How to properly clean your truck

People mistakenly use foam cannons this way.
Foam cannons are to cause better sud action and increase lubricity while washing to reduce swirls. They are not intended to replace physical washing.

 

Dawn is for frickin dishes!

 

Please never use dawn Dish Soap on any vehicle, it will dry up all rubber seals over time on the outside of the vehicle and don't use a bath towel. Always go with a Waffle Weave Drying Towel after using a leaf blower to dry your truck. RejeX is a great product but there are many others out there, so do some reading online and ask questions too.

 

Dawn soap has its place in the detail world....just have to know how and when to use it

 

It’s good practice to treat your trucks/Car as if it was your dream Car or your exotic 100k car. Cuz the Day you buy your dream car you know how to treat it right without having to go to a detailer.

Honestly if I had a Prius, I’d treat it the same damn way. A lot easier to maintain a well maintained car then a pile of shit.

 

Don't make assumptions that we are all like you. I wash mine every now and then. To me, it's a truck. I haul stuff daily. I put 30K a year on it. It gets driven off road for work. It's just a low cost truck. Nothing special.

 

Most don’t consider a Tacoma a low cost dispensible item.

His point is correct. Its much easier to maintain a clean vehicle than to neglect it. Doesn’t matter if its a work truck or not.

Not everyone has to treat their truck like a show truck but your post came off as if you are rich enough to treat your truck like trash.

Improperly cared for paint will fail, flake, and rust. Not sure why thats not a concern even for a work truck.

 

I know a lot of people use this as a truck for work.... I understand that, but like 90% of the people who buy a tacoma use this as a van, crawling the streets... which is basically me, but I’m not scarred to take it off pavement.

These trucks aren’t cheap, 35k-40k is special to me....low cost vehicle to me is a hand me down Car or used vehicle at some shady car lot.

I’m just saying take care of a car/truck the same as you would with any vehicle. I will wash my Audi the same way I wash my truck.

 

Just look at the CC failure threads, ask them how often they maintained there paint with a coat of wax or sealant. Especially living in the sun belt.

 

Exactly....although that’s probably more of a defect from factory. Crazy how many threads I’ve seen for blazing blue and super white. My truck is ceramic coated so...that issue is out the door for my truck.

 

What problems with white...?

BBP has been a disaster.

 

Oh, another hint/tip. If you’re buying good microfiber mits for washing.... don’t. Get the same thing in squares instead of a mit. Keeping them in your hand is a pain. Just get the double sided squares. Same stuff, easier to use.

When washing, four things touch my paint. One microfiber from the roof down to the bottom of the door. Another microfiber for the rocker panels and other ‘low stuff’ and a microfiber sponge for the ‘underneath’ stuff. And finally, a good waffle weave for drying.

Google junkman2000 on YouTube. He has some great videos and they are a bit entertaining. He cuts no slack.

There’s also a guy on either planet-9 or reddit (can’t remember which). He blogs his methods and they are time consuming. I think his username is ‘money’ something. I’ve read it but it’s been a while. He has a gorgeous 911 that takes him a day to wash/clean/wax.

Www.theragcompany.com. Good stuff.

 

White has the same clear coat problem from the threads that have popped up. Blue seems to be worse though.

Damn I thought I was ocd lol. These are my favorite mitts so far. One for the top half, the other for bottom half.

I don’t believe in waffle weaves or just having a waffle weave dedicated for one job. I just use a clay club dilution 1:40 from Carpro echo as a drying agent on a MIcrofiber towel 300-350 GSM to dry the car. Knock out drying and leaving a layer of protection in one go. I’m about getting the job done ASAP.

 

But white is not clearcoated....

I have a set of CG waffle weaves for drying. Whole truck gets done with 1. They work well but I also have a set of very large microfibers that work the same.

I have a white truck so I don’t use drying agents, especially because I run a sealer. Water beads off anyways.

I need to get me a leaf blower just for the cars that way a no touch dry.

The largest reason why I have dedicated towels is I never wash lipidsoluable product towels with water soluable product towels. If everything is colorcodes or dedicated it makes verifying what load it goes into easier.

If you gum up your drying towels with products it doesn’y work well anymore. I also don’t like to grime up my drying towel by using it to clean something.

 

It rains here, that's clean enough. Maybe wax once a year. Power-wash the undercarriage in the winter.

 

Yes sir,how about the back side of wheels also.this is a 2006 Tacoma that was detailed about a month ago and was driven in a hurricane with torrential rains.

 

Don't use dawn if you plan to wax. Dawn will strip any waxes or protectants you put on, unless that's what you're going for.

Any car shampoo from autozone will work for just a basic two bucket wash.

 

The drying agent is actually new for me for my coated truck, only been doing it for the past month. I have a leaf blower but I’m lazy to hook it up, blow dry, then add a layer of protection. Eliminating steps through the wash is what I’m trying to do. I’ll come back with a 1:20 dilution depending on the type of wash. I use only one MIcrofiber towel 16x16 to dry my whole truck.

Anyways back to topic. Is it really true super white runs no clear coat? I find it hard to believe it does not run one....send me a link. Think I’ve seen it float around before but I forget or just think it’s horse shit lol.

 

+1 for the Chemical Guys videos, everything from good basic washing techniques to fine detailing work.

 

That is neat.