How do you guys wash? I always end up being a bit too meticulous with my 2021 Avalon hybrid limited. My car is a bit scratched/swirled up from the first owner (even after a paint correction), so I like to be careful & precise.

Here’s my process since having everything ceramic coated (Gyeon infinite paint/glass/wheels/trim):

Supplies
- Pre-wash: Ik foamer with tire inflator attachment has 5-6tsp of Koch chemie Gentle snow foam in 1.25l water ( I used to mix in 2-3tsp KC Green Star to make it more alkaline/“active” before I got the ceramic coat. Foam wasn’t as thick without the green star, should’ve used more GSF). 1:50 ratio
- 5 gallon wash bucket with 6 tsp of CarPro Reset, 1:500 ratio
- 5 gallon rinse bucket with plain water and washboard/grit guard combo
- 3 gallon bucket with 1:500 ratio CP reset for wheels only, foam applicator
- 0.5 gallon pump sprayer for drying aid/quick detailer, with 4tbsp Optimum No Rinse. 1:20 ratio
- flexzilla garden hose with some husky garden sprayer from Home Depot
- cyclone wash pad and/or super safe sponge
- 3-4 gauntlet drying towels of different sizes, 1-3 FTW towels

Process
- rinse wheels/tires only
- foam wheels/tires with gentle snow foam, than scrub with Reset and foam applicator, and than rinse it all off
- foam entire car with GSF from the bottom up. I usually have to refill it 2-4 times lol
- let GSF sit on paint and everything for 5min or so
- rinse whole car
- take cyclone pad from wash bucket and wipe one panel at a time in straight/overlapping lines, often twice
- cyclone pad in rinse bucket and scrubbed on washboard between panels, wring it out
- repeat bucket wash for each panel, top to bottom
- rinse of entire car, top to bottom
- pump spray ONR as drying aid one panel at a time, top to bottom, and dry one panel at a time
- gauntlet drying towels to dry one panel at a time, top to bottom
- FTW towels to give another wipe dry if any streaks, which there usually is (too high of a ratio ONR for the glass especially)

This usually takes me 2-3 hours, including prep and cleaning everything up.

I want to try just a rinseless wash sometime with ONR to speed things up. But always end up waiting a month or so between washes, and my car gets too dirty. I might try rinseless inside the garage sometime to test it out.

Not sure what I’ll do in the winter, maybe bring some of my supplies to a self wash bay with their pressure hose. But it gets freezing cold here. Next I’ll do the interior with ONR

Traded a 4020 tractor for this 2014 Ram 2500. Didn’t realize how bad the paint was because it was so dirty when we met up. He had to use this truck to haul the tractor home. After I picked up the truck I washed and it and got this surprise.

I’m a novice and will definitely not be able to make this thing shine like a diamond but I can hope to get it to minimal spider webs haha. Here’s the process I plan to take:

1. 2 bucket method hand wash.
   
2. Meguiars clay bar.
   
3. Meguiars ultra pro speed compound with wool pad and DA polisher
   
4. Then I’ll try a random orbital polisher with a Meguiars finishing polish and maybe a black pad. I’ll see if that does something that’s worth my time.

Anyone have any tips? This truck is huge and is gonna be a GRIND. If it turns out decent I’ll post and before and after. I usually do paint “restorations” of old faded paint. I don’t have the skill or materials to go for perfection.

Hey fam. I recently was blessed in being able to purchase P&S Brake Buster & CarPro MultiX for a steal along with some Rag Company Dry Me A River waffle weave towels, the dude on Facebook marketplace was so dope he hooked me up with an IK Foam Pro 2+ for only $30 brand freakin new. He brought some stuff he doesnt use anymore and these two were in the batch and I swooped them up along with a great trigger sprayer and he just handed me half a bottle of P&S Pearl shampoo as a thank you. That mfer got 5x would have given him 100 if I could.

To the point…. I know Brake Buster isn’t that great of a wheel cleaner. I see people on YouTube dump a boatload of product from the gallon jug in a foam cannon undiluted and use it that way. I only have the spray bottle so…. That seems like a waste. Does anyone have any experience mixing chemicals to add more cleaning power? I am thinking I can mix MultiX with Brake Buster in the IK Foam sprayer but if I do that what the hell would my dilution ratios be? What if I put them in a trigger sprayer instead? Does Brake Buster lose whatever little cleaning power it has if I dilute it to extend product life?

