What about when it's REALLY dirty

K

Krodad

New member
I've been following these forums for about a year now, and I'm totally hooked on keeping up my vehicles now...to the point where I have the PC, foam gun, Klasse, collinite, duragloss, etc.





BUT, I've been keeping up my new truck in spotless condition since brand new, and I'm concerned about what I'm going to do now that hunting season and winter are coming up. I am going to get in situations where I am going to have quite a buildup of road grime, mud, and other general crud all over my truck for up to a week at a time. Later on add salt residue to the mix. This will be to a degree that I would never consider swiping a mitt across it. However, from reading some opinions on pressure washing (I do have a pressure washer) and coin op. washes, I'm afraid blasting off the worst of the grime is going to damage my paint as well.



So, as pros, what would you folks do if a dumb redneck like me brought you their truck in the condition I mentioned? I now have a clayed, AIO'd truck with 3 layers of Duragloss, 1 layer of Collinite IW, and Aquawax every 3 days or so, if that makes a difference.
 
Definitly pressure-wash all the crud off first, that should get everything off down to the fine crap...



If you want the best way, I would suggest a foam-gun from AutoGeek, but short of that, all you can do is set aside a day after to polish out the marring caused by washing a dirty truck.... it really is unavoidable when you're truck is covered in mud to get some scratches ;)
 
Stumpy knows best. Pressure wash that bootch. Just need a little guy, electric will even do. I bought a small KRACTHER brand PW from coscto, was under 150$ and has enough PSI to remove anything from the vehicle's surface that shouldent be there. . . . I have found that it makes washing (duu . . as if that werent obvious) and claying very easy.



I usually just pretreat rough buildup and wheel wells/ rims with simple green, and then begin to pressure rinse the car. Once I have pressure rinsed the car followed by the driveway ( i dont like walking in mud) I change back to the regular hose and wash like normal, but pay close attention to my wash mit, rinsing (two bucket method) frequently.



But any pro will tell you, if your going to subejct your vechile to conditions that would require a pressure washer - your going to need to clay, polish out imperfections, and get some protection back on your finish . . .



good luck this season . .
 
I used to have a Hummer H1 that I offroaded a real lot. You can imagine how much that sucker got dirty. Pressure washing is exactly what I did on it afterward. Additionally, a trick some of you folks up North might be able to use, is a sprinker under the car to remove all the road grime. Certainly not good if it's below freezing, but very useful. Only problem you might get is if the distributor cap gets wet the car wont start for a half hour, but tha's why I did it in my driveway. :)



Imagine cleaning this, it took about 4 hours. :)



s1993silver01.jpg
 
Krodad- I use a BHB in conjunction with the foamgun. You gotta be very gentle about it, spraying the foam through the bristles of the BHB while merely "jiggling" it across the surface as opposed to wiping in the usual way. The sudsy foam will flush away the potentially abrasive dirt as the bristles of the BHB dislodge it from the paint. Presoaking/rinsing/etc. are helpful too of course.



While I don't off-road 'em ;) our Ohio winters can be pretty nasty and some of our vehicles get very dirty. I'm able to wash without marring using the above method. Slick LSPs like the one's you're using help a lot as the dirt doesn't bond to the finish all that much. Just gotta soften it up a bit then gently move it off of there.



And, heh heh, you must not *really* be a "dumb redneck" or you wouldn't be thinking ahead about how to deal with this ;)
 
During the winter, I will go to the coin-op and just rinse the majority of the grime away. Generally don't use the soap at the coin-op, just a rinse. Usually can get this done for about $1. Works great for removing road salt and other crap, but the car will be far from clean. Then I will bucket wash when time and temperature allow.
 
