It's all about the wash, wheels, and wheel wells Tutorial

[Grouse]

Here are a few tutorials. The wash one is a tutorial i did for my local bmw cca club. The wheel and wheel well tutorial is from one of my vendors Phil Yiu of Detailers domain. He published these two as i had just finished taking pics for my wheel and wheel well tutorials. Phil has given me permission to pass these along.

It is all about the wash.

How you wash a car determines how it looks. Most know that auto carwashes induce marring, swirling and promote a large amount of defects. Hand washing can also induce those shame issues. Using good procedures and policies when washing will go a long way to ensuring that your paint finish, trim, glass, wheels and tires will look the best they can for as long as they can. Before I go much further I want to stipulate that if you put 10 guys in a room and ask how to wash a car you will get 10 different ways to wash a car.

So what then is the correct way? Well there are many depending on what your situation is. I am going to cover how I do a basic wash in a driveway. I’ll include steps, pictures, and as best I can an intelligent concise post.

Materials:

6 plain yellow costco microfiber
1-2 Buckets
1 sheepskin wash mitt
1 foam gun
2-4 oz of car wash soap
1 waffle weave drying towel.
1 spritzer of detail spray
1 detail buffing Microfiber towel
1 hose and nozzles

A little bit about these materials.
Yellow costco microfibers are a great cheap alternative to the more expensive micro’s. I do not like to use them on paint. That being said they work excellent on wheels, door jambs, trunk lids, tires, wheel wells and engine bays.
Buckets are pretty self explanatory. One bucket for rinse water, one bucket for soapy water. By keeping those two separate you will keep as much of the paint damaging dirt out of your wash solution as possible. I prefer my rinse bucket to have a Grit Guard. This helps settle the dirt you clean off your car into the bottom of the bucket without cross contaminating your soapy water bucket.
Sheep skin mitts are very soft and supple. I prefer them over manmade sponges and mitts because they wick the dirt into the fiber, but easily rinse the dirt free when drenched in a rinse bucket. Manmade mitts, sponges, micro fiber, cotton terry, chenille do not generally rinse free. This gives them a higher likely hood of inducing marring on your paint.
Foam Guns are a way to eliminate the soapy water bucket. They hold your car wash solution in the gun and aerate the spray as you soap down the car and mitt. The foam gun gives you an unparalleled amount of paint protecting foam for washing. Washing with a foam is not really faster, but it is less likely to induce marring when done well.
Car wash soap, what an endless discussion this could be. Suffice it to say that some soap will over time remove more of your sealant or wax layer than others. Most soaps have some foaming action and some detergent. Try a few out. I uses megs gold class, sonus, optimum no rise, poor boys super suds and a few others.
Waffle weave drying towels are shaped like a waffle. This allows them to scoop up excess moisture and pull it off the vehicle with little or no streaking. It is also much softer than a terry towel and less likely to induce marring.
Detail spray is about as controversial of a topic as car soap. After you wash you may notice that some of the slickness to the finish or wax is gone. A detail spray after you wash goes a long way to restoring that slickness and giving a shine to any luster and gloss that may have been lost.
Buffing microfibers are very dense thick micro’s that help give a luster and shine without inducing marring. Because they are thicker you can usually use one per detail spray versus 2-3 costco micro’s.
Hoses and fittings. I like a quick release setup, one that includes attachments to the foam gun, soap bottle, and stream nozzle.

1) Fill up your rinse bucket and put in 4 of your 6 yellow mf towels.

2) Spray rinse off your wheels, tires, and wheel wells. The more dirt, grime, brake dust you rinse off the less you have to clean. Take a min or two to remove as much as you can.

3) Foam down the wheels, tires, and wheel wells. Turn up the lather as much as you like. Give this a second to start to suspend the dirt and grime from those areas.

