Simple DIY detailing advice?

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voidpointer

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Hey everyone!

I just joined the community so I apologize if I'm asking questions that are too basic. I'm not a detail pro or anything; really I know very little about cars other than oil change and driving it. Growing up, my dad always taught me to wash a car with a garden hose, brush, and dish soap.

However, it didn't take much self research to figure out that's not recommended. I bought a new 2016 Mazda 6 GT and I want to start detailing the exterior myself, mostly to save money from getting it professionally detailed.

Honestly, I realize some people here might be super picky about detail process and probably rightfully so. However, I don't want to spend 3 hours detailing my car once a week. I don't want to end up buying thousands of dollars of equipment. I just want to do some basic exterior but effective cleaning. Based on what I've read, it seems like I can get by with an electric pressure washer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SPX3001-Electric-Pressure-Washer/dp/B00LX8Z03K

For washing, what I've learned so far is that you can wash the whole car with the pressure washer + car shampoo inside it. Once you do that, use a lower pressure (without shampoo) to rinse it off. Then dry it.

As far as polish goes, I've heard you can do it 2-4 times a year. For manual brush wash, I'm not sure when I would need to do it, but it sounds like only when too much dirt has built up and the pressure washer won't be enough.

My only confusion is with foaming. I see several videos where people attach a foamer to the end of a pressure washer to spray soap on the car. Is this separate from the normal water+shampoo mix that it sprays? It seems optional but I'm not sure.

Any thoughts or advice? Again I want to keep things simple. At the end of the day, automobiles and professional detailing aren't a hobby of mine. I just want washing my car to be effective (both in results and cost) and efficient/quick/convenient. I certainly don't want to damage my paint or factory polish either.

Thanks in advance for practical advice.
 
Sounds to me like you need to learn the very basics first so give this a once over when you have about 7 minutes to spare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVAxphcgKnY
I'm not pushing that brand at all. It's just a decent step by step video.


Manual brush wash? NEVER EVER on the paint. Tires & wheels yes but not paint. Although handy you don't need a power washer or a a foaming device, just the items in the video.

Polishing is done with a machine, foam pads, and (obviously) a polish! Once a year or even every few years is all that's needed. If you're not prepared to buy the equipment and learn how to use it then let a professional handle this as required. I think you are confused as to what a polish actually is.

By the way foaming is only the first step......you hand wash after the foam has soaked & removed some of the worst dirt. You do not just foam, rinse, and dry. By doing so you have successfully rubbed all of the dirt into your new paint, not the way to go.

Obviously a good wax or sealant should be applied to your freshly cleaned car if it has no protection at all. There are hundreds to choose from and you'll get as many suggestions as there are products so I'll refrain from a recommendation. Three to four times a year for wax/sealant roughly, it depends on the product used.
 
First, welcome to the forum! Don't get the idea that the forum members are all pro detailers, we run the gamut here from people who run full-time businesses, to part-timers, hobbyists, and people new to the hobby such as yourself.

As RTexasF has pointed out, sometimes the terminology can get confusing as there is not a lot of standardization--particularly the word polish, which here on the forum usually refers to an abrasive liquid used to remove imperfections from the paint, but in a lot of contexts, like "furniture polish" is really something meant to shine and protect.

In your situation, I would look at something like this:

Wolfgang Uber Rinseless Wash In-A-Bucket Kit

This gives you the basics. I'd add a few more drying towels so that when they are dirty you have enough for a small laundry load. Here's some info:

How To Use A Rinseless Wash, no rinse car wash, Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine, Detailer's Pro Series Rinseless Wash & Gloss, ONR
 
If you want to keep it simple, then Optimum No Rinse Wax and Shine to clean. Optimum Hyper Polish and then seal with Collegiate 845. If the result is not what you want then machine polishing is the way to go. A dual action polisher is the best way to get experience and the least amount of danger. Be warned, once you get into polishing it's a slippery slope. :)
 
All good advice. I'll throw my 2 cents in. If you really want to keep it simple, meguiars express rinse free wash d114. Use it to clean everything inside and out. Watch videos on how to do a rinseless wash. Use the pressure washer if you want. Polishing once a year is goid advice with an all in one like hd speed. That will take time to learn how to polish. Learn how to clay. Id recommend a nanoskin sponge. Then just pick a wax or sealant.
 
The video posted above is a good tutorial. For a water wash, you need:

A hose with a decent sprayer attachment
2 buckets
1-2 grit guards
Car wash soap
Wash mitt or sponge
A brush for wheels and tires only
A drying towel
Optional: spray wax to use before or after drying the car

In addition, every other poster above suggested a rinseless wash solution (although every one of them recommended a different one lol). You can't go wrong with any of them (optimum no rinse, Megs d114 or d115, Wolfgang, Ultima, etc). But this process will change your life. To do this method, you need:

1 or 2 buckets with grit guard
Wash mitt / sponge if using the 2 bucket method, OR about 6-8 high quality microfiber towels if you're going to use 1 bucket method
Rinseless wash solution
1-2 gallons of water per wash, preferably distilled
Drying towel
Optional: spray wax to use before or after you dry the car

Here's what I do....if my car is super dirty (rare!) I will do a full 2 bucket hose wash.

