Car washing

Do you "wet" wash your car when it isn't really dirty, or use detail spray and a micro cloth

I let the rain wash it. I've owned mine 2 1/2 years and I don't recall ever washing it. I spend my time on the mechanicals. It is pretty filthy right now. Been parked in the garage and hasn't been rained on in at least 6 months. Still has spring pollin on it. 😳

Always wet wash, if and when I can...Then it rains shortly there after!

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That's what I'm talking about! I blew off my driveway weekend before last because it had gotten pretty bad with little sticks and leaves all over the place. A big thunderstorm rolled through the next day and it looked just as bad as before. Lesson learned, it's a waste of time to blow off the driveway. Washing the car is the same thing. I do vacuum the interior though. I like it clean inside.

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Lol, I was going to say I spend most my time in the car and like that clean, and wash my car when the driveway needs a rinse, but it still rains almost daily/nightly here in the tropics...

Hawaii is one of my favorite places. My wife and I took a trip there a few years ago. Went to Oahu and Maui. We liked it so much we went back the next year to Maui and the Big Island. We loved the Big Island. We went shortly before the big volcanic eruptions.

To me, microfiber with detail spray is a recipe for micro scratches, but some people do this -- so maybe it can be done without harm if you know what you are doing. For me, it's better to do a full wash every time and let it get dirty in between. The compromise between a full wet wash and detail spray is to use a "no-rinse" car wash like Optimum No-Rinse (ONR), which is applied like a full wet wash, but you normally don't rinse the car before or after washing it. I think ONR is better than detail spray, but not as good as a full wet wash. The ONR itself works great , but I feel like washing without pre-rinsing and drying without a pure water rinse is still far more likely to introduce micro-scratches because I don't think ONR can completely break down the dirt particles.

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Wet wash only. Never use detail spray and microfiber on a dirty car, unless you don't care about your finish. That's the second best way to scratch the finish. The first best way?...…..just wipe the dirt off a dry car with a dry cloth. Even when my cars are dirty, I only carefully use the "two-bucket" method. I'm OCD like that.

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Lol, I'm far beyond "micro-scratches"!

It's so dusty here in the desert that I have to use water. Whenever I'm lazy I use my leaf blower first to try to get the big grains of dust off and then I use liberal amounts of quick-detail spray but I'm pretty sure I'm still slightly damaging the clear every time I do that. Sometimes it's just too much of a hassle to set everything up, though. Every few years it's fun to lock myself in the garage for a weekend and do the full clay/buff/wax routine, anyway, so what the heck.

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Macro-scratches!!

After 6 years with a black car: I avoid wash-in-a-bottle whenever I can - the scratches and whorls that get introduced into the paint are unavoidable, at least with my ham-fisted application techniques. With my pressure washer / foam blaster combo, a good wash mitt, and good wash (like P21S body work conditioning shampoo), I can wash the car in about the same time it takes to spray-and-wipe the whole thing, and the paint just looks better. Even in the garage, unless it's REALLY cool, I can't get the spray off the paint fast enough to avoid leaving streaks.

I wet wash mine, after drying apply Kenotek with micro fibre cloth

Wet wash. I use this thing called a Grit Guard that fits inside a 5 gallon bucket. All the contaminants from the car fall below the grate so you're not re-spreading it around every time you stick your washing mitt in the bucket. I also use a good quality mitt.

You guys are all making me feel bad. I wet wash with water only and occasionally use a speed shine or best in show for a light cleaning. May have to re-evaluate. However I do wash my car frequently and figure it's good exercise,

Honestly, the less you do to the paint, the better off you are long term. For cars that are 20ish years old like the 996, if I had my choice between a car that had been detailed and polished regularly, and one that had been washed infrequently (but properly) and had been waxed just often enough to protect the paint, I'd take the latter car every time because it won't have any swirl marks and will have paint as thick as when it left the factory. I'm restoring a 2005 car (not a 996) now for my sister that is low-mile, one-owner, very well-maintained mechanically, but seems like it was never washed. I've never seen a car that dirty, but once I got all the embedded junk out of the paint -- it is was perfect -- not even a hint of a swirl mark anywhere, the paint is literally like new, and the clear coat is as thick as it was when it left the factory.

If you pre-wash with a foam cannon, you remove 90% of contaminants. Rinse it, then foam cannon it again and use light pressure with a soapy microfiber mitt. Use the 2 bucket method with grit guards to minimize dirt contact with the mitt/your car. Works great and no swirls. I use an electric leaf blower to dry to 90% then a microfiber drying towel. When you use the towel to dry, never use a "swirling motion". Lighty place the towel on the car like its a blanket and gently pull. You will never get swirl marks this way.

I've been using a foam cannon on my pressure washer lately in a manner that e90steve suggested, but picked up a small blow dryer (Chemical guys I think) and drying with that. By far the best at avoiding micro scratches that I used to get when I towel dried (even using the technique suggested). Little dryer is the best addition to the tool kit in a while I must say.

