I generally do mine by hand, but I bring it into a detail shop to do the waxing. i worked as a Detailer ina ford Delaership out of highschool and have had enough of waxing vehicles.

 

...washing my truck by hand is something I enjoy thoroughly. No machine is going to touch that red metallic paint either. I had a similar color on another Ford that I machine washed and after about 3 years, and the paint was one big set of swirls and scratches into the clearcoat. No mas...

And living in the south has it's advantages since even in January, we have enough warm days to get out for an hour to clean up my baby. It can be cheap family entertainment as well. I recommend surprising your wife, girlfriend or S.O. with the hose btw...

(You can interpret that last line any way you want. )

 

Today is Sunday! What is on the top of the agenda? Some quality time with by baby, hand wash & vacume, like I do every Sunday, followed by Nascar!.....

 

Agreed, can't wait to get back to Dallas. My baby has looked pretty good all winter due to me hardly driving it. It's mostly been driven on days when we've had a few nice days after a snowstorm so the roads are dry...but not this week, I actually had to drive it to work and it was snowing, the roads were covered with sand and salt and out there she sits looking downright nasty. Yellow paint really shows the dirt almost near as bad as my old black vehicles. But alas, it's just barely above freezing with more crap weather headed our way this week. Ugh.

 

Finally got to hand wash my truck yesterday and now they're calling for snow and rain for Tuesday and Wednesday

 

I handwash. I just washed it yesterday, -6*C outside and I'm washing my truck panel by panel with two buckets. Neighbours must thnk I'm crazy. It snowed a bit today so now you would never know I just cleaned it, can;t wait for summer. I'm going to have to invest in a DA.

 

If you want something done right you've got to do it your self....

 

What's a DA?


GiorgioF150

 

DA=Dual Action Polisher, need to get a few swirls out of the paint job

 

for more info.. in the care and detailing part of the forum, there is a post at the top that says "detailing sticky" ... then after you click that there is a PDF file outlining some really nice detailing "propers." Very informative and written by people who have done this stuff for years.

 

I have never let someone else wash my truck, i do it myself atleast once a week. Lately the weathers been up and down with rain so its been about 2 weeks now.

 

Oh and the other thing is, I hate those air dryer things at the end of those automated washing drive throughs. The one time I had to use one in a hurry, I was watching the hood and the blowers were so strong that the hood popped INSIDE OUT. It turned out being fine but it scared the living s*** out of me.


Here's a couple pictures of just after Gold Class Soap, some microfiber and Mother's Carnuba Wax. (I need to buy a kit soon, and the spot you see in the second one is the camera.)



The flash made the sides, tailgate, wheels and rocker panels look dirty again. Oh well, at least the reflection looks cool.

 

I pay because it is much quicker than me washing it by hand especially when it has days of road grime from bad weather on it. I then go over it with a good wipe down detail.