Most of the time though, I hose the wheels only and give them a good wash/brush first. Then I pre soak the car with my rinseless wash solution diluted to waterless or quick Detailer in a spray bottle. Then use the 1 bucket method to do a rinseless wash using 4-6 fluffy MF towels. I wash the whole car, panel by panel. When done washing, I spray the whole car with spray wax. Then I dry the whole car with two towels. 1- for the initial wipe, then a second for the final wipe to make sure there won't be any streaks. Easy.....takes me less than an hour.

What you also need to do, especially on a new car, is wax it after thoroughly washing it. A super user friendly one is Meguiars Ultimate liquid wax. I even use it on plastic trim, metal parts, love that stuff. This is done every 6 months or so if you use a sealer (the one I suggested is).

Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone. I really appreciate how friendly and helpful everyone is being.

So basically the power wash is "nice" but not required, and seems like only a replacement for the water hose. Is that about right? If I already decided to get it, does that mean there isn't much sense in doing the rinseless wash solution?

And originally I said "brush wash" but what I really meant was "manual wash", basically manually washing the body of the vehicle with a sponge. I know that some power washers have a container for wash fluid, which made me think that all you had to do was spray water/shampoo mix from it, with the water pressure being sufficient enough to get all the dirt off, then you just dry it off. But it sounds like that still won't get it clean enough. Am I right so far?

So it sounds like basically I can do the 2 bucket method with a hand sponge or the rinseless method. Unless there's a major reason to choose one or the other, I might try the 2 bucket method first. I wasn't planning on doing any waxing/sealing starting out, especially not with any extra tools, but again I am hearing suggestions where you can just rub a liquid form of it using a rag, which I may try next if it's that simple.

I still have to go through all the great content everyone has referred me to. Thanks again everyone.
 
Hmm, I don't have shady spots. What's the harm in washing a car in direct sunlight? Would early in the morning or evening suffice if I don't have shade?
 
If you have no shade, even more reason to really look into rinseless washing, aside from it just being more fun and much faster!

There's an awesome deal today for a get-started kit. In the sun, you could wash and dry panel by panel to avoid water spots.

Wolfgang Uber Rinseless Wash In-A-Bucket Kit
 
voidpointer said:
Hmm, I don't have shady spots. What's the harm in washing a car in direct sunlight? Would early in the morning or evening suffice if I don't have shade?
Click to expand...

I usually don't have shady spots either, I will try to wash early in the morning. If you can keep your hand on the paint and not be burned it should be ok for what you plan to do.

In regards to what you said about not waxing or sealing your car, I truly think that is a huge mistake. You don't need fancy equipment to do these things to your car. Try a basic spray wax with a good quality towel ( nothing you buy at Walmart or autozone) get something off autogeek. Try a cheaper option if you want, but I recommend Wolfgang Spritz Sealant or Pinnacle Liquid Souvern spray wax. You will get months of protection to keep your Mazda looking great, plus making it easier to clean in the future.

As a fellow Mazda owner, 2014 Mazda 3 GT, the CC is extremely thin, I would advise doing what you can to keep the little CC protected. Another note, my Mazda paint is extremely soft if you use low quality materials you will scratch the paint and get ugly swirls. I would not use a sponge, use a wash mitt sold here as well. If you choose to go rinseless, get 10 rinseless wash towels so you have a nice stock to avoid damaging the paint.
 
Dmb5450 said:
I usually don't have shady spots either, I will try to wash early in the morning. If you can keep your hand on the paint and not be burned it should be ok for what you plan to do.

In regards to what you said about not waxing or sealing your car, I truly think that is a huge mistake. You don't need fancy equipment to do these things to your car. Try a basic spray wax with a good quality towel ( nothing you buy at Walmart or autozone) get something off autogeek. Try a cheaper option if you want, but I recommend Wolfgang Spritz Sealant or Pinnacle Liquid Souvern spray wax. You will get months of protection to keep your Mazda looking great, plus making it easier to clean in the future.

As a fellow Mazda owner, 2014 Mazda 3 GT, the CC is extremely thin, I would advise doing what you can to keep the little CC protected. Another note, my Mazda paint is extremely soft if you use low quality materials you will scratch the paint and get ugly swirls. I would not use a sponge, use a wash mitt sold here as well. If you choose to go rinseless, get 10 rinseless wash towels so you have a nice stock to avoid damaging the paint.
Click to expand...

Thanks. One poster suggested that waxing is quite simple actually, and it doesn't seem like I have to do it that often (couple times a year) so once I get all my stuff I ordered I will do a wax. I bought this for now:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HCM9H4

Hopefully I can just rub it on with a microfiber towel, doesn't sound too bad.

I'm going to try this first until I get used to the process:

1. Power washer to wet down the whole vehicle, spray wheels real good
2. Prepare 2 buckets based on videos I watched (one with car shampoo and the other with just water)
3. Use a brush to scrub the wheels. When done, don't use the brush anymore
4. Use a mitt to wash the whole car from top to bottom
5. Power wash again to get all the soap off the whole car
6. Dry the whole car
7. Apply the wax on the whole car

Hopefully that's the gist of it. Once I get comfortable with that I may look into the rinseless wash. I'm going to do this super early in the morning while it's still cool and sun isn't completely out yet.
 
