Recommendations for an outside car

[MACHtobers Very Own]

Back story:

I live in a condo building with dedicated parking lot. My 22 Mach 1 is outside 24/7. It is what it is.

I'm a wash once every 2 weeks kinda guy.

car has full PPF and ceramic coat which makes life so much easier.

car is not a daily driver. Driven once a week when weather is nice.

I'm looking for a quick detailer something just to spruce it up. On my off weekends or when work/weather forces me to go a bit extra on the wash schedule.

I'm just worried about scrubbing a car that has 1-2 week old dust/schmutz on it.

I don't mind washing it but sometimes I want something a bit low maintenance but I'm aware with it being outside and the accumulation maybe that's just not possible.

any recommendations are welcomed.

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[Rapid Red]

I good rinse before you wash is the way to start, kind of like a presoak. If possible hoze the car off every few days, use a good car soppy sope

Think the idea is a good one, shop protection, all will have a good shine.

Big word, educate yourself, can develop your idea right here. Cause as far as I can tell. Someone in a thread has used one of every product out there.

Then there is a car cover, BUT the car will need to be washed before using

 

[kluke15]

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...MI08795Oqg_QIVjxatBh1yVAiMEAQYBSABEgISJvD_BwE

if you coat it and wash it well enough you could prob get away with one of these and just wipe off the dust daily and would prob keep you a lot cleaner.

 

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

I wouldn't wipe it with anything if it has a layer of fine dirt from being outside. I think you need to learn to be OK with a thin layer of dust/dirt since it's an outside car and just keep washing it once every two weeks. And second, you should really drive it more - are you saving it for the next guy?

 

[BlackandBlue]

Showroom shine. Everyone has a variety of it. It’s pink and for wiping down cars with dust and making them shiny again. It also keeps dust and stuff off the car pretty well when driving. Car will feel super slick after wiping it down.

And you can wipe and spray the whole car down, glass included.

But this route will dull the paint over time.

 

[DFB5.0]

Back story:

I live in a condo building with dedicated parking lot. My 22 Mach 1 is outside 24/7. It is what it is.

I'm a wash once every 2 weeks kinda guy.

car has full PPF and ceramic coat which makes life so much easier.

car is not a daily driver. Driven once a week when weather is nice.

I'm looking for a quick detailer something just to spruce it up. On my off weekends or when work/weather forces me to go a bit extra on the wash schedule.

I'm just worried about scrubbing a car that has 1-2 week old dust/schmutz on it.

I don't mind washing it but sometimes I want something a bit low maintenance but I'm aware with it being outside and the accumulation maybe that's just not possible.

any recommendations are welcomed.

This is a prime candidate for waterless and rinse-less washing. Despite similar terminology, these two are different processes.

- Waterless washing is a spray and wipe method. These products are liberally sprayed onto the paint and then wiped gently with microfiber towels. Switch to a clean side or swap out the towel often to prevent marring. Ideally, you would need at least 8 plush towels to knock out a Mustang. Suitable products include Carpro ECH20 and P&S Epic, teamed with TRC Platinum Pluffle or Eagle Edgeless.

P&S EC37 Epic Waterless Wash (autogeek.net)
CARPRO ECH2O Waterless Wash And Quick Detail Spray (autogeek.net)
16x16 Pluffle Premium Detailing Towel - Grey (autogeek.net)
16x16 Eagle Edgeless Microfiber Towel - Lavender (autogeek.net)

- Rinse-less washing is the safer of the two methods. Suitable products include Optimum No Rinse (ONR), McKee's N-914 and P&S Absolute (my favorite). First, you mix up a dilution of the chosen product in a bucket with water and soak 8 towels in the solution. Mix up the same in a sprayer too. Working in sections, pretreat with the solution from your sprayer, the more the better. Then take a towel from the bucket, ring it out until just dripping, fold into eighths and start wiping, folding the towel to a clean section as needed. Once all sections of the towel are used, put it to the side and grab a clean one from the bucket. Repeat across the whole car, then dry the car normal with a drying towel.

