HELP!!! Question about wash process..am I going overboard?

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Neo62381

New member
:sadwavey: Guys, I feel like I've been being too picky about how I wash my car here lately. Theres been times where it is taking me over an hour just to wash the Intrepid. I'm doing a basic two bucket wash, with a wool wash mitt. My process is as follows -



1. Spray off panel with hose to losen up dirt and take excess dirt off

2. Dunk mitt in rinse water and agitate with hand to remove dirt from mitt

3. Wring out the rinse water from my mitt, (in order to avoid getting too much plain water in with my soapy water and diluting it too much)....see how picky I am :nervous:

4. Put wash mitt in soapy bucket and thoroghly let water get into the mitt to create kind of a balloon

5. Apply to panel in what I hope to be a normal fashon. (Just go over the area once, twice at most to avoid marring.)

6. Rinse off panel, and make sure every bit of soap is off that panel, so the soap wont dry on your paint while youre off doing other panels.

7. Repeat process on every other door/quarter panel/hood/deck lid of your car.

8. Take nozzle off of hose and do a final sheeting rinse



Am I going way overboard, is there something I'm doing wrong?

I really need to find a way to do things a little more quickly, I have a life to live. But I really just can't live with feeling that I'm doing something half-@$$ed.



Any advice would be greatly appreciated, washing my car is getting discouraging, when I feel like I should be enjoying it!
 
That sounds like a pretty typical Autopian wash to me, both technique and time. Are you wiping/drying the doorjambs and trunk/hood jamb areas? I would say a thorough bucket wash and dry, with cleaning the wheels, and scrubbing and dressing the tires, and set-up/clean-up, used to take me 2 hours.
 
Well, a pre-wash like poorboy's Bug Squash could loosen up grime on the lower portions of the body, which could possibly save time. And I, like gmblack, typically wash half the car before rinsing, depending on how sunny it is. Then again, my process takes over an hour, too.
 
Neo62381 said:
:sadwavey: Guys, I feel like I've been being too picky about how I wash my car here lately. Theres been times where it is taking me over an hour just to wash the Intrepid. I'm doing a basic two bucket wash, with a wool wash mitt. My process is as follows -



1. Spray off panel with hose to losen up dirt and take excess dirt off

2. Dunk mitt in rinse water and agitate with hand to remove dirt from mitt

3. Wring out the rinse water from my mitt, (in order to avoid getting too much plain water in with my soapy water and diluting it too much)....see how picky I am :nervous:

4. Put wash mitt in soapy bucket and thoroghly let water get into the mitt to create kind of a balloon

5. Apply to panel in what I hope to be a normal fashon. (Just go over the area once, twice at most to avoid marring.)

6. Rinse off panel, and make sure every bit of soap is off that panel, so the soap wont dry on your paint while youre off doing other panels.

7. Repeat process on every other door/quarter panel/hood/deck lid of your car.

8. Take nozzle off of hose and do a final sheeting rinse



Am I going way overboard, is there something I'm doing wrong?

I really need to find a way to do things a little more quickly, I have a life to live. But I really just can't live with feeling that I'm doing something half-@$$ed.



Any advice would be greatly appreciated, washing my car is getting discouraging, when I feel like I should be enjoying it!
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I think 1 hour for a wash & dry including jambs, wheels, & tires is fairly reasonable. I think if you are looking to cut some time out of the process there are likely a few areas you could take some time out of.



First, weather allowing, you could wash more of you car before rinsing. I don't ever have a problem with the wash water drying on my car except on the hotest days of the summer.



Second, it sounds like you spend quite a bit of time rinsing and then soaping up your wash mit. I just dip it in the rinse bucket, shake it around a bit (maybe rub against the grit guard too), give it a quick squeeze, then dunk it in the soapy bucket. It only spends a second in the soap bucket and then it goes right on the panel.
 
Well sounds OK to me; except... I start with my wheels and tyres first, spray the hood and undersides with bug and tar remover (no matter if it is winter or summer; you still have road film to jump and bond on your paint) and then start washing.



HOWEVER : NEVER EVER let the bug and tar remover sit too long on the panels.
 
It takes me between 1.5-2.5 hours from getting the buckets out to rolling the hose back up to wash my car. I use accumulator's wash method with a foam gun but I'm not a completely nit picky as he is :D To wash properly it does take a decent amount of time. Just think though, would you rather spend that time saving clearcoat by washing correctly or spend that time destroying the clearcoat by polishing out washing induced marring?
 
Since I'm being referenced here anyhow, I'll say that I can't wash my S8 in less than 2 hours, 45 minutes. That's the fastest I've ever done it and a) it was basically clean when I started and b) I was working fast enough for it to be aerobically demanding- and I'm in good shape.



I was thinking about this "how long to wash" the other day when I did the minivan...it takes as long as it takes. As long as you get everything clean without marring you're doing fine.



Neo62381- Heh heh, I can assure you that you haven't seen "too picky" ;)



I wouldn't worry about diluting the wash mix; if it gets diluted just add more soap. And I wouldn't hesitate to go over an area more than once for fear of marring. I'd rather go over an area many times gently than fewer times more aggressively. During the winter, I'll sometimes end up going over a panel many times- get the worst dirt off w/BHB, repeat, get more dirt off with mitt, wash again with different mitt, spot-clay with Sonus green, rewash. Every step is *very* gentle with frequent inspections, I frequently only do a very small area before cleaning the mitt or getting out a new one so I don't drag dirt across the paint (even with the flooding from the foamgun). I sure don't wash a whole panel at at time! Might need to break a door up into four or more sections, for instance.



Filling the mitt with wash solution is a good idea :xyxthumbs



Next step up the ladder will be to get a foamgun ;)
 
I'll concur with Accumulator in that you aren't overboard by a long shot. It takes me about 2 hours 15 minutes to wash mine :eek: and I have an Audi A4, not a full sized A8 like Accumulator has.



I wash and dry in sections. Usually I'll do the roof and all of the glass first and go from other high surfaces from there. This is all after the wheels, well and undercarriage have been washed first.



To reduce hassle, not necessarily time, I've more or less eliminated wash buckets altogether since I have a foam gun and use multiple mitts per wash session. I have a pail for carrying fresh, unused mitts and another holding the used. That's pretty much the extent of my bucket/pail regimen now.



The foam gun, for me, is equally important, if not more, than say my PC or Cyclo. It's a must have tool for sure!
 
Tasty said:
Still think you're too picky?
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Nah...I guess not. I was thinking about this at work all day today, and I'm thinking about buying 8 or 9 wash mits.....keep them all in an empty bucket beside the soap bucket, try to keep 2 mitts in the soap bucket at one time and when I get done with a panel throw it in a big rinse bucket and pull a fresh mitt for each panel. What do you guys think......time saver or not....to have the mitt all soapy and waiting for me
 
Using a lot of mitts is a good idea either way. I regularly use 5-8 mitts per wash depending on how dirty the car is. I guess keeping a few mitts in the soap water is ok. It will let the mitts soften up a bit before you use them.
 
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