My 1-2hour wash?!

So @sevenfourate I’m looking at you.... but I’m sure there’s some other shiny genius’s out there!
(Balding or not :wink: )

I’ve never been one for washing cars! I’d rather pay the locals a tenner and move on with my life. But for some reason (I feel it’s getting old), I’m taking a bit of pride in this new one, and want to give it ago myself.

So I think I’d be willing to give 1-2hours to wash and dry, maybe once a fortnight. What kind of products should I be looking at?

Getting a hot and cold tap put in next week, a new pressure washer is on its way, now all I need is products!

Snowfoam?
Shampoo?
Microfibres? eBay or worth paying abit extra?
Quick Detailer? Wax?
Sponge/Mitts?

I’m genuinely clueless, so a concise list of my best setup would be awesome!

Gracias séniors
 
Pressure washer, foam lance, snowfoam, shampoo, wash mitt, two buckets, decent thick pile microfibre.

1. Snowfoam the car and let to dwell then pressure wash off.
2. Snowfoam again then get 1 bucket with warm water with your shampoo and the 2nd bucket with warm rinse water.
3. With your wash mitt wash from the roof down rinsing the mitt frequently.
4. Pressure wash again
5. Pat dry with microfibre towel.

This is only a quick guide. I personally clean my wheels first and if the lower half of the car is extremely dirty then I would use a seperate mitt and buckets.

My preference
Foam lance - PA
Snowfoam - Autofinesse Avalanche
Shampoo - Poorboys
Mitt - Meguiars Lambswool
Microfibre - Polished Bliss (own brand)

After this I would be looking at de-tarring, iron removal, claying, polishing and sealing to which there are many brands and favourites.
 
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The below are all fantastic performing products, at the lower to lower-middle end of the price scale but don’t let that in itself put you off. All will do a truly superb job and would be a good solid start without going silly. Search reviews / the love for any of my suggestions to you on ‘Detailing World’ forum. Will likely come up if you search for product reviews on any of them on Google anyway. And I have used all at some time. So:

Snowfoam: BiltHammer Autofoam no doubt. Cheap and amazing. Reviews everywhere are excellent.

Shampoo: Megs Gold Class. Performs and easily available in Halfords.

Microfibres: In2detailing online and get yourself half a dozen Korean edgeless polishing cloths / microfibres. Cheap. GREAT product and wash really well time and again....

Wax: BiltHamner Double Speed Wax for me right now. Unreal finish. £16 with applicator and microfibres. Just won Auto Express wax of the year for 2018. The second year running its won....

Quick detailer: Sonax BSD. Can be a little grabby if too much product is used. But protection is fantastic. Cheap as chips from Euro car parts (And Google to find a discount code and then use free delivery option).

Sponge !! ARGHHHHHHHH. No.

Any Microfibre, Sheepskin mitt etc will be grand. Just please not a sponge. Which will hold / trap dirt not wick it away like a mitt mentioned.

***BTW: Just finishing up a few bits on mine this week after work as the wet weekend halted me in my tracks. So I got in 2 hours tonight too. That was one each on each mirror. Truth .

Good luck !
 
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Pressure washer, foam lance, snowfoam, shampoo, wash mitt, two buckets, decent thick pile microfibre.

1. Snowfoam the car and let to dwell then pressure wash off.
2. Snowfoam again then get 1 bucket with warm water with your shampoo and the 2nd bucket with warm rinse water.
3. With your wash mitt wash from the roof down rinsing the mitt frequently.
4. Pressure wash again
5. Pat dry with microfibre towel.

This sounds spot on for a quick wash. Personally I'd change Step 5 and instead of drying, use some sort of "Rapid Detalier" that you can spray on wet, and just level off with a microfiber - "Dodo Juice Future Armour" looks impressive.

I'm in the same scenario I've always used the local car wash boys (although they do a 2-stage snowfoam wash) there's no getting away from gritty wash mitts and with a new (to me) car there's some desire to try and look after the paintwork.
 
