Preventing chips on front bumper from getting bigger

[jdraupp]

Originally Posted by kenand1988

Hm, I'm kind of stuck then... I use a conditioner on the top to hopefully nullify going through a car wash but out here in the desert our water is really really really hard, so using a garden hose to wash the car would be terrible for the car and im not an eccentric rich guy whose gonna buy gallons of water purely to dump on my car.

No self service car washes by you? The old fashioned kind with the coin and the wand?

I use optimum no rinse wash. You can get it on amazon. All you need is a five gallon bucket with two gallons of water, a wash mitt and some microfiber drying towels. No hose needed. I have a hose and I don't use it because the no rinse stuff is easy and looks great.

[JayG]

Originally Posted by jdraupp

No self service car washes by you? The old fashioned kind with the coin and the wand?

I use optimum no rinse wash. You can get it on amazon. All you need is a five gallon bucket with two gallons of water, a wash mitt and some microfiber drying towels. No hose needed. I have a hose and I don't use it because the no rinse stuff is easy and looks great.

Don't even need the bucket and water

Get a 1 or 2 gallon pump sprayer from Home Depot or Lowes. Do the mixing in the sprayer. Just do a light spray on the car, wipe with a microfiber towel and dry. I sometimes do 2 wet/wipe processes and then dry. I use 1 -2 quarts to wash the car and virtually no water on the ground. You can easily do it in your garage

With the 2 gallon sprayer, I get 6-8 washes per fill up

They make 2 versions of Optimum NoRinse
Blue - Wash and shine
Green-Wash and Wax

I use the green, they add a little carnauba wax to their mix
You can also mix it to use as a clay lube or detail spray

[78F350]

I recently started using 'Meguiar's G3626 Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere Spray' on my helicopter at work and am getting some for my cars. Just spray it on and wipe with a microfiber cloth. It cleans off the bugs pretty well and prevents them from sticking so much in the first place. Also helps cut down on soot build-up behind the exhaust. No water needed.

[Lew]

I never use water from a hose on my car. I do all the cleaning in my garage where it stays and under a cover. I don't drive it in bad weather. I will clean the outside at times using my duster first over a fender, etc., then with water in a spray bottle wet a microfiber towel and wipe down the area. After that I will spray on Mother's spray wax and buff with a clean microfiber towel...The paint looks like new!
I also never wet my wheels. Just wipe down and when needed, I use a small brush to do tire dressing. Normally about a hour to finish the job. The cars paint has no spider webbing!

[boxxster]

Optimum no rinse is pretty good stuff. Water alone will not provide enough lubrication between your paint and the microfibre to prevent marring the finish so its important you use some sort of waterless/rinseless wash product. Just remember to always use a clean portion of the microfibre when you're wiping. You'll probably go through several. If your car is really dirty, its always best to rinse it with water first.

Everything you would need to know can be found here:

Auto Detailing Facts, auto detailing Tips, How to detailing Guides, how to polish, how to wax, DIY detailing, do it yourself guides

[jakeru]

Originally Posted by boxxster

Everything you would need to know can be found here:

Auto Detailing Facts, auto detailing Tips, How to detailing Guides, how to polish, how to wax, DIY detailing, do it yourself guides

Be aware that auto geek forums are moderated to basically only promote shilling for the products sold by autogeek. Autogeek will remove content (e.g., delete threads) promoting products not sold by Autogeek, which compete with AutoGeek-offered products.

Personally, I would recommend looking elsewhere besides autogeek for more unbiased detailing "facts" and "how to guides"... find a resource that is less biased.

But back to the (very old thead!) topic at hand - yeah, Optimum no rinse is good stuff. Makes a very economical clay bar lubricant, too.

[boxxster]

Originally Posted by jakeru

Be aware that auto geek forums are moderated to basically only promote shilling for the products sold by autogeek. Autogeek will remove content (e.g., delete threads) promoting products not sold by Autogeek, which compete with AutoGeek-offered products.

Agreed. I've actually never bought anything from there. The how to guides I linked to are very useful though.