Has anyone applied a ceramic coating or ppf?

Rinse it, foam it, dwell it, refoam it, wash with a natural sponge backed up with the foam application device(i.e. no bucket), rinse, blow dry, finish with a microfiber drying cloth. These are small cars and don't take much time to do. I just need to do it more often!

I use a Veloci foam cannon 90% of the time; IMO it works great to drag off the majority of grit and grime. The streets in my neighborhood look like Beirut due to constant water line installation activity by the city/county/men in black with heavy equipment. Other times I do the 2-bucket system wet wash. The GT3 slumbering in the garage gets tickled with a California Duster every other week. Both cars and the SUV have a coating of Star brite Premium Marine Polish (polymers). I discussed ceramic coating options with a guy at the AutoGeek booth at last year's Barrett Jackson auction in PB, but was not convinced to step away from polymers.

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A pretty bang-on process to minimize the creation of swirl marks and marring

I did a paint correction and ceramic coating. Now I only use my foam cannon when the car is slightly dirty. I use a foam cannon and mitt when it is extra dirty.

I have no problem with a spray detailer and microfiber provided you�ve created a surface conducive for such. Twice a year I clay bar, buff, polish and seal the paint. This creates a �buffer� between the paint and a microfiber. I wet wash once or twice a month but typically wipe down the car after every use. I�ve used a California duster for decades and is a good way to get the layer of dust and dead bugs from the front of the car. I�m sure many think the idea of dragging a dry �broom� over the paints surface would create tons of swirls and micro scratches but that�s not been my experience when there�s several layers of sealant between the paint and the duster. Then I use Pinnacle concourse detailer and a chinchilla microfiber. I have no idea what kind of black magic is used to make these, but the chinchilla microfiber towels from auto geek are by far the best car towels I�ve ever used. I�ve used a foam canon before but don�t feel it�s necessary given a good rinse before washing gets all the dirt off my car given the serious amount of sealant on the paint... rarely does anything stick to it. Also use the two bucket method to get a better rinse on the mit. And I also use the leaf blower to dry (after using a California water blade) simply to save me from having to drive the car before detailing to get all the water out of the crack and crevices. OCD tip of the day: I put a dryer sheet over the leaf blower intake to make sure nothing sizable gets blasted onto the paint when drying.

If just dusty I use detailer spray and cotton towels that have been through the wash spin rinse in the machine. The dampness of the towel coming out of the machine combined with the QD does well. For my truck I will wet wash if it rains. Foam cannon,....the works avg 3 hr car wash. The GTS will get a wet wash a few times per year. but will never see rain.

Optimum No Rinse is what you are looking for when it comes to not taking the hose out. Few ounces in a 5-gallon bucket, soak 4-5 MF towels in it for a few minutes. Mix up a spray bottle of No Rinse and water, I use an aerator to spray my car. Then you can grab a towel from your bucket, fold it into 1/4s and wipe the panel flipping every pass to a clean side, repeat until you used up all the sides. Spritz a clean MF drying towel with No Rinse and dry the panel.

Another happy ONR user here. All my cars are ceramic coated. I use detail spray when the car is dusty only, never when it's truly dirty. I have not found foam cannon / blow dry use to be effective when a car is actually dirty, it makes it clean-er, but not really clean. Paint is a wear item no matter how you do it. Your technique just determines how fast that wear occurs.

Every so often after a usual two-bucket wash I'll have a gallon of distilled water, 2 capfuls of ONR, and apply that gently with a mit while the car is still wet. Then I dry it carefully with the waffle weave towels. I have VERY hard water here! Looks great every time!

Not that I have a 996 yet, but since I also have marine fish tanks, I have a decent reverse osmosis unit with DI cartridges at the end. I fill a 32 gallon Brute trash can with RODI water and use it in ~5gal increments to rinse off the car after a hose rinse. If it's a car I REALLY care about, then I'd use a leaf blower to dry it, otherwise I just drive it back into the garage and let it dry there. No water marks with RODI water patiently poured over the car. 10 gallons of RODI is usually enough for anything but an SUV or mini van, and I don't care enough about those to be that **** anyway. Like others, I use a grit guard and the 2 bucket method and a quality microfiber mitt that I replace annually. I also use a foam thingy attached to my water hose, not a pressure washer. I am so looking forward to washing a 996 lol! Our Subaru's and Honda just aren't exciting enough.

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Just to get rid of the dusts on the car, I hose spray it, then use a blower to blow the water off. This will get rid of the dust as well as drying the car without even having to physically touch it.

Depends on how dirty. Light dust, detail spray, heaver road dirt, wet wash.

I've cleaned some pretty grimy cars with ONR and had no problems. Lubrication is all you need, wet doesn't necessarily mean lubricated.