I thoroughly recommend Collinite 845. When I bought my brand new car last August, the first thing I did was the following:

1. Pressure wash
2. Snow foam
3. Pressure wash
4. Hand wash with Autoglym shampoo and conditioner
5. Pressure wash
6. Snow foam and use foam as lubrication for next step
7. Clay barring
8. Snow foam again and pressure wash to rinse
9. machine polish with Menzerna medium cut polish
10. machine polish with Menzerna Super Finish Plus
11. machine polish with Collinite 845 (you can do this by hand but it's much easier and quicker to do by machine and a finishing pad).
The beading is amazing and I do this process once every 3-4 months, topping up when washing weekly with Auto Finesse Glisten.
 
I thoroughly recommend Collinite 845. When I bought my brand new car last August, the first thing I did was the following:

1. Pressure wash
2. Snow foam
3. Pressure wash
4. Hand wash with Autoglym shampoo and conditioner
5. Pressure wash
6. Snow foam and use foam as lubrication for next step
7. Clay barring
8. Snow foam again and pressure wash to rinse
9. machine polish with Menzerna medium cut polish
10. machine polish with Menzerna Super Finish Plus
11. machine polish with Collinite 845 (you can do this by hand but it's much easier and quicker to do by machine and a finishing pad).
The beading is amazing and I do this process once every 3-4 months, topping up when washing weekly with Auto Finesse Glisten.

And THAT, Sean, sounds like significantly more than 1-2hours work [emoji23] haha

If I was going to that much effort, I think I’d just book it in to get detailed mate.... they’d do a significantly better job than I ever could, and there’s a lot less chance of them getting bored halfway through a door [emoji1]
I bet it looks incredible when finished though!
 
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My car doesn’t normally get that dirty so weekly maintenance wash is:
1. Valet Pro Citrus pre wash(pump spray)
2. Rinse
3. Autoglym shampoo
4. Rinse
5. Drying towel on bodywork microfibres on shuts and seals
6. 50/50 BSD & AG rapid detailer

Wheels get
Bilberry wheel cleaner

Can’t be arsed with the Karcher if it’s not really minging!
 
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I thoroughly recommend Collinite 845. When I bought my brand new car last August, the first thing I did was the following:

1. Pressure wash
2. Snow foam
3. Pressure wash
4. Hand wash with Autoglym shampoo and conditioner
5. Pressure wash
6. Snow foam and use foam as lubrication for next step
7. Clay barring
8. Snow foam again and pressure wash to rinse
9. machine polish with Menzerna medium cut polish
10. machine polish with Menzerna Super Finish Plus
11. machine polish with Collinite 845 (you can do this by hand but it's much easier and quicker to do by machine and a finishing pad).
The beading is amazing and I do this process once every 3-4 months, topping up when washing weekly with Auto Finesse Glisten.
Sean I was told that you shouldn't pressure wash the car before the snowfoam as you are blasting the dirt against the paint? Makes sense but could be over kill.
 
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This sounds spot on for a quick wash. Personally I'd change Step 5 and instead of drying, use some sort of "Rapid Detalier" that you can spray on wet, and just level off with a microfiber - "Dodo Juice Future Armour" looks impressive.

I'm in the same scenario I've always used the local car wash boys (although they do a 2-stage snowfoam wash) there's no getting away from gritty wash mitts and with a new (to me) car there's some desire to try and look after the paintwork.
I was only giving the OP the basics mate. Trust me I'm on par with @sevenfourate with the OCD!
 
And THAT, Sean, sounds like significantly more than 1-2hours work [emoji23] haha

If I was going to that much effort, I think I’d just book it in to get detailed mate.... they’d do a significantly better job than I ever could, and there’s a lot less chance of them getting bored halfway through a door [emoji1]
I bet it looks incredible when finished though!

LOL I only do that once every 3 or 4 months!
My weekly wash is:

1. Snow foam (Bilt Hamber auto foam), agitate badges etc. with small brush plus wheels with wheel brush
2. leave for around 10 minutes, then pressure wash
3. Hand wash, using lambs wools mitt and 2 buckets, with Autoglym foaming car shampoo, including wheels
4. pressure wash
5. spray on Auto Finesse Glisten whilst wet then dry with Meguiars drying towel
6. Auto Finesse Revive on plastic trims
7. Dress tyres with Autoglym high performance tyre gel.

