what is the quickest way to wash a car and make it look half good.

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cryptokid

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i hate washing my car. i only do it about 2-3 times a year. i have never waxed a car in my life. i dont even know what wax is for! (i have to guess it makes things shiny)
one of my buisness associates told me that i should wash my car more often to make it look presentable to clients. alright so fine ill do it once a week. i dont give a **** about protecting the paint or anything like that. i just want it to look presentable.
but i want it to be over with quickly, inside and outside. i so much dislike washing the car, and vacuuming never seems to ever do anything to the sand on the carpet. i live on a gravel road so heres a nice build up of sand/dust all over the inside. you could write "wash me" on the speedometer!

so i need to know what to clean the outside and inside with that will work once a week and be very quick. and also how do you get sand out of carpet. vasuuming with a bissel doesnt work it seems.
 
One option... you could go to the local "drive thru" car wash and leave your windows down?!?! Ok maybe not but here is a much better option...

Exterior: http://www.protectall.com/qelg.htm with this wash you don't need to rinse at all!

Interior: get a California "Dash Duster" http://www.gomiata.com/caldasdus.html (buy one from walmart in the car care isle) one quick swipe and the dust will be gone, use it over the dash, doors gauges and so on! you might need to wash the duster from time to time. The carpent about the only thing I know of is a good ole shop vac! if the sand is "ground in" it will take some time to get it looking good.

Thats about as quick and easy as it gets.
 
Spring the $$$ to get your car detailed once, about $120. Be sure they understand the carpets need to get de-sanded.

After that, as already suggested, go through a drive through car wash about once a week.

Carry a microfiber cloth to dust off the inside of your car and as already suggested, use a California Duster to dust off the outside frequently.

Go to a full service car wash about once a month to get the inside cleaned too.
 
How friggin lazy can we be folks! It's not hard to wash a car!

Do you go on dates? If so what do the little ladies think about sitting in a car with more dirt in it then is in the county dump?

Just giving you some s***!
grin.gif
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Go to a full service car wash every few weeks. Around $20 and 20 minutes will get your car in presentable condition.

You will probably be more successful in your business dealings as a result ... more than enough to make up the time and money.

John
 
lol, I actually enjoy washing cars. It is so relaxing. I have been known to spend all day detailing just for the fun of it.

My suggestion would be to spring the $120-$200 for a full detail. You should ask for the following steps to be preformed: exterior: bug and tar removal, clay, swirl removing polish,SEALANT (a really durable wax, some good brand names for the sealant would be Klasse, Zaino, Meguire's #20, WolfGang, Poorboys)
interior: carpet extraction, dress/protect plastic/rubber, clean glass.
After that just pay $2 for a drive through auto. car wash. once a week. The sealant should last about 9-10 months with weekly washings.
 
Like someone already said, drive it through a full service car wash once per week. Spend the 10 bucks for an interior/exterior service and it will at least look presentable.

My guess is if you've never cared enouogh to wash/wax your cars before you'll not give a hoot about the faint scratches and swirly marks the drive-thru washes will put into the finish. At least they'll be clean swirlies.
 
A few suggestions;

The Mr. Clean car wash thingie (actually seems to be geting decent reviews.

Mother's Trgger Wash - Spray it on, wipe it clean, hose it off. No buckets needs.

Protect All Quick and Easy Wash (Black03L already mentioned) - availlable on line and at RV/Camper places. No hose needed.
 
quote:
Originally posted by cryptokid:
ok......


i cannot take the car to a drive through wash because i have somewhat of a vandetta against them. a couple years ago i took my mothers car through a carwash and it ripped off the antenna.

i would spring for a detailing service but i am somewhat cheap. my brother in law who is jewish somtimes jokes about the idea that i would be a jew like him if it were not for the fact that i am atheist.

i am having serious problems cleaning the carpet and seats though. there is sand ingrained into them and i just cant figure out how to get it out. i tried vacuuming over and over, it didnt do anything. so i dumped some soapy water on the floor and scrubbed it and then vacuumed it up, this didnt do anything either. i am considering ripping the carpet out and throwing it onto my driveway for a good high power pressure clean. does anyone have an easier idea to get rid of sand?

