Any Tricks to Washing these Cars?

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by efnfast

Don't buy an electric one; they crap out all the time and are basically throw-aways.

I own an electric pressure washer. I use it around the house for various cleanup jobs, but never considered it to wash a car. Can you elaborate further? Why aren't they good? I bought a fairly good one from Home Depot a couple years back.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

I own an electric pressure washer. I use it around the house for various cleanup jobs, but never considered it to wash a car. Can you elaborate further? Why aren't they good? I bought a fairly good one from Home Depot a couple years back.

You can only use an electric pressure washer for cleaning the interior of your car. That's common knowledge.

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

I own an electric pressure washer. I use it around the house for various cleanup jobs, but never considered it to wash a car. Can you elaborate further? Why aren't they good? I bought a fairly good one from Home Depot a couple years back.

Under "heavy duty" usage (more than washing windows; by h.d. I don't mean trying to strip concrete) they tend to overheat and break quite frequently. Parts are ~usually~ cheap plastic, and non-serviceable, so once it fails, it's usually done for.

From what I've seen, the average electric washer lasts a few months to a year or two, then starts exhibitting problems. This isn't to say they all do this, just your average one.

[STEVE-O]

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

In my view, even if you prefer to wash your Cobra, it's just not practical to use a pressure washer. You'll have water flying everywhere and a soaked interior.

I agree! A pressure washer!?!?
These cars are not driven off road where they would accumulate a lot of dirt. At most, there is only light dust on the car which most of the time doesnt even require water to remove.
If you were going to use water, then I would guess a 'light' flow of water, enough to flush away the dust and then a chamois would suffice.
Follow with a detailing spray like Zaino Z6 or similar product.

[Garage10]

efnfast
When you say foam lance what is that and when using 2 bucket what are you using to wash with ? and when you are done do you apply any wax or sealers ?
Thanks
Brent

[CHANMADD]

I just wash my car!! If water gets wherever ....just dry it with a chamois. Every so often I take it with a floor jack to the car wash and pressure wash the bottom.It is a car !!!

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by Garage10

efnfast
When you say foam lance what is that and when using 2 bucket what are you using to wash with ? and when you are done do you apply any wax or sealers ?
Thanks
Brent

foam lance is an attachment to a pressure washer
http://www.everypressurewasher.com/a...sp?sku=CAM1243

basically you put some cleaning foam into it, mix with water, attach to pressure washer and foam the car so it comes out like



Then let sit for 5-10minutes and rinse off.

The purpose of the foam is to help loosen particles for when you mitt wash. Remember, whenever you touch the paint, you're either improving it, or 'damaging' (e.g., marring, swirl, scratch, etc...) it. 90% of damage comes from improper wash technique - dislodging dirt and moving it across the paint to damage it, and drying wrong (using a chamois, waterblade, or anything but distilled (de-ionized water) and/or BLOTTING with microfiber waffle weaves)

So what you're trying to do before you touch it (and you have to touch it to wash it; it's impossible to clean a vehicle, no matter how clean it looks on the surface, without touchign it) is remove as much as possible (initial rinse), then loosen what's left so you have minimal chance for damage.


2 bucket means just that - 2 buckets used in the wash. The first bucket uses a grit guard and has your soap in it. Dunk you mit in, then wash a panel. When that panel is finished, dunk your mitt in the 2nd bucket before going back to the 1st bucket - the point of the second bucket is to accumulate any dirt that gets trapped in the mitt.

I never wax or seal the vehicle unless I'm detailing it. Typically, I'll do 2 details during the year

1 - Very beginning of spring. Claybar the car, correction (compounding) work, polish, seal, wax. The wax I use is mixed with a polycharger additive, so it extends the duration of it. Sealent usually lasts 3-4mths, as does polycharged wax.

2 - Middleish of season - light polish, seal, wax.

I'll usually wash my cars once to twice a month, depending on how dirty they are.


For example, my beater is a black 03 g35 coupe. I'll do #1 at the beginning of spring, wash once a month, then #2 half-way through, then once winter hits I don't touch it from november until april. All the salt, dirt, road **** just stays on it and piles on. Then I do #1 to restore it.

