Kleening your car and truck the fast and easy way

[JDgreen227]

Having never seen a thread on how to wash your vehicles here on TBN, I thought I would pass along my method and tips.

First, using the cheap, long handled polyduster shown in the picture to clean your fancy chrome or alloy wheels works 500% better than the short handled, expensive wheel brush next to it. The polyduster costs a quarter as much, holds more soap, cleans better, and reaches much more of the wheel between the spokes. Second, forget about using a wash mitt and bucket, buy a long handled wash brush as shown and a big square dishpan to hold your soap mix. You can scrub the body of your vehicle 10X faster and not bend over to dip a wash mitt, and when you have a tall truck it's much easier to use the wash brush method. Third, after you rinse the soap off, use an electric blower as illustrated to blow about 90% of the water off, you would be amazed at how much time this method saves. I was able to wash and dry this car in less than one hour, and that time included scrubbing the filthy wheels. I used only six paper towels to finish drying the car...no chamois, no toweling, no wringing the towels or chamois out.


Hey, don't bother making any "well, of course the old guy drives a Buick" jokes, I am getting tired of them.

 

[two_bit_score]

Sounds good and the car looks great. I've been using the was brush method for a while but sometimes it just doest get the really heavy road grime off as well as a mitt or sponge. I'll try the polyester trick. That sounds better than bending over scrubbing wheels.

 

[dodge man]

The leaf blower is a good trick, but one I never use, I'm not sure why. I would just add I would never use paper towels to dry my car, to likely to scratch. I use old bath towels.

 

[JDgreen227]

The leaf blower is a good trick, but one I never use, I'm not sure why. I would just add I would never use paper towels to dry my car, to likely to scratch. I use old bath towels.

I put a coat of paste wax on our vehicles one or twice a year, so don't worry about the scratches a paper towel might leave. I used them to illustrate just how little water remains on the car to dry off.

 

[Pilot]

Simple Green, Simple Green, Simple Green! Great stuff and the grime just flows off the wheels. Spray on, let sit a couple minutes and go for it. However, unless you use the expensive aircraft version, be sure to rinse completely as Simple Green can corrode aluminum.

On my airplane I had a buildup of an oily grime mixed with exhaust stains on the bottom. Tried detergent and water and other stuff that was supposed to remove grease--including paint thinner. No joy. Tried Extreme Simple Green, the aircraft stuff. The instructions say let it soak for a couple minutes, but in a few seconds the grime I couldn't remove with anything else was just dripping off.

Works on dried bugs, too.

 

[JDgreen227]

Simple Green, Simple Green, Simple Green! Great stuff and the grime just flows off the wheels. Spray on, let sit a couple minutes and go for it. However, unless you use the expensive aircraft version, be sure to rinse completely as Simple Green can corrode aluminum.

On my airplane I had a buildup of an oily grime mixed with exhaust stains on the bottom. Tried detergent and water and other stuff that was supposed to remove grease--including paint thinner. No joy. Tried Extreme Simple Green, the aircraft stuff. The instructions say let it soak for a couple minutes, but in a few seconds the grime I couldn't remove with anything else was just dripping off.

Works on dried bugs, too.

Gotta try that for my wheels, that Buick of mine has chrome plated aluminum rims, the calipers fit so close in front I can't fit dust shields. The best and cheapest wheel and tire cleaner I have found is to mix a cup of Tide powder detergent in a gallon of water, along with two cups of bleach. Not recommended for use on painted surfaces.

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . I would just add I would never use paper towels to dry my car, to likely to scratch. I use old bath towels.

I use old bath towels to dry me!

Down here, in this heat, you don't have to dry a vehicle anyway. :laughing:

 

[clemsonfor]

Gotta try that for my wheels, that Buick of mine has chrome plated aluminum rims, the calipers fit so close in front I can't fit dust shields. The best and cheapest wheel and tire cleaner I have found is to mix a cup of Tide powder detergent in a gallon of water, along with two cups of bleach. Not recommended for use on painted surfaces.

Save yourself a ton of time and get cerramic disk pads!!!

I use to never pay to wash, but now i just pay the $25 and let those wash places wash it and then go to town with 1-3 guys on the interrior. They do what took me 2 hours to do. I dont make a ton of money but also dont wash are cars that often either. I just rather do something else in my 2 hours than sweat like a beast washing my car.

 

[JDgreen227]

Save yourself a ton of time and get cerramic disk pads!!!

I use to never pay to wash, but now i just pay the $25 and let those wash places wash it and then go to town with 1-3 guys on the interrior. They do what took me 2 hours to do. I dont make a ton of money but also dont wash are cars that often either. I just rather do something else in my 2 hours than sweat like a beast washing my car.

Redid the brakes last year, new pads and rotors all the way around, yes I installed ceramics which cut the brake dust way down. $25 a wash ???!!!! Ripoff city, I get 2 out of 3 of our vehicles a weekend, the second weekend the last car/truck and the tractor get a bath. I got plenty of time but no money.

 

[Bird]

Simple Green, Simple Green, Simple Green!

I haven't been doing it very often lately, but when I wash under the hood of our vehicles, I start by spraying Simple Green.

Hey, don't bother making any "well, of course the old guy drives a Buick" jokes, I am getting tired of them.

It's not a joke, but when you see one of those Buicks, you know it belongs to an old person. And the same can be said for the Ford Crown Victoria like ours.:laughing: