Nice work.

Cool neighborhood too.

 

Looking sharp buddy! All these nicely detailed trucks are killing me, time to do mine again!

 

looks real good .. I love that color .. makes me miss my Expy ..

I can feel for you in the heat department .. I go through 5 to 6 bottles of PowerAde in an 8 hour detail... more if I mix some beer in there ..

 

Man, That DSG really pops when you put some time into it. That sounds like a long 6 hrs in the heat. Nice truck, not to hijack the thread but here are some of mine last weekend. The girlfriend doesnt appreciate it so mabey someone on here will.

 

nice work looks great

 

That's my theory. In fact, on client vehicles, I don't even dry them. I'll use the silicone water blade thing to get the hood, roof, and any huge amounts of water off. Other than that, if I'm about to be claying, compounding, polishing, and waxing, why worry about drying and having to wash my WW towel again???

BUT, if I'm just washing regularly, it's definatly a QD trip around the vehicle afterwards to eliminate spots. Keeping the whole vehicle wet the whole time takes too much water for my taste, so I blot out what's still there, and QD the rest.

 

Well, I don't really agree with that approach but, I see the point.

I see it as it's much easier to dry the vehicle than it is to try to clay off residual calcium/magnesium/iron spots that could potentially etch into the paint thus causing a HUGE problem that isn't really easily dealt with...

10 minutes of my time spent drying or using the flow dry method is WELL worth saving an extra hour with the PC or rotary in my hands.

 

The flow dry method...........

That sounds like when I jump in the truck after rinsing it off and drive down I-540 to the next exit and back in order to blow all the water off it so I don't get my microfiber drying towel wet until the last drying.

If so, I've been known to use that approach from time to time.

 

Yep. I do the same thing. It's kind of funny -- My wife actually knows to bring my wallet out to me when I'm blotting it dry at the end of my routine. LOL! I just run it down a state highway but, I typically let it eat just a little bit.

 

You must have god-awful water, then... For me, the water spots that I might leave on for a month come off with a QD or wash. I don't use a filter, either... Are you on Well Water?

I see your point, too, though. If it means an hour of machine vs. 10 minutes drying, the answer is obvious, but for me, it happens to be 0 time vs 10 minutes.

In case you're wondering about the month without washing, it was when I left last summer for a month and my truck was parked in the driveway gettin the sprinklers daily shower. I got back (fearing for my paint), washed it, and realized that it was smooth as glass. I was happy, to say the least.

 

Worse than well... I'm on Ohio River.

Go back and dredge up the Spot Free Water Filter review that I did about a year ago... that'll put my water into perspective. Heck man, it's crunchy.

 

How do you guys get up to do the roof and windshield ? I'm only 5' 8'' so I have a hard time washing/drying/polishing/waxing the roof and cleaning the windshield. Also the hood sometimes. I have tried one of those little stepladder things with two steps but even then I have limited success. I can get a lot of the roof from the bed, but I have a roll back tonneau cover which limits how far back I can stand in the bed.

Colin

 

I am only 5'7 and have a F250...think you have problems...I use the folding step that goes over the wheels...that is helpful. I also have a tool box that I can stand on in the bed to get on the roof. I too use a ladder, use with the door open it helps.

JP

 

Don't feel bad, nhfx4, I'm 6'1" and I can't reach that little area in the top center of the windshield either.

Like you say, I stand in the bed to do the 2/3 of the roof I can reach from there, and I use a two-step stepladder to get the front half of the roof.

I bet those boys with 6" or 8" lift kits and 37" mudders have it rough. I bet the first place the paint goes bad on those rigs is in the center of the roof just behind the windshield. LOL, I bet the paint right over the fender flares (5' off the ground) looks awesome, though.

 

I have a little three-step Rubbermaid step stool ladder thingamabob that I use. They're cheap... basically disposable if they break.

I'm 6'2" and still find uses for it all the time when detailing... especially larger vehicles.