I guarant-damn-tee you my paint is in far better condition, despite being a 7yr old daily beater that has salt and **** sitting on it for 6mths straight with no washing or anything, than 99% of the show cars in this thread that people are fussing over, refusing to wash but sitting there after every drive with their QD wiping it down and 'damaging' the paint.

nb: the below pictures are after I polished it; no sealent or wax applied, or final cleanup.

Originally Posted by STEVE-O

I agree! A pressure washer!?!?
These cars are not driven off road where they would accumulate a lot of dirt. At most, there is only light dust on the car which most of the time doesnt even require water to remove.
If you were going to use water, then I would guess a 'light' flow of water, enough to flush away the dust and then a chamois would suffice.
Follow with a detailing spray like Zaino Z6 or similar product.

No. The point of water is to serve as a lubricant and to also remove dirt.

Unless you zip your car up in an air-tight bubble, you are getting dirt and bonded crap on it, the second you leave your driveway.

[Ron61]

Originally Posted by efnfast

To be honest with you (not trying to bust your balls or anything ) most of the population, even car enthusiasts, don't know **** about detailing.

I've pointed out SEVERE hollogramming to people who just stare at me blankly and say 'yea, that's normal those markings there'. Since most people don't know how to remove hollogramming, swirls, micro-marring, etc..., over-time they start thinking everything but deep scratches is normal.

Plus your car is white; it's very difficult to find a lot of the defects I mentioned unless you're in the right angle and lighting......that's why I like silvers and yellows for my cars so much - very easy to hide and make look perfect to most people's eyes.

Of course the advantage there is that as long as you arn't looking at it 'properly' (which most people won't) you won't see them.....but I guarantee ya, come into my shop and I"ll use my sun gun and brinkman to make you cry for mercy when you see your paint's true condition =)

I don't doubt that if you looked hard enough you would find some swirls in my White, but you are talking extremes with using the equipment you mentioned. I didn't use my car for shows but raced it and you don't have to be an expert to find all of the paint chips that i touched up. If I was so worried about a car that might have a swirl mark of scratch in it that I wouldn't drive it, I would get rid of the car. You are way out of my league when it comes to show car painting. I sold the car three years ago and it is still running and winning in Arkansas and they took it to their Country Car show and won Best Of show, which I was completely stunned by. But it was not and isnot by any means a show car.
Have a great holiday weekend.

Ron

[STEVE-O]

I agree with Ron! For someone to be that fanatical about the paint means to not drive and enjoy the car at all.
Stuff may bond to the car when it is being driven but if the paint still feels smooth like a dinner plate, then a clay bar isnt required. A clay bar is only really only required when a roughness can be felt in the paint.
When I look at the car in the pictures, I still see imperfections in the paint irregardless of the bright shine. Also, the tires need some detailing. Dull tires can ruin the look.
Also, we are still talking about classic Cobras here and not 4 wheel drive offroad trucks, right?

[AC Cobra]

efnfast, do you have any pictures of a Cobra all foamed up?

You may find it a little difficult to foam a Cobra and power wash it.

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by STEVE-O

I agree with Ron! For someone to be that fanatical about the paint means to not drive and enjoy the car at all.
Stuff may bond to the car when it is being driven but if the paint still feels smooth like a dinner plate, then a clay bar isnt required. A clay bar is only really only required when a roughness can be felt in the paint.
When I look at the car in the pictures, I still see imperfections in the paint irregardless of the bright shine. Also, the tires need some detailing. Dull tires can ruin the look.
Also, we are still talking about classic Cobras here and not 4 wheel drive offroad trucks, right?

I'm in the same boat as you and Ron. If it takes a "sun light and a brinkman" (whatever the heck that is. I have a Brinkman Smoker, but I don't think that is what he is talking about.) to find the imperfections in the paint, then I don't care about them.

My car is a driver, not a show car. I do make every effort to take care of it, but I'm not going to those extremes.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

I'm in the same boat as you and Ron. If it takes a "sun light and a brinkman" (whatever the heck that is. I have a Brinkman Smoker, but I don't think that is what he is talking about.) to find the imperfections in the paint, then I don't care about them.

My car is a driver, not a show car. I do make every effort to take care of it, but I'm not going to those extremes.

Agree! I'm sure that the process efenfast described is a textbook example of washing a car, but it's just not practical for a Cobra. After two years, my car has some road rash on the front, but overall the paint is excellent shape and the black stripes have few if any marks. Save the smoker for the brauts!

