Effects of car washes

why do you even feel the need to understand ?

Not everyone is like you. It's not a complicated thing to comprehend. I don't agree with the premise, it's just a truck so why care about the appearance but I do get that we're not all alike.

 

this sums itup

 

I pretty much have no issues with going to any type of carwash. I use regular and touchless drive throughs, manual car wash bays, and sometimes the garden hose. All depends on what I have going on that particular day. I do however always keep a good coat of wax, but with the amount of desert, mountain and beach running we do I'm not worried too much about micro-scratches.

With that, I also respect those that take great care in how they wash their cars. We all use our trucks differently and it's up the individual owner on what works best for them.

 

I use the manual power sprayer up here in the Great White North .
The manual brush never touches the paint .
I am still screwed mind you .
Its 35 below zero and I have no choice but to use recycled salt water to power spray my truck .
Cant wait until its warm enough to do the wash at home again . Usually an 8 hour process

 

This is why I sold my harley. I couldn't bear to ride it unless all of the chrome sparkled. I hated shining that damn thing up every time I wanted to ride

 

In winter I use ONR...no hose needed. Just 2 buckets and grit guards and a bunch of microfiber towels.

$20 Collinite 845 Insulator Wax-Easy to Use Carnauba+Polymer Wax Sealant-High Gloss Shine+Durable Hydrophobic Beading & Long Lasting Paint Protection for Cars/Boats/Trucks/RVs & Motorcycles (16 fl oz)

Collinite 845 topped with S100 or Meguiars #26. Can't stand a dirty vehicle. Haven't been through a car wash in 20 years. Maybe a touchless would be ok in a pinch.

 

Where is the poll option..."I'm a trend setter, I bring my gear to the coin wash".

I live in a city in CA where it's illegal to use a hose or fill buckets to wash vehicles during the drought.

I now take my truck to a coin wash with my bucket and soap and all that jazz. I use the pressure wand to rinse the truck and fill the bucket. I go when it's slow on my off Friday's so I don't hold anyone up. Ain't I a thoughtful prick. last time I even gave two tokens ($1 a piece) to a fellow toyota truck owner who pulled into a bay.

 

If to lazy or broke ATM. Park your truck outside
Step 1: wait for rain.
Step 2: put soap on it and let rain rinse it off
Step 3:keep it outside to dry.

 

I'm falling out of my chair laughing my ass off. My partner does that shit! Silver cars can go a long ways with no wash and look decent.

 

I have done it before. It works good

 

I don't even want to go there.....LOL

I don't keep my bike as clean as it could be. I just rather blend than looking like I just left the dealer with my new toy. With the MX5, this will be the last season for the bike. I find I enjoy the roadster better. It will be my "trike" . I do not view trikes as motorcycles. The physics are just not there. May as well add a wheel and really enjoy the twistys

 

When I take my truck in for a oil change at Toyota. I won't let them wash my truck through that car wash thing of theirs. I don't care how good or fancy it is. I would cry if I see spinning dirty brushes slapping on my new paint! I even read in the 2016 Toyota Tacoma owners manual on page 434.

Yet Toyota uses the car wash with spinning brushes on their customers cars!

The way I prefer to wash my trucks/cars. I would rinse the whole vehicle over and under with a garden hose or sprayer, wait 5 min, rinse it again. Have a bucket of clean water and a bucket of soapy water, a pack of new microfiber rags, use 1 rag per panel or 2, wash rag in clean water, then in soapy water before you go back again on the same panel. Let dry a bit, then squeezie or wipe dry with clean microfiber rag, a little detail spray if you wish. Klass wax works great and 303 for the interior.

 

I wash all my vehicles with the pressure washer at the coin operated car wash. Water ONLY, no soap. Don't need to use their questionable soap on my car (could be Tide in there, who knows).
After I pressure wash with water I use the spotless rinse then blow the water off with the air blaster.
At home I dry the door jams and engine bay with a microfiber cloth. One of these days I need to get an air compressor with an air nozzle, then I could really get rid of all the water down in the cracks.
I typically wax my car and truck every few months when I feel like they "need" it. Usually when the water isn't beading off so good anymore. I'd like to wash my vehicles in the driveway but we've got really hard water here in Arizona and the garden hose always leaves spots. I even rigged up a Culligan shower head filter to the outside hose but it doesn't help with the spots much.
I paint correct a lot too with a Griot's random orbital buffer. Pretty much exclusively use Adam's car care products but I alternate with Sonax depending on what's cheaper at the time.

 

Did you clay or try the prep mitt?

 

I stay away from touch washes, they don't clean those rough bristles in between the dirty cars that go in there, 2 bucket wash method to prevent unnecessary scratches, i don't mind it when the trail leaves marks but if I can prevent them when washing then I'll do it so my paint doesn't look like spiderman took a shit on my truck lol

 

I really like that wax. Goes on pretty easy with not too much dust but seems to dry really HARD. Cheap too compared to a lot of others.
I'm getting a new '17 Tacoma and have a can of Sonax Polymer Net Shield I'm going to put on it. I understand it doesn't shine as nice as carnauba but it's supposed to go on pretty easy and protect pretty well. We'll see how that goes.

 

I tried the mitt but honestly, I didn't find much contaminant on the paint so I didn't get a good feel for the mitt's effectiveness but I did like the ease of using it. Not ready to throw the clay out yet but I'm close.

 

The 845 left a crazy deep shine on my black truck. I swear I could shave in the reflection. One of these sunny days, I'll get a pic of the reflectiveness (spell check says I just made up that word, cool) and post here.

 

I wash my truck once a month and throw a new coat of wax on it every 3 months.

 

Hand wash only. Gentle cycle. Two bucket method.