benvegas said:
I used to have a Hummer H1 that I offroaded a real lot. You can imagine how much that sucker got dirty. Pressure washing is exactly what I did on it afterward. Additionally, a trick some of you folks up North might be able to use, is a sprinker under the car to remove all the road grime. Certainly not good if it's below freezing, but very useful. Only problem you might get is if the distributor cap gets wet the car wont start for a half hour, but tha's why I did it in my driveway. :)



Imagine cleaning this, it took about 4 hours. :)



s1993silver01.jpg
Click to expand...





ohhhhh THAT kinda really REALLY dirty ^_^



I was imagining super grimy, salty kinda dirty
 
I would think that if you used a high pressure stream you'd be at greater risk of marring by driving the rocks and grit across the paint with force. Personally, I think I'd try to flood the worst of it off at lower pressure, maybe even a hose without a spigot at all, before I pulled out the pressure washer.
 
Velobard hits it on the head -- low pressure, car wash nozzle on the pressure washer. If you hit it stronger you'll scratch (or even remove) paint.



4 hours just to get it washed. Polishing and waxing, well, that was another story all together! :) I cant even count how much rubber and vinyl dressing I had to use because the mud dries up molding so fast! The fun was what counted, I had a blast. :)



Here's another fun photo, un-edited. Never did recover all the goods from the cooler that fell out the trunk!



airmain.jpg
 
Accumulator, I am a dumb redneck, but if I work really hard, I can hide that fact from some people for a while. Being a sales guy of sorts, it sometimes helps to bring out the country every once in a while though.



After reading all the helpful posts, I went ahead and ordered a boars hair brush and some QEW and ONR. Going to try both of them to see which I like best. My plan is going to be to flush off what comes off real easy with an open garden hose, then soak the thing down with the QEW to loosen the rest up, then foam gun/boars brush technique as suggested. The worst of it will be when I get it really dirty, then a nasty cold front comes through to freeze everything up. I'm just going to try to get it clean before everything gets hard....at least when it's REALLY cold, it stays sort of clean except for a salt layer, which I can deal with okay. It's the heavy, dirt-caked layers with a bunch of grit that gives me the willies.



Thanks all for the help. I blame each and every one of you for contributing to my new found "disorder"
 
Two I have worked on.

Mine

144554.jpg


Friends

144818.jpg




Time and patience. On the lifted me and my buddy used two hoses and about 2 hours of cleaning to get all the mud off. Mine took a pressure washer and lots of polishing in the end.
 
I never know which way to go when it comes to "?does pressure washing cause trouble by driving the grit across the paint?" :nixweiss



Krodad said:
Accumulator, I am a dumb redneck, but if I work really hard, I can hide that fact from some people for a while. Being a sales guy of sorts, it sometimes helps to bring out the country every once in a while though...
Click to expand...



Heh heh, I got a kick out of that :D



You do have a challenge when the weather turns cold, but your combined-methods approach sounds great. I think you'll find that the way you can flush the [stuff] away while gently agitating with the BHB will work pretty well.



Beason- That's pretty quick work! Takes me longer than that to wash our relatively pampered vehicles :eek:
 
I would think you would be OK with the pressure washer at the coin operated wash. Another suggestion would be to start at the top of the truck, and aim the nossle parrallel to the panels. If you did it aiming perpendicular to the panel, I could see the force on the dirt damaging the paint. But if you do it parrallel, I bet it would greatly minimize the risk due to the dirt just being pushed across the surface. And if you have a good coverage of sealant/wax I would think you would have minimal marring.
 
Two thoughts:



The first spot you hit may get a bit of marring/scratching from the pressure washer, but if you start from the roof, in most cases you will be ok. Just flood the grime with the pressure washer by slowly moving it across. If you spray it right (just slightly angle), the water actually goes under the dirt (think powerwashing ice sheets off the vehicle).



Wash in the lawn. All of that dirt is going to end up in your driveway only to be washed into your lawn most of the time. If you wash it in the lawn, it will just blend in. Yes its rednecky but it makes it a lot easier. Once its semi clean move to the driveway.
 
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