Hey guys,

I just got through a grueling 2 days of car washing, yeah ya heard me... 2 days, and I only worked on the exterior... I burned my back to the blistering point also... BUT ANYWAY, I just wanted to give you guys an idea of how much a good car wash can help the look of your car... I wont go into the theories and all that of how to wash a car, nor am I going to get into the hints and tips just yet, go ahead and reply with your hints and tips you have found for washing... both interior and exterior... summers at hand guys, time to hit the showers...

OK, in light of the fact that it's impossible to get a reliable image host , here is the link to all the pictures:

http://public.fotki.com/blindbug/car_wash/

First off, my subject is a 98' Honda Civic with stock paint and lots of wear and tear (live in the country with the dirt, and salt in the winter)... Notice how it looks, the reflections (you will see later) are hazy and the underside of the car looks cruddy... even though the car *looks* clean...

The first step to remedy this is to give your car a wash:

Now that it is washed, check back to the before picture, notice how much more the reflections gleam off the car? In this wash I used dawn dishwashing liquid to strip off all the old wax and crud to give me a fresh starting point (this is not recommended as a regular thing, dishwashing detergent is harsh on your paint!).

The next step was to use Mother's Gold Clay bar:

Although at this distance the change is slight, notice how the car is now more reflective and the paint seems much deeper... if you have yet to try a clay bar, you need to, if you are afraid of ruining your paint, you wont... it is VERY EASY TO USE, and as long as you dont drop the bar you wont scratch your paint...

Final step, Meguir's 3-step Wax System:

Meguir's 3-step system brought this all together, the paint shines brilliantly now, and is deep and rich looking, like-new I should say. You couldn't put a clean rag on the hood without it sliding off and if applied and removed properly no remnants remain.


OK, that's it! I hope you enjoyed this post, although long... I will be back later to give some tips and such that I have found work good for me, do you have any tips? Please post! Again, all our cars could probably benifit from a little elbow grease, so put some sunscreen on and get to work!

EDIT: fixed the links (hopefully)