I am no pro home detailer by any means, but over the years I did keep an eye on several detailer communities and preferred approaches. I used to wash my car quite often, but over years kids and all got lazy, so usually would go to touchless once every few months.
I value my time a lot and cant afford to spend hours fiddling with the car so I was looking for most effective approach, basically I came down to the following plan/equipment list:

- Greenworks 2100PSI 1.2 GPM pressure washer - looked like bargain at Costco for $170CAD. I saw the Ryobi one, it looks good for car wash, its $130, so I figured maybe Greenworks with slightly more PSI will also be decent to do drieway and small house work
- Foam Cannon - One came with pressure washer, but it was crap. I had older decently rated Amazon off-brand cannon for $30 - and the result was night and day. There are a few recommended/well reviewed ones you can find on Reddit or other detailing forums, so if you are getting one, do some research but its like rabbit hole

Light dirt/dust washes:
- Optimum No Rinse [or other no rinse product] - I use on light duty work, when its barely dusty - I mix up spray bottle and generously sprinkle panels, have ONR solution in bucket as well with towels and follow the "no rinse" routine which you can find on youtube

Heavier duty washes:
- Pressure Washer/Foam Cannon - had some Mr Pink chemical guys, apparently costly poo, but also seems to be good, so went with it to finish the bottle. I'm trying Meguiar's Gold next.
- First foaming - 3-5 min let it soak, then I rinse off with PS
- Second foaming - 3 min soak, then I whip out the towels out of a bucket with shampoo solution mix - so foam + soapy towels - you have a great deal of lubrication going on (oh yea we love it right?)
Some might say two foamings may be overkill, but i find its quick enough and I feel more comfortable to pre-foam/soak it then get towels on it (plus its fun to foam)

Towels:
Washing:
- primary wash towels - high GSM quality towels, I think I got about 8-10 of them, dont remember brand bought long time ago
- Get a big pack of cheapy microfiber towels - I use those to wash/dry at the bottom of the car, door jambs/sills etc, really dirty stuff only.
Drying: get a couple of plush towels - I picked a couple of The Rag Company - Gauntlet.

Technique:
- both washes, I do panels top to bottom, usually 1 towel per panel, if panel is large, like hood I can use 2; and I fold the towel once I do a couple of lines with it, so idea is as you take off dirt, you fold and get a clean surface to continue.

I havent done a true heavy duty/decontamination wash on this car yet, looks like I might need a "harder" shampoo and some iron remover etc.. I will do so before winter season.

Finishing: I apply Turtle Wax hybrid sealant - again its a rabbit hole and you can view videos and read till you are blue in the face, but my conclusion is TW Hybrid sealant is relatively inexpensive, bang for the buck, easy to apply approach. Again you need a couple good towels to apply it.

There's really no one right answer, people vary their products and techniques for whatever reasons; sometimes trying a new product is also fun, but I think I came up with something that works for me and I'll adjust if needed.

 

I have the Karcher K3 pressure washer and a PF22 foam canon that my PPF guy recommended to wash my car with. My car has Cquartz on it too, the soap and water repel off it so easily, plus the shine is great.

I also have a Ryobi RY142022 but I use that for other cleaning items like my garage floor.


Karcher K3

 

^^ I see you use the Mother's claybar kit - it is my go-to also

 

I have 3 dedicated pressure washers for detailing. For 150 you are going to struggle to get a nice setup going but the Ryobi 1.8gpm detailing unit is probably your best bet. A good hose and cannon will be separate though. I also have an Active 2.0 and Maxflow, which are both really good. The Active 2.0 is the best bang for the buck for sure, I would highly recommend it.

 

Another one here for the Active 2.0. Just enough oomph for foaming and washing, pretty quiet. Only gripe is you will want to buy a longer hose than the included one.

 

I put together a set on a budget. That little neon green 1800 PSI 1.2GPM Ryobi washer, you can find those used on Ebay for like $50. Then a Griot's foam cannon (the one with the weighted ball at the end of the uptake tube) and there used to be (don't know if there still is) a black store-brand pressure washer hose sold by Walmart that's manufactured by Flexzilla.

 

My setup. Currently running the Maxflow pressure washer but I love my Active 2.0 too.

 

yes but never use it on the IS500, I let my detailer handle that job with the PPF

 

^^ Yea, I never dealt with a PPF - Mind you I will never need to clay bar my 500 - I use it on my daily driver only because our winters are brutal here.