OK, I modified what Sin MINI post above a little, how does this look?

First "real" wash to prep car
1) Wash the car to remove old wax. Dawn (natural) or vinegar (synthetic).
2) Dry with waffle weave towels.
3) Claybar the car including vinyl roof graphic (carefully).
4) Wash with Mystique or other quality car soap and dry with waffle weave or spray with QD and wipe with Monster fluffy.
5) Wax with Epic. Let sit 1hour, buff with towel. Done.

Next several washes
a) Wash with Mystique or other quality car soap
b) Hydro and dry with waffle weave

Reapply Epic every once in a while

I have several additional questions.
What is the best product to use for my wheels/tires?
What is the best product for the rubber door seals?
Can I use the tire cleaner on the wheels or do I use something different? Here is a link which was posted earlier (http://www.coopersport.com/usa/Coope...o-p-16311.html) to some Prima goodies from Detailers Paradise. It looks like this contains all I need. Opinions? Does DP sell a package like this?

 

I've used both Zaino Z-2 and Heathers Wheel Shield. I believe Wheel Shield is designed to handle the heat better than most so its' durability is better. OctaneGuy does not wax his wheels, but he does not have to live with a client's car day-in and day-out. I wax my wheels because the brake dust is easily removed between washes, during washes and any time I do a QD. I hate brake dust and during nice weather remove it once a day with just QD and a cheap microfiber. Kind of like the last thing I do to my MINI before I tuck it in at night.

 

According to Heather, Step 4 was not necessary so long as you immediately apply Epic, although other seem to "feel" better if it's washed. I'm lazy, probably won't wash.

Heather, I am SO disappointed. My supplies arrived today and a bottle of Mystique was split open (by DHL most likely) and soaked everything.

Wife says it appeared everything esle survived, but it was quite the mess. DHL delivered the box in a plastic bag. In fact, they could barely read the delivery label well enough to even know where to deliver it.

I already called and a replacement is on the way...just had to share my disappointment but want to express my appreciation for the fine customer service and your help.

 

For wheels see my last post.
For tires I use Wizard because it does not give me that tarty tire shine that tells sailors just how easy you really are.
For cleaning my tire I just use my wash water and a stiff brush.
For rubber seal you can clean and protect using Nero or Wizards and once a year or so you can use 1Z Gummi Pflege to condition the seals. Just use some baby powder afterward to keep the seals from sticking to the your glass.
The package from Coopersport is actually from DP but it is a really good starter package and a good price.

 

so you can use Wizard on the tires, too? that's good to know... just got some today, although the bottle is small so I wonder how long it will last. What do you use to apply to the trim and tires?

it came with the free funky cold medina... er Mystique. man that stuff is "veird" looking, as Goldmember would say.

Sin, sorry to hear about your Mystique mess. My bottle had a little dent in it, but just needed the bottle opened to relieve the pressure... whew... looks like I could have had a similar mess.

 

For applying the Wizard to my trim and tires I just use those 2 for $0.99 foam applicators with the yellow top that have a slight curve in them. I think I got my last batch from Pep Boys.
I wonder if part of the problem with the Mystique is the air pressure difference between here (5280 ft) and there. That would tend to make it implode though.
Mystique is really weired. Just like the woman of the same name in X-men.

 

First, yes... you don't need to wash after claying. You can go straight to your wax (unless it makes you feel better to wash again).


Sin MINI- I heard about your Mystique and I'm so sorry to hear! Well, I didn't know it was you at the time that I heard but I heard what happened. It sounds like it made quite a mess. At least everything will smell good! Seriously though, I know it is a pain to clean up from a product explosion.

Sometimes I really wonder what shippers (all of them!) do to the boxes... sometimes a box arrives looking like it's been through a meat grinder! In our area, we have the worse package handling from FedEx Ground. Nothing arrives in one piece from them! DHL is usually very good, but even they can mishandle a box from time to time.

Anyway, I'm very sorry this happened to you. Your replacement Mystique went out today so you'll receive it soon.

-Heather

 

i have Prima WheelSheild (aka roach juice) but haven't tried it yet. got kinda too cold...

but i smelled it and it smells so nasty that it's got to be good.
like facial mud for wheels. can't wait to try it on my SSR's.

 

Yes, you can use Wizard's Black Renew on tires too! I does take a good bit of product though, simply because of its thicker consistency. Those who like it on their wheels think it's worth it, if anything, for the durability. So, you use more but use it less often.

That said, although I love Wizard's BR on my exterior trim, I usually prefer to use 303 Aerospace Protectant for my tires. Nick prefers RaggTopp Vinyl Protectant on tires. Many of our customers prefer Prima Nero on their tires. In other words, it's another case of not what's the best product necessarily, but which one you like best based on appearance, application technique/style, durability, etc.

-Heather

 

OK, so what is the right amount of water to lave behind?

 

The right amount of water is all personal preferance, the less water, the more work (it can hardly be called work, the stuff is INSANE).

