I just bought my baby last night and of course, today it decided to rain.
What's your advice for when I get it home to the garage?

What can I use to wipe it down and get rid of water spots?

I intend to detail it this weekend (I'm still overwhelmed by all the processes on here), but what can I do until then??

 

assuming it was clean before it rained you can-

Take a waffle weave Micro Fiber drying towel to it

Use a water squeegee

I'm always a little leery of taking a car thats been in the elements (rain) and taking some cloth or whatever to the surface. Little bit of dirt between cloth and surface of car and your talking swirl marks.

My suggestion....wait till the weekend and follow the suggested methods starting with a good wash with Dawn.

Pateince is not my long suit either but I think in this case it will serve you

Congrats on the new MINI by the by!

 

definitely recommend Griot's SprayOn CarWash for that. spray, wait 15 seconds, then wipe off. i use that when weatherchannel lies and i end up having to drive through rain. i blast the grit off with a hose (in the rain) then drive my car inside, use SOCW for the rest.

highly NOT recommend any squeegees... especially on paints especially getting rid of rain water on a car which can also trap grit in the water droplets. i mean, if you drove through rain that water on the car is contaminated with high consentration of grit.

 

My baby got her first wash today! It's 35 degrees, but I was determined to get her clean! I SO love HYDRO!!!
Just need to get some cleaner/polish for the black trim.
I'll post pics soon....but first, I'm going on my first ride with local minis today!

Thanks for all the help! A few more washes like this and I'll be ready to try some claybar.

 

Hydro!

 

Hydro rocks!

The feeling under your fingers after claybarring is one of the most satisfying in detailing (IMJ)

Go for it!