4) Spray down your first MF towel. Use one towel per wheel/wheel well. Start from the outside edge of the wheel (where a wheel gets curbed). From the out sided edge clean the lip or flat fascia. From the fascia clean the out side edges or flanges. Work your way in to the dirtiest parts. The idea is to clean the lip and fascia first. If you clean the lip and fascia last you risk damaging them with all of the built up brake dust and grime that is in your mf towel. Then scrub the tire very well, not just simply a rub the tire but fold the rag and give it a scrub. I rarely use a brush as many wheels have very soft chrome, aluminum, polished, anodized lips that are very easy to damage with even the softest brush.

This is the result of me cleaning two of my wheels, tires, wheel wells.

6) Foam gun the roof, windows and mitt. I had to spray the mitt on the car for the photo, normally I spray both sides of the mitt.


7) Wash the roof in straight lines. No circular motions. Once you have washed the section of the roof flip the mitt over and wash it 90* straight lines. I do not actually put my hand in the mitt. I feel that when your hand is in the mitt you are prone to scrubbing the paint with way more pressure than is needed. This leads to quite a bit of marring. I generally hold the mitt like I would a basket ball. By using just your finger tips you have just enough pressure to wash the car without scratching it. Once you have washed the roof, wash all of the exterior windows and door/window trim. Be sure to dip the mitt in the rinse bucket and massage any dirt or grime out. An example of washing it by straight lines.

8) Re foam the car and mitt. Continue to wash the car never going below the 50% or lower door trim. Basically that is the dirtiest parts of the car. Wash the upper third or half first. Remember to flip the mitt and was at 90 degree straight lines. That insures you remove even the smallest amount of dirt, yes it is washing the section twice. Once you have finished the upper half to third, start on the lowers, bumper, grills, of the car. After each section rinse the mitt thoroughly to ensure no dirt or grime contamination. Re foam and continue with the same 2 step wash as the rest of the car.

9) Once the car is washed spray the entire car off with the nozzle. I like to rinse it off this way first as it allows me to see if any soap has dried or I need to hit a section again. You can see in the following pictures the remaining water and moisture. Notice how well it beads. IT looks great like this but it is a pain to dry. You end up spending as much time ringing out the towels as you did washing the car.



10) Remove the nozzle off the hose, turn down the hose pressure and slowly chase the water off the car. This is called sheet rinsing. It causes the water to pull its self off the car by surface tension. Leaving the vehicle most of the way dry with very little to actually dry. Here is the car after sheet rinsing.



11) Lay out your waffle weave microfiber towel. Slowly drag the towel across the painted surfaces first. This will allow it time to soak up the extra water still on the paint. Continue till the paint is dry, and then finish the windows.



12) As I said above after a wash sometimes the slickness, luster and gloss are slightly diminished. This is the time to apply detail spray. Fold you super plush microfiber into eighth’s and then apply 3-4 good sprays of detail spray to the towel. The reason you apply it to the towel is you will use less product, have less streaking and have to work the product less. After application work the product over a panel and then flip the MF to a dry side and buff it clear of any streaking. Continue working like this till the car is done. You may find you need to unfold and refold the towel to a section of it that is not soaked in detail spray.

Finished car.

[Grouse]

Optimum No Rinse Wash, Another tutorial i put together for the bmw club.

The scenario.

You live in an appartment with no access to a hose bib, or maybe your appartment complex does not allow onsite washes.

You live in a condo down town where your car is in a lower level parking garage. The garage does not have proper drainage or fixtures for washing a car.

It is 20 degrees outside. Your car has been through two weeks of slush and you can not stand looking at the dusty vehicle any more. But you can not wash it outside, and you know a detail spray wash will induce marring.

You have just driven 600 miles durring a club sponsered drive. The car looks like it is a electric bug zapper.

What are the benifits of a Optimum no rinse wash?
1) it can be done indoors/garage.
2) it can be done with a very small foot print, IE a parking space.
3) It is compact enough to be carried with you on a long road trip and used at motel or venue.
4) It is far less likely to induce marring compared to a tunnel car wash.
5) it is less likely to induce marring compared to a detail spray wash.

