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Lorne34

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So I washed my car at the coin wash today since I live in apartments and don't have access to a hose, I use a wash mit instead of the dreaded brush but when I got home to clean the wheels I noticed how filthy the wheel barrels are. What's the best and most effective way to clean that sort of thing without a hose? Just detail spray and a few microfiber? I was thinking what if I bought a cheap garden pump sprayer that I can fill up with water and just use a bucket with car soap and a wheel brush and just use that to rinse after ? Hahaha
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https://ammonyc.com/products/ammo-plum-wheel-cleaner
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DFB5.0

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So I washed my car at the coin wash today since I live in apartments and don't have access to a hose, I use a wash mit instead of the dreaded brush but when I got home to clean the wheels I noticed how filthy the wheel barrels are. What's the best and most effective way to clean that sort of thing without a hose? Just detail spray and a few microfiber? I was thinking what if I bought a cheap garden pump sprayer that I can fill up with water and just use a bucket with car soap and a wheel brush and just use that to rinse after ? Hahaha
You should be able to clean the wheel barrels at a car wash. Spray soap (or bring some wheel cleaner with you) into the barrel and then agitate with a wheel barrel brush.

If your wheels allow access, then use a soft microfiber or wool wheel brush. These are two links to what I'm referring to, but if you Google "Wheel Wollies" you will get a variety of options -
https://www.autogeek.net/speed-master-wheel-woolies-kit.html
https://theragcompany.com/collections/exterior-brushes/products/detail-factory-wheel-brush-kit

I also have bristled wheel cleaning brushes to get clearance around the calipers or intricate wheel designs -
https://www.obsessedgarage.com/coll...roducts/ez-detail-brushes?variant=44091849667
https://www.autogeek.net/daytona-speed-master-brushes.html
 
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I agree.

He has a great way of telling the audience what he is doing, how he is doing it and why he is doing it.
Yes, and the unusually large amount of work he puts into what he does. That's one reason I started this thread, just to see what everyone is doing and to compare that with what I'm doing. I've upped my game in a couple of spots, but my routine is very similar to most people's.
 

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The biggest thing thatā€™s caught my attention in this thread is rinsing before foaming.

I always thought the foam clings better to a dry car and the debris that would have been removed with the pre foam rinse, are easily taken away with the foam rinse anyway ?

I didnā€™t mention any products in my bullet point method further up this thread as everyone has their own favourites and country specific availability can be an issue etc, but after messing around with my foam lately I think the differences are defo worth a mention.

Due to a good deal and the suspicion that my existing foam might have been stripping my wax (Turtlewax hybrid ceramic) a little too quickly Iā€™ve recently changed.

Old stuff was Bilt Hamber auto foam. This stuff gets criticised for not producing a thick foam and therefore not having a long dwell time (i.e. the ā€˜funā€™ easily judged part of a foams performance), but itā€™s cleaning performance is absolutely outstanding.

New stuff is Auto Glym polar blast. Really (really) thick foam, really (really) long lasting, but not as deep a clean as the Bilt Hamber.

Horses for courses, Iā€™m actually thinking of stocking both of them and switching depending on the job in hand.

Mostly Bilt Hamber for the heavy duty winter cleans on the dailyā€™s (At least every other wash, maybe more I can get away with just a foam on the other halfā€™s car) and the Auto Glym stuff for most of the light duty stang washes.

What Iā€™m really saying is that product choice, product availability, product compatibility, personal circumstances and expectations can have a huge influencing factor on something that initially appears as simple as just ā€˜washing the carā€™ ā€¦ lol

WD :like:
 

kilobravo

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WD: I may have been the one who listed "rinsing before foaming." In any case, I can't quantitatively say that it helps but I've learned over many years how important soaking dirty things is prior to washing. Plus, a good "foam" doesn't include a whole lot of water and if you live in the southern US and don't have a covered wash bay, the soap can dry very quickly, defeating the purpose.

Hence the pre-rinse to wet the car completely before letting the foam do its job.

That's my story and I'm sticking tuit. :cool:
 

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I'd be interested in the thread where you all post your car wash workflow. How do you do it, in what order and what products do you use? Let's try and keep it simple.
I'm hiring a pro. He does purified water jet rinse, then cleans the wheels, then snow foams car, rinse with purified water, two-bucket mit wash, purified water rinse, dry car with microfiber towels, blow dry the car, dry again with towels...then depends on what he's doing that day...could be just polish...or could be clay and iron, then ceramic etc.