The Megs wax you bought (love that stuff) comes with an applicator and a microfiber towel in the box. Put it on THIN (and it's almost clear, so it's hard to see), let it sit anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 mins, then wipe off. Again, it's so hard to see but even if you miss a few spots you can simply wipe it off later.
 
voidpointer said:
thanks. One poster suggested that waxing is quite simple actually, and it doesn't seem like i have to do it that often (couple times a year) so once i get all my stuff i ordered i will do a wax. I bought this for now:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/b004hcm9h4

hopefully i can just rub it on with a microfiber towel, doesn't sound too bad.

I'm going to try this first until i get used to the process:

1. Power washer to wet down the whole vehicle, spray wheels real good
2. Prepare 2 buckets based on videos i watched (one with car shampoo and the other with just water)
3. Use a brush to scrub the wheels. When done, don't use the brush anymore
4. Use a mitt to wash the whole car from top to bottom
5. Power wash again to get all the soap off the whole car
6. Dry the whole car
7. Apply the wax on the whole car

hopefully that's the gist of it. Once i get comfortable with that i may look into the rinseless wash. I'm going to do this super early in the morning while it's still cool and sun isn't completely out yet.
Click to expand...



He gets it!! Awesome :props:
 
voidpointer said:
Hey everyone!

I just joined the community so I apologize if I'm asking questions that are too basic. I'm not a detail pro or anything; really I know very little about cars other than oil change and driving it. Growing up, my dad always taught me to wash a car with a garden hose, brush, and dish soap.

However, it didn't take much self research to figure out that's not recommended. I bought a new 2016 Mazda 6 GT and I want to start detailing the exterior myself, mostly to save money from getting it professionally detailed.

Honestly, I realize some people here might be super picky about detail process and probably rightfully so. However, I don't want to spend 3 hours detailing my car once a week. I don't want to end up buying thousands of dollars of equipment. I just want to do some basic exterior but effective cleaning. Based on what I've read, it seems like I can get by with an electric pressure washer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SPX3001-Electric-Pressure-Washer/dp/B00LX8Z03K

For washing, what I've learned so far is that you can wash the whole car with the pressure washer + car shampoo inside it. Once you do that, use a lower pressure (without shampoo) to rinse it off. Then dry it.

As far as polish goes, I've heard you can do it 2-4 times a year. For manual brush wash, I'm not sure when I would need to do it, but it sounds like only when too much dirt has built up and the pressure washer won't be enough.

My only confusion is with foaming. I see several videos where people attach a foamer to the end of a pressure washer to spray soap on the car. Is this separate from the normal water+shampoo mix that it sprays? It seems optional but I'm not sure.

Any thoughts or advice? Again I want to keep things simple. At the end of the day, automobiles and professional detailing aren't a hobby of mine. I just want washing my car to be effective (both in results and cost) and efficient/quick/convenient. I certainly don't want to damage my paint or factory polish either.

Thanks in advance for practical advice.
Click to expand...
foamers are usually a add on.Im not a believer in soaping up the car like that repeadly ,it can dull paint and trim accessories quickly over time.If you must use a foamer use a very dedicated wash and wax soap with very low ph.wash dry and use a booster spray wax with good micros and wash techniques.start from the top and leave the bottoms last.
 
Is it reasonable to save washing the wheels for last? That way I don't need to waste a bucket of shampoo & water. Most of what I'm reading says people empty the bucket used to wash the wheels before washing the body. Is there a specific reason people do them first?
 
voidpointer said:
Is it reasonable to save washing the wheels for last? That way I don't need to waste a bucket of shampoo & water. Most of what I'm reading says people empty the bucket used to wash the wheels before washing the body. Is there a specific reason people do them first?
Click to expand...

I typically do a 3 bucket method, one for the wheels, one for soap on the paint and a rinse bucket. I do the wheels first because no matter what you do I seem to get some sort of wheel cleaner, wheel dirt, or water on the paint. I then have to go back and reclean my paint, so I just do the body of the car after the wheels.
 
I noticed you have said "sponge" several times in reference to washing the paint. There are only two types of sponge that will not scratch the paint. One is a natural sea sponge (after meticulous cleaning), the other is a grout sponge. A regular household sponge is a no no.
 
voidpointer said:
Is it reasonable to save washing the wheels for last? That way I don't need to waste a bucket of shampoo & water. Most of what I'm reading says people empty the bucket used to wash the wheels before washing the body. Is there a specific reason people do them first?
Click to expand...

The rationale for doing the wheels first is that if you do the body first and then move to the wheels, you can get water spots on the body while you're doing the wheels. As Dmb5450 noted, some of us use separate "wheel buckets" for various reasons.

I should note that the "dry as you go" nature of rinseless wash prevents water spots, so in that case you can wash the wheels after the body with the same bucket of solution. Note that some people used dedicated wash and dry media for wheels.
 
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