chinee

er34

I have an obsession. My typical wash routine:

Wheel cleaner
Pressure washer spray down whole car
Foam cannon w/ 2 bucket water rinse
Rinse
MF Dry
Clay
Rinse
Blast nooks and crevices with leaf blower to get all the water out(this is a must for mirror and doors, otherwise you'll get water streaks for days)..
MF Dry
Collinite wax treatment

This is about once a month between April and November.

For winter, it reduces to coin-op soap and rinse, and air-drying. No touch in winter due to salt and sand.

JDR76

I had just about gotten my "obsession" under wraps with my Atomic Silver GS, but then I traded it for the Smokey Granite MIca GS, and I'm back to square one. And now that it's spring, it keeps getting coated in yellow pollen, which is much more visible on the dark GS.

AJLex19

I feel like i'm the same way with any "material" thing or new toy in the toy box. When my Giant TCR Road Bike was new, I would clean the frame and wheels after my rides..after the first year, I stopped after a couple of nicks and scratches started to appear.

When my GS was newer, I tried to keep it excessively clean (car wash/hand washes), interior cleaning, wax, etc. I installed a bunch of add-on stuff myself. Eventually, I calmed down after a couple of years. Now I enjoy how reliable it is & how well it drives after owning for 4yrs now.

I still clean it but not as often. I live in a city where people sometimes don't respect your property and will bump the hell out of your car to get into/out of parking spaces, cyclists clip your side mirrors, teens throw footballs and kick soccer ***** that leave dents and dings, people swing open their doors and nick/dent your door.

One day I was sitting in my GS and this random guy opened my mirror the opposite way (bending it toward the front of the car) to check his teeth/gums (i don't have pwr mirrors). I held my horn down and he got startled and just casually walked away when I confronted him! I've come to realize that you can't have anything in near perfect condition in my neck of the woods...and trying to keep it that way will only infuriate you more the moment someone else disrespects your stuff.

jdpdata

Oh no, you're not obsessive at all. I'm worst. I like car detailing, I consider it a hobby and I get good exercise doing it. This is my ritual.

Weekly routine:
-Every Friday afternoon I start the car washes. I have 3 cars to wash so need a head start, it extends well into Saturdays and sometimes Sundays.
-Fill up 5 gal water bucket with grit guard in place
-Then I rinse everything down with pressure washer to rid of all loose dirt. Rinse wheels and wheel well really good
-Foam the entire car and wheels
-Pull out my wheel brushes and start on driver side front working counter-clockwise. Sometimes I do the opposite direction if the sun is shining on the car, I start on side with no sun first to avoid water spots
-Rinse wheels and entire car
-Foam the entire car again
-Use MF wash mitts to wash car starting from top of roof going front to back. Careful only to use straight lines to avoid swirl marks. I use multi mitts method to avoid contamination
-Always dip dirty mitts into water bucket to rinse them off in between each body panels
-Rinse car really good
-Dry car with Chemical Guys Waffle drying towels. I use multiple towels, again to minimize contamination
-Use leaf blower to dry wheels and blow remaining water off mirrors and door handle, trunk lid, front grill
-Use Bead Maker as drying agent to wipe down any water spots. I use this stuff on everything, paint, glass, headlight, plastic, wheels...everything
-Buff off Bead maker with clean MF towels
-Clean glass with 50/50 mix of water/vinegar
-Detail and vacuum inside of car. I use Bead Maker on dash and inside glass too. 303 Aerospace UV Protectant is also good for interiors
-Wipe down and Polish wheels with Bead Maker
-Apply tire gel
-Leave car in garage for at least 8 hours to cure

Every 6 months:
-Wash car with steps above
-Clay all paint surfaces and glass and apply wax
-Finish with top coat of Bead Maker as sacrificial layer

Every year or two:
-Wash, clay and use Torx polisher to remove any light scratches or swirl marks.
-Apply wax
-Finish with top coat of Bead Maker
-I may shampoo interior if it's really dirty
-Clean and condition leather
-Wipe down engine bay and apply 303 Aerospace UV Protectant for Plastic
-Take wheels off car to clean and detail. Good time to clean wheel wells and suspension components and brakes


So yeah, I have a problem But I enjoy doing all this. May get too old someday for all this work and have to go back to scratch and wash place.

jdpdata

We're getting an explosion of flowers blooming in Southern California due to all the rain we've gotten. I too have coat of yellow pollen on all my cars. What I do is use leaf blower to blow off all the pollen after a drive. Works good and require minimal efforts. Just be careful not to get too close with nozzle tip to avoid scratching paint.

bclexus

NYC is probably the worse in the entire U.S. for people disrespecting other people and other people's stuff. I've seen people in new cars getting out of a parking space hit cars hard enough to push the other car 3 feet and think absolutely nothing of it. Of course they are the same people that curse-out little old crippled ladies for walking too slow.

dphu626

I currently use this for my wash. I carry it around on my left hand and scrub with my right. It makes soap application so much easier. I use a MF sponge for the car and a MF mitt for my wheels. Now I have a black car and black cars are probably the most annoying to keep clean. The front of my house faces the sun so my car is also in direct sunlight. The amount of times I have to go back and rewipe everything to get rid of water marks is ridiculous. I am going to try Bead Maker as jdpdata has constantly advertised. After drying, I use Meguiar's spray wax and buff out any spot I deem necessary. I just recently bought a buffer. I'm going to take a personal day when the rain finally stops in Socal and really take care of my car, clay bar and everything.

chinee

jdpdata

I was inside my garage, but can't completely avoid the sun as I get direct afternoon sun in front of the house. Washing routine is starting now...
They don't call this stuff Bead Maker for nothing. This is two weeks after initial application. I may add another coat today.

chinee

jplumlee

Well I don't have a routine just yet... but my Deep Sea Mica GS looks dirty 27 minutes after its washed. I really like the color but is a high maintenance option for sure...

bclexus

jplumlee - There's lots of dust and dirt up there around Sherman!

