Detailing the car in the big city

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medelste

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How would you detail your car if you didn't have access to a hose, didn't have access to an electrical outlet, and didn't have access to a garage or driveway? What would you recommend to big city drivers that have to park on the street? Right now I go to one of those car wash places that has bays to spray wash the car myself. If that's good, what products should I use during that process that won't get me yelled at for taking too long and hogging a bay? If I shouldn't be going to those places, where should I go and what products should I bring?

First time car owner so please dumb it down!

Mike
 
As far as washing, looking into rinseless products. Then all you need is a bucket, 2-3 Gallons of water with the solution in it, and some towels. Machine correction is a little more difficult but there are battery powered da polishers now that are good now.
 
medelste said:
How would you detail your car if you didn't have access to a hose, didn't have access to an electrical outlet, and didn't have access to a garage or driveway? What would you recommend to big city drivers that have to park on the street? Right now I go to one of those car wash places that has bays to spray wash the car myself. If that's good, what products should I use during that process that won't get me yelled at for taking too long and hogging a bay? If I shouldn't be going to those places, where should I go and what products should I bring?

First time car owner so please dumb it down!

Mike
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Look into rinseless washes. Basically you wipe your car down with a solution you mix from a concentrated product. After applying dry your car.

Use a drying aid if wanted and make sure you use a good LSP.

If car is really dirty i would go to one of those pay stations and rinse your car.

Mix up a bucket of car soap with a lid and drop in 5-8 wash mitts

Wash your car with this bucket instead of their brush and then rinse again. Shouldn’t take any longer than using their brush.

If you want to polish your vehicle there are a few cordless polishers on the market. For wheels i would look into a pressure washer that pulls from a bucket.

Look up the Worx HydroShot. You basically drop the hose in a 5 gallon bucket and it pulls from their. Decent pressure.

I would wet with a pump sprayer. Then spray with whatever tire and wheel cleaner your gonna use. Then scrub with appropriate brushes and rinse with hydroshot.


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If you must use a self serve car wash, see if you can use them during off hours-- early in the morning or late at night-- so you won't be rushed and can wash thoroughly.
 
Rinseless wash (of your choice) 1000 ML Kwazzer, about a dozen The Rag Company Eagle edgeless microfiber towels, 5 gallon bucket or two and a Worx hydroshot to clean the tires/wheels better (this is optional depending upon your level of "geekness")

Your in great hands and lots of videos on YouTube.

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When I do not have access to power and I need to vacuum a car I use my battery powered Vacmaster. Battery lasts only 15 minutes but the suction is very close to that of a corded machine.
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I have been in the same situation for 10 years, my car is in a condo garage, no water /no power to the space. I do a rinseless wash weekly, if it’s really dirty I take it to a touchless car wash first. Then I apply my products, every 3 to 5 months it gets a sealant, and in between it gets an enhanced QD product like car pro Elixr.
 
glen e said:
I have been in the same situation for 10 years, my car is in a condo garage, no water /no power to the space. I do a rinseless wash weekly, if it’s really dirty I take it to a touchless car wash first. Then I apply my products, every 3 to 5 months it gets a sealant, and in between it gets an enhanced QD product like car pro Elixr.
Click to expand...

What product do you use for your RW?


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Klasse Act said:
Yeah 1.5 ounces for about 3.5 gallons of water is pretty much spot on, enough in there for pre-treating and about 5-6 mf towels

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Same here…1.5 and 5-6 towels, I don’t pre treat because I’m just clearing off garage dust or last rain. Never have scratched in 10 years. If the car was kept outside, I would pre-treat. For that I bought one of the cheap garden pump sprayers from Lowe’s for my vette when it was outside. Prior to Ech20 I used ONR. I lay the towel on , completely sopping wet , soaked , dripping all over the floor, grab the two corners and pull it forward on the paint.on the sides, holding it on with two spread hands, no pressure. Dry with a damp pre-sprayed w/ Ech20 -waffle weave. Always a stunning result in about 15 minutes.
 
glen e said:
Same here…1.5 and 5-6 towels, I don’t pre treat because I’m just clearing off garage dust or last rain. Never have scratched in 10 years. If the car was kept outside, I would pre-treat. For that I bought one of the cheap garden pump sprayers from Lowe’s for my vette when it was outside. Prior to Ech20 I used ONR. I lay the towel on , completely sopping wet , soaked , dripping all over the floor, grab the two corners and pull it forward on the paint.on the sides, holding it on with two spread hands, no pressure. Dry with a damp pre-sprayed w/ Ech20 -waffle weave. Always a stunning result in about 15 minutes.
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How do you "dry" with a damp towel

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I’ve lived in a big city before (Philadelphia) and back then I took my car to a place that hand washed cars, under an apartment building. They weren’t cheap but did good work and pretty much had the entire Eagles team as customers so always nice rides there. I don’t think I could properly care for my car in the city, just can’t do a rinseless wash every time. And some garages don’t let you do it in there and in Philly it’s illegal to work on a car on public roads.
 
Bruno Soares said:
I’ve lived in a big city before (Philadelphia) and back then I took my car to a place that hand washed cars, under an apartment building. They weren’t cheap but did good work and pretty much had the entire Eagles team as customers so always nice rides there. I don’t think I could properly care for my car in the city, just can’t do a rinseless wash every time. And some garages don’t let you do it in there and in Philly it’s illegal to work on a car on public roads.
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A carwash is working on a car

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Klasse Act said:
A carwash is working on a car

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Never know what they’ll say but they did enforce the rule any time they see people doing something on a car. One could claim I’m making the street dirty washing my car lol
 
Bruno Soares said:
Never know what they’ll say but they did enforce the rule any time they see people doing something on a car. One could claim I’m making the street dirty washing my car lol
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I'm guessing Philly is pretty safe if they're worried about someone doing a RW or WW on a car

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Klasse Act said:
I'm guessing Philly is pretty safe if they're worried about someone doing a RW or WW on a car

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Haha. They aren’t safe but they sure have people out giving tickets and raising money for the parking authority. One time I brought my mom to the airport and got out of the car to help her get the luggage from the trunk. I got a ticket. There was a visible sign that said driver must remain in vehicle and I couldn’t even dispute it. He didn’t care I was just helping my mom with the bags.
 
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