home car wash?

slemons

is it possible to get as good a finish from a home car wash as with the drive in ones?

we have a power washer at home but everytime i use it the car just shows up streaky and not at all as shiny as the 10euro a go washes. thats way too expensive like!

i used cold water first then, shampoo and warm water, then another cold rinse. did i miss a step or two?

fletch

You're forgetting to dry the car

JoeA3

As good a finish as a drive in one? Surely a typo?! Drive in carwashes, whether it be the dreaded automatic ones or even the guys with the power washes will not give you a good finish. At best, they miss bits, at worst they are scratching and swirling your paintwork for fun.

To avoid the streaky finish, you need to wash in the shade, use plenty of water (garden hose), a clean wash mitt, change the water in the bucket regularly, and finally dry off the excess water at the end, using a chamois or my preference, a microfiber towel.

prospect

When you have washed the car, rins it with a hose without anything attached to it, starting at the top down.

Then dry it with a good chamois.

As JoeA3 said, wash it in the shade.
Also, as a side note, do not use fairy liquid or similar to wash the car. Use a decent car shampoo, autoglym or meguires etc.

Dr. Seuss

slemons wrote:

thats way too expensive like!

Expensive like what?

TomMc

I have posted it before but in case you did not see same, this will give you a good basis to work on.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7598756069207401372&q=showcargarage.com

TomMc

May be your cars paintwork is somewhat oxidised and so needs to be decontaminated, polished or cleansed first. No car wash will bring up a car like new if the paint is dull to begin with. Car washes use strongly alkaline cleaners (not a good thing as they place cleaning power well above conservation), but they also finish up with chemicals which put a temporary gloss on the finish to make things look that bit better. It is short lived, tends to be one step forward and two backwards as they dry out the paint in the medium to longer term. Best to buy a top notch car wash shampoo which is pH balanced with water softeners and conditioners included.

MercMad

All commercial carwashes use water de-ionisers and possibly salt filters. This means there is not the normal water residue, spot marks, that you get from domestic water.

You could either chamois the car, use an de-ioniser on your home water pipes or use a decent car wash shampoo, I have been using a Turtle Wax one and the water never leaves marks !!