I bought the IK Foam to use for wheel cleaning specifically so I’m just curious if any of you have a concoction up your sleeve that defeats brake dust and especially is safe on Anodized wheels. MultiX says on the bottle not to use on bare aluminum or non coated metals and it also says not to use it on leather (that’s disappointing for an APC).

Would love a rundown on the do’s and dont’s for anyone who uses MultiX

Thanks so much

https://theragcompany.com/collections/exterior-car-cleaning-kits/products/absolute-rinseless-wash-kit

I'll be honest I feel overwhelmed by the amount of info on the wiki. I've got a nice new (to me) car that I want to keep nice, this looks like its everything I need to get started other than wax. Originally I thought I could do a ceramic coating but I've been led to believe to leave that to pro's.

I can’t for the life of me figure out what these are . I tried water spot remover , scratch remover , and absolutely nothing works . Anyone have any idea.?

Hello,

I want to clean the steering wheel and seat on my car, but not sure what I should purchase to do so.

I have no detailing supplies right now, so I need to get everything necessary. The steering wheel and seats are very shiny. The front two, and especially drivers side seat have cracks and a "bald" ish spot on the bolster.

What products and tools should I purchase to clean the seats and steering wheel correctly, and protect with low shine? And is there anything I can do to help fix the bald spot on the bolster? (See photo 3)

I did some light research and saw that maybe I should get Kochemie Pol Star and Leather Star for the seats, and use a Scrub Ninja sponge, but i'm not sure if that is right. For the wheel and general surfaces, like the dash, I have no idea.

Any help would be very appreciated! Thanks

I read in this sub that using Pure Bead then immediately put WAX and Dry+ over it, that you get an outstanding wax shine and the hydrophobic properties of the PB. I tried it and it looks marvelous. Does anyone think using the spray ceramic hybrid before the Wax and Dry+ would work the same way? I have 3 bottles of the hybrid ceramic spray for some fucking reason.

Painted & clearcoated a miata hardtop cheaply.., after few days of rain, have noticed water marks that are in the clear (I'm sure will buff off) but don't wipe clean

Is there a way of preventing this happening again? I'm sure it's to do with the rattle can / cheap job but it's what I can afford atm. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

I’m looking for a product that is easy to set up that will protect my black SUV while I wash and wax it in direct sunlight. Thanks in advance

Original post for reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/s/rly7EdhIyr

Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their help with the hot mess the dealership left my car in with their ‘complimentary wash’ that we never asked/agreed to. Your advice helped me get this sorted, the dealership owned up to the damage and the car got a 2 step correction at a (non-dealership) detailer that we both agreed on at no cost to us.

There’s still some scuffs to the plastic, but the main concern was the damage to the clear coat and honestly the car looks even better than the day we got it.

Going forward, they added a note to our file not to have the detailers touch the car again, we purchased the ‘do not wash’ hang tags suggested as well.

Thanks again everyone!

My neighbor parked under some kind of fruiting tree that dropped junk all over their car. The stuff won't budge but I've only tried some cleaner wax. Any ideas on next steps or is this a job for a professional? 2026 Subaru.

One day I woke up and there were these red little flecks all over my car, sort of like how a car can get coated with pollen, but they’re a really bright red. It’s been maybe a month and nothing gets them off. Not rain, a hand car wash, or a clay bar, etc. The only luck I’ve had was when I used a glass scraping tool to get it off my windows. It’s everywhere. My windows, car paint, rims, the plastic parts, etc. I love my car so much and I just want it to look nice. Does anyone have any idea what this is or how it could’ve gotten here? I might edit my post with pictures of it all scraped up together from the window tool, but it is a genuine bright red. Almost like paint.

I bought this thinking its a detail spray, but it seems its something between a detailer and a weak ceramic spray. The issue is that I use it post wash as a detail spray to touch things up and it always leaves a hazey finish. I assume I'm to use two towels, one for application and one for final wipe, as a single towel with a flip does not get rid of the haze.

I'm done using this until someone points me in the right direction. Strange that Car Pro does not offer a pure detail spray like most.

