Hey yall,

I know this is gonna seem off the wall, but Im gonna ask anyway. If anyone who uses this forum is anything like me, then you normally wash your truck the same way every time, and you have your own little system like I do so you wont miss anything when you wash it. Im in the Marine Corps, and the base I live on has always had a spot near the hobby shop lined with high pressure spickets you could put your hose on and wash your truck with. I went there today and theyre gone! There is a sign sayin do not enter and to go use the base "car wash" . Well the base car wash is one of those BS carwashes with the little gun and stuff. Ive only used these things two or three times, period. And they SUCK. I have never been able to properly clean my truck with those stupid things.1. I cant choose what soap goes on my truck 2. I cant wash my wheels and pipes and pay attention to detail without spending 50 bucks! 3. I got some idiot parked behind me waitin for me to finish as if he thinks washin a vehicle is some miniscule and unimportant task! 4. There is no way on Gods green earth that im waxin my truck after such a crappy wash and having to rush. Im gonna stop now. My question is,
is anyone here pretty experienced with these things? Would someone maybe be able to give me some pointers or tell me their system of washin their truck when it comes these machines? Sorry to go on like I did, but Im tired and that thing is enough to set me off. I would REALLY appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

well when i go to them so things called carwashes, i ususally pre soak the truck with low presure soap, the brush the truck down to get all the things that have stuck to the paint off, then wash the truck with high pressure, the rinse with high pressure, then a spot free rinse which is low pressure, this always dows the trick for me, whatever u do, don't us the spray on wax, i have had to buff my truck over and over to get the spots left by that cheap crap

 

When I go, I take about $10 (15mins).

If the truck isn't that dirty, just dusty, I just use the high pressure rinse, and then spot free rinse. (not as expensive)

On the other hand, I'll take the high pressure soap, and spray it all on, more time on the dirt/bug prone areas. And then using a brush, I brought from home, or the hand mit thingy, I'll do a scrub.

Don't use the brush there at the car wash, if the person before you used it, and was dumb, it could have dirt, or other bad crap in there, and you don't want that on your truck. And from own personal experience, It left swirl marks on my first truck, and hated it!!

Then I'll use the high pressure rinse, and then the spot free. Making sure that I hit the big deflector well so it will hopefully rinse all the "hard" water underneath it out so I don't get streaks while air drying it. (going down freeway) I also try to get the roll up windows, by pulling a little on the seal, and getting some spot free there, so if I were to roll window down, it wont streak as bad., around mirrors, door seals, etc...

Once I get home, I take a terry towel, and wet it with water and ring it out, and go over anywhere I see spots, or water beads. (ie. above rear window&window its self, tailgate, or your prone spots.) I go around it about 3 times making sure I got every thing.

Then its time to the windows. I buy the windex at Home Depot, its a little stronger than the store bought one. Get those well, and then its to the door seal areas. Open all the doors and wipe around all the doors, and everywhere the seals hit the frame from the door.

Finally I'm done. It takes me about an hour. But I like the out come.

Hope this helps.

-Mike

 

cow boy i never thought about the brush having dirt in it, well guess i want be using it any more

 

That brush is meant to use on the paint? I wouldve never guessed that. Thanks for all the help and pointers yall. Ill read over this next time I gotta go back to that place. Yall are a big help. I sure hope I can help yall out in the future. Thanks again, I sure appreciate it!

Chris

 

aero- you can always spray out the brush for a while b4 you use it. The place near us has the brushes, have always used them and have had NO probs

 

Chris,

Have you thought about investing in a pressure washer? When I was stationed at NAS Lemoore, a friend of mine talked me into getting one. Boy was that a life saver. I hate those car washes on the base. They suck. I just hooked up my hoses and plugged it into the ac outlet.

 

No I havent. That never even crossed my mind. Are they expensive? I think Ill look into that. If it will save me money in the long run, I would probably be really interested in that. Thanks again everyone for all the great ideas and all the advice. I sure appreciate it.

Chris