The Urban Dictionary defines "emo teenager" as:

Emo is a typecast for depressed kids who whine alot and take sad pictures showing their mental strain over how hard it is to work at a videogame store when all they want to do is sit in a darkened corner and cut themselves. Nothing but their own low self ego makes them emo. Usually suburbanite, upper-middle class white adolescents.

 

And this is Elmo:

 

Elmo as a teenager, now that will put a whole new spin on sesame street. You know how those child stars turn out. Or maybe FOX will make it into a spin off of the OC - The Street or the Sesame perhaps.

 

BTW: We've gone from how do I wash my car to emo teenager and elmo teenager. Pretty textbook example of thread drift if you ask me, glad to be part of it

 

well, you can't for get Hydro either.


www.detailersparadise.com

 

Aww cmon ...

Cars have been around for like ... a million years (take or give a few million). People have been washing them for like a million years. This ain't brain surgery. Its just getting some dirt off the car. Nothing more.

I should have said what Ken thought I was going to say ... Throw a bar of soap on the roof. Wait until it rains, driver around a bit. Done

 

A car's condition is a direct reflection of it's owner - I don't want people to think of me as swirly.
And here I thought kenchan was lazy ... chows, you take the cake!
Or you would if it didn't require so much effort.

 

Seriously though, this may help:



http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...ook_10212.html

 

Aw but Aaron, it would still require effort to read, not to mention the pure heft of the tome as well as scrounging up the money to purchase. It would be far easier to simply put a bar of soap on top of the car and hope it rains.
Actually, I have that book and it is full of some nice tips and tricks.
BTW, congrats on the addition of Groits to your line-up. Even more reason to shop there now.

 

the Griot's handbook and DVD was all it took to get me rolling
with the Griot's random orbital... and it's been great.

Griot's mastercare bundles are a great way to get started if
you want to get into serious detailing imho. it's a fail
safe system made for the weekend detailer, but yet powerful
enough to be used professionally. yes it might feel kinda pricy
at first to some, but the results you get is just amazing. plus
it's very easy to use and doesn't take much to memorize the
product names cause it all makes sense.

and their Best of Show wax is just fantastic. the natural warmth
and depth you get is just not achievable with polymer. and
very easy to use... and lasts many months even on a commuter.

but on a commuter car, hell..just use Hydro and a nice wash bucket
to minimize swirls and you're on your way. 15min washes comes out
perfect each time. that's all the time i have for my commuters.

 

To be quite honest, until a few months ago I never really knew what I was doing when it came to properly washing my car AND drying it AND maintaining it between washes. The the Griots line and the detailers handbook take the mystery out of car care even at the most basic level.

I kept getting swirl marks in my paint until I stopped using a particular drying towel that was supposed to be the 'best' and started using the Griots Micro Fiber Dry Towel. I also started using a sqeegee before drying which gets 80% of the water off, which is so much better.

 

Look what I found, Griots offers their Detailers Handbook on line for free! You have to down load it, and its not in color, but what do you expect, its free. It is not a bad way to figure out what you need to get from Outmotoring before you order the color one. The color one is nice to have in the garage. Ken, wheres yours?

 

mine's in the garage too with other cool literature from Griot's.

 

I have 4 of those drying towels from Griot's. Haven't found one I like better. It gets a 5-Star rating from me ! Or two thumbs up, if you prefer.

 

nice! i have their THICK MF drying towel and it does great too.

 

This obsession with detailing is like ... a disease. If you like it for a hobby, cool. If you like spending huge sums of money of detailing products, cool.

But hey, just throw some TIDE on top of the roof. Wait until it rains, drive real fast (circles do good and twisties because the soap gets moved around better), and then let it dry in the sun (like hanging the clothes out to dry).

You know years ago, most everyone hanged their clothes out to dry and they smelled ... well flower fresh. Today then get thrown into a dryer with some articifial softener stuff and

OTH, you can always turn to your SO and say "Hey, the car is dirty ... your turn"

 

^^ aha! see, i was right.

 

What's very amusing to me is that a simple question gets turned into 67 responses on

It's a good thing the OP didn't ask about the correct way to clean wheels

 

i know, i already answered perfectly on response #2.

 

Hmm.... good question!! I actually used a giant paint sponge I found in the garage because the brushes seemed to harsh... poor sponge, all blackened and stuff.

 

daohhh!!! sponge is the #1 killer for paint. (well maybe) it's because
the foam does not allow grit to sit away from the surface..rather
it pushes it against the paint when you rub and drags it across.

you should try Griot's boar's hair brush with a long handle.
I think you might be able to get it at www.outmotoring.com

 

Ok, here's a stupid question... Is there paint on my rims? It's not the white ones... I didn't realize the silver was painted on...

Is that why people have them waxed?

AND while I'm at it... there's GUNK on one of the rear tire rims that I can't get out. No clue where it came from and I'm afraid to scratch it trying to get it off.

 

not a stupid question. if it's your factory wheels, yes, it is painted
silver and clearcoated. and yes, we wax our wheels as we do our
paint.

for the stains you have, try some WheelShield on a soft cloth towel.
it should come off. (and provide protection from the elements).

www.detailersparadise.com

 

Seriously just come over tomorrow and I'll have a little tutorial.

 

Ken got it right. Get some real wheelwax. Wheel should be clearcoated these days. You really don't want to get into this because your going to get a long discussion on PH balanced wheels shampoos, etc, etc, etc,

If its black gunk, it might be anything from baked on brake pad dust to road gunk tar?