Car washing mistakes

[DBAILEY]

I have stepped down from a step ladder or stool and stopped right into the bucket at least a dozen times over the years. Usually involves a nice tumble to the ground.

[vobro]

Washing in the full hot sun, scrubbing, using the same media to do wheels and tires, dropping and reusing mitts. My favorite stories is the use of household products, I've seen different neighbors and friends use SOS pads, bleach, push brooms and just last week I sat on my porch drinking my morning coffee while watching wash his families 3 black cars with Pledge and blue shop towels. Yes the cars look just like you would imagine

[luckydawg]

Here's one of the biggest mistakes I see....

Not using a clean, uncontaminated wash mitt.


The fastest, simplest and easiest thing to fix in the entire wash process is to invest in good wash mitts.


Why?

Because the most common thing the majority of car owners do to their cars is wash them.


People wax them once or twice a year. But a diligent car owner will take the time to wash their car at least a few times or more a year.

Swirls and scratches come from.....


How we touch the paint


Tatty or contaminated mitt = swirls and scratches.


Take care of your mitts and cycle out old mitts for new mitts. A good quality mitt like this one costs $10.00

Gold Plush Micro-Chenille Wash Mitt, microfiber chenille wash mitt


How long does it take to remove the swirls and scratches out of a car?

5 hours? 6 hours? 7 hours? 8 hours? 9 hours? 10 hours? 11 hours? 12 hours?


What is your time worth?


When you look at it in this context, a quality wash mitt is a good value investment. Keep extras on hand.

Great point Mike

What I do now is a non-traditional 2 bucket wash

One bucket is empty & the other bucket has my soap solution with about 10 high quality MF towels. I use one MF saturated towel on a regular sized panel & then it gets squeezed out & tossed in the empty bucket-- NEVER going back into the clean wash solution.

When I am done, I take that bucket of wringed dry MF towels and fill the bucket up with clean water, slosh them up and down a bit, wring them out and immediatly put them in the wash. The leftover soap in the towels is enough to " clean " them

[Mike Phillips]

Great point Mike

What I do now is a non-traditional 2 bucket wash

One bucket is empty & the other bucket has my soap solution with about 10 high quality MF towels. I use one MF saturated towel on a regular sized panel & then it gets squeezed out & tossed in the empty bucket-- NEVER going back into the clean wash solution.

When I am done, I take that bucket of wringed dry MF towels and fill the bucket up with clean water, slosh them up and down a bit, wring them out and immediatly put them in the wash. The leftover soap in the towels is enough to " clean " them

Kind of like this?

How to safely wash a ceramic coated car by Mike Phillips - Traditional Hose & Bucket Approach





Towel #13 going into the dirty towel bucket.

[luckydawg]

Yes
Guess you beat me to the punch

I think its a great way to wash-- coated or not

[PaulMys]

I think its a great way to wash-- coated or not

This is my method as well. Full wash or rinseless.

[hooked]

I was using this multiple towel method and switched to using multiple wash mitts instead because it thought it would reduce marring since they are plusher. However, I’m going to switch back because the mitts are heavy when loaded up with ONR and I feel like I have to reload it when I’ve used one side and want to use the other side. With the towels, they are lighter loaded up and I have more of them so I don’t have to reuse one if I think it’s got too much dirt on it.

[luckydawg]

I was using this multiple towel method and switched to using multiple wash mitts instead because it thought it would reduce marring since they are plusher. However, I’m going to switch back because the mitts are heavy when loaded up with ONR and I feel like I have to reload it when I’ve used one side and want to use the other side. With the towels, they are lighter loaded up and I have more of them so I don’t have to reuse one if I think it’s got too much dirt on it.

The whole point pretty much IS TO NOT reuse them- they never go back into the wash bucket!!

[hooked]

The whole point pretty much IS TO NOT reuse them- they never go back into the wash bucket!!

Agreed. I would use one half of the mitt on a panel and then flip it to the clean side to do another panel, but by then a lot of the liquid had already leaked out of the mitt, so I end up scooping some more ONR onto the mitt. I never dunk the dirty mitt back into the bucket. But I’m going back to using towels instead of mitts.

[PaulMys]

Agreed. I would use one half of the mitt on a panel and then flip it to the clean side to do another panel, but by then a lot of the liquid had already leaked out of the mitt, so I end up scooping some more ONR onto the mitt. I never dunk the dirty mitt back into the bucket. But I’m going back to using towels instead of mitts.

You don't really need the mitt dripping uncontrollably with ONR (or any other good RW).

In fact, just pull it out of the RW solution and squeeze it to the point of "a drip here or there". Then use a rolling motion on the mitt or towel. Flip the towel, etc......

Against all traditional wash methods, I know. But this is the beauty of the RW.

Your "Heavy" wash mitt is using (and wasting) too much product.