How Long Does It Take You...

R

RayCJ

Joined
Sep 23, 2018
Messages
861
Location
Maryland
My son's 2007 Toyota Matrix (with about 200k miles / 320km) got a little TLC with a good external wash/wax. It got a soap-cannon detergent wash followed by a 2 bucket wash, outside wheel scrub, blow dry with electric leaf blower, Collinite 476 paste wax and RainX on the outside glass. [Side note: I totally forgot to do all the black rubber trim and plastic and its bugging the heck out of me now
mad.gif
]. It took about 2.5 hours from start to finish and that included setup and putting everything away. It rained last night and the fruit of my labor was on display this morning. Y'a gotta love seeing all those perfectly aligned water droplets.
thumbsup2.gif


But anyhow... How long does it take you to do your vehicle?

Ray
 
Vacuum clean the interior & interior windows, wash the wheels/tires and then the whole car. Finish with a "California Water Blade" quick zip dry and then into the microfibre towel dry and some quick detail on the paint & tire dressing...under 2 hrs.
 
Long enough to where I'm seriously considering using a professional detailer the next time they both need it. I don't mind doing a wash and dry. But washing, waxing, and doing under the hood, along with the interior is a lot of work. And it's time consuming if you do it right.

I found this outfit by me, and for what he does vs. what he charges, it sure seems fair to me. Now that we're both retired we don't drive in rain or lousy weather. And both cars are garage kept, so a good detail job will last us a long time.

https://www.racedaydetailing.com/
 
10-20 hours over a few days. Washing exterior including the the door jambs with detail brushes plus trunk or hatch jambs. 3-4 hours. Engine pressure wash at a car wash. 1 hour. Claying paint. 2-3 hours. Polish paint. 2-3 hours. Wax or sealant. 1-2 hours. Headlight polishing. 1-2 hours. Wheel detailing. 1-4 hours if they have to be removed. Interior. 2-3 hours. Usually only do this before selling.
 
I went to the car wash then thought about cleaning the insides but I changed my mind. You are a nice dad !
 
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.
 
All day! But we drive these dreadnaught class vehicles that are way too big for this 66 yr old to be washing quickly. Anyway, a wash and wax + interior = all day. 2017 Expedition and F150 pickup.
 
Originally Posted by CT8
I went to the car wash then thought about cleaning the insides but I changed my mind. You are a nice dad !


LOL: I do it for the exercise. My jogging days are over because my feet won't cooperate. I have 5 family cars and I do all the maintenance and exterior cleaning as a way to keep moving.
 
Originally Posted by Warstud
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.


33.gif
 
Originally Posted by Warstud
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.




The old Scratch-O-Matic brush system.
 
It takes me freaking forever if I clean everything and wax at home... probably a good six hours per truck give or take, but that would include thorough underbody wash and stuff. I do that once every year or two.

The rest of the time I run them through Bubba's 3 minute wash and spend maybe 10-15 minutes vacuuming.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by Warstud
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.




The old Scratch-O-Matic brush system.

Not if your DIY Car Wash uses Boars Hair >>>>>> https://www.autogeek.net/boar-s-hair.html
 
Originally Posted by Warstud
Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by Warstud
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.

The old Scratch-O-Matic brush system.

Not if your DIY Car Wash uses Boars Hair >>>>>> https://www.autogeek.net/boar-s-hair.html

Yeah, ok.

Who maintains the brush? How old is it? What was washed before yours? How dirty was it?

One of those brushes isn't touching my wheels.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Originally Posted by Warstud
Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by Warstud
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.

The old Scratch-O-Matic brush system.

Not if your DIY Car Wash uses Boars Hair >>>>>> https://www.autogeek.net/boar-s-hair.html

Yeah, ok.

Who maintains the brush? How old is it? What was washed before yours? How dirty was it?

One of those brushes isn't touching my wheels.




I've heard this argument before. The material used for the brush does not matter. Big Bad John just used it before you to get all the mud off of his beater jeep. Now you would use that same brush to wash your vehicle?
 
Originally Posted by Warstud
Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by Warstud
Before I do a Driveway Wash I take my vehicle down to the DIY car wash and get the heavy dirt off first with the brush. It makes the Driveway Wash much easier, faster with less mess.




The old Scratch-O-Matic brush system.

Not if your DIY Car Wash uses Boars Hair >>>>>> https://www.autogeek.net/boar-s-hair.html


I'll be brutally honest here. You must not care about your car. I can say with complete certainty that one does not want to use an DIY car wash brush. EVER. I don't care what animal hair it is. I'm not the only one who has used that brush to clean engine parts and all manner of disgusting equipment using very caustic cleaning solutions because it was, "much easier, faster with less mess". I've done it. I'm not alone. I admit I look away in shame when I drive by my local car wash when it's packed with people washing their vehicles on a nice weekend morning. After reading quite a bit in the "Wash and Wax" forum on BITOG, little good comes out of going to a car wash.

Just yesterday, for the first time and after buying all the recommended supplies, it took me about two hours to do a perfect wash and wax in the driveway. I was very pleased with the result. I bet I could easily take a half hour off that time on the next go around. I was being very meticulous for the first time.
 
My non clad Avalanche takes a full day when I wash, polish, treat the plastic sail panels and side boxes and lids as well as the other exterior plastic on the tailgate bed covers and front fascia. It also has a bed gutter system that drains water through channels and exits at the rear tires that has to be flushed/vacuumed out. I also vacuum and shampoo the carpet and cloth seats if needed and the wife cleans the interior and windows. It's a lot of work and I usually take most of two days to do this once a year but a clean vehicle seems to ride and drive better.
 
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