A few questions for a detailing newbie.

Welcome to the world of doing it yourself. I retired a couple of years ago and started a detailing operation in our retirement community to keep me busy. Have detailed my own cars for years. I am partial to Meguiars products as they perform very well. Once your car has been detailed properly you can leave your car wash detergent in the cabinet. Use water only to wash your car as soap leaves a residue and the dirt will come off very easy with a sponge and water. Now you can leave both buckets in the cabinet too.
I use Meguiars Cleaner Wax on the exterior, including all chrome items.
I use Meguiars Superior Shine on the tires.
I clean and wax both the inside and outside of the wheels and use Meguiars 21 liquid wax. Brake dust has a hard time sticking and penetrating a waxed surface. Once your wheels are waxed you don't need a wheel scrubber so leave that item in the cabinet too.
I use Windex to clean the dash, door panels, etc. Do NOT use Windex on the interior side of your tinted windows, use water only.
I use Meguiars plastic trim conditioner on exterior plastic.
I use Meguiars leather conditioner on all leather surfaces when required.
I have found the best cleaner for carpets and upholstery is TUFF STUFF. Very good product.
Hope this answers any questions and have fun with your vehicle.

HEMIFSH said:

Once your car has been detailed properly you can leave your car wash detergent in the cabinet. Use water only to wash your car as soap leaves a residue and the dirt will come off very easy with a sponge and water. Now you can leave both buckets in the cabinet too.

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You need the lubricity of the soap to help prevent scratches and swirls from reappearing in your paint once it had been polished ... even "waterless" washes use a lubricant to prevent damage to the paint.

Using only water to wash your paint and never having to wax is hype from the dealerships ... who (from the quality of the detailing work they put out) don't know squat about paint care.

FYI, I love the Eagle One wheel cleaners. Lets see some pictures

Don M said:

You need the lubricity of the soap to help prevent scratches and swirls from reappearing in your paint once it had been polished ... even "waterless" washes use a lubricant to prevent damage to the paint.

Using only water to wash your paint and never having to wax is hype from the dealerships ... who (from the quality of the detailing work they put out) don't know squat about paint care.

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Not necessarily true, maybe true if you are using hard water but I use soft water. I have a white 2013 Charger, my wife has a 2013 Avenger in tungsten and I have never used soap but always have a good protection of wax. After more than 2 years there are no swirl marks or scratches. Maybe swirl marks and scratches come from the grit left in the sponge or mit. Don't use the same sponge or mit month after month. That's my 2 cents.

HEMIFSH, you'd better put on your Nomex underwear if you're going to come on here selling that washing with water stuff. Just sayin'.

I had to put away all my detailing stuff since i know wax...
Just drive above 80mph and the car will self clean. Sometimes I drove above 150mph and the air scratch my paint

Happy detailing guys!

Regards

Are there really people that only wash with water? Not even a RW or WW...For real?
:dunno:

Setec Astronomy said:

HEMIFSH, you'd better put on your Nomex underwear if you're going to come on here selling that washing with water stuff. Just sayin'.

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:iagree:

He has posted 4 times and he is giving advice on how to wash a car? Perhaps we are all doing it wrong?

HEMIFSH- with all due respect, no respected detailing expert has ever recommended washing a car with water only. The lubricity reason is one. Wax alone will not protect paint from being scratched. Second, water in and of itself does not have cleaning properties. Formulated car washes not only have cleaning agents, but many also have added oils, polymers, protectants that help remove dirt and contaminants but also aid in conditioning and protecting the paint, something water alone wont do.

However, if the soapless wash method is working for you, but all means keep at it but I promise you wont ever touch one of my cars. However, perhaps take a moment or two to read the thousands of posts on this forum, and the various how to videos on the Autogeek site as perhaps you might be able to learn some new techniques or tips to improve your methods.

