First wash of new Ocean

[acer]

Getting back on topic:
After washing the van I’ve always washed out my mitt in a bit of car shampoo and rinsed 2 or 3 times. Good enough?
Should I be using household washing detergent? Or is that going to leave some sort of nasty residue that will etch the bodywork?

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Getting back on topic:
After washing the van I’ve always washed out my mitt in a bit of car shampoo and rinsed 2 or 3 times. Good enough?
Should I be using household washing detergent? Or is that going to leave some sort of nasty residue that will etch the bodywork?

When I've got enough dirty microfibre cloths. I wash them with the mitts, just remember too never use conditioner a it stops them being as absorbent.

You will get people using 2 or 3 clean mitts on each wash. Then clean them in the washing machine. They probably have a lot of time spare, I tend to do what you do between machine washing them. Unless the mitt has fallen on the floor or you hit a bit of dirty you missed under the cill.

The best advice is use a power washer (not with a turbo lance or pencil jet, think i use a 40⁰ jet), then snow foam, soak and power wash again. I then tend to cover it with snow foam and then clean with shampoo using the wash mitt . All you are trying to do is get rid of a much dirty as possible and keep it lubricated when you end up touching the paintwork.

 

[Arron b]

when I wash my motors I always snow foam an leave for awhile. which whilst on soaks an lifts dirt from you paint work an runs down off the body then throughly rinse before any wash mitts touches as all you end up doing is pulling an moving the dirt/grit around your paint work causing swirls.
As for polishing (this is and is going to sound daft but will let you know paint is ok to polish) get a plastic shopping bag put your hand in an then slide your hand over your paint work an this well make you feel if there’s grit/debris in your paint work (which you don’t want to seal in by polish an wax) . An if so your next step would be iron x there various other brands (just don’t smell it). This sprayed on the areas breaks down/dissolves old brake dust iron filings it turns purple when reacting. leave few mins then throughly rinse you could also use a clay bar to remove contaminants. Then a good wash with mit 2 bucket one for applying an other to rinse mit before reusing.
Applying polish gives you the shine your after until your happy with the shine then apply wax/sealant.

 

[Coachella]

Second bucket is for cleaning your microfibre wash mitt (note - NOT SPONGE!). Each time you wipe off dirt using your mitt, you're putting dirt and grime on it. The more dirt on it, the more you'll be rubbing into the paintwork, marring it. Whilst you can use the 'one bucket' to wash your mitt, you're then making that water dirty and putting the same muck and bullets into the mitt and rubbing the paint with it.

Bucket one w/ grit guard - hot and foamy water with appropriate shampoo etc.
Bucket two w/ grit guard - hot water.

Mitt into bucket one, wash a panel, rinse it off thoroughly into bucket two.
Mitt into bucket one, and repeat.

Doing this will reduce the swirl marks and scratches induced by washing and help look after your paintwork.

Another method which i like more and more
1 bucket method. + 10 microfibre cloths
Once the car / vehicle has been hosed / maybe even snowfomed -
Use in this order ---- clean microfibre into the bucket (soapy) > wash panel (s) > do not re-dip in bucket, just put on the side > grab new microfibre repeat until car has been cleaned
Hose down soap
Take all the used microfibre cloths and wash in washing machine.

Check out AMMO NYC on youtube - and he explains all the reasons and steps.
He is cleaning everything from 30 - 40yr old barn finds to super cars that need a paint lift.

TBH a good clean wash and a good wax for after will be enough for the general person on a new vehicle. But as some have already said - its a huge rabbit hole you go down to make these things super clean
For me its the enjoyment of just putting music on and relaxing while cleaning.

Its a good process and practice - you can inspect the body work at the same time.
Enjoy.

 

[Doric_loon]

I used to use wax, autoglym but for the past decade I am a ceramic coating convert

I like Gtechniq and prefer to apply them myself but that does require you to properly prepare the surface. I did this as soon as I drove my new Cali home, decontaminate wash, clay mit, machine polish, degrease and then a coat of crystal serum light and then two coats of EXO. On a new van you can get away with a one stage polish.

Or just get a detailer to do the whole thing, but it's not cheap and I have a big garage with music and heaters and I find the whole process therapeutic (sad, I know)

After that, maintenance is easy. I use a spray lance and snow foam, pressure wash off and then two buckets with grit guards. Most of the dirt is removed in stage one

Once every two years, decontaminate, tar and glue remover on any tar spots and apply another coat of EXO

I also tend to try with an air blower

My cars remain swirl free and the water just doesn't stick