How long does it take you?

**Desertnate** · 07-31-2017, 02:33 PM

A lot of it depends on the size of the vehicle. I can wash and dry my hatchback in 30 minutes, while my wife's midsize SUV may takes a little less that 1.5 hours. Things like removing lots of bugs and/or dressing the tires can add 10~15 minutes to the total wash time.

I agree with several points people have already brought up. Having a well protected vehicle makes washing really fast and easy. With the right tools and products wheels should only take a few minutes unless they are REALLY complex or extremely dirty. I could never take much more than 10~15 minutes to dry as the vehicle would dry itself in that length of time in the summer. Even moving fast, I still get a few water sports which need to be removed.

**HockeyCrazi** · 07-31-2017, 02:35 PM

I do a rinseless wash as well. takes about 30 minutes to do the outside, and then about 10 minutes per wheel. The key to a quick wash is in the prep work, i.e. a good wax, sealant or coating on the car. Mike Phillips wrote a thread about this, I'll post in here if I can find. But the idea being is that the better/fresher your wax/sealant/coating is, the easier and faster the maintenance washes are. Keep working at it, used to take me around 1:15 to just wash the car, you'll get more familiar with your process and speed it up.

**JeffsRealm** · 07-31-2017, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by pdqgp

On my personal vehicles I have it down to about 1hr to 1:15. Unless a buddy/neighbor comes over to chat then it can go on for hours

LOL, yeah this adds to it. This weekend being outside all weekend probably what took me the longest is every neighbor, every single one on each side of me then directly across the street and on each side of them came over to chat. Plus I have a Labrador who was out with me and like playing in the hose as well. So yeah it probably took me longer than if I just buckled down and got busy.

**Klasse Act** · 07-31-2017, 03:49 PM

Keep in mind that I have a Fiat 500 Abarth but when doing a RW or WW and COMPLETE wheel cleaning, it takes me about an hour. Ofcoarse I wipe the jams and a quick wipe of the engine bay but that doesn't take too long.

**Nickfire20** · 07-31-2017, 04:16 PM

I have a chevy tahoe, it takes just under an hour. Wheels, tires and wells first. Then windshield and hood, the topsides. Then the bottm sides and the entire rear is last because it collects the most dirt.

I also will use waterless wash or detail spray in between washes.
I have Adams sealant on as a base coat. And every 3rd wash i use Adams H2O Guard and Gloss to maintain high gloss and great protection and its an extremely fast drying procedure!!

Clay once or twice a year, polish when needed, but i just do it in little sections at a time, since it takes a while on a big truck.

**Emt1581** · 07-31-2017, 09:02 PM

Just finished for the night....

Took me 3.5hrs to prep, wash, dry, dress the plastics and wheels, vacuum the interior and wipe down the interior with detailer.

Only thing that pissed me off was that I scraped the edge of the hood facing the windshield when a guy at my station asked to see the engine....and I forgot to put the wipers down!!

-Emt1581

**chet31** · 07-31-2017, 11:57 PM

I'm pretty slow with my own car, but I admire how fast the pros can detail a car. My wife doesn't care much about her car (Honda CRV), but I still try to polish it once a year for her. So last weekend, good weather, it was the perfect situation to take some of the tips from this forum and try a more "production" approach.

I loaded the car w/ towels, a bucket of soapy water w/ a grit guard, my garden sprayer w/ ONR, brushes, and chemicals, $1 dollar bills and off to the self-serve bay of a car wash. I felt like a mobile detailer. Process:

Pre-treat w/ my own tire cleaner, wheel cleaner, and de-bugger.

$4 for 5 minutes, high-pressure soap wash w/ emphasis on lower panels, wheels, wheel wells. At one-minute warning, soak car with pre-wash, including wheel wells.

Time expires, boar's hair brush on paint, appropriate brushes for wheels and wheel wells. Keep car wet w/ ONR sprayer as needed, but not a big issue in the shade. Boar's hair brush cleans great (and fast), but leaves micro-marring, but I don't care because I'm polishing later.

Another $4, blast everything off w/ high pressure soap, and again end w/ pre-wash.

Time expires, clay using sponges. The pre-wash I left on the car is a perfect clay lube.

Another $4, blast everything off, end w/ no-spot rinse.

Dry car. Spray Tarminator to lower panels and wheel wells, apply trim dressing (complete coverage and sloppy, if it gets on the paint, that's OK). Wipe tar, spray Tarminator again. Drive 4 blocks home slowly.

Last bit of de-tarring. Since it's dwelled so long, tar comes off easily. Then a spot ONR wash mostly on lower panels. Remove de-tar and trim chemicals from paint, and any grit from drive home.

This has all taken me about 90 minutes, cost me $12, but I've debugged, detarred, decontaminated paint, treated trim and I've got a clean canvass to polish. I've done a 90% good job on everything. No Iron-X, didn't want to stink up the car wash bay, and wife doesn't care enough.

Now it's polisher to paint w/ an AIO, dress tires and wheel wells, wipe down interior, interior glass, and vacuum. Another 3.5 hours - total time exactly 5 hours.

Wife was thrilled, may actually be less annoyed when I order more car care products from Autogeek.

The key to speed for me was "make it better, not perfect." No engine detail, minimal interior, only did the roof in front of the sunroof. Swirls still evident, kind of killed me to not do a cutting polish step, but again, my wife doesn't care enough and it still looked pretty damned good. Still gonna' take my time with my car, however.

**Hammer77** · 08-01-2017, 07:32 AM

I just do it as a hobby, never really timed it. I usually do bucket washes, setup, wash wheels, car, dry, about 45 minutes. Probably an hour if I use the foam cannon. I stopped using grit guards, got tired of scrubbing the mitt. When I was looking into RW's and saw some videos using multiple MF towels, I started using multiple mitts. After a panel flip it, another panel, toss in a bucket grab a fresh one. On the rare occasion the car is dirty, one mitt per panel. That's my weekly wash. Then all the extra's after.

Sorry for asking, but I noticed you said you spend 45-60mins. drying with a shop vac?

**Frank70** · 08-01-2017, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by Hammer77

I just do it as a hobby, never really timed it. I usually do bucket washes, setup, wash wheels, car, dry, about 45 minutes. Probably an hour if I use the foam cannon. I stopped using grit guards, got tired of scrubbing the mitt. When I was looking into RW's and saw some videos using multiple MF towels, I started using multiple mitts. After a panel flip it, another panel, toss in a bucket grab a fresh one. On the rare occasion the car is dirty, one mitt per panel. That's my weekly wash. Then all the extra's after.

Sorry for asking, but I noticed you said you spend 45-60mins. drying with a shop vac?

hammer77 - I too am giving up on the two bucket wash and scrubbing mitt on grit guard. Moving to using one bucket with many wash mitts. I'm to old for carrying two water filled buckets around the car. I'm figuring about 10 wash mitts will be sufficient to wash a Maxima. On my 370Z 8 should be enough. How many do you use?