First wash help

[UNCkid]

Hello,

I am new to detailing world and extremely happy I came across this forum before I tried my first car wash.

My 2014 camry has never been washed (told dealer to not wash it either). Its 3 weeks old and it snowed in NC so super dirty. Its going to be nice this (60 I think) weekend but will be snowing again end of next weekend. I would love to wash this weekend and have some thing on it to protect it against the salt/weather before next snow.

please advice some products which could help me achieve the wash and protection. As of right now I am totally lost anything will help.

Regards

[Skoob]

Welcome to AG. I too live in NC, Charlotte to be exact. Snow finally off the roads. We are lucky our northern friends never see 60's for months.
A good car wash with lots of suds like Meguiars or AutoGeeks Pinnalce brand soaps, a good microfiber wash mit. I have one from Griots Garage. Don't forget to rinse the undercarriage to get rid of the salt.
When I wash I have two buckets with grit gards in the bottom. One bucket with soap the other to rinse my mit.
The key is wash in small sections and rinse the mit after each section and put on fresh soap. I do the tires last and with a older mit this will keep the brake dust from the good mit that touches the paint.

I use meguiars tech wax as my protection. The guys on this site will also have some good suggestions on a wax or coating.

Others will chime in, there are so many good tips on this site. Enjoy the new car.

[mfrickman]

Welcome from Raleigh!

To answer your question, the easiest thing for you to do is to go to advanced auto or Walmart and pickup some Meguiars Gold Class car wash and some Meguiars Ultimate liquid wax. Both are great OTC products that will exceed your expectations.

If you aren't familiar with the 2 bucket method, grab 2 buckets, fill one with your soap solution and one with clean water. Add grit guards if you have some. After washing each panel, rinse your wash media out in the rinse bucket and grab new soap from the other bucket. Wash from the top down and do the bottom last especially with all of that salt. A huge pre-rinse will be key to managing all of that salt.

Grab a third bucket to do your wheels and tires so you don't contaminate your wash bucket.

Skoob beat me to it haha

Sent from my SCH-I545 using AG Online

[dgcruiser]

I would highly recommend reading up on the excellent articles on Autogeeks website. They have great, comprehensive articles on pretty much every step of cleaning and detailing your car. There's a wealth of information there.

[UNCkid]

awesome to see fellow NC detailors. Thank you for prompt responses.

[jamesboyy]

Welcome to autogeek, and like suggested rinse the undercarriage, and get a few meguiars products for the time begin then once there is no snow expected then browse around autogeek for some products some suggestions would be chemical guys, sonax, opti, etc

[UNCkid]

Thanks guy another question, what can I use to clean/protect tinted windows.

[jamesboyy]

Thanks guy another question, what can I use to clean/protect tinted windows.

More than likely your window's are factory tinted therefore just clean the inside/outside of glass with tint safe window cleaner with two microfiber towels(one for cleaning, and the other for drying), and if you want you can clay the outside of glass, and then put a glass/or paint sealant on the windows