Safest Car Wash Procedure

[1Evil55]

Hm, that's weird. The only place there would be air, is within your pressure washer. You're supposed to basically prime it by leaving it off, hooking up your garden hose to it, turning on the water until you see a steady stream of water coming out of the pressure gun, which takes about 20 secs to clear out the air. Remove the angled head so you can get the full stream of water. Once that's complete, then you turn on the pressure washer. At that point, it's ready to go. Are you doing this step or is it something else?

That's how I do it except I will let it run without power for a few minutes and it is still an issue. I think some of it has to do with where the in supply to house comes from versus where it goes to(opposite side of house) along with the fact we have more bathrooms than people in the house and they never get used. Of course I could be way off and it is just simply because of a POS machine.

 

[SOP]

That's how I do it except I will let it run without power for a few minutes and it is still an issue. I think some of it has to do with where the in supply to house comes from versus where it goes to(opposite side of house) along with the fact we have more bathrooms than people in the house and they never get used. Of course I could be way off and it is just simply because of a POS machine.

Is the plumbing newer? Like you said, it's possible the source is very far away, but that's fixed with larger water piping. For example If you've got just a 1/2" water line from the front all the way to the back, there's not enough capacity in that pipe to supply a steady flow of water if the length is too long. If you have older pipe, corrosion may have reduced the inner diameter, lowering it's capacity also. My spigot is connected to a 3/4" pipe is located right next to my 1-1/4" main line, so pressure is more than ample for anything I need to do with it.

 

[1Evil55]

Built in '17 and stepped up to 1.25" pipe for the entire house. I wanted the good pressure since the last place was on a well and I could piss with more pressure.

 

[SOP]

Built in '17 and stepped up to 1.25" pipe for the entire house. I wanted the good pressure since the last place was on a well and I could piss with more pressure.

Last thing left then is the line for the spigot youre using is probably undersized for the length and usage. Depending on the length, might have had to run a 3/4" or 1" line all the way closer to where the spigot actually is before it's Tee'd/reduced to 1/2" or 3/4".

Really confused though since it's built in 2017, you shouldn't be running into a problem like this since it's all up to code.

 

[RDATLTE]

Good thread. I had my 5 PPF'ed and ceramic with Gyeon. Went back yesterday for my first wash after my tint guy got her dirty. I was wondering if anyone has a foam cannon they suggest for home use?

Don't bother with the ones that just use a garden house and not a pressure washer. They're laughable. Ask me how I know.

 

[SOP]

Don't bother with the ones that just use a garden house and not a pressure washer. They're laughable. Ask me how I know.

That's called a foam gun vs foam cannon used with pressure washers. It's better than nothing if you don't want to use a pressure washer, but a pressure washer is so crucial to help safely take care of your paint. Also, these electric pressure washers can hurt the paint if you get too close with it. If you're new to it all, take the 0 degree head thats like a laser pointer and either chuck it in the trash or put it in some forsaken corner of your garage. 25 degree head can be used at a distance, 40 degree head is the standard and safest. I usually use the 25* for help reaching the far edge of the roof of my family vehicle.

 

[burn813]

Just use one of them automatic car washers at the gas station with the big brushy things #amirite

 

[SOP]

Just use one of them automatic car washers at the gas station with the big brushy things #amirite

Bonus points if its at a dirty 76 gas station. If you guys do go to a self-serve car wash, make sure to pick the broom brush off the ground and use it on the paint. No need to rinse it off before you use it.

 

[hrdboiled]

What is the difference between using deionized water vs demineralized water vs distilled water?

 

[SOP]

What is the difference between using deionized water vs demineralized water vs distilled water?

Deionized water: good enough for washing the car. Leaves no water spots as it removes all water hardness. You can make your own with CR Spotless, or with a heavy duty version similar to what PureTec sells.

Distilled water: water that absolutely has no impurities at all. Better than DI water for washing car. The problem? Only way to get it is by the gallon at your local grocery store. You can't make your own distilled water in any usable quantity.

What I do use it for is I'll buy a gallon of distilled water, take a little bit out, and add my favorite concentrate to it to make a ready to go premix. You can do this with ONR(optimum no rinse&shine), or any other concentrate you can dilute. Since the water is pure, the pre-mix should keep for a long time since there's no other chemical/bacteria/contaminants in it.

Your tap water has flouride, chlorine, and whatever else that will interfere with any soaps/concentrates if left long enough.

I don't know much about demineralized water. It's not a thing in the car detailing world. Quick Google search is it's similar, but not the same as DI water.

 

[hrdboiled]

Thanks for the info! going to look into that CR Spotless

 

[Powerhungry]

Detailing subforum is dead, so hope you guys won't mind this post here.

I'd like this to be a place where we can discuss best car wash practices.

Some tips and what I personally do:

This assumes you have a shaded area to wash your car. Pressure washer is recommended. For black car owners, and serious detail enthusiasts, I suggest using a Deionized water system to up your game. Assumes you wash regularly and it's not an abomination of filth whenever you decide to finally wash your car.

1. Wash your wheels first. Foam cannon/spray wheel cleaner or what else you prefer. Rinse clean. Use dedicated bucket/brush/towels for this. Never use these things for car paint.