What are the down sides.
1) It is more likely to induce marring compared to my foam gun car wash.
2) The first few times it can be quite unnerving.

What supplies you need
(1) 5 gallon bucket with grit gaurd.
(1) 2 gallon bucket
(1) 8oz bottle of Optimum no rinse
(1) 16 oz sprizer bottle
(1) paint stirrer stick
(5-10) Microfiber wash towels or 2 sheep skin mitts.
(1) Waffle weave drying towel.



Step one:
Your five gallon bucket is your rinse bucket. You will wring out your mitt or wash towel in here. Your two gallon bucket is your wash solution. Your 16 oz spritzer is full of wash solution to prep heavily soiled areas.
First fill your buckets and spritzer with warm/hot water


Step Two:
2 oz of optimum no rinse goes in your solution bucket, 1 oz goes in your rinse bucket, and 1/2 oz goes into your spritzer bottle.
Use the paint stirrer mix the buckets.


Step Three:
Pre soak your wash towel in your wash solution. Spray down a 12x12 inch to 18x18 inch area with your spritzer bottle. Then lightly ring out the wash towel and wipe down the panel with very light pressure. Besure to use straight lines.

The car before





Step 4:
Put the wash rag in the rinse bucket. Rub and squeeze out the dirt in the rag completely. Re soak in wash solution and move on to the next area. As a towel no longer rinses clean grab a new one.

Before shot of one panel



After shots



A few more side by side shots.


Bumper



Step 5:
Spray down the tires and rims. Including the inside of the rim. Wash the tire, rim face. Then wrap the towel around the paint stick use this to clean the inside of the wheel. Grab a new towel for each rim.

Final shots





For those wondering here is the total foot print of water left on my garage floor.



Special thanks to redmond rocket for supplying the mazda speed 6

[Grouse]

Phill's Wheel well tutorial.

Okay, everyone as spring nears and most of us have been hit with some snow this winter, I figured why not do a detailed how to on cleaning up the wheel wells on our cars.



I figured some of us will be switching up to a summer wheel set up, so what better time to get you all out there to clean up the salt, dirt, grime, and everything else in your wheel well while you have access to it.



Let's get started.



Products used:



Craftsman's 4000lbs jack

(I was intending to use jack stands but the ones I bought were too big)

Torque wrench

Socket wrench

P21S Autowash

P21S Polishing Soap

Adam's Car Wash

Adam's Invisible Undercarriage Spray

Menzerna FMJ

Old Microfiber towels

Bucket

Firehose Nozzle

If you got a high pressure washer that would be a major plus!

Boar's Hair Brush

Wheel Brush (synthetic bristles)

Spoke wheel brush (to get in to the tight spots)

Detail Sponge (for the Adam's Invisible Undercarriage Spray)

Dark color clothing (you will get pretty dirty on this one)

Gloves



Procedure:

1. Make sure the car is cool (wheels, brakes etc)

2. Jack up the car so that you can take the wheel off (I would recommend using jack stands if you got them)

3. Remove wheel

4. Spray down wheel well.

5. Spray the whole area with P21S Autowash

6. Using the brushes from the Bucket full of Adam's Car Wash I started to agitate and brush the dirt and grime off everything in the wheel well. Getting the suspension bits, wheel liners, control arms, boots, brake caliper, etc..

7. Used the high pressure washer to spray everything down. (if the results are not what you want repeat from step 5)

8. Used the P21S Polishing Soap to polish out all the metal in the wheel well. (not the brakes)

9. Used the high pressure washer to spray down all the P21S soap off.

10. Used an old MF to wipe everything dry

11. Sprayed down the wheel liner, rubber, and plastics with Adam's Undercarriage Spray, for the super glossy look you will spray it and leave it. For the matte OEM look Spray it let it set and then wipe down with a detailing sponge (I used the ones that we sell with the Adam's VRT) try not to get any of the dressing on the rotors.

