[Aalfred]

So I finally was able to get my first car wash done and gotto say I was very nervous but turned out great. It also was very therapeutic and kinda gives u some time to just relax and do your own thing. The 827M wheels were a pain to clean but this is what I did

1. Wet wheels with hose, Used P&S Brake buster. Then let is sit for few min and used a hand microfiber mitt and woolywormitt brush to clean them. Rinsed with hose

2. Wet the whole car with garden hose and then used MJJC foam cannon with Adams Mega Foam. It turned out great !!! Let it sit for 5-6 min and Used a hand Mitt and gently wiped the foam being careful not to press too hard. Used 2 buckets of water to rinse the mitt in between to make sure no dirt is stuck on the mitt. Used 40 deg nozzle on my Greenworks pressure washer and rinsed the whole car thoroughly.

3. Used the Rag Company Liquid8 drying towel and I was amazed how much it sucked the water off. I gently laid it on the panel and just dragged it without putting any pressure and it wiped it clean without any streaks. I was able to wipe the whole car with just one towel. I used a separate drying towel to wipe the side skirts as it was too low to the ground and didn’t want my large towel to pick up any dirt on the ground.

4. Used Griots Speed shine and used rag company clean microfiber towels to apply them. They turned out great and the shine was amazing and just like when I first got the car.

I’ve been lazy in the past about washing car and just used the laser washes but I couldn’t believe the difference between the two. There were zero water spots or run offs. If time permits I hope to hand wash my car Atleast once or twice a month and use the touchless as little as possible.

Anyone is on the fence about washing their car, just do it. It looks daunting but once u get the steps right, it’s very simple. Just need the right tools and give urself enough time. Cheers

[DocL]

I never thought I'd see wheels as diabolical to clean as the 666m lol.

[DanG]

Love the color of your M3.

I haven’t seen the need for a pressure washer so I just use a Groit’s foam sprayer that attaches to a regular garden hose.

[Aalfred]

Thanks. The foam seems to be more consistent and thick with the pressure washer. Didn’t try the foam gun without the pressure washer

[Aalfred]

Originally Posted by DocL

I never thought I'd see wheels as diabolical to clean as the 666m lol.

Lol. The 826 and 827 wheels r really a pain to clean. I’m dreading cleaning the 826 when air swap to winters later this year lol

[Jrock645]

Pressure washer is awesome if you have the room or whatever. Makes for less work and less potential for swirling.

[Robyn]

Looks amazing!

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by Aalfred

...
2. Wet the whole car with garden hose and then used MJJC foam cannon with Adams Mega Foam. It turned out great !!! Let it sit for 5-6 min and Used a hand Mitt and gently wiped the foam being careful not to press too hard. Used 2 buckets of water to rinse the mitt in between to make sure no dirt is stuck on the mitt. Used 40 deg nozzle on my Greenworks pressure washer and rinsed the whole car thoroughly.

Car looks great!
The bolded part was the only thing I was wondering about what other folks think... When doing the snow foam, should you wipe that by hand at all, or just rinse it off? I thought you just rinse it because in theory it'll have suspended dirt in it. I always just rinse it, then move on to what you did next with buckets.

Cheers!

[RaisinCain27]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Car looks great!
The bolded part was the only thing I was wondering about what other folks think... When doing the snow foam, should you wipe that by hand at all, or just rinse it off? I thought you just rinse it because in theory it'll have suspended dirt in it. I always just rinse it, then move on to what you did next with buckets.

Cheers!

I recently started with one layer of foam, and a rinse before then applying a second layer of foam and then using the two bucket method (with more soap in the primary bucket) to hand wash before the final rinse. I figure the first foam/rinse takes away at least some of the grime, leaving less risk of something being left to scratchy the car during the second layer of foam and the hand washing.

I take care of the tires and wheels before/during the initial foam and rinse cycle especially since some tire and wheel products now require application to dry tires and wheels. In those cases, I do the tires and wheels first and rinse and then let them be part of the foaming and rinses later on.

[malvern_man]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Car looks great!
The bolded part was the only thing I was wondering about what other folks think... When doing the snow foam, should you wipe that by hand at all, or just rinse it off? I thought you just rinse it because in theory it'll have suspended dirt in it. I always just rinse it, then move on to what you did next with buckets.

Cheers!

Snow foam should always be rinsed off as it's meant to soften and encapsulate any dirt on your paintwork. Snow foam doesn't provide enough lubrication to be agitated with a wash mitt. So...you should NEVER use snow foam as a contact shampoo, unless you want to ruin your paintwork of course.

My method is this...

Spray my lower panels with a citrus pre-wash at a 20:1 ratio or ONR at a 256:1 ratio and let it dwell for a few minutes. I then snow foam over the top of the citrus or ONR to extend the dwell time, after around 5 minutes I rinse the car off. I then do the contact wash using the 2 bucket method and whatever shampoo I decide to use, it's usually Gyeon.

[Aalfred]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Car looks great!
The bolded part was the only thing I was wondering about what other folks think... When doing the snow foam, should you wipe that by hand at all, or just rinse it off? I thought you just rinse it because in theory it'll have suspended dirt in it. I always just rinse it, then move on to what you did next with buckets.

Cheers!

