I'm afraid to wash my car!

OK, I've gathered a lot of good advice on how to wash a brand new jet black clear coated pathfinder to avoid any further micro-scratches and swirls, but I've got to be real....being married with childern etc etc, and not in the bussiness, I'm not going to ever have the time to wash and detail my car every week (I know I can hear some of you thinking, then why did you buy a black car)! So...what are the alternatives? Can one simply spray down a car, and let it drip dry (I have a soft water conditioner), or invest in a leaf blower? Do I take it only to a brushless carwash and let it dry while I'm driving home? Any ideas? I can see polishing and waxing it maybe once a month, but what can one do inbetween?

Wayne, I, too, am a parent and husband who has scarce time to do all the detailing I'd like for my new Dark green minivan. From this board I've learned that if I do a good wash job, dry the car with a water sprite or absorber, clean the paint if needed, polish and wax the car, I can take a diaper and a bottle of Quik detaiker or similar product of choice with me on short trips to wipe off any bird bombs or road crud that will get on the momentarily pristine surface. My boys are 3 and 1, and my wife and I are busy building a business in our spare time, but I decided to try and keep the ravages of living near the salty ocean air at bay whenever I could. My dark green van still manages to shine pretty well with the extra 10-15 minutes or so of spritzing the quik detail on, and I try to wash it about every 3-4 weeks(when the weather allows, of course) and apply polish and wax. Since I have a garage to keep the van in, I usually do the waxing after dinner, or after the boys have gone to bed. I think the key is to Dry the car w/ the water sprite or absorber; that really keeps the water spots off and helps the shine. From one busy Dad to another, I hope this helps!

Wayne,
I'll take a crack at this one too. I live in an area of snow, salt and dirt and wash a navy blue metallic explorer almost every day to keep it looking great. I have the advantage to wash inside. Taking advice from this board, I rinse with lots of soft water, use a cotton chanille (Spelling?) mit and wash the car. I put the mitt in the bucket and load it up with suds and run it accross a panel and let the suds run down over it. I than dip the mitt in a bucket of clean water to get off the dirt, than load up with suds in the wash bucket and finish the panel.
I contiune till I am done, rinsing every second panel.
I let the truck dry for a bit waiting to see about 80% of the vehicle dry than go over it with an absorber I got at WalMart. I don't totally dry the truck, but after the absorber goes over a panel it dries in a flash.
A quick pass with a diaper or towel and I am done. Takes me about 15 minutes. I rewax every 4-6 weeks, and see very little scratching using the two bucket method.
Good luck.

Bill

children??? you mean"detailers in training!" someday they will pay off!!

The key is USE A LOT OF WATER. Intensely hose off all the dirt etc youcan BEFORE touching the car with the wash mitt. NEVER let the car dry out, or wipe a nearly dry surface, if you do, you won't have the protection of the soap lubricating the surface, and...SCRATCHES.

Too, you can NEVER rinse too much. You may not see it, but when you rinse, the water can flush out dirt from hidden spaces and leave it on your paint, causing scratches when you dry.



Don M
'02 Cavalier LSSC
2200 DOHC

try taking the nozzle off your hose for your final rinse as water will naturally sheet it self off this will cut down on you rubbing on your car any more than you have to,try this on a car that is freshly waxed and it will almost dry itself
mike at the shine shop

Call me stupid but here is what the father of 4 driving a black mercedes does :

Mop down the car before taking it out with a California duster and polish it about once every 5-6 weeks with Wash 'n Dry. It only takes 2-3 minutes to dust the car and if it is done without fail before the car is used it will always look great.

The other key to this is to have an extra "everyday" car so that the sacred car is never driven in bad weather.

Thanks guys for the good ideas! I got the absorber and it works great. I've also tried washing my car with conditioned water but without drying still left spots. I like the idea of dusting! I detailed my car last night, only to find it covered with dust this morning in the garage! Using wash and drys or the Quick detailer sounds like my kind of thing as long as they don't scratch the clearcoat. I took my car to the snow again this weekend, and my daughter "micro-scracthed" the hood just by brushing of some ice! I'm still wondering about using a power washer (from sear?) Does anyone have any experience with this?

They make good products at a good price. Haven't had any problems with any of their high pressure washer systems. Good Luck with your cleaning.

Thanks for your advice, I'm getting the old 95 Dodge Caravan fixed tomorrow morning (needs a new starter) and plan to use that to drive during bad weather! My wife thinks I've gone completely mad!