All in all it takes around 60-90 minutes for my weekly wash.
I also forgot to mention that in my 3-4monthly wash I do the windows with Angelwax H2go, and also cover the wheels in Poorboys wheel sealant, but in all honestly I wash my wheels weekly so couldn't really tell you if it makes a difference.

Hope that helps!
 
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Sean I was told that you shouldn't pressure wash the car before the snowfoam as you are blasting the dirt against the paint? Makes sense but could be over kill.
weird. i was always taught to get rid of all lose debris with a pressure washer and then wash.
 
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Sean I was told that you shouldn't pressure wash the car before the snowfoam as you are blasting the dirt against the paint? Makes sense but could be over kill.

No matter what way you look at it your power washing the majority of grit and dirt off snowfoaming or not, I prefer to snowfoam the car and let it penetrate the crap that’s on there first, it just acts as an agent to moisten and loosen, some very loose stuff will just come off with the snowfoam but the rest will be have power washed off before a mitt goes near it.

I only use ph neutral foam, helps not to strip, that’s said it not as harsh as some so a good powerwash after the dwell is a must.
 
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weird. i was always taught to get rid of all lose debris with a pressure washer and then wash.
Like my original post suggests I would snowfoam first which loosens the dirt then pressure wash then snowfoam again before a wash mitt goes anywhere near it. It you're just going to pressure wash first then surely there is no point snowfoaming???
 
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Like my original post suggests I would snowfoam first which loosens the dirt then pressure wash then snowfoam again before a wash mitt goes anywhere near it. It you're just going to pressure wash first then surely there is no point snowfoaming???
I just get all the real loose debris off with the pressure washer. It's still filthy after this. Then snow foam. Pressure washer again. Then snow foam again and then I use my wash mitt with my bucket and soap. It's what chemical guys do on YouTube which is the reason why I've never really questioned it myself.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
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Like my original post suggests I would snowfoam first which loosens the dirt then pressure wash then snowfoam again before a wash mitt goes anywhere near it. It you're just going to pressure wash first then surely there is no point snowfoaming???

Have to say I agree with Locke on this, I honestly don’t think snowfoam will loosen anything to the extent that more will come off when it’s powerwashed But I do believe it’s better to do it first before powerwashing because I think that the aim of a snowfoam is to loosen the film that’s holding the grit so as to allow the pressure washer to dislodge it from the surface with minimal impact to any treated surface below.

A good power washer will take just as much off, snow foam or not but it’s the way in which it does it with out snowfoaming first is the possible issue.
 
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I'll throw my hat into the ring, massive Auto Finesse fanboy. I find their stuff so easy to apply and use, crew bag is brilliant for transporting all my kit too. I don't have the luxury of a drive/off road area at home and I have a prick of a neighbour who believes he's a detailer...so I have to go to work to clean the car, so having the crew bag makes my life so much easier.

Pretty similar to everyone else's but here's my step-by-step quick maintenance wash:

1- Clean wheels using AF Imperial wheel cleaner and Auto Glym shampoo, agitate using mitt and brush to get to the inside of the rim, rinse with pressure washer.
2- Pre-wash using Citrus Power to remove bugs and grime mainly from the lower half of the car, followed by Avalanche snow foam.
3- Pressure wash snow foam off (repeat snow foam if necessary) and contact wash with Auto Glym shampoo. Two mitts if necessary, one for top half and one for bottom half. Rinse.
4- Spray on Aqua Coat (hydrophobic rinse aid) and pressure wash, towel dry.
5- Either Glisten spray wax or a layer of Tripple polish.
6- Satin tyre creme.
7- Hoover inside and coat of Total interior cleaner on trims and dash.

Also, recently bought a £60 DA polisher from Argos, but haven't got the balls to use it on my car yet. Need to order some new pads for it and watch some YouTube videos!! Then I've got an unopened bottle of Collinite 845 to try. Swirl marks ahoy on my car so really want to learn how to polish it out.

The neighbour's cats don't help, noticed ANOTHER new claw mark on the top of my door when washing today, need shooting. :censored:
 
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