My Kizzy need a bath...often

[Eric998765]

I feel weird asking how to wash a car as I'm 23 and have owned at least one vehical at a time since before I was 15, but my Kizzy is much different. How, you ask? Well, I owned 2 green Jeeps, a silver Accord, and a silver Forenza before my Kizzy. Dirt doesn't really show on those colors, and water marks definitely don't. My Kizzy is black, and no matter how well I wash it it looks like crap when I'm done. I used to wash my Jeep in the middle of my yard (I live in SC where we have 100 degree days all summer) and it was always fine. I've read some things trying to get my car to look better, but even washing it under the carport I get watermarks.


Here are some changes I'm thinking about making:

Start washing car with towel instead of sponge as the sponge isn't strong enough to remove some crud and has been leaving pieces behind.

Quit trying to dry it with a towel as they leave lent behind and just smear the water instead of truly remove it. I'm thinking maybe getting something like a shamwow?


Should I be doing anything else or will those changes work? How do you guys clean your Kizzys?

Note: I used to the mr clean thing that sprays the fine mist but that hasn't been working too well either (though I haven't changed the filter in a very long time).

[dr_funk39]

When I dry my car I do it twice. Once with a chamois or microfibre cloth to get most of the water off. Then go through again with a dry microfibre cloth to get rid of the remaining streaks/droplets.

FYI...my friend used the ShamWow cloths and he said they don't work...
Better to save your money and use regular microfibre cloths instead.

[AlexRuiz]

Hi Eric. Black is a pain to maintain, but well worth the effort!

If you have time to do some lengthy reading, head to the the autopia.org forums (car detailing forums), take a deep breath and read all the stuff about proper washing techniques. You will probably be overwhelmed, so I'll provide a simplified guide

• Wash IN THE shade, early in the morning, late in the evening, or under covered parking. Washing under the full blast sun feel good for you, but it is a NO NO. If you want to enjoy the water, don't use the car washing as excuse On black paint specially, the sun will dry the soap faster than you can rinse. If you absolutely have to wash under the full blast sun, make sure someone else helps you by rinsing the car as soon as you are done with a panel. DO NOT let soap or water dry or they will leave spots
• Head to advance auto or autozone, get a lambswool mitt, 2 microfiber drying towels (Viking or Mothers preferably) You also need 2 buckets, and decent car soap (Eagle one is fine) At least one of the buckets must have a grit guard. BONUS: Grab some quick detailer (Mothers, eagle one) and 2 quick detailing towels (again, Viking or Mothers) The drying towels are either long nap soft towels, or waffle weave pattern, size is something like 36" x 30". Resist the temptation to use chamois or buy a cheaper towel. quick detailing towels are fluffy long nap towels, usually 16" x 16". they can also be used to dry, but are too small.
• Prepare soap solution in one bucket, 1 oz of soap per gallon of water. If you have hard water, use distilled water or form the softener. 2-3 gallons of soapy solution is enough. Add plain water to the second bucket, again, distilled or from the softener. If you have only one grit guard, place it in this bucket. Rinse the whole car trying to take out as much crud as you can. Once done, you start washing, and you have to go top to bottom
• Soak mitt in soapy solution, wash roof, windshield (including wipers) and rear glass. Put mitt in second bucket. Rinse panels. Now, rinse the mitt that you have already placed in second bucket (just use the bucket water). This is called the "2 buckets method", and you rinse in one bucket to take out grime off the mitt, and avoind transfering the grime to other panels or to the soapy bucket. Going top to bottom also ensures you are going with the least soiled parts first.
• Now, take out mitt off rinse bucket, squeeze water, soak in soapy water (1st bucket) and as you did in the previous panels, wash side windows. Rinse panels, rinse mitt. Repeat. Go hood next. Repeat. Go trunk next. Repeat. Upper half of doors. Repeat. Front of car. Repeat. front fenders. Repeat. Rear of car. Repeat. Lower half of doors. Repeat. Rear Fenders. Done! Each repeat cycle is soak mitt in soapy water, wash panels, rinse panels, rinse mitt.
• Time to dry. Take one of the drying towels and remove most of the water in all the panels. Try to bloat towel instead of rubbing. Use second towel to leave it fully clean. If you washed well, the towels should have no trace of dirt. Use blotting motions instead of rubbing.
• BONUS. If you got the quick detailer, apply it now
• I am covering only exterior washing. I will post something for wheels and interior

Enjoy the shiny Kizashi


Alex

[~tc~]

I use an abbreviated method of the two bucket described above, using 2 mivrofiber wash mitts, one for the bottom of the car, the other for the rest.

x2 for the shade

I use an "Absorber" towel.

x2 for quick detailer - I use the Griot's Garage speed shine

One thing not mentioned is wax - IMHO, the paint on these cars does not seem very "hard". The first coat of wax seemed to get fully "absorbed" by the paint, the second one was more normal, I'm hoping the third one will finally get me that nice smooth surface - a lot of stuff still sticks to the paint, and makes the car hard to wash.

I have had great experience with the Mr. Clean car wash thing on black cars in the past. I would highly recommend changing the filter. I would buy one in a heartbeat if I could ever find one for sale anywhere.