Actually most trucks go through a car wash at the dealers. Can't stop em. Sad.

Do yourself a favor, and see how far you can toss that brush... It will scratch the clear coat and leave little scratches all over the finish. These are what makes a truck/car look old before it's time...

I watched my neighbor proudly wash his new silver F-150, used one bucket and a hose, rinsing his gritty rag in the soap mix, then he used a 'soft' car brush. His truck is a week older than mine, the same color, and has five thousand more miles on it. It looks three to six years older.

Of course, it's your truck, and you get to do anything you want with and to it. I was just making a friendly suggestion.

Take care
Chris

 

So go down to walmart and buy what?

 

Well, Wal-Mart sells a cheap MicroFiber towel. I get mine at Costco, a several year supply costs about 8 bucks.

I get the yellow bottle of scratch remover at Wal-Mart, it works just as good as the Mequires, but only costs 2.49, or less than half.

I buy ClayMagic in the kit at Autozone, as it costs 10.00, rather than the 15.00 Mothers and the other brands sell for.
It's just as good.
The trick with claying, (do a google for 'claying') is break the little bar up into three or so pieces, so when you get clumsy and drop one (everyone does), you don't feel so bad about tossing it away.
Once you get dirt in the clay, or cement residue, it will scratch, not clean.

To tell if your truck needs to be clayed, just go to a clean part of the truck, and run your fingers over the paint. If it feels super slick, like smooth glass, it doesn't need claying. If there is drag, it's claying time.
If you don't park under tree sap, or live in a dirty air city, claying is maybe once a year.

I get my NXT at K-mart or Autozone for about 13.00.

I buy carwash at Costco, Mequires Gold, about a lifetime supply for 8.00.

If you don't have any real scratches, you might not need the scratch remover.


Anyway, after you put on the wax, let it sit for a day, if you can, and then put another coat of wax on. The NXT looks much better after about 12 hours, and up to three coats, it just reflects more and more.
It is super easy to put on with it's aplicator, and buff off with a microfiber towel.

If you do a good enough job of waxing, you find that you can just wash it with plain water, no soap, for the next (?) washes.
I use a small pressure washer with filtered water, and never need soap on my cars.
They blast clean in seconds, when really clean and waxed, and I easily wipe off the bugs, etc. with a microfiber towel or mitt.
I don't know how long that will last, as my truck still looks freshly waxed three months out. Most guys don't have a pressure washer, but a spray nozzle works pretty well.


On car washes, even hand ones, I had a lousy experiance this year;

One bad wash, over at Pismo Beach ruined my red Trackers paint. The clowns at the carwash washed it, hand wash with rags, and some beach sand was in the bucket from the previous car...

Thousands of scratches in about three minutes, on a dark red truck.
Really ruined my day.
It took hours to bring it most of the way back, but some of the sand cut through the clearcoat. That will never look right.

 

I have an 04 black F-150 and with all the use I have given it it still looks great. I've had it about a year and I use the Color Magic wax from turtle wax and it fills in any sctratches with a black wax so you can't see them near as much.

It doesn't take the scratches out ut it covers them up and when hauling 4 Brittany's around for several months during quail season and then using the truck for truck duties it gets scratches.

I also use Mequires mirror something wax and it looks awesome!

 

And jjg, use car wash soap. Don't ever use dish soap because it will take just abouot any any wax off. I like to use the NXT car wash soap because it smells so good, but any name brand should be fine. These car wax soaps do a good job of taking the dirt and grime off, but leave the wax.

 

Chris-

Awesome results. Your garage looks like mine, the Pep Boys car wash section!

 

Who would think that a thread dubiously entitled "I hate..." would have so much great information. Thanks Chris for all of the tips!

 

Thanks. You saw the low steel. I used to be in autoparts and so of course my garage has steel shelves, and about a thousand peg hooks...
Got the orange Dorman drawers in there too.
Chris

 

I don't use dishsoap I use Rain X something its blue soap with lil brown things that act as wax or something but since my truck is parked under trees I washed it yesterday it sat there yesterday and already has bird crap and leaves on it! God spare me! lol

 

I bet you meant Rain Dance carwash. That should work just fine.

 

Probably I dono cause I kicked it down the driveway cause I tripped over it wasn't looking and it skidded all the paper off lol

 

Did you fall?

 

No, then my dad was like what the hell are you doing that for that was when we were washing his f150 then we washed mine.. that was a fun and long day lol

 

I hit my truck with wax yesterday, twice. Might give it another coat tomorrow, it sure is slick!

 

I've got a black on black Screw with chrome rockers and handles, etc. It looks great all the time. I get alot of compliments. At least here in the Midwest... this year... I think this has been a good year for black because we've had no rain. Yes the truck gets dusty, but it shines real well even with the light coat of dust on it. The only time you notice that black is a
!@#$% is when you hit a brief rain shower and the lousy 50 large rain drops leopard spot the dust on the black. Then it looks like !@#$%. All that said, I had a dark blue F-250 and thought it was easy to keep shiny, so I thought black wouldn't be too bad. The jury is still out on that one. Most people run into problems with dark colors because they don't keep up with them. Spend an hour each week washing it... even if it's going to rain... and keep it waxed and it will come clean and shine up alot quicker and easier. My stupid $0.02.