Thanks. I thought about that too but since I had done a quick rinse with the hose before I applied the foam, didnt think there would be too many suspended particles that might scratch the paint. I looked at the video from Adams and they just recommend wiping it after the foam with a mitt than rinsing it and doing the bucket method again. The whole reason I got the foam gun is to skip having to use the soap and water method. I guess if u have enough time u could do the rinse and maybe apply another layer of foam and do the wash mitt too. That might be a better option. Adams recommends to use the same wash for the bucket wash method so you dont have to buy a separate shampoo

[rmedina]

Looks good my friend.. I was using a cannon hooked up to a water hose. Then a friend got me a basic electric pressure washer last week. Night and day difference.

For drying.. Lose the towels. Get yourself an ego 765 from lowes. You wont regret it.

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by Aalfred

Thanks. I thought about that too but since I had done a quick rinse with the hose before I applied the foam, didnt think there would be too many suspended particles that might scratch the paint. I looked at the video from Adams and they just recommend wiping it after the foam with a mitt than rinsing it and doing the bucket method again. The whole reason I got the foam gun is to skip having to use the soap and water method. I guess if u have enough time u could do the rinse and maybe apply another layer of foam and do the wash mitt too. That might be a better option. Adams recommends to use the same wash for the bucket wash method so you dont have to buy a separate shampoo

I'm sure that like a lot of things/methods we use, it prob doesn't make a huge difference in the end. All good.

[RaisinCain27]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

I'm sure that like a lot of things/methods we use, it prob doesn't make a huge difference in the end. All good.

Absolutely agree! The biggest benefit, by far, comes from opting to hand wash your car at all and taking care to do that "right" rather than taking your car to an automated car wash. Everything beyond that is fine tuning of your methods, finding products you like, etc.

[Aalfred]

Originally Posted by rmedina

Looks good my friend.. I was using a cannon hooked up to a water hose. Then a friend got me a basic electric pressure washer last week. Night and day difference.

For drying.. Lose the towels. Get yourself an ego 765 from lowes. You wont regret it.

Thanks. Yeah, the more I looked into pressures washers, I was going down the rabbit hole with cost. Just got a basic greenworks 2.3 gpm and 1200 PSI and it did the job well. So glad I was able to find an OK one. I tried my Dewalt leaf blower and it still left water spots. So switched to the towels. Really cut back a lot on the drying time. I do have a backpack Husquvarna leaf blower. Maybe will try it next time to see if it dries faster lol

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by Aalfred

Thanks. Yeah, the more I looked into pressures washers, I was going down the rabbit hole with cost. Just got a basic greenworks 2.3 gpm and 1200 PSI and it did the job well. So glad I was able to find an OK one. I tried my Dewalt leaf blower and it still left water spots. So switched to the towels. Really cut back a lot on the drying time. I do have a backpack Husquvarna leaf blower. Maybe will try it next time to see if it dries faster lol

I tried a leaf blower too, a powerful one. Didn't really love using it. So now I just use it for door handles and mirrors, etc. For the rest, a good towel is hard to beat IMHO!

[rmedina]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

I tried a leaf blower too, a powerful one. Didn't really love using it. So now I just use it for door handles and mirrors, etc. For the rest, a good towel is hard to beat IMHO!

I picked up the ego 765 along with a short tube. It's all about CFM..

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by rmedina

I picked up the ego 765 along with a short tube. It's all about CFM..

I have a Ryobi 40V that is rated at 525 CFM. I mean, it works, but its very loud, and I just find a towel is faster for me.

[ultrared93]

Originally Posted by malvern_man

...you should NEVER use snow foam as a contact shampoo, unless you want to ruin your paintwork of course.

This may be true for some products that are only designed to be used as a snow foam, but many car "shampoos" (Carpro Reset, Koch-Chemie Gsf and many others) are equally usable to foam the car with a gun and to contact wash with a mitt or pad.

[Aalfred]

Originally Posted by rmedina

I picked up the ego 765 along with a short tube. It's all about CFM..

I agree but you have to try the Liquid8R towel. I placed it on the roof and gently dragged it holding the edges till the front of my car and it sucked it dry and I had like half the car dried up in 2 passes. I flipped to the other side and dragged it and same result. It did get saturated after I did the doors and so I used a different drying towel but not the same result. So I ordered another towel for $22. Its the best investment you could make..lol I have to go about using the blower and doing multiple passes to dry them up but with the towel, it was so fast !!!

https://www.amazon.com/Rag-Company-A...23768293&psc=1

[malvern_man]

Originally Posted by ultrared93

This may be true for some products that are only designed to be used as a snow foam, but many car "shampoos" (Carpro Reset, Koch-Chemie Gsf and many others) are equally usable to foam the car with a gun and to contact wash with a mitt or pad.

That may be so but I'd never ever use a snow foam for a contact wash, but it's up to the individual how they wash their car.

[chris s]

Originally Posted by Aalfred

Thanks. Yeah, the more I looked into pressures washers, I was going down the rabbit hole with cost. Just got a basic greenworks 2.3 gpm and 1200 PSI and it did the job well. So glad I was able to find an OK one. I tried my Dewalt leaf blower and it still left water spots. So switched to the towels. Really cut back a lot on the drying time. I do have a backpack Husquvarna leaf blower. Maybe will try it next time to see if it dries faster lol

First you sheet the water with a hose with no nozzle, then the leaf blower, THEN a good quality MF drying towel. Minimal contact w towel will keep your car swirl free.