Washing and protecting car away from home at college - ONR safe enough?

[VQ35]

Hello all. I am in college 300 miles away from home and store my car in a covered parking garage when I am not driving it. I would like some assistance on the best way to keep the car clean and protected. I plan on doing a full paint correction and ceramic coating in the springtime, as of right now I just wanna maintain the look until then.

One option would be going to the coin wash with my own buckets+shampoo so I can use their pressure washer system but use my own safe soaps that I know will not strip any protection I put on. I also would have all of my tire/wheel cleaners on hand but to do all 4 wheels/tires, rinse off, do an initial rinse of the car, then handwash and rinse off, would probably take two full cycles of coins which could be anywhere from $4-7 per wash. I am not sure if there would be adequate lubrication because I will not have the car soaked in foam like a foam cannon method would.

Another option would be going to the coin wash, start cleaning all 4 tires and wheels with P&S BrakeBuster, and then do a pressure rinse of the wheels/tires and do a blast rinse of the car. This could help knock down some clinging dirt/grime. I would then do an ONR wash which seems a lot more cost effective, but am concerned this method will just be too much of a hassle.

The third option would be a life-saver, doing mostly everything in the parking garage. If I did ONR washes 2x a week and never allow the car to get super dirty, I would be safe enough? I am concerned with needing dozens and dozens of microfibers and wash mitts to do it effectively and safely.

I am not loaded with money right now but take pride in keeping my car clean, so I am curious on what you would recommend for a balance of cost/time/simplicity.

I will also need to protect my car for the upcoming Chicago winter. I was thinking of Gyeon Cancoat or Gtechniq C2V3 (I much prefer liquid products) and then doing maintenance toppers with Beadmaker every wash since a gallon of it is so cheap in bulk and most people rave about the gloss it leaves behind.

Let me know what you guys think/recommend. Thanks!

[Klasse Act]

I've been washing my car down in our underground parking structure for years now and before I got my Worx hydroshot 2 years ago I exclusively did RW and WW down there without a problem, even had a 2 gallon hand pump for rinsing down my tires and wheels, wells too, very slow but effective. I have a 2018 Hyundai Elantra Sport and use 6 mg towels when doing a RW where I throw them in the bucket, make about 4 gallons of cleaning solution so I can pre-treat each panel ALOT, never a problem. As long as your technique is good don't sweat it and good luck at school.

What RW are you using?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Breese147]

Hey sounds like you know of all your options and it’s really going to come down to your choice. But I’ll give you my 2 cents on what I did when I was in college or would go on road trips. I always tried to get a good layer of protection on my vehicle prior to leaving . That was either in the form of PNS or CP reload. From there I preferred a using a self operated coin machine to maintain my truck. Shop around and you’ll find some cheaper ones. I always filled up 2 buckets with lids with water prior to leaving or if that wasn’t possible I would reuse 1 gallon jugs this way the water wouldn’t spill since I tend to have a heavy foot and swinging back end. As long as I kept up with vehicle and didn’t let it get too dirty i always felt like I had adequate lubrication. Since you plan on ceramic coating anyways you will end up polishing prior to applying so I wouldn’t worry about causing micro marring. If you’re really worried about micro marring I would use solo branded pump sprayers with your soap and water mix. It’s much faster than applying something like the IK foamer and still puts a layer of lubrication between the paint and the mitt. Best of luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Klasse Act]

Breese, what do these Solo sprayers do faster than IK's, just curious?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Breese147]

Breese, what do these Solo sprayers do faster than IK's, just curious?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I always felt like I spent more time laying down the foam and getting 100% coverage. The foam was awesome but covering a whole car would typically take me 5-10 minutes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Klasse Act]

I always felt like I spent more time laying down the foam and getting 100% coverage. The foam was awesome but covering a whole car would typically take me 5-10 minutes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Which IK are you using, LOL Btw are you going to school in Chicagoland?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk