For an apartment dweller who doesn’t have access to electricity or free flowing water in the parking lot, we can keep our vehicles as clean as those who has access to those
BHPian traderjagadeesh recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Hi everyone,
Needless to say that we all hate the dirt which is converted into mud on the surface of the car in the rainy season everytime we try to wash the car. I have already talked about how I do the maintanance wash on mildly dirty car, or a heavily soiled car in one of my previous threads. Here is the link.
To make that cleaning easier, and to extend the time between those maintaince washes, at the same time keeping the car relatively clean and glossy between those washes, we have to seal the paint(especially if the vehicle is dark). But the prep needed before that seal is what ensures the longevity. In stead of spending tons of money at the detailing centre, if we can spend 3 to 4 hours every 6 months, we can do that ourselves, and that is fun if you ask me. Of course if it needs a deep paint correction, we can think of them.
I will shut my mouth here and get the point.
For an apartment dweller who doesn’t have access to electricity or free flowing water in the parking lot, we can keep our vehicles as clean as those who has access to those (if not better).
Equipment and the consumables that I use in each step.
Equipment..
1) 8L manual pump sprayer for rinsing purposes.
2) Wavex foamer 3.0 for Wheel and bottom plastic cleaning with APC.
3) 2L manual sprayer for spraying rinselss on the car body.
4) Wavex grit guard. 20L paint bucket for washing. 5L bucket for wheels.
5) Tuqo rinselss sponge, two softspun noodle mitts, Shinexpro drying towel, one plush MF cloth for cleaning the bottom dirty trims, finger shaped mitt for wheels, brushes for tyres, barrels and tyre walls, bunch of MF cloths for different needs during this procedure.
Consumables
1. Wash..
a) Koch chemie rapid rinseless wash.
b) Koch chemie Greenstar
Decontomination and clay
a) Autobros iron remover
b) Koch chemie TEA if tar and bug decon is needed.
c) Triathlon waterspot remover (if needed mineral decon)
d) Carpro clay towel. (I have this for years tbh)
Paint correction
I used to polish, but now outsourcing it once a year as I don’t have the patience to do this myself these days. But I do take care of minor scraches using 3M one step finish if they are very light. I leave the deeper ones for the detailers.
Seal
a) Turtlewax hybrid ceramic wax for car paint.
b) Turtlewax trim restorer for exterior plastics.
c) Shinexpro tyre dresser.
d) Sonax BSD 1:2 for wheels.
The process
I dont do the decon and the seal if the vehicle is very dirty as I dont want to contominate my wash bucket while doing it panel by panel. That’s exactly how my vehicle is this time, and I had to wash it twice. Once a couple of days before to make the vehicle relatively clean, and once today and I had to deal with mildly soiled vehicle today.
To give a quick summary of that,
Three days back wash
Sprayed rinseless on the car, foamed the wheels, bottom dirty areas and the tyre walls with greenstar APC 1:15, then rinsed it with water.
Sprayed rinseless again, did the contact wash and dried it. Foamed APC again on the wheels and the trims, did the contact wash.
Here are the before and after of that process.
Before.
After
I have applied the trim dressing, tyre dressing here it self.
Today’s wash
Preparation
1) Taken 15L of water and added 60mL of Koch chemie RRW into the wash bucket. Filled the 2L sprayer from this bucket.
2) Filled the Wavex foamer with 750mL of water and added 50mL of Koch chemie greenstar in it. Added a cap of car shampoo to foam it better.
3) Filled the 8L sprayer with water. I had to fill it again as I have to rinse the car twice this time.
4) Dunked the sponge, mitts, clay towel in the wash bucket.
Process.
I follow this method while wash clay and seal to avoid resprays on cleaned surfaces as much as I can.
Top of the car and the hood, followed by right side , and then the left side, followed by the back of the car, and then the front of the car.
1) Spraying rinseless on the section that I am working on in the order that I have mentioned above. 
2) Contact wash.
Sponge for the Roof, Hood and the side panels, Mitt for the front and back of the car as it’s easy to get into the grills and the corners with a mitt, plush MF cloth folded into 4(we will have 8 sides to work with) for the trrims. 4 sides on each side of that towel for each side of the vehicle.
Make sure the wash media has enough rinseless solution in it for the lubrication and the lifting of the dirt from the car body. 
3) Decontomination.
Spray the iron remover generously on the panel, take the clay towel that is soaking in the wash bucket with rinseless and fold it into 4, start claying. No pressure on the towel, just assume that you are applying iron remover using the clay towel. If you feel that there is heavy contomination from the sound of it, spend a few seconds more on that area. Flip the side everytime you move to a new panel. 
If tar has to be taken care, it has to be done before iron decon and clay.
Mineral decon follows iron decon.
Luckily, I don’t have any of those residues this time. Regularly maintained vehicles will be free of those mostly.
4) Rinse
Rinse of the section with water from the 8L sprayer. Don’t go cheap on water here. Keep the full force of the sprayer and fill it again if needed.
Use the common sense in dividing the section. Now the climate is cool, we can go with the method that I have explained at the start for the flow. If it is hot, just go panel by panel. 
5) Drying.
Dry the entire section using the drying towel. I don’t use any drying aid as I dont’ want anything in between the paint and the sealant. Rinseless itself acts as a drying aid. 
6) Paint correction (if needed)
Don’t polish the paint unless it’s absolutely needed as what we are taking out is the clear coat, not the scratch.
I inspected the paint and there is no need of polishing.
7) Sealing.
I kept 3 microfibers.
One for application of the sealant.
One damp cloth with rinseless to take of smears if needed. (Happens a lot in hot conditions. Not that much needed now as the climate is very cold)
One for buffing. I use the plushiest rags for this process.
Just spray the sealant. One spray if the panel is small, two or three sprays if the panel is big. Less is more.
Spread it using MF cloth, left to right, top to bottom, and then left to right again.
Leave it for 20 to 30 seconds, Then start buffing for gloss. If there is a over spray, use the damp cloth to get rid of that.
Dont’ neglect the back of the vehicle as it gets very dirty. Sealing that will ease the process during maintaince washes. I start from the hood, followed by the right side, then the left side, then the back and finally the front of the vehicle.
Here are the pictures after the whole car is done. 
I will upload the pictures in proper lighting once the sealant is healed.
Thanks for your time. Happy DIYing
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