The start of properly washing and waxing, tips and advice appreciated

[DukeCanBuildit]

You’re out of control ?

Have you seen the video by @quangdog ? It’s also very helpful.

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[dondonbabyraptor]

You’re out of control ?

Have you seen the video by @quangdog ? It’s also very helpful.

Hahaha, this is my cheap fix to wanting to spend more money on more mods. It will keep my mind and time busy for a while... I hope.. Also, thank you for that video, Duke. Very very helpful.

 

[dondonbabyraptor]

"Wax should always be the top coat over whatever sealant/ceramic/graphene you are using." Read this on an amazon review question. This means 303 graphene would be after I buff it out with polish/wax, then I apply my last coat of wax. So now the steps go, polish/buff with 3d speed, 303 graphene, and a final coat of wax. Correct me if I am wrong, but I will be reading more about 303 graphene in other threads/videos to get a better understanding of the stages and correct steps to take.

 

[JohnnyO]

Way too much stuff. You do not need a foam gun, you do not need an orbital buffer.
1. Hose off truck.
2. Wash with Meguier's car wash or whatever is on sale with wash mitt.
3. Dry with California water blade.
4. Scrub tires with Bleach White, now called Black Magic tire cleaner.
5. Scrub wheels with whatever wheel cleaner is on sale.
6. Spray tires with Armor All or Cristal.

Wax is either Meguier's Gold Class, Mother's, or Collonite. Clay bar once or twice a year.
My previous truck was a 2008 Sport Trac that I got new and after 13 years and 212,000 miles in the rust belt the paint still looked like new.

 

[AzScorpion]

"Wax should always be the top coat over whatever sealant/ceramic/graphene you are using." Read this on an amazon review question. This means 303 graphene would be after I buff it out with polish/wax, then I apply my last coat of wax. So now the steps go, polish/buff with 3d speed, 303 graphene, and a final coat of wax.

There's no need to wax if you're using Graphene, this is much better than any wax. I think I had another write up besides the one Terry linked but I'll have to look for it. I would use a clay mitt as they're so much easier to use than a clay bar. They cover much more surface and if you drop them just give it a rinse in a clean wash bucket and go back to work. If you drop a clay bar they're no good and have to be thrown out.

Just make sure you use lots of lube and do one panel at a time. Before claying the panel get a plastic sandwich bag and put your hand in it and rub over the panel while it's lubed and you'll feel all the grit in the paint. After you clay that panel do this again and it should be smooth, if not do it again until it is and repeat on every panel. Then just rinse and dry and hit it with the Graphene and you're done. I did everything on the exterior with it including the glass, black rubber around the windows and headlights. I also did 2 coats for extra protection and you can layer up to three coats if you want to.

 

[NickTheEnforcer]

Im a meguires guy, also use an old school 8" 3m bonnet on an inline makita buffer.

 

[AzScorpion]

Way too much stuff. You do not need a foam gun, you do not need an orbital buffer.
1. Hose off truck.
2. Wash with Meguier's car wash or whatever is on sale with wash mitt.
3. Dry with California water blade.
4. Scrub tires with Bleach White, now called Black Magic tire cleaner.
5. Scrub wheels with whatever wheel cleaner is on sale.
6. Spray tires with Armor All or Cristal.

Wax is either Meguier's Gold Class, Mother's, or Collonite. Clay bar once or twice a year.
My previous truck was a 2008 Sport Trac that I got new and after 13 years and 212,000 miles in the rust belt the paint still looked like new.

A foam cannon will cut your time in half and do a much better job especially with a black truck. The less you're touching the surface the less chance you have of scratching it.

 

[dondonbabyraptor]

Way too much stuff. You do not need a foam gun, you do not need an orbital buffer.
1. Hose off truck.
2. Wash with Meguier's car wash or whatever is on sale with wash mitt.
3. Dry with California water blade.
4. Scrub tires with Bleach White, now called Black Magic tire cleaner.
5. Scrub wheels with whatever wheel cleaner is on sale.
6. Spray tires with Armor All or Cristal.

