How quickly can I do a proper wash myself ?

Cyrus

Before the kids came along I always washed my car myself , but it usually took over an hour or even 2 depending. I want to get back to doing it myself, I’m thinking power hose, snow foam, rinse again, quick dry with a towel, could I do a decent job in 30 min?

what snow foam do people recommend (have a Bosch power washer ) and is there anything that I can use on wheels that is quick and doesn’t require a load of elbow grease ?

Cass

To bastardise Wyatt Earp, fast is fine, but you must learn to be slow in a hurry .

Quick washes might be fine, now and then, but cumulatively they may lead to paintwork damage. Might be a better option to wash less frequently and spend the time on it. If time is a factor then I'd brush up ( no pun intended) on doing your wash routine faster until you have it down in time. In a hurry I might get mine done in 45 minutes.

I'd use a pre wash foam, rinse, wash foam, handwash, rinse, dry using two buckets, wool/microfibre mits.

I tend to use either ADBL or Bilt Hamber for foams but also have Autoglym Polar range.

For the wheels I have been using Meguiars but have recently switched to Bilt Hamber auto-wheel. Excellent stuff.

Eoinbmw

It will be your OCD levels that will determine the time it takes!

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119661761#Comment_119661761

My ocd has decreased as my family size has increased and we only run one family car so I can’t be as precious about it as I used to be unfortunately luckily my wife is pretty good about it !

PsychoPete

I'd mix citrus pre wash into a 5 litre pressure sprayer, spray over the car, rinse, contact wash, rinse then dry. You can save time by using one bucket with a grit guard. You can use bilt hamber auto wheels with no agitation just spray on and rinse off. Also spray and rinse sealents will save you plenty of time applying some protection

mailforkev

My quick job is foam it up (Bilt Hamber Auto Foam), power wash the foam off, quick contact wash (Chemical Guys Mr. Pink at the moment), rinse, then Autoglym Rapid Aqua Wax sprayed onto the wet panels and microfibred off.

Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel for the alloys, Autoglym Tyre Gel for the rubber. I got the tyre gel free, not the longest lasting one but does the trick.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670537#Comment_119670537

cheers, are you using a lance on your power washer for the foam or a hand sprayer?

mailforkev

I have a snow foam lance, makes life a lot easier.

The quick wash game changer for me was the Autoglym Rapid Aqua Wax. Spray it on the wet panels as you dry and it gives a decent shine and a few weeks worth of beading.

burger1979

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119661716#Comment_119661716

Is a pre wash foam, just a snow foam coating that you do? As in you dont wet the car before the first pre wash foam? Also after you have dried, do you wax and then polish? Thanks.

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119776125#Comment_119776125

You can just a snow foam but I prefer a citrus pre wash, less mess and just as good if not better than most snow foams. You can rinse the heavy dirt off the car first or just apply it to a dry car. Polish then wax or could use an all in one polish that does both but doesn't really last that long

Cass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119776125#Comment_119776125

The pre-wash is a "heavier" foam that adheres to the car and softens any fouling while providing a layer of protection for the car when power hosing off the dirt (and foam) as the foam encapsulates the dirt and prevents a sandblasting effect that would occur were you to start with power hosing a dirty car (from dry).

As for afters, if the car is clean (already/previously detailed and this is just a regular wash) I dry with a microfibre towel and apply an aqua wax for a "quick and dirty" layer of protection. I never polish after applying such a coating. I only polish after a serious detail and before using a wax ( or similar) finishing later of sealant.

burger1979

Thanks for the replies. Got a new car, and I want to try and wash it properly myself. Going to get some cleaning materials next week and then tackle it. I might post up some pics when i get it done. I shall be starting off slowly though and probably not very well....🤣🤣

rodderss

Auyo glym do a snow foam in Halfords and its the heaviest/tackiest foam i ever used (i have used bilt hamber/auto finesse/adbl) . if you use a citrus pre wash you will strip the paintwork of any previous protection so be care full. Heres what i do

1 powerwash car

2 spray dedicated cleaner on wheels

3 foam wheels and car let it sit untill stops dripping

4 powerwash everywhere meticulously

5 foam again

6 wash with noodle mitt and bucket with no and grit guard

7 rinse

8 do wheels again after moving car back a metre

9 de tar

10 foam and wash again

11 rinse

12 spay on ceramic wax then rinse

13 go in to the house and die on the chair lol

josip

I think I found the right thread :)

Most of the above I'm not going to have time to do. For previous cars , my washing skills/patience extended as far as:

• bucket of water over the car to soften things up
• sponge hand wash. If I had the spare 2 minutes, I'd run over to the brother's garage to rob some car shampoo.
• couple of buckets of water over the car to rinse off

And that would happen about 4 times a year 🙂

By this stage, I suspect that some of the more serious detailers here are having conniptions. Apologies for that, but I just can't justify more than 30 minutes cleaning the outside of the car. Will be getting a new car soon and would like to treat it a little better, at least for the first few years, so I'm looking for advice. However anything including the word 'powerwasher' isn't going to fly. The power washer is buried under 5 layers in the shed and comes out once a year for a whole day of patio cleaning. Just taking out the power washer and putting it back would going to use up most of the 30 minutes available to me to clean the car.

The new car is also bigger and I think the sponge days are behind me. I'm thinking that if I use a brush, I could do the clean bit faster and maybe have enough time at the end to do a dry+wax combo one of ye lads mentioned up earlier? In the home place, I could connect the brush to a tap. At home, the tap is a bit far away so I was thinking of just using a pair of buckets.

What do ye think of using a brush and what's the most practical for 30 minutes? Unfortunately the 30 mins won't accumulate. I could do 30 minutes every week, but probably wouldn't be able to do/justify 1 hour once a month, if ye understand me?

All advice will be considered, doesn't mean I'll take it :) but I'm very open to suggestions, since I don't really have a routine of my own at the moment and am still stuck in the 1980s.

mailforkev

If you do nothing else, just bin the sponge and get a noodle washing mitt.