 

i would say damp/wet but not drenched. if you have water beads
on the roof/bonnet, remove it with the blade before you put hydro.

 

As you're seeing, it's completely a matter of preference.

Me? I don't really remove any water before I use Hydro. I finish rinsing, often do the "sheeting" trick on the major panels, then spritz on the Hydro and dry. I don't always do the sheeting trick though either.

The sheeting trick is when you remove your hose nozzle and allow the water to run straight out of the hose at a medium pace. You hold the hose head along the top edges of your panels, which forces much of the water that's just sitting on the surface right off. It sort of sheets off some of the water. It's a quick and easy way to get some of the water off before drying.

I hope I explained that clearly! It's hard to explain but if you just wing it based on what you can garner from my explanation it will be more obvious as you do it.

I'm personally not 100% confident in the safety of using water blades. I'm not saying that they are necessarily dangerous, but that they can be so I'd rather not take the risk for what I personally feel is such a small gain. The safety of water blades have been debated quite well on this forum in the past, so if you want numerous perspectives and pros/cons, I'd suggest doing a search for it.


Ultimately though, you don't technically need to remove any water before using Hydro. Some people just like to anyway, which doesn't hurt anything at all.

-Heather

 

yah, i have to agree....i dont use the blade on my G or MCS and
do just the sheeting trick as well and take my time.

for the 'non-oc', the blade does fine and is quicker vs just the sheeting
trick and going directly to drying towels. but it could be that my
drying towel's capacity (griot's thick drying MF towel) is lower than
the waffle weaves DP sells...so this is worth checking out.

total car wash time on the G including a full dry on my 3pc wheels can
take as much as 1.5hr. commuters had been about 25min each..trying
to get it down to 15min this year. my weapon? Hydro.
im thinking about getting a 2nd griot's detailing cart too dedicated
to carwash supplies. boom boom boom, done! is the pace i need.
i really dont have time to be spending more than 1hr tops on washing
my 2 commuters. (this is because i need to wash them during my kid's
nap time... )

was using Griot's SprayOn wax before, but that requires a final buff at
the very end to make it look consistent. that's at least 3-4min wasted
per car. another tool im considering is bug remover... my wife drives the
legacy to rural areas so bug removal takes so much time.

 

The sheeting trick works really really well on the vertical panels of the car, and if you have kept up with a good wax/detailing routine, the hood should work too. I bought a water blade to wash my Jeep after offroading so I could just take it to the Laser wash down the road and go at it with a pressure washer. Hydro works so well, you really won't even need it.

I have been drying with the DP dual-pyle MF's and they do an awesome job of drying. I am sure the waffleweave is better as well.

One idea I have been thiking about is taking a MF and swiping some of the water off, leaving behind trails/beads of water. Then go back with Hydro. I think this will lessen on the amount of water in the towel, possibly increasing the effectiveness of Hydro, but also requires 2 passes on the car.

As stated, it's all personal preferance.

 

OK kenchan - first you call me flatulence, now non-oc. Why don't you just revoke my Prima privileges while your at it.
I'm assuming with my water blade recommendations that a person keeps the blade clean. I wash mine after each use and then before I use it I spritz with Slick.
I just got in from washing Matilda and I tried to use Hydro without removing any of the water first - what a waste of towels. I ended up using four instead of my usual two (although I did just pick-up two more DP waffle weave yesterday when I stop in at their store to get my free Mystique ). So I'll go back to using my blade even at the risk of being non-oc and getting kicked out of the OTBWD club.
The sheeting trick does well, but since I'm using my Mr. Clean rinse it is not practical. If I were to remove the Mr. Clean and do the sheeting, then I would have non-filtered water to deal with again. So I'm using my blade.

 

^^ hahaha! for the "non-oc" is the title of this thread!

yah, for roofs (long roofs like my legacy), hoods and trunk lids, one
swipe with the blade i can get 95% of water off that area. it's quite efficient.
(convenient)

 

Can't I just use a chamois to pick up most of the water? I never get it all that way anyhow so maybe that is the best way to get "some" of the water.

 

I'm not a big fan of the true chamios. I've seen too many that are really gross and have all sorts of sharp pointy things hiding it them. I think you should try the method Heather has written of - use Hydro right after washing then dry with your waffle weaves.

 

a camel-wat? we use MF drying towels... cause you dont
need to get the towel pre-wet just to get it to work. efficiency/speed is
wat we look for for non-oc. plus, you can toss the MF drying
towel with your other MF stuff in the washing machine.

you can be fast washing your car, but cleanup also needs to be easy
and fast.

 

Oh stop it!

 

We knew we would getcha

 

Today was suppoesed to be the day...but it's windy as all get out today.

 

Sin_Mini... completely off topic... but I'm hoping to come to Vegas for the AMVIV... what's the weather like there in late March? I think I was there 16-17 years ago in March and remember it being nice. I was also there in Sept. and it was hot.

 

To be honest, I've only lived here since July (115 when we arrived!) but every one here says the springs are the reason folks live here.