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

I'm in the same boat as you and Ron. If it takes a "sun light and a brinkman" (whatever the heck that is. I have a Brinkman Smoker, but I don't think that is what he is talking about.) to find the imperfections in the paint, then I don't care about them.

My car is a driver, not a show car. I do make every effort to take care of it, but I'm not going to those extremes.

All my cars are drivers, not show cars too. I hate car shows and will never waste my time attending them.

What I'm talking about is taking an extra 20-30minutes to properly wash a vehicle to reduce damage (Swirling/marring) so the paint remains as flawless as possible (which is an impossibility, because eventually 'damage' will occur; it's impossible to keep the paint picture perfect until the end of time if you have to touch it to clean it)

What I find humorous is that most people I talk to, who really don't understanding detailing, think my washing regime is extreme and too complicated to follow. Yet some of these same people will, for example, use a quick detailer and wipe down their car every single time they drive it, or sometimes 2-3times/week.

So let's think about this, who's more extreme - the guy who properly washes his cars once a month (I've got 4 to take care of btw), or the guy who cleans his car 1-3x per week. Hmmmmm.

Originally Posted by STEVE-O

I agree with Ron! For someone to be that fanatical about the paint means to not drive and enjoy the car at all.
Stuff may bond to the car when it is being driven but if the paint still feels smooth like a dinner plate, then a clay bar isnt required. A clay bar is only really only required when a roughness can be felt in the paint.
When I look at the car in the pictures, I still see imperfections in the paint irregardless of the bright shine. Also, the tires need some detailing. Dull tires can ruin the look.
Also, we are still talking about classic Cobras here and not 4 wheel drive offroad trucks, right?

- We can debate the use of the claybar all day long, but I'm on the side that says to always clay before polish, otherwise you'll pick up a **** load of contaminents in your pads that can marr the surface. Even on viper (which pretty much sat broken all day long in the garage, heh) I could claybar it after 10mths and still pick up a lot of crap, even though the surface was fairly smooth.

- I already said those pics were after a polish, no wipedown/seal/wax. So no window cleaning or tire dressing yet. The dots you see in the pictures are a combination of polish dusting and rock chips. There's no hollogramming, swirls, or micro-marring on the paint, and that's under 2 500watt hallogens and under absolute direct sunlight.

Originally Posted by AC Cobra

efnfast, do you have any pictures of a Cobra all foamed up?

You may find it a little difficult to foam a Cobra and power wash it.

No, but I'll take some when I wash mine when it's painted

[Ron61]

So let's think about this, who's more extreme - the guy who properly washes his cars once a month (I've got 4 to take care of btw), or the guy who cleans his car 1-3x per week. Hmmmmm.

Your points are good, but I cleaned mine about three or four times a month unless I got it extremely dirty. I use clay bar and am in the process of cleaning my 1969 NASCAR Cobra now. It isn't driven much, but is original and even with the clay bar the dark red paint will show some places if you look close. This car has never been in a show and most likely won't as long as I own it. It is all original except some engine work, even still has the original old Goodyear Polyglass tires and they are 40 years old. The original question was how do people was their cars, not how do I make mine perfect so no one can possibly find a swirl or defect in the paint. The factory paint on my 69 has many defects, no runs but it shows the weld seams where they welded the fastback on to make it more aerodynamic. It has been inspected numerous times and many things were pointed out to me that I should have done to make it perfect. It also has some rock picks from being driven. I clean it about once every 6 months.

Ron

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by Ron61

The original question was how do people was their cars, not how do I make mine perfect so no one can possibly find a swirl or defect in the paint.

True enough .... however, reading some of the posts in here is like watching yourself get castrated.

If people like their cleaning regimes fine by me; I'm only hoping to educate those who want to detail to the best effect but have no idea what to do so they just follow the masses and assume the masses know what they're doing.

[AC Cobra]

Originally Posted by efnfast

True enough .... however, reading some of the posts in here is like watching yourself get castrated.

If people like their cleaning regimes fine by me; I'm only hoping to educate those who want to detail to the best effect but have no idea what to do so they just follow the masses and assume the masses know what they're doing.

Efnfast, I think we're talking two different things here: washing any car or truck and washing our Cobras. And, I don't mean those Mustang Cobras.

