Cleaning The Box (I am Lazy!)

[Perfectlap]

If you can't wash your own car with a hose use Optimum No Rinse available at detailcity.com
Fill A bucket with warm water and drop in two ounces of No Rinse, mix it up. Dunk a sea songe or chenille sponge and wring out the sponge over the car for some pre-soak.
Dunk the sponge again and wipe down one panel at a time. While the car is still wet Spray the panel with a quick detailer (Try Chemical Guys or FK1, both sell by the gallon and cheap) and buff dry with a waffle weave towel (Pack Shack or Poorboysworld.com). Use the left over water to clean your wheels with a Meguiar's Gold Class wheel face brush.
If you can't get a bucket to wash use a 2 gallon pesticide sprayer from Lowe's or Home Depot. Same procedure, fill with warm water, drop in two ounces, close the lid on the sprayer, shake up and pump the sprayer. No Rinse leaves a very nice slick surface. If the surface isn't slick after cleaning the a panel you are using too much water or not enough No Rinse. I can do the whole car in under 15 minutes.


as for the bugs, If you use a good acrylic wax like Fk1 1000P, FK1 Pink Wax, Werkstatt Acrylic Jett Trigger, Rejex, Mezerna FMJ it should make the bug removal much easier.
1Z makes a great bug remover sold at openroadmotoring.com

[djomlas]

i wash my car as soon as it gets dirty, so maybe 2 times a week.
im realllly anal about keeping my car clean. but hey, if you want a clean car you have to clean it, and the funny thing is i actually enjoy cleaning and washing my car, not just this one, but every one i owned. people always ask me how come my car is always clean...i just clean it haha, simple as that.

but yeah, No Rinse system is great.

[Perfectlap]

people say the same about my car except I rarely wash it. Silver just always looks clean. Even when its dirty it shines! I can't tell you the last time I did a real car wash. Probably back in early April just when I did full polish/seal for the season.
I picked up a couple of nifty 36 ounce spray bottles from autogeek.net

One has FK 425 and the other a detail strength dilution of No Rinse.
Instead of dry dusting with a california swirl your paint duster, I remove dust with the No Rinse. I do the whole car with 425, paint, glass, wheels, dash.

[silverboxter]

i'm w/dj on this thread. i can't drive a dirty box!...either mine or my wife's. if anything, i'd like to start a thread discussing if waxing your box twice a month is too much! we've had my wife's box three weeks and i've already waxed it twice!

[djomlas]

you cant really over-wax it.

but PL, did yo have problems with california duster? i love mine, i get no swirlmarks at all

[Perfectlap]

Using a new california duster is not bad. But unless you are really diligent about shaking it out and only use it when its a very fine film of dust its trouble. The problem is that when you drive on the road the cars in front and around you kick up sediments (sand) from the road and onto the car. Without wet lubrication often times you are dragging these micro sediments across your paint. And who knows if the sand is still embedded in the duster. I don't think I've ever heard of someone washing a California duster either. I think for a garage queen that only picks up dust from indoor parking its ok. for daily drivers no good.


Yes you can wax your car too often. The more you dry touch the paint the more trouble you are making for your self. I know one guy who does the whole 3 step (polish/seal/wax) EVERY MONTH! That 12 times a year when you should only be doing it 2 or 3. A good acrylic wax that is left untouched outside should last 4-6 weeks. Longer if its garaged. Obviously the Wax will degrade and you won't get the 10/10's shine you got on day one later on day 15. But that's easy to cure. Just boost the wax with a good acrylic spray (Aqua Wax $8 NAPA, Zaino Z8, Carnauba Jett) after your wash and make sure you use an absolutely pristine clean towel. If you follow up with an anti-static spray like FK1 425 or Chemical Guys you can go three months without having to reapply the wax and even longer for the sealant.
Non-Acrylic waxes with high concentrations of pure carnauba like S100, Souveran,P21s absolutely require an anti-static spray or sealing glaze (FX100) if you want to see it last for a month or longer.

[JCL12]

All of you seem to use real wax (too fancy for me )

Is the "wax" from one of those DIY places actual wax and will it do a decent job?