Ive been doing this for years....

Always keep a good wax on your ride....When waxed up nicely most things will just hose off with water....Never use soap period....Soap damages paint and destoys a good wax job.....Hose your truck off with plain old water and just towel off...ring towel....towel off...ring towel....til its dry....Thats it....You'll have a perfectly clean truck in 20 minutes because you eliminate the misleading rinse - soap - rinse - dry routine

Ratz

 

Probably going to get a lot of posts now disagreeing with that.

Soap is there to lubricate particles to keep them from scratching paint. And not all waxes will make stuff hose off the paint. Bird bombs and bug are a couple quick things that come to mind that don't easily rinse off the vehicle.

Soap does cut down on the waxes lifespan though, which is why you want to use a mild one as pH balanced as possible and not make it overly concentrated. But synthetic waxes are getting better and can last through many many washes with soap.

 

NXT for me.

 

Yep. I'm certainly one of them.

While wax certainly will help to keep a vehicle clean as less 'stuff' can attach itself to paint, it is there to take the brunt end blow of environmental elements yet offers NO protection against the abrasion that you create by passing a mitt across the paint. Lubrication is essential to removing the particulate and such that encounters our vehicles' paint on a day in, day out, basis.

Some may disagree but, even your owners manual mentions using a quality car wash/shampoo solution to remove debris from your vehicle's paint.

I look at it this way, you wouldn't DARE run your engine without lubrication as the heat, friction, and a host of other forces would cause permanent damage and, ultimately, failure. Paint really isn't all that different when it comes to removing dirt and grime. Wax doesn't provide that needed lubrication.

RP

 

However....I have owned a limousine service for 15 years....Both black and white cars in the fleet have never been soaped down....Just my personal experience with both color cars, being waxed every 3 months and often times in a really big hurry...!!

Thanx all,

Ratz

 

Hey Intel,

Just curious, as I haven't been on the forums for a long time, you used to use a lot of Pro's products. Is there a reason you've switched preferences?

Matt

 

I defenitly have to side with Rock Pick on that idea of not using a shampoo when washing. If you get something on your paint that is a sharp partical and you just rubb it off with a wet towel you are going to scratch your paint. If you are going to use that method you might as well just get a bottle of quick detaler and just spray down your car panel by panel and whipe it with a terry clothe towel.

The method in itself is not some kind of massive time saver anyway. According to your method you have to wipe down each panel atleast 2 - 3 times or until it's dry. In the normal method you just wash the truck and whipe each panel with a product like Meguiars Water Magnet once or twice. If you have a good coat of wax on it and you allowed the water to run freely out of the house then you should barely have any water to soak up in the magnet no less water spotting.

- Chris

 

chit why go through that much trouble. i say just forget the hose, just get a wet rag and wipe the limo off. then a dry rag to dry it
you could even sprits some spray wax or "wax as you dry" stuff in the wet rag (since apparently wax and water now mix. lol) and get a wash & wax job all in one step, then the dry towel will dry and buff in one step! why didnt some genius think of this before?

Zaino Z-7 Car Wash here

 

I still use a good bit of Pro products like the heavy duty interior cleaner, tree sap remover, seat belt cleaner, PRO-SOL, Wheelie clean, leather cleaner, and leather conditioner to name a few. I still like their Glosso dressing but Stoner's Trim Shine is cheaper. Just found a few products I liked better and/or were cheaper to purchase in bulk.

Their Creamy Cutter compound works well but I've been using Poorboy's SSR 2.5. Might go back to creamy cutter when I run out or get some more PB's. Their waxes are hard to buff off compared to Poorboy's EX-P and P21S. Their Polish and Swirl Eliminator is a good product. I ran out of it and tried some 1z Metallic polish and liked it so I started using it now.

Their PRO-SOL is a good tar remover but I ordered a case of Stoner's XENIT. Like the ease fo an aerosol can as the PRO-SOL kills even the chemical resistant sprayer heads in a few days.

I've got two sample kits sitting here with a bunch of products from Automotive International. I'll probably start to test them out soon and may switch to some of their products. I've been talking to Ketch and this ABC system seems like an excellent choice now instead of Clay as Clay might get more expensive soon or we might see the bar sizes starting to get smaller. AutoMagic just won a lawsuit that gives them the full rights to clay in the US. So, pretty much we won't have to argue over who has the best clay but where we can get it the cheapest...

 

Another one here for sure!

RP, Intel and others have recommended some good products and procedures... I would follow them. Not using a good car wash soap is simply wrong... period.

 

NXT or Gold Class here!

 

Hey Slippy!

Where ya been?

 

Guys,

You should try adam's car wash. It's available from www.adamspolishes.com
It leaves an awesome shine when finished too. Best I've ever used.

 

Not a good selection of car soaps in my area (blue coral = junk to me). Tried out Gold Class from Target because of this post and was impressed with it. I'll be sticking to it from now on.

 

Zaino Brothers here.

Same stuff i use on my M3.