Do you wash your...

[POJ 1]

Wash it myself its a labour of love and don't trust anyone else
The dealership also washes it when its there for sevice etc but that scares me

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[oneheadlite]

Wash it myself its a labour of love and don't trust anyone else
The dealership also washes it when its there for sevice etc but that scares me

I have a standing order at the Ford dealership as well as the Harley dealer;
''''''''''''DO NOT WASH MY VEHICLES'''''''''''

 

[oneheadlite]

Actually, the reason I asked this question was;
I took my wife to the eye Dr where there is a 'hand wash' business for cars nearby.
Sitting there watching them and a guy dropped a cloth that he was drying or buffing a car with.
Just went right back to drying or rubbing with the same cloth............

 

[Grimmer]

Wash by hand using deionized rinse water (so nice to not have to worry about spots if it dries too fast).

I use two towels to dry and the first pass damp rag is what I use to wipe down the interior, door jams, trunk lid, etc.

I tried to wipe the engine bays once and it cut my hand pretty bad (lots of sharp sheet metal), so now once or twice a year I rinse the engine bay with the deionized water. Seems to keep it looking pretty good.

I took my car to the dealership for its first service and to work out a few other new car issues. Asked them about how they wash and then specifically request them NOT to wash my car. When I picked it up it was covered with muddy towel swirls.

I tried the self service car wash once as an easier alternative (especially for winter) but found it difficult to get it clean and a real pain to dry. Might revisit this option someday...

 

[Yareen1]

Wash by hand using deionized rinse water (so nice to not have to worry about spots if it dries too fast).

I use two towels to dry and the first pass damp rag is what I use to wipe down the interior, door jams, trunk lid, etc.

I tried to wipe the engine bays once and it cut my hand pretty bad (lots of sharp sheet metal), so now once or twice a year I rinse the engine bay with the deionized water. Seems to keep it looking pretty good.

I took my car to the dealership for its first service and to work out a few other new car issues. Asked them about how they wash and then specifically request them NOT to wash my car. When I picked it up it was covered with muddy towel swirls.

I tried the self service car wash once as an easier alternative (especially for winter) but found it difficult to get it clean and a real pain to dry. Might revisit this option someday...

Ive always wondered, how do they wash it at the dealer?

 

[Nikko]

Power washer and foam cannon. Meguiar's Ultimate Fast Finish although I'm looking for Meguiar's hybrid ceramic wax

I use the hybrid ceramic wax as a drying aid and it works wonders. If it rains I never have water spots since I just have to drive on the freeway to dry off the water beads that didn't fall off through gravity.

 

[mustang5o]

Ive always wondered, how do they wash it at the dealer?

Probably depends on dealer. I don't trust mine because I know they have the wet carpet wash. Maybe for my daily driver. Which is nice because as a member of the local Mustang club I can drive through their car wash any time I want.

 

[Climax]

Exactly this! once you get a routine down its fast and easy. The key is proper protection with a wax / sealant and then maintaining it

Try Wizard wax, you will never use anything else after you do. Get on line.

 

[Grimmer]

Ive always wondered, how do they wash it at the dealer?

My question to them was specific to whether they used an automated machine or not. That particular dealership doesn't have an automatic car wash (some do) and said that they hand wash. However, they don't really seem to train their people how to do it or specific what they should never do. As evidenced by them wiping the car down with a muddy towel. Probably the same ones used to wash cars all week.

 

[Sig556]

I have only done hand washing for at least 2-3 decades.

Add me to the list on this one. Nothing like doing it yourself.

 

[EE Z]

I hand wash with micro fiber mitts and hand dry the windows, stripes and wheels with micro fiber towels or rags. Always wipe all of the painted surfaces inside the open doors,,the painted surfaces in my trunk and under the hood and wipe down the engine bay. I love my White Stage 3 Roush.

 

[SilverStallion]

I have a standing order at the Ford dealership as well as the Harley dealer;
''''''''''''DO NOT WASH MY VEHICLES'''''''''''

I cant speak for all dealerships. The ones that I have worked for alway used premium products. Pressure washed and hand washed with 2 bucket method. The people in the detail department always took pride in the cars they washed. disclaimer I did work for jaguar, Aston Martin, lotus and land rover dealerships.

It's not a bad thing to ask to visit where the vehicles are being detailed and getting to know them. If they are not friendly and dont want you to talk to them they dont take pride in what they do.

 

[Norm Peterson]

...car or do you trust someone else to? (ie carwash, Robo or hand)

Always by me, and all but a few times in nearly 50 years in the driveway with hose and bucket. Those other few times? DIY car washes, typically in the winter when there was too good of a chance of turning my driveway into a skating rink that day if I did the job at home. I've hand-washed cars during rainstorms when there was a ban on outside water usage.

Also, do you wash under the hood/trunk area and wheel wells.

Rinsing out the water channels under the trunk lid but outside the weatherstripping is about as far as I take the car washing thing, and that doesn't happen every time.


Norm

 

[Lapptopp]

Previous cars I used to park on the lawn and hand wash. Sometimes they were chamoised dry, sometimes not. Now I have a car wash at the end of my street. If the car looks dirty, I'm likely to wash it. For the first year it was chamoised dry, glass cleaned and tires shined. Since my garage faces west and the wind always blows from west to east (unless of course it's winter here then it blows from the north) my GT is always covered in dust. This is because the garage is 8" shorter than the car, therefore the garage door cannot be shut. I also enjoy looking out the front window at my GT so it regularly gets covered in tree sap and bird shit. Now nothing touches my paint except water jets. I drive a short distance to the highway and air dry my car. Sometimes I'll even bust out the "invisible glass" when I return home and polish the windows. The car always looks "good" but never entirely show quality clean. After watching numerous Ed Bolian YouTube episodes I've become quite fine with this ritual.

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