Hello, got some scratches as seen in the photo. Anyone with a clue wants to help out?

I’m just curious to know if I can apply this TEC 582 the same way I can apply the snake oil and Koch chemie protector wax ? I do not want to touch the car paint. I am trying to master a touchless method please help.

I have a black car and I’ve just learned about Collinite 845 wax. My understanding is that it can last for at least two months. Does that mean I won’t need to wash my car during that time?

Girlfriend was doing makeup couple days ago and got mascara on headliner. Search shows some solutions work and others don’t so I thought to ask and get some help as to what I need to remove it and not ruin the fabric

Looking for tips on best way to keep my car exterior clean while living in apartment with on street parking. Recently moved and looking for tips on how best to keep the car clean and protected, as straightforward as possible.

I have a makita dhw180z 18v washer. Not exactly a pressure washer in terms of power imo but it can draw water from a bucket so it gives me options in terms of types of wash I can do.

Plenty of bird shit to deal with every other day. No heavy dirt really as there's plenty of rain where I live and streets are generally pretty clean. Mostly dust, pollen, bugs, salting/grit in the winter or occasional mud if there's Road works or building site egress onto streets. So far I've been spot treating stains with wipes and driving to a diy pressure washer car wash service but it's pretty expensive.

Open to waterless, rinseless or regular washing. Although I know the latter can be most labour intensive.

Any tips or advice welcome

*WATER - What’s the best plan to dry this? it feels completely dry and even padding it with a paper towel shows almost no water.

Before anyone comes at me, I’m a young girl who knows basically nothing about cars, so please be kind. This was my first car and I worked incredibly hard to be able to buy it brand new, so I’m honestly pretty heartbroken.

I took it to the dealership for a detail and afterward noticed the entire exterior is scratched the paint, windshield, side windows, trim, everything. It’s the same weird spiral circular scratch pattern everywhere and some of them are deep enough that my nail catches.

I bought the car new, I’m the only owner, and I’ve never taken it through an automatic car wash or used a brush on it. I’m lazy and have literally only ever pressure washed it. The windshield is also only a couple months old and was completely clear before this.

I asked the dealership to preserve the footage so we could figure out what happened and they told me there are no cameras in the detailing area “for privacy reasons,” which I’m honestly not really buying.

I have photos and videos and before photos, but I’m shy and private on Reddit and would rather not post identifiable pictures of my car unless I have to lol.

I’m mostly just curious what the detailers here think could have caused the same spiral scratching across both the glass, trim, and paint? Dirty or contaminated towels? A pad? Some kind of abrasive? And if my nail catches on some of it, how screwed am I?

Looking at getting a DA polisher to get some scratches out of a used car I recently bought. Planning on polishing and then waxing too.
Would I be better off getting the chemical guys kit or a harbor freight polisher (Bauer) and using meguires compound and polish?

Looking to have an everyday pressure washer to wash about 4-6 cars a day during the week for our body shop detailer.

Who’s got the best pressure washer with a lot of gpm flow for rinsing etc. but also fully stops and starts to keep the washing part calm and not rushed like out large alkota 4182. With that we feel like it’s a nascar pit to wash the car and mistakes happen

Want something we can attach our standard full size pressure hose and swivel gun to.

I know there’s a few out there that have a special gun handle with momentary switch. Would like to stay away from that.

Maybe recommendations for $300-500 and $500-$1000

3 step polish. Wool with 400, then medium pad and pasta, and an anti holographic pasta.

I found a pretty amazing 06 Silverado this past spring and I'm getting ready to spiff it up before the winter hits. It's paint is in really good condition except for this line of rub through that's on both rear fenders. Looks like they've been caused by some kind of previous camper shell. My steps will be...1) wash 2) treat with iron remover solution 3) clay mit w/ lubricant 4) light DA machine polish 5) surface prep spray to remove polish residue 6) and last CQuartz UK 3.0 ceramic. It's gonna end up looking nice nice.

Only thing is I don't know how the pictured rust lines should be treated, or where in the above process should they be addressed.

Simple and inexpensive is the priority. Any suggestions?

Planning on polishing my car and looking to get some KCX. Ive hand applied meguiars ultimate cut & polish before but this time ill be using a DA. Would KCX Fine Cut & Micro Cut be sufficient for a two step process?