To me, the real secret is using purified water. Hard water is terrible for doing a nice job.
 

2021 Mach 1

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Actually I am a fanatic. Just got some liquid glass with the old corvette but in the plastic bottle. Worst stuff I have ever used. It does not dry and streaks like crazy on a black car.
try a water purifier, purified water is awesome, zero water marks. a lot less work.
 

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5+ years of daily driven ownership with 5 salty wintersā€¦the car still beams like new:

full.jpg


ā€”Twice a year:

1) Wash & clay at the same time (I use soap suds as clay lube)

2) Klasse AIO


ā€”Monthly (or more frequent)

1) Wash

2) Wax P21S or Meguiarā€™s Ultimate (I wax wheels too)

3) Meguiarā€™s low gloss interior cleaner and Zaino leather care


ā€”Every year or two

1) Wash & clay

2) Orbital buff w/meguiarā€™s compound

3) Klasse AIO

ā€” Mike
 
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EmCel

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* spray the car down
* put some water and soap in my little bucket
* grab my pink mitten and soak it in that shit
* wash the whole car leaving some small areas without a touch of soap because I donā€™t really care that much
* spray the car down again
* dry with one of my good towels
* go get the car dirty again and repeat the wash in two weeks
 

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kilobravo

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Hard water is terrible for doing a nice job.
Saul: If we all got our water from a Colorado mountain stream then, filtered and softened it, we'd be close to the I suppose nebulous definition of purified water. A chemist would probably tell you that only distilled is "purified" while a health expert would say you need some minerals to attain that level.

We have quite hard municipal water here...like 2k ppm. I have whole house filtering pre/post as well as a carbon tank and softener tank and I can barely get it to 500 ppm. Obviously, the prime directive was to improve bathing, washing clothes/dishes, plumbing etc., with better car washing a bonus.

So, I agree with you on having the "softest" water you can get..but for me, it's only mandatory for rinsing. And personally, other than giving you crappier foam, even moderately hard water will still get the cleaning part of the job done as long as you use the softest water you have available, (like a deionizing rig, aka a secondary softener,) to drop the hardness down for the final rinse. (I still don't believe the "0" on the deionizer.)

My two cents FWIW.

Eminy (@EmCel) Dear God you made me laugh with,

"..leaving some small areas without a touch of soap because I donā€™t really care that much"

I'm still chuckling five minutes later, too. Hat's off to you for thinking outside the box. <grin>
 

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Saul: If we all got our water from a Colorado mountain stream then, filtered and softened it, we'd be close to the I suppose nebulous definition of purified water. A chemist would probably tell you that only distilled is "purified" while a health expert would say you need some minerals to attain that level.

We have quite hard municipal water here...like 2k ppm. I have whole house filtering pre/post as well as a carbon tank and softener tank and I can barely get it to 500 ppm. Obviously, the prime directive was to improve bathing, washing clothes/dishes, plumbing etc., with better car washing a bonus.

So, I agree with you on having the "softest" water you can get..but for me, it's only mandatory for rinsing. And personally, other than giving you crappier foam, even moderately hard water will still get the cleaning part of the job done as long as you use the softest water you have available, (like a deionizing rig, aka a secondary softener,) to drop the hardness down for the final rinse. (I still don't believe the "0" on the deionizer.)

My two cents FWIW.

Eminy (@EmCel) Dear God you made me laugh with,

"..leaving some small areas without a touch of soap because I donā€™t really care that much"

I'm still chuckling five minutes later, too. Hat's off to you for thinking outside the box. <grin>
Wow, that's very hard, well done for getting it to 500 ppm. I agree, you only really need it for your final rinse. I was looking at some filters that guys said were getting down to <150 ppm near me. I'm glad I wasn't the only one looking at water softness, it was kind of lonely on this thread :)
 

EmCel

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Eminy (@EmCel) Dear God you made me laugh with,

"..leaving some small areas without a touch of soap because I donā€™t really care that much"

I'm still chuckling five minutes later, too. Hat's off to you for thinking outside the box. <grin>
:giggle: Because my arm gets tired after a while and Iā€™m always like F it. šŸ˜
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