Car Wash & Drying products advice
 

Hey Everyone, well as you can probably imagine I will be staying away from the AutoCar Wash establishments with my Camaro.

I was hoping that you guys can recommend some products that you use when washing your cars. Especially in regards to the drying "towels". With a Black car, im looking for something to use that will minimize the amount of "swirl" marks.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations you guys can give.

I don't have a black car, but can give you some advise I use when washing. I always used terry cloth but now have switched to the micro fiber towls you can buy that are made for drying cars. I was told with black to wipe in one direction to avoid swirl marks. I'm not sure how true that is. One thing I do, which I think my neighbors think I am nut for, is use my leaf blower. I go over the car once real quick to break up the large beads of water and then I start up the leaf blower. It works great for blowing the water out of the cracks (tail lights, door handles, fogs, grill,...). Drying the wheels is a snap. Once I am done with the blower, I go back with a fresh micro fiber towl and its done to perfection.

My car is black as well and I'm going to have to raid Wally World or another place similar to get a decent amount of supplies. I'll be watching this thread closely because I need some of that advice for the darker cars.

While you should look in the car care section of this forum, here are some ideas which I always use. I personally use both Zaino and Adam's products on my 2010 Camaro SS, 2001 Corvette and 2008 Porsche 911.

1. Large 5 gallon style bucket with grit-guard at the bottom to protect the paint from dirt/debris which enters the water when washing.
2. A good quality micro fiber wash mitt.
3. A second bucket and wash mitt which is used only for the wheels/tires and never on the paint.
4. Try drying most of the car first with the hose nozzle removed and use a sheeting action to sheet-off the water beads. Second, use a 200+ mph leaf blower to eliminate most of the towel drying effort. Third, wipe down lightly with good quality (deep nap) micro fiber towel and your favorite quick detail spray for a little lube.
5. Test your towels and wash mitt on a blank computer CD-ROM. If the towel scratches the surface of the CD, discontinue use on the paint.
6. Wash the mitt and towels with a good quality liquid detergent (never powder as it can scratch). I air dry my towels in my garage as the fabric softener in the dryer gets in the nap and will scratch paint.

Best of luck!

This is the only thing I will use to dry my vehicles now.........

http://www.mygaragestore.com/detail.aspx?ID=759

http://www.mygaragestore.com/images/...laster_lrg.jpg

I am a member of the Vette forums and a vendor on there usually has some good deals on them.

I would say before I spend the money on that I would just pull the leaf blower off the wall. To each there own.

Good advice, sheet the water off and use a leaf blower.

General principle, touch the paint a little as you can.

Thanks everyone for the great tips & recommendations. My apologies for posting in the incorrect forumre as I'm new here.

Appreciate it!

mr. clean auto cleaning system. has filter system for a spot free rinse. then with the dryer works well.

If I may - INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

I'd also highly recommend 2 bucket washing and/or getting yourself a foam gun. Grit guards are also key as well as choosing a soap with a high lubricity and sustained sudsing action.

This will solve your problems. Goto http://www.adamspolishes.com get the following

1) 2 buckets with grit guards
2) 2 Professional wash pads
3) 1 gallon of Adams shampoo
4) Foam Gun
5) 2 Great white drying towels
6) 1 Gallon Adam's detail spray
7) Leaf Blower (Any home improvement store)
8) Super VRT for your tires/moldings (optional) AWESOME product

You can add alot of other stuff on from there but this would get you started. Read up on the 2 bucket wash system. Junkman has some great videos on youtube about doing it. The trick is to touch the car the least amount as possible. Use the leaf blower to dry 90% of the car. Then do a pass through with the drying towel and some Adam's Detail Spray.

:thumbup: The leaf blower actually works well!! My husband mentioned I should use it. It worked great on the rims.

Does anyone have advice on good wax products for black paint?

towles from Wally World
 

I went to Walmart and bought car shampoo, Meg's NXT 2.0 wax and microfiber towels. Don't waste you money on towel you get from Walmart or O'Reilly or any other over the counter place. They don't last long and EVERYTHING sticks to them making them only good to use on tires. I put my towels over the back of the lawn chairs to dry after use and within an hour they had gotten tree stuff on them, like little leaves and such, I spent hours trying to pick them out, and still have some in them.

I went to Autogeek.com and bought good towels and they really help and hold up. Also I bought special laundry soap for the towels that clean them up really nice after I wax my car. Regular "liquid" laundry soap is ok but don't use a fabric softner.

I used a leaf blower for several years, and it'll get the job done, but it's not even in the same stratosphere as as the blaster.....but yeah to each his own.