Welcome to the forum Terri! I'm alittle worried about ya'll on Sunday (Redskins fan here). It should be a good game though.
I've taken up kayaking on Sundays.:surrender:
I'm sure many more will chime in here...as we'll give you our feedback on what we have used. Prepare yourself for information overload.
Guess I left that out.
I wash with Meguiar's Gold Class shampoo and a nice, soft mitt. I use two buckets--a method taught and sworn-by by the entire Autogeek community--one for washing, one for rinsing the mitt...can't be dragging dirt back onto your clean paint.
For this winter, I'll be working with Optimum No Rinse (ONR) with two buckets...no need for a hose and since I parallel park in the street wherever I can, this helps me a ton.
I almost always finish with Meguiar's Ultimate Quick Detailer. It helps dry the car by letting a towel slip across the paint gently. When available, I ignore the looks and just use a leaf blower to dry the car. That's another thing...plenty of soft, CLEAN microfiber towels. Keep them organized too...one color for wax, one for windows, etc...it'll make your life easier. A really nice plush one for buffing too.
Like I said, I've currently got the car covered in Collinite #845 for my winter protection and so far, my brand of choice has been Poorboy's World (no garage, outside in the sun, all by hand).
I do everything by hand and while I try to keep my business here at AG, the other stuff is pretty easy to find OTC at like an Autozone or something, i.e., the shampoo. There's always a sale here though, so just do it all at once, since AG carries it all as well.
More than anything though, the best protection you can offer while cleaning your car is to work clean yourself. If you drop the sponge on the ground, DON"T put it up to your paint. If your towels are dirty, wash them (follow AG's guide in the previous link). If your bucket of clean water is getting nasty, change it. There's no sense in doing all of this work if you're just going to drag the dirt back onto the car.
And lastly, Collinite the wheels. It'll make brake dust easier to clean off.
nomore
