What's everyone using for wash and wax?

Mmmm, I need to get one of those someday.

For those of us who don't have a pressure washer, the local car wash bay is actually a reasonable choice if you don't mind stooping down to wand off your undercarriage.
I haven't fluid filmed though so I make my trips more often, I try to do once a month but if it's too cold I just get the laser wash because I'm a bitch.

Southeast PA here by the way, I think they're maybe a little less salt-happy here but still you'll wake up to normally black asphalt roads that are a chalky white-gray color with so much salt.

My ritual is as follows:
Put the money in, turn the nozzle to "wheel wash" and do the wheels and crouch down to get the wheel wash all inside the wells, along the frame, etc... extra credit to really get down low and hit your axles, back of calipers, control arms, driveshaft and so on.
Far as I can tell "wheel wash" is basically just hooked up to a giant tank of Simple Green so it won't hurt anything.
After everything is green and drippy switch it to rinse blast and rinse the living bejesus out of everything w/ the high pressure mode. If you're a brave man / fanatic who brought a towel to dry yourself after, you can actually lay down beside your truck to get the best angle on it. Blast those naughty bits.

If you're quick enough you'll usually have about ~13 minutes left if you bought 20, which is plenty of time for a quick wash otherwise, spot check, and maybe spend the last 1-2 minutes of the clock with more rinse on the undercarriage.

It's too dark for me to take pictures right now but you'll find once it dries off that you've inevitably missed some areas that will have "dirty water" spots, but your salty / muddy ick is pretty much banished. My frame rails look as black and shiny as the day I rolled it off the lot, but to be fair my truck hasn't hit her 1 year anniversary yet.

 

I do that too but avoid spraying near the door handles as l have had them freeze before.

 

I pulled one handle off this winter of my mother's 2007 Cobalt, $12 dollars on Ebay, what a mofo to get your hand in there to get the 4 screws to put that piece of plastic back on, had cuts all over my hands and fingers from being a contortionist with a 10mm wrench.

 

I remembered to get some pictures today before I headed out on some errands:

This is roughly the "wand's eye view" when I crouch next to my truck. You can get a lot of the undercarriage pretty well, and like I said I've done my best to keep 'er clean through winter and offroading mud deposits.

But then if you actually lay down you can see a lot more that the wand won't hit if you try to maintain your dignity and just squat:


I give the driveshaft a pass because it gets spun and you can't really wash the "top" side easily. but you can see there's still dirty water spots here and there. Overall though it's still better than nothing, as I think even a rinse that leaves icky looking "water spots" behind is carrying away a lot of the deposited contaminants you don't want on your bits.

I'm moving out to Phoenix AZ in about a month now, and then I'm really gonna try to eradicate any last trace of Pennsylvania's salt. I may even go so far as to actually get under there with a few rags and start wiping at places a wand can't reach.

 

Adam's stuff. You'd think car wash is car wash, but once you try their Car Shampoo you'll be amazed.

 

I recommend this:

$55 Salt-Away Concentrate Kit with Mixing Unit 32 fl oz - 946 ml

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Away-Products-Mixer-Combo-32oz/dp/B0000AXNJO

I use it on everything from my snowblower, atv, and vehicles.

 

the place I get my rust proofing done from yearly, Krown, also offers a underbody wash with one of their products they call the salt eliminator.

I think Krown is canadian so not sure if you can get it down there, but can probably find something similar. Eitherway its $15, they put it up on the lift then spray it down with the solution in a foam canon then rinse it off.

I get them to do it at the end of winter and before its sprayed. Did it each year for my jetta and that thing looks great still so will likely do the same for this.

 

Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax. Like that it doesn't leave a residue on any plastic or trim.

 

I use Meguiar's Ultimate line of products and love them. But this summer, I'm going to try putting a coat of Collinite Super-Double Coat over the sealant to see how long it holds up. Hopefully stronger wax = fewer washes = less money spent over time

 

You won't be disappointed in the collinite. I used it in October getting my truck ready for winter, and it still beads up. I'm getting ready to spring wash, wax, fluid film touch up on mine. BTW, I don't have a garage, so my truck lives in the wild.

 

$49 Duragloss 902 Car Wash Concentrate - 1 Gallon, Red

https://www.amazon.com/Duragloss-90...r=8-1&keywords=duragloss+car+wash+concentrate

$20 Duragloss 105 Automotive Total Performance Polish - 16 oz.

https://www.amazon.com/Duragloss-10...&qid=1493331322&sr=8-1&keywords=duragloss+105

along with the bonding agent #601

and use the DG Aquawax when I dry my truck.

$19 Duragloss 951 Automotive Aquawax - 22 oz.

https://www.amazon.com/Duragloss-95...&qid=1493331322&sr=8-3&keywords=duragloss+105

Turtle Wax T-472R ICE Car Wash - 48 Fl Oz.

https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-T-472R-ICE-Wash/dp/B007KTINZ8

Turtle Wax Ice Car Wash Soap is good also.

 

Yeah I notice it on my black paint after a rain the next morning. I use to think it was pollution in the air that settled on the rubber then ran off down my truck after a rain. I just wash it and dry it with Duragloss Aquawax once a week. I had a '03 white Dodge Dakota that done the same thing. Who knows?

 

I use Griotts premium paste wax, cost a pretty penny but is super effective.

 

For me, Meguiars Ultimate Wax...