P&S Detail Products - Absolute Rinseless Wash | The Rag Company
Optimum - No Rinse Wash and Shine (ONR) | The Rag Company

Both of these methods can offer time savings, especially when the car is only dusty. Rinse-less is my preference out of the two as it offers more lubrication and therefore safer on the paint.

There are countless video's on these wash methods, this one describes it very well -

Full version -


Short Version -

 

[Mr. Met]

My apartment has a garage, buts its not the cleanest place so I keep the car covered. Obviously you dont want to be putting a cover on a dirty car. I have PPF and ceramic coating also, so 95% of the time I just use the California Car Duster before putting the cover back on.

 

[Rapid Red]

Showroom shine. Everyone has a variety of it. It’s pink and for wiping down cars with dust and making them shiny again. It also keeps dust and stuff off the car pretty well when driving. Car will feel super slick after wiping it down.

And you can wipe and spray the whole car down, glass included.

But this route will dull the paint over time.

And this is a suggestion worth considering.

 

[Skye]

This time of year in-particular, there are countless tiny pebbles and rocks on the asphalt in the street; they are not obvious, until you begin sweeping with a broom. Over time, they grind down into a very fine particulate which is often left on any horizontal surface.

The above is why I prefer to leave things as-is, until I can do a proper cleaning. I feel anything otherwise simply grinds against and scratches the surface over time.

People can and do use in-between products often. I just don't like the idea of what I'd be doing.

There are times when you need to clean something immediately, like bird droppings or something of the sort. But other than these instances, I'd prefer to leave things be.

 

[Cordero1]

I know of people that do this, but they keep their precious in a good storage garage & have a beater for the weekday hustle. Weekend comes & they drive over to their storage & pull out their baby for the sat/sun cruising. I learned my lesson a while back. Sold some of my nice cars from when I lived at an apt. Buckled down with my beater, saved up some $ & got me a home with a 2 car garage & then went & bought myself another toy car. Drove me crazy having a nice car at an apt complex.

 

[skinnyb]

Mine sits in the garage most of the time and collects dust as well from opening the door, walking by and stirring up stuff. I generally leave it be until I am ready to do a proper wash. I have used waterless wash before but it always makes me paranoid I will scratch something. I would say if you can, just give it a good rinse in the interim of a normal wash and use a quick detailer to wipe it dry. My prefered option for that is P&S Beadmaker. It makes the paint so slick its crazy.

 

[jcttraveler]

I live in Virginia too. I live in a townhouse w/o a garage. My car is a daily driver. I haven't washed my car since I drove it back to VA from Florida at the beginning of the year. I clean off the infrequent bird poop, but have allowed the rain to take care of the big stuff. My reasons: It's been too cold to get out there and do a proper wash, and rain has been in the forecast every other day so it didn't seem worth it. There's been no snow, so no chemicals on the road (that would have changed the math for sure.) A little dirt isn't gonna hurt it, and anything other than a "real" wash risks grinding in the dirt and messing up the finish.

 

[MACHtobers Very Own]

Thanks team for responses. Will review shortly as I've been working all day.

more back story:

I own my condo/apartment and me/wife ain't going nowhere so it was either get cool car and it sits outside or just don't. So just trying to see some options and thoughts.

I do wash more often in spring/summer cause day light savings time allows me the time to do it after work.

I have a cover but it's more so for bad weather/snow/hurricanes

appreciate y'all! I'll be back.

 

[2016S550]

The fact that your car has full PPF in my opinion makes it a perfect candidate for Rinse-less washing as DFB5.0 stated above. It’s much more forgiving than the vehicles soft clear coat. Only driving it in nice weather tends to keep far less contaminants off the finish.

 

[MAGS1]

Another recommendation for the rinseless wash. I would suggest a pump sprayer so that you can do a pre soak with the rinseless mixture, you’d be surprised how much stuff it will lift by letting it dwell for a few minutes. Having PPF is huge, if you do get little scratches/swirls heat up the PPF and it will heal itself. On a hot summer day, just letting the car sit in the sun will do the trick. Otherwise a blow dryer gets it warm enough to self heal

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