say it last for a few weeks. If your interested in sealants; UPGP, Poli-seal, DG105, are pretty good sealants with great durability. Sealants are easy to apply but is just time consuming. It applies just like wax. It goes on thin and you must let it haze first. Now here is the time consuming part. Once you applied the sealant you must allow it to haze for at least an hour then proceed to buff off. Once its buffed off you must allow it at least 12hrs to properly cure and cross link together and should not be wet until it is fully cured. After 12hrs you can apply another coat if you want.

The process I go through when I do a full detail is wash the entire car (you can use dawn once in a while to totally strip everything off), clean the wheels, wells, tires. Once the wheels are clean I pop up the hood spray degreaser all over the engine bay; scrubbed the engine bay and hosed it all off. I wipe up all the extra water in the engine bay and turn the car on the dry everything else in the bay. Then i proceed to claying the entire car. Continuously kneed the clay as it gets dirty. Afterwards it gets another wash and is dried via microfiber waffle weave. Then I go and do the interior.. vacuuming, APC the interior and then adding protection(303). I shampoo/spot treat the carpet if needed. Then everything interior and exterior gets dressed including the engine bay.

Next is the chemical cleaner(KAIO) to prep. Then I go to straight to swirl removal and polishing. After polishing I apply glaze for that wet look and proceed to my wax or sealant of choice depending of what glaze I used. You need to read the direction of the wax. Some you must allow it to haze and some are WOWO. That was a pretty short broken down version of what I do.