Started recently, my 09' chocolate brown clubman is parked under a tree. It stays shaded until late afternoon. Some weeks, I don't need to drive at all until the weekend. No bird stuff but there is tree sap. Being in PA, there is road salt and freezing winters.

Previously, other than hand washing very carefully, I've never waxed it. There's little to no swirl mark. Nowadays, washing it is not as "convenient". Going forward, is it enough to protect the finish by washing up to every 4 weeks and drying with Hydro? From reading, Hydro seems ideal as it can get on the rubber arches, chrome grille etc. Come to think of it, Hydro can't protect the whole winter, can it... maybe much better off starting out with Epic, huh???

 

Bought Epic and Hydro to do a proper job. The basic (not fancy) Dawn liquid will do?

 

I'd stay away from dishwashing soaps. They strip wax and can hurt the plastic bits. It might be ok for an initial wash to make sure you have a fresh surface, but I'd stop after that. A quality auto wash will yield a much better result without harm.

 

Ah great. Thank you. I normally use a car wash liquid but read so many posts re using Dawn. One less thing to buy.