Black cars only stay clean for a mere 42 seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There’s nothing sexier than a shiny, clean black car. Nothing!
There is nothing LESS sexy than a dusty, or dirty, or scratched black car. Nothing!

When you’re looking for a new car, the black one will seduce you. You’ll look at that model in another color, think about being practical, but the black one will wink at you. Tip its chin. Purr, “Hey baby… I want you inside me.” Walk away NOW, or you’ll take it for a test drive. When you get into a black car for the first time, you’ll feel dangerously sexier than you ever felt in your whole life. Your inner panther will roar. You’ll tingle in places you forgot you had. You’ll like it. And, chances are - you’ll buy it. The other cars just won’t make you tingle like that. Your only protection is to never get behind the wheel of a black car in the first place. Just walk away, and life will be uncomplicated. But, you’ll always wonder…what if.

A thin film of dust becomes luminescent on a black car. Every single spot of anything, even dried sterile water, stands out like a goober zit on prom night. At first, it will disturb and upset you so much that you’ll wash your car immediately. And…then it’ll be dusty again before you even finish drying it. An unknown little fact: Black cars only stay clean for a mere 42 seconds. But, they are the sexiest 42 seconds you’ll ever know. Because of that 42 second rush, you’ll wash your black baby faithfully every weekend. For the first year anyway. And then, all those scratches and swirls you put in the paint taking care of your baby will erode your resolve. You’ll start skipping. People will stare at your car in disgust, and make all sorts of judgments about your sloppiness. You'll scream things at them like; 'Shut up - I just washed this damn car 15 minutes ago.' Of course, you could always buy the black car and make it a garage queen...and never drive it. That's really smart! But hey, it will still get dusty...and all scratched up by you carefully hand washing it.

If you’ve never owned a black car - you may want to admire them from afar, with someone else dealing with all that goes with owning a black car. But...maybe you're the kind of guy that is 'up for the job'. Because maybe you have loads of time and energy to deal with it. If so, you either don't have a job, or a wife, or a girlfriend (or both!), or children...or a even a life!

A scratch on a black car means only one thing - extreme sadness. Be prepared, because you will have zillions of tiny scratches all over your black beauty. You know what color the car is underneath that glossy black? White. You know what scratches black cars? Car washes. Yes, you must always wash it by hand, or that slick black paint will be gouged with zillions of little white arcs where the car wash spinners hit it. Oh, but guess what? If you even touch your paint when you hand wash it - you too will also be putting zillions of scratches in the paint. It simply cannot be avoided. A scratched-up black car is not sexy. Don’t let your black car go like that. Don’t let it get all scratched up because you’re too lazy to wash it by hand either. Or, because it's too cold. Or, you don't have the time. Nothing is worse looking than a black car with white swirl rainbows in the black paint that is supposed to be like a fine mirror finish. Be prepared to buy thousands of dollars worth of products and tools to keep it decent looking. Are you ready to wash/clean, strip, clay, polish and wax/coat on a regular basis? All to see it looking less than sexy again as soon as you drive it around the block.

You will park under a tree only once where birds are known to perch. It will only take you one time to park under the trees in a parking lot notorious for attracting flocks of pooping birds to learn this lesson the hard way. If the bird poop remains for more than an hour on that soft black finish the paint becomes acid etched for sure, which will add nicely to all those swirls and scratches.

Black cars aren’t just hot, they are HOT. Getting into a black car on an average summer day is like getting inside a Weber barbecue with the coals at a perfect red glow. If you like to wear shorts, get used to the smell of bacon frying. It takes longer for the A/C to put out the fire.

Other than that - enjoy your black car!

dphu626

Like jdpdata said, with the amount of rain Socal has been getting, the flower count has skyrocketed which means the amount of pollen has also skyrocketed. I washed my car last Friday. I spent about 2 hours on the wash alone. My fiancée gets home from work and the first thing she says is "Your car is so dusty." GOD F&#@ING DAMN IT. Rain came again this past Wednesday and now my car looks like ****... again...

But man, the 2 seconds that it is clean, she's a beauty.

jdpdata

I had a black '06 350Z once. No matter what I did, I couldn't keep it clean. Back then I didn't have the basics of a proper wash, so I ended up putting on a ton of swirl marks. One day I was driving back from a car meet, a large metal wrench flew straight into my hood. Causing thousands of damage. I got a bra to cover it up. After 6 months of ownership, I had enough. She got to go. I went down to my local Toyota dealership to trade her in for the 4Runner you see in the background. It was a rainy day, they never took off the bra to inspect the car. They took in my trade on sight only since it was only 6 mos old. I still was under the water $2K, but not as bad as I thought. Getting that 4Runner was the best deal I've gotten. Love that truck to death. Owned her since 2006 and we've done many road trips all over California. She looks black but actually is a dark metallic green (Shadow Mica). I'd buy a Lexus GX460 if they had it in this color. When she is clean and have fresh coat of wax on, damn she's sexy.