This my routine to make it as easy as possible, whilst trying to inflict as little damage to the paintwork as possible.
First off im lucky enough to have a karcher pressure washer for a pre rinse and snow foaming, even with a presssure washer there are things to consider
to avoid damage.
- Never have the nozel close to the paintwork as to risk taking the paint right off, this can happen
- Never aim at 90 degrees to the vehicle as this can push particles into the paintwork, aim to blast across the particle to essentially blow it off
Snow foaming pre-wash.
The point of this is to loosen and soften any dirt on the vehicle making it easy to rinse away, again here you are minimising damage by doing away with
the use of hand contact the major factor associated with paintwork damage.
As the snow foam dwells it begins to loosen the dirt and a lot of it will be pulled from the car with help from gravity, what doesnt slide off will loosen
making it easier to rinse off.
Ok, so you dont have a pressure washer, what can you do.
In this instance i would use a hosepipe for a pre rinse stage, same principle as a pressure washer pre rinse only the pressure of the water will be less
but still enough to blow off any dust and loose dirt and softening anything else.
Right, youve pre washed and are ready to tackle the next step with the old bucket and sponge, heres where ideas have changed over the years from the traditional
sunday wash.
You may have heard people speek of the two bucket method (2BM) and it is exactly as the title says
Two buckets, one contains your wash solution, the other contains just clean water and a grit guard in the bottom. The grit guard helps keep grit
from the washmitt rinse at the bottom of the bucket not floating around in the water.
What the 2BM does is give you somewhere to rinse you dirty washmitt off before you dip it back into the wash mix, would you wash yourself in dirty water?
Next up is where we want you to ditch the old sponge, sponges due to there makeup retain grit and other particles on their face which means you will drag these particles
over the paintwork inflicting minute scratches (swirls).
What to use instead?
A lambswool washmitt, the makeup of a washmitt will pull the dirt particles up into itself as its not a flat object like a sponge.
Next up, shampoo
Which shampoo is really your choice, i I personally use Meguiars hyper wash as i have a gallon of the stuff.
Just
DON'T use fairly liquid
Ok, you have your 2 buckets, shampoo and washmitt
Start washing from the roof down, after each panel dunk your washmitt into the bucket with just the water and give it a quick rinse out, before going back into the bucket
with your wash solution, and continue on until the rest of the cars bodywork is complete.
After youve washed the car, before you chuck the water away just have a look at the colour of the second bucket to see how dirty it is and this will help
you see why the second bucket makes sense, essentially with one bucket you are just putting dirty wash solution on your car defeating the object of washing it in the first place