2. Foam Cannon on dry car. Let it dwell a few minutes and do it's job of softening, and lifting dirt off your paint. (If you rinse before this, the water left on the car will dilute the snow foam, reducing it's cleaning power)

3. Rinse off car thoroughly. (Most of the dirt/debris should be safely off your car now. All you should have left is really a light film of grime that will be taken care of with the next couple of steps)

4. Foam cannon again.(Optional step, but ensures each panel of the car never gets cleaned without maximum lubrication. Lubricity is what will help prevent marring/swirls)

5. 2 Bucket method with grit guards on both. I've personally switched to 1 bucket: car shampoo solution + 6-7 wash mitts. Once the mitt is used on both sides, it gets tossed to the dirty bin not to be used again. Wash from top down, leaving the bottom 1/3 half of your car for a later wash mitt.

6. Rinse with pressure washer.

7. Drying:

A) Assuming your car is properly waxed, you can use an open hose with water flowing out about medium strength and a steady flow, angled parallel as much as possible and water should sheet off your car.

B) Use a high powered leaf blower like an Ego, or dedicated one like Metro Air Blaster to blow off all the water as much as you can. This method will also clear most of the crevices where water can stay, and fly back onto your clean paint when you take it on the road. Think the drips from your door handles, mirrors, lights, etc. Pretty much a necessity to dry your wheels.

C) if you use a Deionized water system, you can just walk away and it'll dry itself without water spots. This assumes the filtration is working at 100%, your resin hasn't been depleted, and it's at zero PPM using a TDS meter. Best for black cars as this reduces physical contact with your paint.

D) Previous methods can and will use physical drying with high quality microfiber towels(god fucking help your paint if you still use old bath towels you neanderthal).

1. Optional: Lay down a light mist of quick detailer like McKees N-914 or the tried and
true Optimum no rinse and shine diluted to the proper ratio. This is to help lubricate the surface as you physically dry your car.

Final notes and thought: I usually finish with a final step like P&S Dream maker, or some kind of quick spray wax that you can spray on and wipe off to enhance gloss. I'm personally using CarPro products like ph-neutral Reset car shampoo. Microfiber towels are from The Rag Company. Also using those cheap yellow microfiber towels from Costco for door jambs, interior, wheels and engine bay work.

My current and future vehicles are and will be graphene coated with Glassparency. I also purchased a commercial-grade DI system from PureTec in preparation for the incoming Blackwing. Look into them if you're on the west coast and have them nearby. Cost savings will become significant if you planned on getting CR Spotless.

Keeping my cars looking perfect is a labor of love, and it's something I really enjoy doing.

wow, that really is a labor of love! I bet your cars look amazing!

 

[Deneed4spd]

Deionized water: good enough for washing the car. Leaves no water spots as it removes all water hardness. You can make your own with CR Spotless, or with a heavy duty version similar to what PureTec sells.

Distilled water: water that absolutely has no impurities at all. Better than DI water for washing car. The problem? Only way to get it is by the gallon at your local grocery store. You can't make your own distilled water in any usable quantity.

What I do use it for is I'll buy a gallon of distilled water, take a little bit out, and add my favorite concentrate to it to make a ready to go premix. You can do this with ONR(optimum no rinse&shine), or any other concentrate you can dilute. Since the water is pure, the pre-mix should keep for a long time since there's no other chemical/bacteria/contaminants in it.

Your tap water has flouride, chlorine, and whatever else that will interfere with any soaps/concentrates if left long enough.

I don't know much about demineralized water. It's not a thing in the car detailing world. Quick Google search is it's similar, but not the same as DI water.

I used to have a saltwater tank for over a decade. In that hobby it’s all about water and very clean water.

There is ro/di water. You use a 5-7 stage water filter system leaves behind a ratio of 1:15 ratio of zero tds water to waste water. The ro portion gets water down to 10 or so tds then the di part which is what a lot of car filter systems sell gets it down to 0 TDS. the ro part takes out 95 or more of the tds and its pretty cheap ($50 bucks) since it can filter approx 10k gallons but it makes water very slow (like gallons per hr) and u are left with a lot of waste water.
The aftermarker car di filters just use the di part which can take high tds water down to single digits but it's expensive. like $10 per pint of resin and can only do maybe a hundred gallon of water using a 2 pints or so of resin. You want your ro part (sediment, carbon blocks, ro filter to preclean it) so the di part doesnt get used up so quickly.

distilled water is actually considered high tds water in the saltwater hobby world. probably 20-30 tds.

if you want to learn more about water read this How a Reverse Osmosis Deionization (RO/DI) System Works

now i might take my sediment, carbon block, and two di portions from my fish hobby laying around and see if i can create a cheap filter that probably can handle making single tds water for a whole summer season (approx 400-500 gallons) of rinse water that can probably pump out gallon a min. cost will be $3 for sediment filter, $10 for 5 micron carbon, $20 in di resin. parts of canister i have laying around. so maybe an annual cost of $35ish bucks to wash my car probably 10 times in the summer and not have to hand dry it. ill report how it works.