Welcome to the Autogeek forum

HEMIFSH said:

I use Windex to clean the dash, door panels, etc. Do NOT use Windex on the interior side of your tinted windows, use water only.
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He has it almost right here. I would not use Windex on any part of the interior. Amonia is a pretty harsh chemical and I am not sure the plastics and trim are designed to hold up to its repeated use. Dedicated interior cleaning products do not contain amonia ( someone correct me if I am wrong). Windex is designed for windows and hard non porous surfaces inside your home, not your car. Steer clear of using it inside your car on all surfaces.

Jaretr1 said:

Steer clear of using it inside your car on all surfaces.

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Except your glass. Im the MAN

I though Aprils fool day was yesterday?

Don M said:

Except your glass. Im the MAN

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I have never been able to get streak free clean on interior glass with windex. Plain water actually does work better, or an amonia free window cleaner. Definitely do not want to use it on windows that are film tinted!

Jaretr1 said:

I have never been able to get streak free clean on interior glass with windex. Plain water actually does work better, or an amonia free window cleaner. Definitely do not want to use it on windows that are film tinted!

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Yeah, well ... I was trying to give him SOME benefit of the doubt.

Well I must be the idiot on this forum according to most of you. I'm 65 and have taken care of my vehicles since I was 16 and never a problem with any of my paint finishes or interior cleaning. Guess I'll get off of this forum as I wouldn't want anyone following my advice.
Y'all have a great life.

HEMIFSH said:

Well I must be the idiot on this forum according to most of you. I'm 65 and have taken care of my vehicles since I was 16 and never a problem with any of my paint finishes or interior cleaning. Guess I'll get off of this forum as I wouldn't want anyone following my advice.
Y'all have a great life.

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I'm sorry you feel that way, I've also been taking care of my vehicles since I was 16 (well, actually I think I waxed my first car when I was 12 or 13), but I learn something new here every day.

You've simply suggested a practice which, through the collective experience of thousands of members here, cumulating easily hundreds of thousands of man-hours, has been found by the community to not be a "best practice". We're perfectly willing to listen to your rationale of why you think it is, and likely many here will (as some already have) challenge you with their own rationales, which is kind of the point of a forum like this, to discuss different techniques.

Don M said:

Yeah, well ... I was trying to give him SOME benefit of the doubt.

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One last comment for you young pups. When cleaning your non tinted glass, car, home, etc. use windex and newspaper, it will not streak. Been using that method since I was 11 years old as I learned from an older and more experienced man that knew what he was talking about.

HEMIFSH said:

One last comment for you young pups. When cleaning your non tinted glass, car, home, etc. use windex and newspaper, it will not streak. Been using that method since I was 11 years old as I learned from an older and more experienced man that knew what he was talking about.

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With all due respect, I am not a "young pup", and if you are not evaluating your methods periodically (meaning more often than every 54 years), there is a high probability that your methods could stand some improvement.

Vehicles, the materials they are made from and finished with, as well as the products and materials used in the maintenance and refinishing of said vehicles have changed markedly in the past 54 years, as has newspaper.

The automotive glass of today has also changed, it may have internal and external coatings for various purposes. Those are just a few examples.

I have actually been detailing my family cars since I was probably 9 or 10 ( I am 42 now). I was probably throwing wax or sealant on shortly after that. I thought I knew it all. I thought my cars looked awesome. It wasn't until I found this forum, that I realized I did not know all that much, and my cars had the potential to look a whole lot better than they did. I also learned that there were much better products out there, that offered much better performance and results than what I was using from the autoparts and big box stores.

Everyone is welcomed on this forum, but before giving advice, perhaps take a few moments to read, research, learn. My dad is 73 and he spends hours on the internet reading and researching things that interest him. An old dawg can learn new tricks.

This is the diplomatic side of me trying to smooth the ruffled feathers.

Hemifsh- how often do you do this process of water and no soap? If your frequency was high enough and you are not in a urban environment I could possibly see how this might be a workable solution.

Would you be willing to take a high resolution image of your finish with high powered lights on the paint like others do in the forum?

In the end all are here to learn and one can't learn if one is unwilling to examine their methods periodically. I certainly would be interested to know it can be possible to have a great finish without soap.