Haven't washed her in a week and a half

S

Striker

Active member
As some of you may know, I have a black 99 WS6 with 23K miles that gets driven on nice, clear summer evenings. I dont drive the car on the freeways or anything like that, just down to the local hang out and thats about it.



Last year I use to wash it once a week and it gets pretty tiring after a while. The last couple of months I've been washing her about every week and a half. Before every trip, I wipe her down with some Z6 and a nice plush MF towel and haven't noticed any damage to the paint. I do this every time as I mentioned, before taking her out on a drive. She also stays covered in my driveway as well when its not getting driven.



The million dollar question is-Is this method safe and can I keep on doing this or should I wash more often? I dont touch anything halfway below the doors with the MF and Z6, that gets a wrinse down from the hose, same goes for the rear bumper. these areas are the worse due to the tires kicking up a lot of dust.



Any suggestions?
 
What do you do for the lower half between washes? You mentioned rinsing with a hose, but is that it? No soap? No drying? If you're drying it after the rinse, you're probably going to have trouble. Soap is necessary to break up the dirt, lift it from the surface, and then rinse it away effectively. Even for a little bit of dirt.



At the end of the day, no matter what anyone on this board tells you, there is NO SUCH THING as a marring-free wash. It's just impossible. And even if it is possible once, there is no way you could do it on a consistent basis. Dirt gets everywhere and it's just a matter of time before some particles find their way in between your wash mitt and your paint. It's inevitable.



Also, using quick-detailers in between washes is a risk. Some people do it without a problem. I've done it before and it works ok. But it's one of those things where the margin for error is so small that eventually something is going to happen. That line between "dirty enough to wash" and "clean enough to quick-detail" is REALLY blurry and hugely dependent on the product, towel, car, and paint condition.



If you have something that works for you, then keep doing it. Just accept the idea that at some point you're going to look at the car and say "***!!" Just make sure that you have a good wash routine and quality tools. And if you're confident that the QD is working for you, then go right ahead and keep it up. Frequent waxing/sealing is going to go a long way in maintaining a good finish and repelling dirt. I would probably lose the car cover, but that's just me.



So, even with all of that, you're STILL going to get some marring and swirls. As I mentioned, there is NO SUCH THING as a perfect system. If I were you, I would just stay committed to my frequent wash schedule and be prepared to do a light polishing step every 6 - 12 months.
 
Well as for the cover, I dont have a garage so a custom car cover was the nest best thing for me and its been working quite well so far. Keeps the rain off the paint and the sun as well.



The car has multiple coats of Z2/Z6 and Z8 so I would say its protected pretty well all around. I remove the dirt with soap and water so I do it the right way. Once I got lazy and just hosed off the biger dust off the car but not anymore
 
Don't mean to start another ONR thread, but have you tried ONR?



I find ONR washings to be MUCH less work/hassle, and thus less tiring, since I don't have to drag out the hose and put it away, and since I can wash any time of the day/night, etc.



I used to wash less often because of the hassles of traditional washes, but now it seems like nothing to mix up a bucket of ONR once a week or sometimes more and just do a quick wash.



As clean as it sounds like you keep it in general, I'd think you could do an ONR wash in very little time.
 
I've looked into ONR and im not too interested in it. Id rather wash the car if im gonna start doing that.
 
Give ONR a try. I thought exactly what you did but when I tried it, its almost as fast as a QD wipedown and I am much happier with the results.



I really think ONR is the solution to your problem.
 
I have had several garage queens over the years. Typically wash them every 4-6 weeks. In between washes, I might qd once with duragloss fast clean n shine or their marine detailer mixed with some aquawax. I seal with upgp or optiseal every 2-3 months. As far as marring or swirls, I have not noticed anything that stands out. Also use ONR when we have water restrictions. Good stuff.
 
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