You make some very good points about washing the general family vehicle. I wash my truck at a Laser car wash and no brushes every touch it. It even sprays the under carriage as you drive in. Works well. But I have my Lexus gets detailed monthly at a car wash with lots of suds and rinsing with plenty of water. Dryed with soft cotton cloths.

My Cobra is a different story. It's only been washed with water two times in the 7 years of its existance. Bug removal is the harshed cleaning. Other than that quick detailing spray and a soft cotton cloth. I put a coat of wax on it every spring.

[Garage10]

efenfast
Thanks for the detailed description. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Brent

[HI Cobra]

efenfast - I too appreciate the education - a whole new world for me but
it does make sense. I am an old dog to be changing how I do it totally
because I don't own anything that has that quality of a paint job, but I am
sure I'll try some of the steps on my regular cars. My Kirkham is real
happy with the windex and soft towels, which isn't too often - love the
patina!

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by AC Cobra

Efnfast, I think we're talking two different things here: washing any car or truck and washing our Cobras. And, I don't mean those Mustang Cobras.

You make some very good points about washing the general family vehicle. I wash my truck at a Laser car wash and no brushes every touch it. It even sprays the under carriage as you drive in. Works well. But I have my Lexus gets detailed monthly at a car wash with lots of suds and rinsing with plenty of water. Dryed with soft cotton cloths.

My Cobra is a different story. It's only been washed with water two times in the 7 years of its existance. Bug removal is the harshed cleaning. Other than that quick detailing spray and a soft cotton cloth. I put a coat of wax on it every spring.

- laser wash doesn't work as well as you'd think. there's still a good amount of dirt on the paint. I could stand in one spot with my pressure washer for 5 minutes and it still wouldn't be perfectly clean - you need to rinse, lubricate, then aggitate, not just spray.

- Drying with soft cotton cloths really doesn't mean anything - if it's done wrong it will swirl/micro-marr the paint. Depending on how soft your clear is (IIRC lexus/toyota can be soft depending on the color), rubbing it with towels will really do the paint no good. You need to BLOT using a micro-fiber waffle weave (most effectivE). not a chamois or similar, but BLOT with a m-f waffle weave like
http://www.autogeek.net/cobra-guzzler-hd-towel.html

Of course I'm probably crazy because I spend an extra 4minutes drying my car by blotting with 4 waffle weaves versus rubbing and marring my paint =)


The cobra is not anything special; it's just another car, but this time without a roof. Thinking it's this super special car that you can't touch or wash or let get wet is just as dumb as the people on viperalley who think they can't drive their viper when it rains, or that vipers are super-duper hard to control (funny, I never crashed mine, in whiteout or in rain, lol). It's exactly the same as washing a z06 or viper or whatever you want to insert here, the main differences being that since it has no roof you don't start at the top, and you have to adjust your angles. Oh yea, and also be careful not ot damage the exposed radiator and block off the hoodscoop (atleast in my case since I'm using Bruce sssssupersnake hood) so you don't get too much water in the enginebay.

Originally Posted by Garage10

efenfast
Thanks for the detailed description. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Brent

Feel free to ask any questions you want; always good to share the knowledge

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by HI Cobra

efenfast - I too appreciate the education - a whole new world for me but
it does make sense. I am an old dog to be changing how I do it totally
because I don't own anything that has that quality of a paint job, but I am
sure I'll try some of the steps on my regular cars. My Kirkham is real
happy with the windex and soft towels, which isn't too often - love the
patina!

now just wait until you want to start leaning how to compound and polish your paint to remove scratches, swirling, and micro-marring. Then the real fun begins

If you want to play around with a good washign technique, I'd recommend


1-2 big buckets with grit guards
http://www.autogeek.net/5gagrguwabu.html

good quality microfiberwash mitt
http://www.autogeek.net/cobra-blue-microfiber-mitt.html

poorboy's soap
http://www.autogeek.net/pbss128.html

4-5 waffle wave microfibres
http://www.autogeek.net/cobra-guzzler-hd-towel.html

You should be good to go. You really should do the rinsing with a pressure washer, but you can go an adequate job with a garden hose. Not the absolute most bestest job, but a decent job

Basically rinse, rinse again, then wash one panel/section per time, starting at the top and working your way down. When you get to the lower sections, make certain to really lubricate the areas to help move the dirty around.