12. Applied some Menzerna FMJ on the brake caliper, buffed off with a MF towel

13. You are now good to go just mount the summer wheels on and repeat till all four wheel wells are done.



I spent about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours on this procedure.



Now to the good part the pics:



Before pic of the whole car with snow setup:





Dirty wheels:





Before wheel well pics:















During the P21S Autowash and brushing:













Polishing metal bits:











Dressing/afters:

















Final picture:





Dirty car with some hot clean wheels:





Note: the dressing appears to be running but its not, its left over water as the wheel well/liners were still wet.



Click here for the detailing your wheels:

http://audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124231

[Grouse]

Phil's Wheel Tutorial

The wheel write up.



Okay everyone here is a how to detail your wheels. I just got 4 new tires for my 20 inch BBS RS-GT's (Bridgestone RE050A's 255 30 20's)



Bought the tires from KMD Tuning (Mountainside, NJ) and got them mounted and balanced there earlier today. Props to Danny (the owner over there) apparently these were reversed lips and they were a royal pain!



Here are the products used:

3M adhesive remover

Plastic razor blade (to remove the adhesive from the weights)

3 buckets: one filled with soap and the other to rinse the wheels (it's about 25 degrees out tonight) and one to sit on []

P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel Formula



Boars Hair Brush



Sponges



P21S Polishing Soap



Adam's Metal Polish 2



Menzerna FMJ



Old Microfiber Towels (for buffing and drying the wheels)



Microfiber applicator pad





Procedure:



1. Here is what I did first sprayed them all down with P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel formula. I let them all soak in it while I was working on the first wheel.



2. Got the soap bucket and the boar's hair brush started the brush the dirt and grime off the wheel.



3. After that was done I used the 3m adhesive remover to get rid of the bug/tar/leftover brake dust/grime and adhesive from the weights.



4. Rinsed off the wheels with a sponge.



5. Dried them good.



6. Used the P21S Polishing Soap on the clean wheel to polish them up lips, inner

wheel, face of the wheel.



7. Rinsed them down again with a sponge.



8. Dried the wheel good.



9. Polished the lips with Adam's Metal Polish 2



10. Used the Menzerna FMJ to seal up the inner wheels, face of the wheel, and

lips.



11. Repeat on the rest of the wheels.



Before:



















During:











Polishing:















After:

















Elasped time: 2 hours 30 minutes (including set up and clean up time)



Enjoy!

[buzzy]

Thanks so much! This is fantastic. I just got some Optimum No-Rinse and it's fantastic stuff, but I was a bit worried using it for the first time.

Luke

[shay2nak]

thanks for posting.

[Chococar]

awesome! thanks very much !!!

[Grouse]

thanks guys. If you have any questions just ask. In the hose thread One guy had asked about a wax tutorial. i will do my best to put one together. I may be a bit before i can get one done.

[Chococar]

I used two buckets for the wash this weekend and was amazed at the difference between the two buckets after the wash. The "rinse" bucket was grey with lots of gunk in it. The "wash" bucket was clear and just like new. I wish that I learned this simple trick before I washed my first car (a million years ago). Thanks!!

[Jack]

Great write up! Two buckets and different wash mitts/cleaning towels for the paint and wheels/lower 1/3 of the car are key to avoiding micro-marring and fine spider lines from the wash process.

For us real anal people, compressed air to get rid of all the trapped water in the crevices or the use of de-ionized water http://crspotless.com/ for the final rinse and sheeting process can avoid any residual water spots. Hate it when all that water runs out from the body/bumper creases during the initial drive right after the wash.

[Grouse]

Here is another recent detail.

http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/...tml#post899407

[Shawn C]

I have a question how do I remove that caked on grime on my black wheels? I used s.o.s steel wool to get the bulk of it off, but these is still allot there.

[mwmackenzie]

Originally Posted by Grouse

Phill's Wheel well tutorial.

hahaha... that stuff really transforms the wheels eh?

Sorry I just couldn't resist


Mark