Quote:
Originally Posted by araje
For my garage setup, after reading and reading here's what I have in mind.
1. Pressure washer + Adams Foam cannon + Adams PH neutral
2. No wipe. CRSpotless rinse and let it dry
3. For AZ summer when its 100F at 9am, Ammo NYC spray and MF wipe
All this is great. But when you all go on roadtrips for days and days together, what is your plan. If its a few days, yea it can wait till we come home. But we have been out for like 2-3weeks sometimes.
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You probably
can't wait a few days if you truly care, here's why: Within 30min to 1 hour *in the Sun* of any of these things
* Bug splatter
* Tree sap
* Pollen + water (yes! pollen!)
The acids in those things will have started to etch your coating and/or clearcoat.
For a roadtrip setup you can read my clickbaity thread but here's the summary of what you need:
(A.)
A collapsible bucket or two or three
(B.)
A Worx Hydroshot or similar (not the 725psi big boy! 450 psi is plenty, the smallest is most portable)
(C.)
Mckee's N-914 Rinseless Wash (the plain version as you have a coating so topper needed)
(D.)
Good 70/30 microfiber towels (e.g., TRC's Pfuffle, or Everest, Minx Royale, or Ultra mitts or pads)
(E.)
Good 70/30 drying MFs, like TRC's Gauntlet
(F.) Good portable spray bottle (e.g.,
Kwazar 360,
Marolex pump 1L, etc)
Optionally if you have room
(G.)
A 3 gallon water bottle from whole foods, pre-filled with
de-i'd water from there (usually ~ $0.49/gallon)
(H.)
Citrol
(I.)
Grit Guard for Collapsible bucket(s)
(J.)
Bug sponge
After the day's drive, here's your process:
(1.) Pre-wash. Goal: remove as much dirt/debris as possible w/o water spots
If you don't have a hydroshot you can do this at a U-wash, but just buy the hydroshot. Screw a 2L bottle of de-i water + a few drops of mckee's onto the small version hydroshot, or stick the hose into a gallon bottle/bucket of the larger version (2 mckee's caps/gallon). Spray down the whole car really well, give it a little dwell time, like 3-5 min. This is important. If you have the time & water, spray it down again.
(2.) Contact Wash. Goal: Abrate off as much dirt as possible w/o micromarring
Technique is key and I'd recommend the Zone + Garry Dean methods.
Zones:
Zone 1 is your hood & roof; Zone 2 is the top half of your side panels; Zone 3 is the bottom half of your side panels; Zone 4 are your bumpers (if you're doing this all the time like me, then Zone 5 is your wheels).
Wash Method:
(2.1.) Fill a collapsible bucket with 1 gallon of de-i water + 2 caps of McKee's 914. Dip a spray bottle in there to fill up if you don't have one already.
(2.2.) Put 4-5 wash MF's into the bucket;
once they come out they never go back in!
(2.3.) Take out an MF, wring out until just barely not dripping, fold into quarters, starting with zone one, counting the hood as 2 panels, use 1/4 MF / panel, wiping in a single direction aligned w/ wind flow (no swirls!). Buff dry with a quartered dry MF like the gauntlet.
(2.4.) Flip the MF and wash the next panel - use the spray bottle to ensure the panel is plenty wet w/ McKee's RW. Continue like this panel by panel, zone to zone until done. If a MF falls on the ground grab a new one, never put a used MF into the wash bucket.
(2.5) If needed do a bug scrub (see below)
(3.) Wash Your MFs! Goal: get ready for tomorrow!
Any left over clean MFs can be removed from the wash bucket simply wrung out.
ONLY ONCE YOU'RE 100% DONE WASHING, put the grit guard into the wash bucket if you have one, then put your dirty MFs into the wash bucket (do used drying towels first, then washing towels) and squeeze them all out until clean. Dump the water and do a rinse cycle (again, drying towels first, then wash towels). Hang to dry.