Wax is either Meguier's Gold Class, Mother's, or Collonite. Clay bar once or twice a year.
My previous truck was a 2008 Sport Trac that I got new and after 13 years and 212,000 miles in the rust belt the paint still looked like new.

Thank you for this reply and tips, will be looking into your steps and adjusting mine after work tonight. Get me a beer, settle down and figure this out properly. I do know I will be applying the 303 graphene at least and I am thinking a lot about the Collonite from auto detailing forums. Appreciate the help Jon. Here's a link to the Collonite we are talking about for anyone interested.

https://www.amazon.com/Collinite-84...ords=collinite+845&qid=1626472308&sr=8-2&th=1

 

[FoD]

Hahaha, this is my cheap fix to wanting to spend more money on more mods. It will keep my mind and time busy for a while... I hope.. Also, thank you for that video, Duke. Very very helpful.

Well, if you want CHEAP, you COULD use the cube to handle your paint swirls and to smooth out the surface (somewhat)... has built in compound cavity to evenly distribute whatever...

 

[dondonbabyraptor]

A foam cannon will cut your time in half and do a much better job especially with a black truck. The less you're touching the surface the less chance you have of scratching it.

Agreed, black truck life I think I will be keeping the foam cannon idea for sure, well foam gun in my case. Trying not to go TOO crazy here and buy a water pressure thing too.

 

[dondonbabyraptor]

Well, if you want CHEAP, you COULD use the cube to handle your paint swirls and to smooth out the surface (somewhat)... has built in compound cavity to evenly distribute whatever...

Did you just post me one of those Tik Tok Supreme Clay Bricks that kids these days waste money on? Haha doesn't look very... malleable to me...

 

[AzScorpion]

Agreed, black truck life I think I will be keeping the foam cannon idea for sure, well foam gun in my case. Trying not to go TOO crazy here and buy a water pressure thing too.

There's no need to get an expensive pressure washer. I use to do this professionally when I was back east so I had several different ones ranging from $2K - over $5K. Just get this one here and it's perfect for washing your truck. This is the one I have and Terry bought one too. Just enough psi for the foam cannon and rinsing without worrying about doing any damage.

If you're going to hand wash make sure you do the 2 bucket system and have grit guards in each of them.

 

[dondonbabyraptor]

There's no need to wax if you're using Graphene, this is much better than any wax. I think I had another write up besides the one Terry linked but I'll have to look for it. I would use a clay mitt as they're so much easier to use than a clay bar. They cover much more surface and if you drop them just give it a rinse in a clean wash bucket and go back to work. If you drop a clay bar they're no good and have to be thrown out.

Just make sure you use lots of lube and do one panel at a time. Before claying the panel get a plastic sandwich bag and put your hand in it and rub over the panel while it's lubed and you'll feel all the grit in the paint. After you clay that panel do this again and it should be smooth, if not do it again until it is and repeat on every panel. Then just rinse and dry and hit it with the Graphene and you're done. I did everything on the exterior with it including the glass, black rubber around the windows and headlights. I also did 2 coats for extra protection and you can layer up to three coats if you want to.

Appreciate all the knowledge and insight. Will consider all of this in my process. I am getting ready for work soon. I want to sit down, relax with a beer and read all the replies and give a final adjustment to my personalized process after understanding best approaches and such. Thank you again, Dave.

 

[FoD]

Did you just post me one of those Tik Tok Supreme Clay Bricks that kids these days waste money on? Haha doesn't look very... malleable to me...

I think it's regular NC fired clay brick myself, but...

 

[dondonbabyraptor]

There's. no need to get an expensive pressure washer. I use to do this professionally when I was back east so I had several different ones ranging from $2K - over $5K. Just get this one here and it's perfect for washing your truck. This is the one I have and Terry bought one too. Just enough psi for the foam cannon and rinsing without worrying about doing any damage.

Thank you for this, that one is out of stock but I see they have other models similar to it for similar pricing. I will consider this in the future if my foam gun is not adequate enough in terms of that beautiful foaminess.

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