How do I maintain my car's exterior after properly washing, polishing and waxing?

[AliMusa]

After doing a complete detail on the exterior of the car (wash, clay, polish, wax, etc.), what is needed to be done to maintain the car? The car is obviously going to get washed again, but what else needs to be done?

[minorc]

My recommendation:

Pressure wash loose debris
Foam gun pre soak
2 bucket method - rinsing mitt often
blow dry

[wdmaccord]

My recommendation:

Pressure wash loose debris
Foam gun pre soak
2 bucket method - rinsing mitt often
blow dry

Rinseless wash also. When the car isn't very dirty. I've been doing a lot of these lately because we have had zero rain so I'm basically just washing off the dust. I still do a full wash every few weeks to get the wheels/tires cleaned as I don't typically do them when I do a RW.

[DeviousDetail]

If the paint is in new condition maintain it by properly washin with two bucket wash and foam gun. Blow dry and be sure to protect with wax and sealant. Remember weekly washes

[AliMusa]

I thought using the foam gun takes off all the wax you just put on? Is that correct?

[Fastmike]

I thought using the foam gun takes off all the wax you just put on? Is that correct?

No the foam gun is a pre soak to loosen the dirt without physically touching the car.

You can strip wax with a foam gun it depends on how strong of a soap you use. They make pH balanced soaps that are more gentle and won't strip wax.

[minorc]

I never trusted waterless washes, maybe for vehicles that are barely dusty only.

[Mike Phillips]

After doing a complete detail on the exterior of the car (wash, clay, polish, wax, etc.), what is needed to be done to maintain the car? The car is obviously going to get washed again, but what else needs to be done?

There's two sections in my how-to book that cover this, it's the sections called aggressive washing and gentle washing. The book is very complete, I mean your topic is covered as well as just about any topic that is discussed on this forum on a daily basis.

The nutshell version of the gentle wash approach is this is done "after" the detailing session because after the detailing session your car should wash up very easily and there's no reason to scrub the paint. I talk about scrubbing paint in the book too as that's what I've always seen most people do when they wash their cars. The problem is most people don't "think" about what they're doing... they just do.


Here's some tips though... after a detailing session and you've brought your car's paint up to the level that makes you happy, then anything that touches the paint should be of the highest quality you can obtain and some thought should go into how you're going to actually touch the paint. I think I cover this in the section on how to use a microfiber towel to wipe off compounds and polishes because if you don't do this correctly then you're working backwards and you'll re-instill swirls and scratches into the paint.