Car wash for the lazy owner

[DukeCanBuildit]

I'll just foam it and rinse if it's only dusty (we have a ton of dust in the air here) like a quick weekly touch up wash. Just let the foam sit for 5-8 minutes and it'll drop all the loose dust/dirt down and rinse and dry.

lol I just washed mine for the first time in a light rain a couple weeks ago. We get very little rain here and I wanted to wash it before going away and of course it was raining on/off all day. I have a water softener with a spigot in my garage which I hook my power washer to because we have super hard water here. I would still rinse it off but I guess if it was a good downpour it should get all the soap off. After rinsing it off I just put it back in the garage and dried it and hit it with a coat of Graphene detailer.

My neighbour in Buckeye told me not to wash my truck at home because of the water so, I used to take my ‘01 to a big car wash on McDowell near the 101 - it was super fast. I could get gas at the same time, and it was cheap. I’d pull up and they’d be on my truck in a second, spraying the wheels, handing me my antennae, and whisking my truck away through the wash. It would come out the other end with two or three guys drying it, another vacuuming, one wiping down the interior, and one putting on tire dressing.

It was quite a production.

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[Kristina]

At summer I want the truck to be nice and clean outside, it’s beautiful in sunshine. But the summer is over. Most important it’s clean inside.
And now I hear not only from husband but from other people as well “when you will wash her?”
I’m not even planning to…

 

[Peragrin]

I have a three year old. I let him rinse it off. we hand wash it but that's because am to cheap for a foam wand, and a package of microfiber towels for washing is cheap.

 

[IdahoRanger]

At summer I want the truck to be nice and clean outside, it’s beautiful in sunshine. But the summer is over. Most important it’s clean inside.
And now I hear not only from husband but from other people as well “when you will wash her?”
I’m not even planning to…

The standard has been set, you have to keep it clean year round.

 

[TICKLE ZOMBIE]

Do you take any precautions as to not get water in the spark plug wells or so you just simply not think about it? I know regardless never to use high pressure so I think it shouldn’t be an issue.

I've done this for years when the car just needs a quick touch up. I use a cheap Ryobi pressure washer with a stubby "gun" and a Chemical Guys foam gun, and as long as the car isn't entirely filthy it gets it presentably clean. I still dry by hand but you could combine the soap and spray method with one of those air dryer things (glorified leaf blower, basically) and make it a super easy job.

When I do want to go further I avoid mitts or sponges and instead put half a dozen or so microfiber towels (the yellow Costco ones are fine) in a bucket with soapy water and switch out towels whenever they start to get noticeably dirty or get any kind of crud in them that could scratch the paint.

 

[subquark]

Anyone wash your Ranger (or other car) with only a foam gun then rinse, and not even scrubbing it?

I tried a similar approach for my last car and it worked decent IMO. However, I did scrub with a mit and hosed off the mitt occasionally.

I saw a video of someone washing a car in the rain and I thought…”if I use my foam gun and liberally soap it up and let the rain rinse it off, in theory it should be a pretty quick wash.

I wouldn’t do this all the time, but what are your thoughts on doing this if your shirt on time?

That's all I've done so far since I got it in May. I think it keeps it pretty nice and shiny (Race Red). Just soap cannon first with a Karcher Wash & Wax thing, let it "dwell" for a few minutes, and then rinse it of with the pressure washer. No rubbing, no drying.

I've never been a car washing kind of guy, my last car got washed at a self-car wash maybe 4 or 5 times in 16 years.

BUT ... here in New Hampshire, tomorrow's going to be the last day above 70 degrees and it's now or never for probably the biggest step I've ever attempted in my life.

I almost feel like a grown up, but time will tell if I can actually pull this off.

Yes, tomorrow is the day I plan to do 303 Graphene to Soupie!

Get her all set for a bit of winter grime protection. Heck, I may even go totally nuts and do the 303 Tire Dressing! After, of course, using some of Kate's brake dust buster stuff on the wheels (steelies).

