Next bang for buck for weekly washes?

[seanyb505]

First, long, detailed post coming up.

I’m looking for the next logical, bang for buck solution for maintaining two vehicles. The two vehicles are a black 2005 Subaru Legacy wagon and a black 2008 Infiniti FX35. Two black cars was not on purpose.

I experience the same frustrations with both: dirt after precipitation, seasonal pollen, and light scratches are permanent. Not swirl marks, scratches like when someone uses the car as a crutch to walk in a parking lot, but not quite “my car has been keyed” deep.

Last year I did my first wax/M105/M205/LSP with a DA polisher after years of only washing with Brand name car wash from Walmart. After both cars were done I ordered some ONR rinse and wash to put a little more care into routine washes.

I just finished the ONR bottle, and need to think about next product/tools/process. My goal is to make weekly washes less painful for me. I’ll describe my routine for maximum context.

• I have some detailed image great white microfiber towels I use to wash with Optimum No Rinse wash and shine. The towels are not treated particularly well – they’re thrown in with normal towel laundry loads.
• I use one bucket. Not the two bucket method, as I’ve not found it to be “worth it”. The benefit of not introducing more micro swirls between major wax days (9-12 months) hasn’t gotten under my skin enough to change.
• Using a Walmart hose nozzle I try to sheet water off after entire vehicle is wiped down.
• Aging, dying battery powered Black and decker leaf blower to help in the drying process. Sometimes it doesn’t quite make it all the way.
• A random, thick microfiber towel and diluted ONR detail spray solution for drying. When the sun is shining, I have to work to remove dried water spots.
• In warmer months I have daylight and energy to wash more frequently. There is also less dirt to be wiped off in those months.
• Winter months see longer time between washes, with more road crap accumulating on the cars. It makes me hesitant to wash too frequently, to avoid grinding the salt/dust into the paint.

I’m working to decide what will be the next purchase to make life easier in terms of washing frequently. In order of willingness to purchase:

• I’ll need a new wash solution anyway – what’s best for my washing habits and black cars?
• Should I just suck it up and wax more frequently?
• Plug in leaf blower for drying – less towel drying required
• Dedicated wash mitt/material
• Pressure washer to mitigate effort to wipe off road grime

Other areas I see every wash but see as less important to the overall washing process:

• Wheels are washed with generic car wash solution. The wheels on both cars are already beat after so many years; I’m not going to cry if they’re not perfect.
• The FX has a decent amount of black plastic trim. I’ve not addressed it in 5 years and 70k miles.

With all that in mind, what should be my next purchase to make weekly washings more enjoyable?

[spazzz]

A pressure washer and electric leaf blower would be a good start for less swirls.

A coating does help debris rinse off better.

[GSKR]

A pressure washer and electric leaf blower would be a good start for less swirls.

A coating does help debris rinse off better.

Agree the metro sidekick is a must have performs better than a leaf blower.

[DetailZeus]

I used to have a black subie. I swear the paint would scratch by blowing on it.

I'm a big fan of cheap electric pressures washers. The more dirt you can remove at the start the better off you'll be.

For washing with ONR, I think your wash towel is fine. Fold it so you have multiple clean sides and keep changing sides/refolding until all sides are dirty. Have a few extra towels on hand. "Ideally" you'd have enough towels that you'd never have to rinse a towel, you'd just grab fresh one from your bucket and set the dirty one aside for laundry (look up garry dean wash method)

Now my opinion: If you're going to wash with a hose/pressure washer (especially if you rinse after washing), I would personally just use any of the great shampoo's sold here. I'd do this:

1. Wheels first, one at a time with their own bucket and tools
2. Rinse car thoroughly
3. Wash with shampoo (change wash media for lower parts of car)
3. Rinse car
4. Dry carefully with detail spray, ONR, whatever (there's a million things you can use as a drying aid)

Rather than go into detail, just check out this article by Mike Phillips:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...iss-style.html

I think you can get great results with that method.

As far as water spots, there really is no free lunch. Wash early, late, or in the shade. Personally I'd towel dry the car before blowing out cracks, mirrors, etc. Yes, you may get a little splatter on a part you've already dried. But I find if I blow dry first, I'll already have spots forming on the body panels before I get to wiping them down. (Note: I'm assuming the water spots are forming during the wash and not from driving through sprinkler or something earlier)

OK there is a free lunch. It's called a CR spotless and it filters your water...but it's not cheap

[CParrott]

Agree the metro sidekick is a must have performs better than a leaf blower.

I got one for sale, if you want it lol

[Zelfiris]

To make it more enjoyable? Do you enjoy washing 2 cars weekly?

Have you tried the one bucket ONR method with multiple towels? You pre-rinse with a sprayer, use a towel soaked in ONR solution, then dry the section you just cleaned. Move onto next section with the next towel in the bucket and repeat. You may be using 3-6 towels per car. This would eliminate your drying problem as you won't have a lot of water running between body panels and saves you some time.

So maybe buy more towels if you wish to try this method. Here is a demo video I just found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57BDoJjZAA4

One product I'm very impressed with is Meguiar's Ultimate Detailer and it works amazing on black paint. Really fills in the swirls and imperfections for a clear reflection. For enjoyment, you can try a bottle for very little money. Any protection won't last long however.

[Tempest45]

Single bucket. ONRWW. Big red sponge. High quality drying towels.

Pre rinse with hose if really bad.

[MattPersman]

Single bucket. ONRWW. Big red sponge. High quality drying towels.

Pre rinse with hose if really bad.

+1 doesn't get much simpler than this. Can use standard ONR too if you chose


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[GSKR]

I got one for sale, if you want it lol

How much.pm me for price and I will get back to you thanks.

[The Guz]

+1 doesn't get much simpler than this. Can use standard ONR too if you chose


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