BUG / TAR SCRUB
Keep some McKee's 37 Rinseless Wash in a spray bottle ready to go in your trunk. When you can, like stopping for gas or food, spot-spray on the McKee's and let it dwell for a few minutes. Take an MF, wet it down with RW, re-wet the spot, then gently wipe off the bugs. If you have a good coating this should get most bugs off by itself (if it doesn't then your coating's dirty or it sucks). If not, try the bug scrubber + McKee's.
For very stuck on bugs/tar you can spray on Citrol, let it dwell, then use a MF wet with McKee's to wipe off. You could also bust out the Hydroshot and give that a try first, before going to Citrol.
The whole process can take 20-30 min once you do it a few times.
--------------> Home / Garage Setup Experience <---------------
My 2 cents based on my experiences over the last 15 years of detailing my cars is:
(1.) Foam, Foam Cannons: Not Worth It.
Why?
Because foam in itself does nothing. It's fun! it looks cool! ... and maybe that's enough to do it ... but as for functional cleaning, no, it's not really doing anything more than water itself; i.e., a pre-contact-wash power spray down is just as good as a foam cannon. Thus money is WAY better allocated to microfibers, drying aides, & other tools ... unless you're simply looking for the fun - which it is! Thus a battery power-sprayer I've found to be plenty and, because it's so easy to use & always ready to go, I use it more. Businesses with customer probably need foam cannons to look cool, and companies/people who profit from selling that stuff love to sell it - and there's no doubt it's fun & cool - but, functionally, it's not doing much. It's kinda like protein powder for most people: emotionally it feels like it's doing something, but rationally it's not.
(2.) pH Neutral Soap: It Depends ...
Why?
If you're trying to "chemically" remove dirt & road film from your car before a contact wash via a dwell, pH neutral soap won't do a thing (more than plain old water) because ... it's pH neutral! Only acids & alkalines will dissolve stuff. Thus if that's the goal a power-spray is all that's needed (ideally with de-i water to avoid spots). What pH neutral soap *is* good for is lubricity during the contact wash. The real problem is, most people think foam=clean even with a weak soap like pH neutral -
it doesn't!. pH neutral soap is especially shitty with road film - i.e., anytime your car is driven in the rain. pH neutral soap will NOT clean road film, it'll just smear it around when you do a contact wash, but you can't see it because it's invisible (but it compromises your wax/coating/sealant). You have to use a APC to get road film off, i.e., a solvent solution capable of removing it like Superior Road Warrior, Dark Fury (for the experienced only), or similar.
(3.) De-i Water: So Worth It!
Why?
To avoid spotting, which can be REALLY destructive, A home de-i pretty convenient ... though if you don't mind buying it by the reusuable bottle from the grocery store (or if you have water delivered) it can be easier to use a battery-powered power-sprayer. I find this method way wAY WAY easier ... and, TBH, I wash my car more because I don't have drag everything out. Though if you have a really nice wash-bay setup (wall/roof mounted de-i/compressor system & hose reel) then everything is always ready.
(4.) Ego 650 Blower: A Ridiculous Luxury!
Why?
If you don't routinely modified-rinseless-wash like I do, an Ego 650 Blower kicks ass. It's portable-ish and it'll remove 99% of the water in 2 min. Anytime I've done a driveway full spray down I always blow it off first, then use a Marolex to spray on rinseless wash; that way I've gotten all of the water out of the nooks & crannies, and any that drips out I'll get as I go by with the RW contact wash.
(5.) Good Microfiber: Your #1 Contact Wash Tool!
Why?
It's magic: its electrical charge is opposite of dirt, so a really good, soft (70/30), well-maintained (see below) microfiber will suck dirt up into it, thus not marring your paint, and then release it in water. So the key to avoiding micro-marring your paint is:
(a.) An excellent microfiber used as wash media
(b.) Lubricity! A good soap or rinseless wash (I prefer the latter)
(c.) Maintained MF
Never in hot water, only washed with MF detergent like Rags-to-riches, never washed or mixed with other fabrics, well-dried, never stored where it can get dusty, etc
Net-Net: Sure, some dirt can be sprayed off, but the bulk is probably coming off with not via soap, but via your wash media, i.e., microfiber. So the better the pile on your wash media (inside and outside!) the less chance of micro-marring.