If I really have lots of muster, I'll even vacuum out the interior, spray down the floor mats and do 303 Aerospace Protectant on the inside.

Now, these are mighty big goals and it's easy to sit here and think I'm all full of p!$$ and vinegar, but I'll conjure up the ethereal energy of @AzScorpion and make a go of it!

Wish me luck everyone and let's hope the damper hasn't removed all my elbow grease! =D

 

[Kristina]

The standard has been set, you have to keep it clean year round.

Uh, I stop chasing dirt inside also and tell them it’s much worse inside. And I’m not going to clean that either. That should solve it!

 

[IdahoRanger]

That's all I've done so far since I got it in May. I think it keeps it pretty nice and shiny (Race Red). Just soap cannon first with a Karcher Wash & Wax thing, let it "dwell" for a few minutes, and then rinse it of with the pressure washer. No rubbing, no drying.

I've never been a car washing kind of guy, my last car got washed at a self-car wash maybe 4 or 5 times in 16 years.

BUT ... here in New Hampshire, tomorrow's going to be the last day above 70 degrees and it's now or never for probably the biggest step I've ever attempted in my life.

I almost feel like a grown up, but time will tell if I can actually pull this off.

Yes, tomorrow is the day I plan to do 303 Graphene to Soupie!

Get her all set for a bit of winter grime protection. Heck, I may even go totally nuts and do the 303 Tire Dressing! After, of course, using some of Kate's brake dust buster stuff on the wheels (steelies).

If I really have lots of muster, I'll even vacuum out the interior, spray down the floor mats and do 303 Aerospace Protectant on the inside.

Now, these are mighty big goals and it's easy to sit here and think I'm all full of p!$$ and vinegar, but I'll conjure up the ethereal energy of @AzScorpion and make a go of it!

Wish me luck everyone and let's hope the damper hasn't removed all my elbow grease! =D

Just have plenty of beer available for the rest time!

 

[subquark]

Just have plenty of beer available for the rest time!

Now I like the way you think. It does have an effect of slowing or stopping the work, but in a good way. In a very good way! =)

 

[maxarcher]

Do you take any precautions as to not get water in the spark plug wells or so you just simply not think about it? I know regardless never to use high pressure so I think it shouldn’t be an issue.

Honestly it's not an issue I was aware of until this thread. I'll have to take a look in the bay and see if it seems like water is getting in there. I don't really spray at an angle where it'd get a direct high pressure stream on the problem spot but I guess it's still worth investigating. For what it's worth my Ranger has the engine cover for some reason (I thought they were Lariat only but mine is a 300A) and it looks like it ought to catch dripping from the usual trouble spot, at least when backed into my sloped driveway.

 

[Doc]

Exactly!

 

[Tracy Bowman]

Good memories!

 

[Blue Streak]

I know my last response was a bit of a dig on washing, but I had to take advantage of one of the last warm beautiful days we might get for a while as cooler weather is in the forecast. So today I did my usual hand washing & debugging the front end before the bad weather hits, really needed debugging more than a wash. While I was at it I did an experiment (have seen the water in the #4 spark plug hole thread) so I put a piece of cardboard over the engine & checked it after the wash & dry process. The result was totally dry cardboard . Was it enough water I don't know but I did not spare any. Life is good.

 

[Motorpsychology]

I know my last response was a bit of a dig on washing, but I had to take advantage of one of the last warm beautiful days we might get for a while as cooler weather is in the forecast. So today I did my usual hand washing & debugging the front end before the bad weather hits, really needed debugging more than a wash. While I was at it I did an experiment (have seen the water in the #4 spark plug hole thread) so I put a piece of cardboard over the engine & checked it after the wash & dry process. The result was totally dry cardboard . Was it enough water I don't know but I did not spare any. Life is good.

Now that's funny, right there...
"Habitat For Humanity" WARNING: CANCER AND REPRODUCTIVE HARM

 

[pbethel]

Now that's funny, right there...
"Habitat For Humanity" WARNING: CANCER AND REPRODUCTIVE HARM

But only in The Socialist Republic Of California.

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