Click to expand...
1. Car washes don't tear parts off very often. And, non-retractable antennas are usually easy to unscrew if you are concerned. Consider lifting your vendeta, the car wash owners aren't aware of it and it's only keeping you from getting your car cleaned more often. Since you aren't a car finish prefectionist, you are the ideal drive through car wash customer. Beats the @$%# out of a dirty car.

2. There are many atheistic Jews, so don't let that discourage you.
lol.gif


3. Consider vacuuming the carpets with your shop vac every couple of weeks then declaring victory. Put up abig "Mission Accomplished" banner. The will gradually get better if you keep at it. If you want, throwing them in the driveway and pressure blasting them like you said would help a lot. Don't use hot water.

When you wash your car, use any decent car wash detergent and a big sponge or washing mit and be sure to wash it in the shade. Rinse well, and dry with old towels if you don't have some magic system like Mr. Clean that doesn't require drying.
 
ok......

first of all. my car is in excellent mechanical condition. i am meticulous when it comes to maintence. it is just dirty, filthy more like it. except the engine bay. this is the one place where i clean once a oil change. my engine bay is spotless because i cannot stand a dirty engine when im working on it. but its easy to clean, spray some degreaser on wait 15 mins and hose it off. i wish the rest of the car was that easy.
i cannot take the car to a drive through wash because i have somewhat of a vandetta against them. a couple years ago i took my mothers car through a carwash and it ripped off the antenna. the owners pointed to the "not responsible for damaged items" sign and refused to pay for the antenna. so that is the last time i will ever use a car wash again.
i would spring for a detailing service but i am somewhat cheap. my brother in law who is jewish somtimes jokes about the idea that i would be a jew like him if it were not for the fact that i am atheist. (stereotypical joke).
so i am stuck with washing and cleaning my own car.
with the help of some products already mentioned like the cali dash duster and some other cleaning stuff i bought on the recomendations of you guys i think i have the dash and most of the interrior clean. i am having serious problems cleaning the carpet and seats though. there is sand ingrained into them and i just cant figure out how to get it out. i tried vacuuming over and over, it didnt do anything. so i dumped some soapy water on the floor and scrubbed it and then vacuumed it up, this didnt do anything either. i am considering ripping the carpet out and throwing it onto my driveway for a good high power pressure clean. does anyone have an easier idea to get rid of sand?

i tried washing the outside of the car with turtle wax car wash. this stuff blows. it took me 4 hours of washing and pressure cleaning and still there are streaks and sports everywhere. i guess i will pick up some of that stuff already mentioned by someone.
but what is a wax? somthing i never really understood, is how can you wax a car and then wash it without removing the wax? doesnt detergent and scrubbing remove wax? and what is a sealer? ok fine i guess it "seals the paint" or somthing, but how? and why. and how do you use an orbital thing? i got one for my birthday a couple years ago. never even opened it up. you use it to apply wax right? how do i do that?

and how do you get rid of scratches? you can guess by now that my paint is scratch city. its only redeeming quality is that there was so much dirt that no one could ever see any scratches. not that its somewhat clean it looks like a cat used my car for a scratching post.
here is a couple pictures of the car so you can see what i am working on.
-

-

i could take pics of the inside but i dont want to give anyone a heart attack.
 
You would probably faint if I told you how many hours it took to achieve this:
-

grin.gif


Wax is sort of a sacrificial layer of well, natural wax, that sort of sticks to the paint. Some does get rubbed off with washing, which is why you are supposed to wax 1-2 months
A sealant is a synthetic "wax" that has a stronger bond to the paint ( usually a light chemical bond) which makes it stick to the paint longer.

[ April 19, 2004, 12:52 PM: Message edited by: OiledMustangGT ]
 
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